Hello, all. Like it says, I’m new here, and for now, I’m just looking at some of the leaders’ strategies/track records. I just wanted to ask you all, especially those that have been here a while…Some of these strategies with their track records, it’s almost like it’s too good to be true. I realize that C2 doesn’t let you alter the track records, so I don’t think the trade leaders are lying, but some of the strategies are ridiculously impressive. With that, to you veterans, what strategies are you subscribed to? Do you use the autotrade function? Is it worth it? Thanks for your time in advance.
Be aware we’ve been in a bull market so it’s been very good for leveraged strategies. The last year was particularly good for anything leveraged long equities or short volatility. I suspect when the bull eventually turns, there will be some big changes in the leader-board.
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Something to be wary of. Thanks for your reply.
Welcome aboard Trey-
I have been a member ( subscriber only ) for a little over a year now.
I rolled a 401k into an Interactive Brokers ( broker of choice here I believe ) & also have a little money in a taxable account.
I am VERY glad I joined.
I now search for strategies using the drawdown toggle in the search engine & start from the lowest to the highest.
I add to my “watchlist” those that I think would be a good “fit” for me ( I am finding out I am a little more conservative than I thought in my older age ).
Most members here won’t subscribe to a strategy with less than 3, but sometimes 6 months history. I think this is a wise idea for the most part. Make sure the strategies have confirmed ( by subs ) trades by clicking “show auto trade data”. You will see little orange monitor icons. Apparently, returns data for some of the newer strategies that don’t have these confirmations, may not be 100% accurate.
Aside from that, I have found the “cum. return” to be fairly accurate here. 200%+ returns definitely happen here, but when the 30% + drawdown comes around, you never know if you have just witnessed the “top”.
I will refrain from offering specific strategy recommendations because my risk tolerance may not be the same as yours. That info. is available on the right sidebar when looking at a strategies trade history. If you click on the persons name, it will show you some of their info along with which strategies they are subscribed to.
When you finally do subscribe to a strategy, consider “leveraging in” if possible. 1/3 of your allotment every month for 3 months or something to that effect.
Most of all BE PATIENT. Read the threads. Especially about the systems that crashed. Learn why they crashed and how to spot similar systems. There are a couple developers here that put together an impressive system for a couple of months so they can get sub $, then take unnecessary chances, or they were just lucky that the market was on their side for those 2 months, then 1 day you realize 1/2 your $ is gone ( margin, options mostly ).
I use autotrade exclusively. It’s why I chose to join C2.
If the 1st part of this reply sounds a little negative, don’t let that scare you off. There are WAY more good developers than bad here. Many are retired or quit the professional trading industry & have brought their talents to C2 which I believe is the pioneer of autotrading, which will continue to grow as a preferred method of investing for guys like you & me.
Hope that helps!
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Hi Trey;
In response to your auto trading question specifically, it is definitely worth the cost.
While there are a number of strategies which commit to trades at the stock market open or close, making it easy to manually trade, there are many more which can send signals at any moment during the trading day. Can you afford to sit at your computer during the market’s open hours?
Moreover, if you are subscribed to certain strategies trading futures contracts trade signals could occur just about any time during the day or night, making it extremely difficult to manually trade those strategies.
Another thing to consider is how emotionally involved or attached you become with a strategy and your trading capital. If you just experienced 4 losing trades in a row will you manually enter the next trade signal? Auto trading, for me, takes much of the emotion out of following trade signals and many times I’ll just check my accounts in the morning and then after the market’s close.
There can be occasional glitches with auto trading but I have seen substantially fewer issues in the last two years and, for me, there were no syncing or trade issues in 2017 for my accounts.
I started manually trading strategies on C2 in 2012 and switched to auto trading in 2015 and haven’t looked back since.
Welcome to C2 and best wishes for your trading success.
I have only been on C2 for 2 1/2 months, and as a developer, I have loved it so far. I have met some very intelligent people and learned some new things.
What I would say about returns is this. Recognize that many of the high returns you see here are leveraged returns. For example, 1 ES contract has a notional amount of about $135,000. If the S&P went up 1%, you would make $1,350. But a smart trader here on C2 could set a base of say $27,000 and still trade 1 ES contract and make the same $1,350 which would show a return of 5%. And so it goes. Be careful as well. Some take risk I wouldn’t consider.
In my opinion, focus NOT on the returns but on the risk management used by the developer. You may have to ask them questions but realize that the metrics on C2 (win ratio, DD ) don’t always tell the whole story. David is right -2017 has been a bull market. MANY strategies here are showing great numbers. But what will they show in a pull back? Many here use stops. Ask them what risk you face if their stops don’t work or do the math yourself.
The other advice I’d offer is choose several developers. I know when i have missed the boat on a trade one of the other developers has been there with their trades. I have told my subs to reach out and put money with others just so they have the best of all worlds. Let a group of them work for you rather than just a few.
Hope you enjoy it.
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Thanks for your reply! I have been looking around at different strategies, including yours. You have been extremely helpful.
Thank you for your reply!
Thank you for your reply, Norman. I really just don’t have the time to sit at a computer all day. I just need to find one that works for me, and stick with it.
One word of advice - system developers that are constantly on the forums boasting about their systems and how smart they are should typically be avoided. Especially if those systems are <1 year old.
Also avoid any strategy that has historically added to losing trades (you can see this by expanding their trading history). They WILL blow up in your face.
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