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I'm a pretty heavy user of trading sim, and there only seems to be a bit of scattered info on it in the forums so I thought I'd post a detailed thread here along with some recent improvements they've done. For those who don't know, TradingSim (www.tradingsim.com) is a dedicated replay paper trading platform that runs in the browser. One can choose any date, setup a watchlist and playback stock data. There are buttons for play, pause, step to next candle, speed up, slow down etc. You can set your account size, buy, sell, short, limit and stop orders are all there. The advantages of using such a platform: Trade outside of market hours Drastically increase the amount of practice trading for a given time of day (for instance the open) Trade in different market conditions Use it as a research tool to study historical data, refine patterns and strategies, etc. One of the main drawbacks that people have commented here on the forums here is that it does not have pre-market and post market. They have since added this a little while ago. I'd say the only key thing that's still missing is level 2, although they do have order flow; and that also shows the current spread. There is obviously no premarket gapper scanner or anything like that. For trading practice I simply look up the respective recap from Andrew on youtube in order to get a watchlist. I spent quite some effort getting this das-like, and I'm relatively happy with the result. Take a look for yourself, and note that my DAS setup is slightly different than Andrews (I use green candles, different thickness MAs). Like DAS, there are a lot of options, it takes a little while to find everything you need. One rather critical option that vastly improved it for me was the 'Scale series only' under the 'Scale' of the chart settings. This stops the chart zooming out to fit the 50 and 200 SMA when they are out of screen. Just like DAS you can mark your charts with relevant levels from the premaket or daily, levels can be moved across charts via one by one via a copy-paste type functionality, but given the amount of clicking involved it's just as fast to draw them again. Some of the drawbacks the platform still has: Calculation of the VWAP in the pre-market is incorrect (I am currently in contact with them about this) No level 2 Hotkey functionality is a bit weak compared to DAS For active trades, it shows your average price on the chart, as well as relevant limit/stop orders, which is pretty cool, however once a trade is closed, there are no triangles to show you your orders. This makes it difficult for reviewing trades. This also facilitates overtrading or scaling out too quickly in my mind as you can't see the array of triangles you are leaving behind. During my usage of the platform I have found some bugs or oddities and sent them feedback. They have been fairly responsive about addressing all the feedback I have sent them, and a number of things have been fixed thus far. A word to pricing and competition. I tried both NinjaTrader and ThinkorSwin in the beginning, both of which are free. Ninja trader didn't work at all, replay only seemed to work for futures and forex. ThinkorSwim is also free but requires an ameritrade TD account. Based on feedback I heard from others from the community that it was rather clunky and not really usable, I didn't bother trying it out. TradingSim is $300 a year, and they offer a 10 day trial. Compared to the cost of DAS I personally think this is totally reasonable, particularly for people with jobs, or in other time zones who need to practice out of market hours. To conclude I want to emphasize that whilst I am happy with using this software, it is clearly no replacement for the DAS trader simulator with real time data and participating in the chat. Personally, I find I take tradingsim less seriously than the DAS sim, something about the fact the things are not happening real time really takes the pressure off. Therefore it is essential to participate in the market daily to practice in realtime market conditions, and on the platform you will go live with. I'd be interested to here from other members using tradingsim and what they think. Anything to add or any questions?

