Track 'n Trade Autopilot Plug-in

Step 1 - System Setup

Video Transcript

In this video, we’re going to review the settings within each of our three step setup process.

Step one, remember, this is where you select which indicator, or indicator(s) you’re going to be using to signal an entry and possibly your exit signals.

So let’s start at the very top of the Autopilot control panel, and move through the setup process from top to bottom.

The first two things we notice are the HELP button, and the Q-Calc Button.

Don’t forget, we have an extensive online manual, anytime you have questions about the functionality of one of the features within the Autopilot, you can click this button to find the answer.

You’ll also notice that we have a set of Q-Calc buttons along the right side of many of the settings within the control panel, plus, we have the master Q-Calc. button right here at the very top.

The Q-Calc. buttons are part of the Monti-Carlo back-testing system, which allows you to use historical data, from any chosen market, to test your theories, strategies, and individual settings against.

The Q-Calc. buttons are beyond the scope of this video, but will be demonstrated in an upcoming video where we’ll discuss the historical Mont-Carlo back-testing module in greater detail.

At this point, just be advised, that each time you see a Q-Calc. button, that the minimum and maximum parameters can be set by right clicking on the Q-Calc. button, and that this setting can be historically back tested to find the optimal perimeter for any given strategy that you may be building, and this first button, here at the top, is the master control, which tells Track ‘n Trade to calculate, or re-calculate the entire system, one component piece at a time.

Let’s now move into the section labeled System Setup.

The first thing we see here is where we give our strategy a name, and how to save our settings, so let’s start by creating a new system, by clicking the New button, which pops up a box, with the ability to name our system, and to choose whether it’s our default strategy or not.

This way, we can design many variations of the same strategy, or a number of totally different strategies, and save each one with a unique name, allowing us to then later quickly choose which strategy we want to execute at the appropriate time.

You’ll notice that all the technical details of your strategy are listed here, below the name; this is more for the convenience of trouble-shooting than anything else, so for the most part, unless you’re having trouble following what your system is doing, we can just ignore this box in the beginning. If you call into our technical support team for help, they may ask you to show them this box.

Let’s save this box, and then move onto the next setting.

This is where you determine which trading indicator you will be using to take entry and exit signals from, such as the MACD, the CCI, or Moving Averages.

You can also take signals from such things as Candlestick formations, as well as our famed Bulls ‘n Bears Advantage system. As the system developer, it’s your choice; you can use any indicator you prefer. Each indicator has its strengths and weaknesses, try to develop systems based around the strengths of each indicator, and then use that strategy during trading periods where your chosen indicator seems to excel.

This is the beauty of the Track ‘n Trade Autopilot, you can have multiple systems, designed and optimized to trade different types of markets, using a variety of indicators, since not all markets are the same, this makes it difficult to find one single strategy that fits all situations.

Most cheap black box systems you find for sale on the Internet, where the exact indicator is hidden from the buyer, generally just use simple moving averages.

So, in the beginning, you could start there, and then move into more sophisticated indicators later, once you gain more experience and understanding.

But whatever indicator you choose, you need to have it, and the chart you’ll be trading selected first, as the only indicators that will show up in your indicator selection window will be the indicators you have turned on for the active chart.

The conditional setting gives you the ability to have the Autopilot take two different indicators into consideration for entry. For example, you may want both indicators to indicate buy and sell arrows within only one or two bars apart from each other, otherwise you won’t take the trade. This is a nice way to have two indicators confirm one another before jumping into the market.

Many of the features in the Autopilot are pretty much self-explanatory, this next feature, is one of those. How many contracts do you want to trade with each new position? Just state your quantity here, in this example, we’ll just put one.

The next setting might need a little explanation. If you select Trade Percentage, rather than trade quantity, Track ‘n Trade will calculate the number of individual contracts you can trade, based on margin amounts, and account size, and then execute your trading strategy using those parameters. Let’s say for example you put 25 in this field. Track ‘n Trade will calculate, based on 25% of your account size, and the margin requirements, how many contracts of the selected commodity you can trade. It will then increase or decrease your buying and selling quantity for each new trade. As you make more money, Track ‘n Trade will automatically increase your position size, and as you lose money, it will automatically decrease your position size.

If you use this setting, make sure you have enough money in your account to accommodate the percentage you’ve chosen to trade, if not, Track ‘n Trade will calculate a quantity of zero, and may leave you bewildered as to why the system is not taking trades.

To fix that problem, you’ll need to either increase your account size, change to a market with a smaller margin requirement, or increase the account percentage you’re willing to put at risk with each new trade.

Next, the autopilot has the ability to execute your trading strategy one time, based upon the next signal only, or you can ask it to trade continuously, taking each signal as they come along. We’ll cover this feature in greater detail in upcoming videos, exampling for you several creative ways to implement this feature.

Time Restraints are again, pretty self-explanatory. When do you want the system to start trading, and when do you want it to stop taking new positions, and on which days of the week?

One thing I do want to clarify is that Track ‘n Trade will not execute any new positions outside the times specified here, but it WILL still continue to monitor and execute your exit strategy outside of those time frames, if you are still actively in a trade.

Of course, with the following setting, you can specify to exit the market prior to the close.