A better Trader is algorithmic trading software that uses brackets to manage trading for you. You pick the stocks, and A better Trader then automates the trading of your picks.
You don't have to do anything else - unless you want to. You can perform manual buys and sells and change your picks at any time.
A better Trader continuously monitors stock prices, so it can protect you as the price drops, and take profits when stocks peak, whenever the market is open. A better Trader will not always predict future peaks and valleys correctly. But it will trade with consistency. And it will be watching whenever the market is open, so you don't have to.
Day traders can use the software to trade more stocks, setting many trade rules that will run unmonitored. Instead of manually placing orders on a dozen or so stocks, the software can help you manage hundreds, diversifying your portfolio and increasing opportunity.
Investors used to mutual funds can use the software to manage a large portfolio with conservative patterns that hold for longer periods of time.
Beginners can run a simulation account to learn the behavior of the live market without committing funds. Everyone should start this way, as A better Trader has its own particular way of trading that you'll want to learn before committing your broker funds to live trading.
The fundamental unit of A better Trader's engine is called a stock cycle.
A stock cycle deals with one stock pick. The engine alternately buys and sells a block of that stock as the algorithm indicates it is time to strike.
The cycle has a preset value that determines the specific number of stocks to buy. You set the cycle's value. First, you point the engine at one of your accounts and tell it how much of that account's balance you want to trade. Then you choose how many stock picks you want at any given time. This determines each stock cycle's value.
For example, let's say one of your picks was SNAP (Snapchat). The adjacent chart shows one possible stock cycle. Let's say you decide to trade $10,000 in an account, across a maximum of 4 owned stocks. Each cycle would then have an allocation limit of $2,500. When the engine decided it was time to buy SNAP, it would purchase 95 shares at $26.16.
A better Trader sets up bracketing around the stock price. This bracketing defines the triggers for when the stock should be bought or sold.
There are four major bracketing phases.
1 Watch a new stock pick, waiting for a drop.Once the stock is sold, at a profit (4) or loss (3b), it enters the cycle again (1).
Each of your accounts will have a set of picks for you to manage. You can add and remove picks, and rank them. The ranking is important, as it determines which stocks will be bought next.
To make it easier for you to control which picks are bought next, two separate pick categories are maintained: manual picks and autoranked picks. The engine is instructed to always buy your manual picks first; if there are no manual picks, the engine will use an autoranking algorithm to select from the autoranked picks.
You should always have enough picks provided so the engine can buy new stocks as opportunity arises. Having extra picks is good.
You can trade against simulated accounts, or you can authenticate and use your E*Trade account to do live trading.
In addition to managing the picks, you have access to charts, to watch the bracketing events play out in realtime.
As you get further in, you will also discover that all of the parameters that drive the automated trading are accessible and adjustable. Advanced users will find analysis tools to help them make these adjustments.
A better Trader is a place for collaboration. The leaderboard is the fastest way to see what others are doing. You can click on a user to see what picks they have chosen, and what parameters they are using.
Other resources:
When you're ready to kick the tires, sign up. You'll be guided through the steps to start simulated trading - the best way to learn.