Monday 7/01/2019 I had a well-being score of 5.5/10 this morning. My nerves were not good even though I knew I am trading on SIM today. Actually, I will probably be on SIM for the rest of the week after three days in a row (last week) with only losers. I took 3 SIM trades today. All losers. Two with Netflix and one with MU. Wow, I trade sloppy when I am on the SIM. I guess I will know when my discipline is back when I can be disciplined on the SIM. Since I was on SIM I wanted to use the time to try something new. Netflix has been in play at the open, but it trades very different from other stocks I have traded. So it was good to try it on SIM at first. It was an eye opener. It gapped up like everything else and had good volume the first minute. Then created a nice hammer in the first minute. Both in premarket and after the open there was a strong resistance at the 373.62 daily level. When it broke that level I went long. There was a very strong daily level just below 380 that was my target. I say strong because the daily chart shows it as resistance many times. With my S/O all the way down to the 200MA-5min. The R/R~3 was good, but there was another daily and the high of premarket at resistant levels to be hit before it would reach my target. So even though I was on SIM I still went a little light on the shares. The price reversed and hit my S/O. Or did it? I wrote in my plan for the week to make sure I give NFLX 30-50 cents on all levels. I even reread that plan as part of my preflight checklist. And then what did I do when it dropped a few pennies below my S/O level? I stopped out. It immediately reversed and went back to my entry point. If I gave it 30 cents room I would have not stopped out. NFLX price broke the 373.62 level again and I went long with same target and S/O. It reached my first partial but I got a bad fill. Though I am glancing at the spread often, I am not staring at it. The spread was fine each time I looked, but it wasn’t when I sold a partial and got a bad fill. Soon I was looking at the L1 bid more than anything else. Most of the price movement was these bounces from bid to ask and not giving me much info. But the bid movement gave me some info. When the bid reached my planned first partial I sold some more and got the expected price. Then the price reversed and I went through a battle of the minds, reptilian versus primate. Sadly the reptilians one this round. I knew intellectually to watch the bid. When the bid (not the price) reaches the B/E I knew to exit. But I couldn’t help myself and I waited until the price reached it and exited and thus got a bad fill and it made this trade a loss as well. What it looked like when I took the first trade: I planned to take up to 3 trades today on SIM. My last trade was with MU. MU broke through VWAP and leveled off and made a nice hammer. There was a resistance level at 41.40, which I planned to go long if it broke it. But instead I made two mistakes. First I didn’t check SPY before I went long in case it was dropping fast and it was at the time. Secondly, I went long off of the bounce from 41.25 instead. Sometimes it’s OK to do that but not for this setup. So I entered the trade in the middle of two levels and was stopped out quickly below the 50MA. What I did good today: Actually it was fun trading something very different like NFLX. How did I challenge myself today? Traded only SIM, that’s not easy for me. What I did bad today: Traded sloppy. What can I do better tomorrow: Need to keep discipline on the SIM.

2019-07-01AMD.mp4

July 1, 2019 - $JD x 3 (Early Outs x 3) Rough start to the month and this sample set. I did not trade well at all today. I got in on $JD on a 5 minute ORBO. It was a nice entry and good setup, I just was not confident and worried more about being wrong in the trade than letting the trade play out, so I got out quickly. Of course it moves to my profit target within the next three minutes just like my setup and entry said it would. No big deal moved on to the next trade, a 15 minute ORBO, and you guessed it did the exact same thing. Entered on a decent setup and quickly got out. This time I re-entered once I identified what I did and held it to a loss of the moving averages and VWAP. Out of all the trades this was the best managed trade of the day once I was in it, although it was still not the best setup of the day. Today goes to show you, let your trades play their way out and do not enter unless you are willing to take the risk. I am going to take a hard look at my $ risk per share and see if I need to lower it a little bit. I seem fine with the losses, but while I am in the trade, I am not executing well. Disappointing day today with how I managed my trades after the entry. Sample Set Results, P E E E 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Sample Set 5 Criteria Hey Everyone, Skipped posting my fourth sample set criteria, because I basically kept it the same as the third. Only real adjustment was the simulator trades I was looking to take. For this sample set I have adjusted the confirmations a little bit, but I really like the entries I have taken over the last month. This sample set I want to focus on my profit taking, while keeping my entry execution in the same spot. Four areas I want to work on during this sample are: (1) Hold through the initial pullback if the stock does not drop right away (2) Hold off on taking my first partial to at least a moving average on the 5 minute or the low of the day (3) Learn it is ok to be wrong and lose. Confront the emotion of losing and being wrong each time you begin to think about getting out early (4) Keeping FOMO in check, especially with the 5 min Orb strategy My desired outcomes I am looking for at the end of the sample set are: (1) Focusing on the execution of each step in my trading plan. (Indicators, confirmations, risk analysis/management, entry, and profit taking) (2) I want to be comfortable being wrong. (3) Maintaining discipline and not give into FOMO with the 5 min Orb, so I do not get over excited and enter a trade too early All of my indicators, confirmations, and risk analysis that defines my edge is based on information obtained in Andrew’s book and the lifetime Webinars. Edge Defined Trading Plan: 5 & 15 Min ORB – I am still only trading 5 & 15 Min Orbs. I have found over the past 3 months that both strategies produce about the same results. 5 Minute ORB Pullback Met Parameters - 98 of 383 Total trades within parameters that have worked - 74 of 98 (75.51%) 15 Minute ORB Pullback Met Parameters – 107 of 384 Total trades within parameters that have worked - 84 of 107 (78.50%) Stocks for Watchlist: I select up to three stocks to watch based on the following criteria: (No Changes from previous sample set) % Change – Gapped at least 2% but not more than 10% Catalyst – Needs to have fundamental news of sort. Vol – >100,000 Float – High or Medium float (> 50 m) ATR - .50 to 2.00 Trading – Must be trading higher than normal volume Exchange – I prefer Nasdaq over NYSE Edge Criteria 5/15 Min Strategy: I have three parts to my trade plan: risk analysis, indicators, and confirmations Risk Analysis: 1:2 or Greater Indicators: Must meet 3 of 5 Trades within the ATR Small share size with high volume ORBO closes above VWAP/ORBD closes below VWAP No large wicks (wick cannot be larger than body) Close Should be close to the VWAP Confirmations: Must meet 2 of 2 Pullback towards VWAP in a “ꓥ” (long) or “V”(short) Direction Rejection of VWAP with Moving Averages in a favorable position Profit Taking Plan: This has been a work in progress. Whether it is holding on to long before taking profits than getting stopped out, to the other spectrum of taking profits too early and getting stopped out at breakeven, then the move happening in my direction. This sample set I am defining some clear levels before taking my first profits. Plan A – 1/3 out at low of the day, moving average (5,15 charts), or 1R, then all out at profit target Plan B – 1/3 out at low of the day, moving average (5,15 charts), or 1R, 75% at momentum failure, all out at the profit target or first out. Share Size: I am taking share size based on a fixed dollar amount. Thanks to KyleK29 & fjmocke for the hotkey setup. Daily Trading Goal: My daily trading goal is to trade only within my edge, stick to my profit taking plan, control my emotions, and be disciplined. If I meet these then it is a green day regardless of what my P/L says.

