StockSpotter is easy to learn and requires a minimal effort on your part. We perform a thorough quantitative analysis on nearly 3,000 stocks daily.
A typical subscriber may spend as little as 8-12 minutes a day of their own effort.
Please read this document before beginning to use StockSpotter. A basic understanding of the service will help get you up to speed quickly.
WE SUGGEST: If you decide to take advantage of our 30 day offer, please allow a minimum of 2-3 weeks for your evaluation.
Short-term trading is like baseball, it's a game of odds that requires patience. If you're batting 300, you're among the best in the game. In short-term trading, if you're batting in the
600-650 range (60-65% winners) and hitting mostly singles and occasional doubles, you'll also right up there with the best. One "at bat" does not a game make and one game does not a season make.
Approximately 3 hours after each market day close,
StockSpotter begins its daily algorithmic analysis of nearly 3,000 optionable
stocks. The analysis typically results in several new trading signals each day
(often a few to a dozen or more) however the system does not attempt to regulate
the number of signals and the actual number will vary with market
conditions. StockSpotter generates both entry and exit signals. An exit signal
will be generated only after StockSpotter is already "in" a simulated long or short position.
Once the end-of-day analysis is complete, the StockSpotter.com website is
updated, usually before 8 PM Eastern. Subscribers can check to see when
the daily update is complete without logging in by viewing the "Status:" line at
the bottom of the home page.
All trading signals are entirely from algorithmic techniques based on
mathematical and statistical methods. There are no subjective views or opinions,
fundamental analysis techniques, earnings surprises, news stories, etc., involved. Once a new signal is published
on the website it becomes static and is not modified or removed. A
complete history
of all trading signals and simulated trades is retained for a period of at least 2
years.
StockSpotter's trading signals have been engineered for execution at-the-market
on the next open without specifying stop or limit orders. Although this may not
always produce an optimal entry or exit, by entering and exiting at the
market-on-open StockSpotter can simulate trade execution at the readily
available opening price following the trading signal from the night before.
Because we do not use stop limits, we feel our simulated trades are more
representative of real-world trading because there is never any question at what
price the simulated execution occurs. Of course you may wish to include stops in
your actual trading. Just remember that, unlike trend trading, typically swing
or counter-trend trading system such as StockSpotter typically need a little
cushion. A stop set at roughly 7% or so should be sufficient to not
interfere with the trading system's expected price swings.
Be aware that earnings surprises or global news events occurring after the entry signal
can have a significant unexpected effect. On days when the market is unexpectedly jolted, depending on the signal (long or short) and the nature of the event,
you may wish to exercise caution regarding the signal's probability of success.
Each trading signal is given a signal rating from 2 to 5 stars. This
allows us to estimate signal quality using our proprietary data mining
techniques. Note that this is a statistical rating only and there are never any
guarantees in market prediction. We have found that some users only
pay attention to 4 and 5 star ratings and we feel that can be a mistake. As you
will see in the performance results, often times signals with lower signal
ratings perform as well or better than those with higher ratings.
All simulated trades are stored in an internal database for performance
reporting purposes. Open (simulated) trades are monitored as they
happen, allowing subscribers to conveniently follow open trades of interest in their watchlist.
For any symbol in a subscriber's watchlist, the watchlist
shows an alert the night before entry/exit.
For each entry signal, a corresponding exit signal will occur within 10 market days (2
calendar weeks). As with entry signals, exit signals are
posted on the website the night before for at-the-market execution on the next open. Once a
(simulated) trade has been closed, StockSpotter retains the
trade details and uses them in the hypothetical performance results pages on the website including
the performance summaries, equity growth charts, Monte Carlo simulations, etc.
We recommend that new users get acquainted with the StockSpotter service by placing (and
subsequently removing) trading signals of interest in their watchlists. New
subscribers may wish to:
- Develop a nightly (or pre-market) routine of regularly examining the new signals
- Place one or more new signals in your watchlist each evening after the daily analysis is complete
- Return the following day/evening to monitor performance.
- Continue to monitor open trades of interest as they progress and are subsequently closed
- Remove uninteresting symbols from your watchlist after a few days. Don't try to follow too many open trades at a time
- Continuously evaluate the signals you've chosen to follow. Find out what works best for you and adjust accordingly
|