Len’s Journal

[LEONARDZIR]

I learned something about overnight margin at IB. Had tested and started to trade an MR swing system on the Russell 1000. Had tested 20 positions at 10% per position and naively assumed I could carry 2:1 leverage overnight. with all my money. Rapidly learned that is just asking for a margin call. Actually IB informed me there is no margin call. They have an algorithm that closes your positions automatically.
Among the possibilities I decided to keep a cash balance as a relative hedge to avoid a margin call.That means that I cannot trade all my funds. I also learned when I am carrying close to 20 positions I need to check my margin numbers like excess liquidity and SMA before the market close. An issue with the Russell 1000 is that not all the stocks are marginable. Non marginable stocks effect the SMA twice as much as marginable stocks.

[SaidBitar]

that is true also the algo that sells the positions starts with the last bought unless you specify which are the ones to sell in case of over margin . you can do this from the account page there is the list of the stocks that you are carrying down and you can set priorities.

i never had this situation till now and sometimes i have 200% invested over night. but what i face from time to time is that i can not place some orders due to SMA it gives there is not enough cash or one thing like this

[LEONARDZIR]

Tweaked my MOC and MR swing to meet selection bias guidelines so only have trades for 1 1/2 weeks.
US MOMO (80% of my trading funds) up 0.76% for march.

[LEONARDZIR]

April results:

US MOC 0.4%
US MR 1.8%
US MOMO -0.95%

[LEONARDZIR]

I joined Nick’s continued mentoring program. He has reviewed my US MOC code and given me a tweak which has made a significant improvement in my US MOC system and US mr system

My US MOC from 2007 to date CAR 36%,MDD 7%. Selection bias has pretty much been eliminated and the number of trades was reduced from 16000 to 11,600.
The downside is that it is not for the feint of heart. I am using 4:1 leverage.
I used the same tweak on my US MR system with 2:1 leverage. CAR 26% MDD 10%. Selection bias dramatically reduced, as has the number of trades.
Considering the amount of money I am trading I think the service is a bargain. I like the idea of periodically reviewing my systems with 2 professionals. I am also not as adept in coding systems as some of you and like the availability of checking code before trading a new system.

heart

[JulianCohen]

Len Zir wrote:

Considering the amount of money I am trading I think the service is a bargain. I like the idea of periodically reviewing my systems with 2 professionals. I am also not as adept in coding systems as some of you and like the availability of checking code before trading a new system.

I totally agree and have done the same. I will start beginning of next month and I also plan to make full use of having access the The mentors every now and then. I could certainly do with a good tweaking.

[SaidBitar]

Len Zir wrote:

My US MOC from 2007 to date CAR 36%,MDD 7%. Selection bias has pretty much been eliminated and the number of trades was reduced from 16000 to 11,600.

this is impressive

[LEONARDZIR]

Had problem with hostwinds VPS. I added windshield after Nick’s posts. Things seemed to slow down. When I started my second IB workstation it would’nt load. Found that for my level of service had to close down norgate updater to have both IB workstations working.

[SaidBitar]

Set the update to manual instead of automatic

[LEONARDZIR]

Thanks Said. Will do.

[Nick Radge]

I’m on Level 4.

[LEONARDZIR]

Nick,
I am on level 4 as well. The hostwinds guys told me the norgate upgraderwas hogging too much memory and slowing things down.

[ScottMcNab]

What is the benefit of having Norgate and Ab on the VPS Len rather than your own laptop and uploading the csv only to the VPS ? Is it the ability to log on from a public computer to the VPS if you travel a lot ?

[Nick Radge]

Strange – I haven’t had that issue, although I only run a single TWS at a time – uses dual accounts on the same platform.

[LEONARDZIR]

Scott,
That is correct.I travel frequently and wanted to have the capability of using another computer as a failsafe. Ordinarily I transfer picks from the amibroker on my home computer to the batchtrader on my VPS.

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