April 29, 2019 - $AMD (Partial x 2) I took a trade for a 15 minute ORBD, but it was a little outside my edge with regards to the risk to reward. This was mostly due to getting a bad entry, which also contributed to having to exit at the break even after taking a partial. 2nd sample set is complete, which fell on a good week since I will be traveling a lot this week and won't be able to trade Thursday or Friday. Sample Set Results P G S P E S P P P S G 12 13 14 S P S S P 20

Here is my setup which I hope you find useful. My buttons consist of 4 for buy and 4 for sell: Notes: BUY: places a limit order with 1/4 buying power and attaches a stop loss at 99% of last price at time of order. Note, the method suggested by Andrew at the very top didn't work for me and I found out that you couldn't attach a stop loss order with qty = position and price= av.cost as at the time of running the command there is no position to start with. So what I did is send two separate orders with one command, both with 1/4 buying power, one buy limit and one stop market Breakeven: It first cancels any pending orders (i.e the existing stop that went with original order) and then places a stop order at average purchase price Sell Half: Assuming you would do this to cash some profit (i.e you are on the profit side), it cancels any pending order, sells half the position, and then places a stop market for half the position at original purchase price. Close: Sells all and cancels all pending orders Same but opposite positions for the Short commands BUY: ROUTE=LIMIT;Price=Ask+0.05;Share=BP*0.25 ;TIF=DAY+;HANDINST=ANY;SSHARE=0 ;BUY=Send;ROUTE=STOP;StopType=Market;StopPrice=last*0.99;Share=BP*0.25;TIF=DAY+;HANDINST=ANY;SELL=SEND BREAKEVEN: CXL ALLSYMB;ROUTE=STOP;StopType=Market;StopPrice=AvgCost;Share=Pos;TIF=DAY+;HANDINST=ANY;SELL=Send HALVE: CXL ALLSYMB;ROUTE=LIMIT;Price=Bid-0.05;Share=Pos*0.5 ;TIF=DAY+;HANDINST=ANY;SSHARE=0 ;SELL=Send;ROUTE=STOP;StopType=Market;StopPrice=AvgCost;Share=Pos*0.5;TIF=DAY+;HANDINST=ANY;SELL=SEND CLOSE: ROUTE=LIMIT;Price=Bid-0.05;Share=Pos ;TIF=DAY+;HANDINST=ANY;SSHARE=0 ;SELL=Send;CXL ALLSYMB SHORT: ROUTE=LIMIT;Price=Bid-0.05;Share=BP*0.25 ;TIF=DAY+;HANDINST=ANY;SSHARE=0 ;SELL=Send;ROUTE=STOP;StopType=Market;StopPrice=last*1.01;Share=BP*0.25;TIF=DAY+;HANDINST=ANY;BUY=SEND BREAKEVEN: CXL ALLSYMB;ROUTE=STOP;StopType=Market;StopPrice=AvgCost;Share=Pos;TIF=DAY+;HANDINST=ANY;BUY=Send HALVE: CXL ALLSYMB;ROUTE=LIMIT;Price=Ask+0.05;Share=Pos*0.5 ;TIF=DAY+;HANDINST=ANY;SSHARE=0 ;BUY=Send;ROUTE=STOP;StopType=Market;StopPrice=AvgCost;Share=Pos*0.5;TIF=DAY+;HANDINST=ANY;BUY=SEND CLOSE: ROUTE=LIMIT;Price=Ask+0.05;Share=Pos ;TIF=DAY+;HANDINST=ANY;SSHARE=0 ;BUY=Send;CXL ALLSYMB