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I have been trading the open, then working, and for the last 9 or 10 months, then working on a major house project with the rest of my daylight hours so time has been very short. I've tried various forms of journaling, from simple DIY to other people's elaborate spread sheet, software, and web apps. I am very happy with what I'm doing now as a way of getting the information I need while keeping the process short. That last part is important. The less time it takes, the more likely I am to stay on it and get useful information out of it. So here it is. It's really simple but is working the best for me by far: 1st, recording video with audio (the chat and me on a head set). I use OBS to record and VLC for playback. I have the days trades displayed in DAS and it's super easy and quick to move the slider to just before a trade and then watch/listen. The speed is really easy to adjust with hot keys which is really great to study trade management especially (and Andrew is really entertaining at 1.8x speed:-) I also talk my way through which helps while I'm actually trading. And wow, watching video, especially while listening to what I was thinking real-time is worth SO MUCH more than pictures! 2nd, I use a daily spread sheet to enter my risk, Gross $, estimated net $, gross & estimated net R, and gross & net account balances. I only need to enter my risk, gross $, and shares bought to get this info. Here's what it looks like: Date Gross Net R Shares Gross R Cum. R Gross Bal. Net Bal. 09/21/20 14 7 13 158 1.1 0.0 6274 3910 09/22/20 -6 -17 26 598 -0.2 -0.2 6268 3893 09/23/20 17 10 15 168 1.1 0.9 6285 3903 09/24/20 26 22 15 169 1.7 2.6 6311 3926 09/28/20 -14 -22 25 300 -0.6 2.1 6297 3904 09/29/20 16 2 24 694 0.7 2.7 6313 3906 09/30/20 -70 -83 34 1530 -2.1 0.7 6243 3698 I also have monthly totals and average R & win rates over a few time frames: Average R 0.2 Last 5 Average R 0.4 Last 10 Average R 0.5 Last 20 Win Rate 60% Last 5 Win Rate 70% Last 10 Win Rate 75% Last 20 This data also generates charts for cumulative gross R, daily R scatter plot (with 10-day moving average), and a gross & net account balance graph. All of this stuff is based on days, not trades. Then the newest thing, tracking whether I followed the rules or not, the accumulated R for each, and some notes. This is per-trade, not day like above. This has been a huge help to me! I can calculate what I would be doing if I actually followed my stupid rules!!! I can see how much it's costing me not to follow my stupid rules!!! And I can see which strategies might be working better or worse. The big value this has brought me is understanding that my trades are working (if I would just follow my stupid rules!:-) and what my results would be if I did. It means, if those results are what I want, I can focus on what's important (following the stupid rules!) instead of looking for some amazing strategy which will make everything better. And that rule-following data, it's in my face every day: R 3.8 -2.0 Trade # 28.0 5.0 Average 0.1 -0.4 Followed Rules September Yes No 09/21/20 0.7 1 ORB Would have been more but got out late after 1st cover. -0.7 MA 1.4 MA -0.4 MA Shorted just above the 50 on the 5. 09/22/20 -1.1 5 ORB -0.2 5 ORB -0.3 MA Tried reversal w/Brian 1.2 MA Did 2nd cover a bit to early. -0.3 VWAP VWAP before Z 0.4 MA VWAP – Z 09/23/20 -0.1 1 ORB Entered near VWAP for close safe stop but after 1 min. engulfing 1.6 1 ORB In w/Brian -0.9 5 ORB 2nd 1 min. ORB 0.5 VWAP 09/24/20 1.7 5 ORB In under MA Weekend Need to work on: MA rules, closer stops, cut losers sooner 09/28/20 -1.3 VWAP Didn’t sell after low vol. On 1 min. -0.1 VWAP Low vol. 0.6 1 MA Not on 5 MA 0.2 VWAP 0.0 1-5 MA Low vol. 09/29/20 0.0 1 ORB Low vol. -0.1 5 ORB Low vol. -0.1 1-5 MA -0.1 1-5 MA 0.7 1-5 MA -0.9 1-5 MA 1.1 VWAP 09/30/20 -1.5 1 ORB Was struggling & gave me chances to exit near BE. -0.2 VWAP 1.8 VWAP -1.1 Rev -1.0 1 MA I am also experimenting with a dynamic risk calculator which raises & lowers risk based on the average R and win rate over the last 5 days. The idea is that it will pull the risk out automatically when I start veering off the righteous path (like I did in July - ugh...). I think I like it but may tweak the calculator some after I have had more time with it. I hope this helps someone. I'm happy to share the spread sheet with anyone who would like it.

CMEG 3 month Review I wanted to wait a few months before giving my opinion on CMEG. I have been using them since late February 2018 and am one of their initial client accounts. Let me preface this review by saying no broker is perfect but if you are using SureTrader...CMEG is far better overall and a solid choice for small accounts learning to trade with no PDT rule. Their client service is more than happy to talk/email you on any concerns. Who is to say other brokers do not experience the same issues from time to time? I will begin with some issues over the months I have experienced: 1. Orders getting executed (I have experienced times where I could not close out of a position and had to call/email them to manually do it). This lasted for a few hours, sometimes until the next day but usually was fixed overnight. ~2-3 times since February. I was not given a reason why this occurred. Also they do not reimburse any losses incurred for being unable to close out. 2. Changes to their margin policy (without email notification or a phone call on updates to their trading rules). For example, some of my hotkey scrips use % of Buying Power. On a few mornings CMEG had updated their margin allowed and the requirements behind usage. As a result my orders were not getting filled and I had no idea why! Rule parameters could vary from how much margin is allowed with long/short positions/per stock price/maintenance requirement per share...etc. I had to troubleshoot scripts with a real/demo account to understand what exactly was going on...alongside email/phone calls to the broker. A good habit was to test orders in pre-market with the provided demo account. Just because you were able to swing with 4:1 margin without liquidation or use full margin short at the open on XYZ stock priced at X dollars does not mean you can the next day. It's best to check their policy regularly or even better just call to see if there was an update. There was no mass email to clients for rule changes. However, I believe they now inform clients by email for most updates. Excellent! 4. This broker is overseas so be prepared to face international calling charges. However CMEG did help and credit my account for me unknowingly incurring international phone charges. They are not toll-free. They also credited back some of their platform fees that I incurred for the inconvenience of any changes that affected my trading which was very nice. A sign of goodwill and respect to clients. SureTrader refused to credit me back their withdrawal fee $40 after having me wait 3 weeks due to an error on their end to receive my money...I will never go back. 3. Platform software updates - they should inform clients of all manual changes, i.e the Mobile DAS App Order Route had to be manually changed to be able to login on your phone. This had to be changed to route 5016 from 5010 when they released an updated desktop client. Probably just an oversight but I had to take hours out of my day to figure this out, work with DAS tech support, and groupthink with BB members. Also it is best to talk to DAS tech support for any issues related to all licensed DAS platforms, both mobile and desktop. I did not expect CMEG to know everything about DAS as they are a broker and license the platform. 4. Email responses can vary, sometimes less than an hour, sometimes more than a day depending on the situation. Sometimes their phone number doesn't connect through, and I need to call a few times, and I think some of the email signatures use an outdated phone number? Something I'm not sure about that Lee W brought to my attention. I think IB can set up or the direct platform license from DAS has a risk feature you can right click on your account and set up risk parameters, i.e Max Loss, Max Loss Per trade. Not sure on this but CMEG does not offer that feature with their DAS license. Would be a nice feature for new traders to use though. I listed these concerns so CMEG can eliminate them. I am not criticizing their services and am 99% of the time pleased and comfortable using them as my broker. I often email them with suggestions on improvements and compliments. If I am able to work with these issues as a new trader you can as well and should use CMEG. Overall The $2.95 per trade promo that Andrew got us is probably the best you can get out there, unless you scale out 10 times, then IB may be the better choice if you have the account balance, or perhaps Speedtrader. This makes new traders less worried about commissions and breaking even and more focused on trading the setup. SureTrader charges $5 per trade in the U.S. and this makes it very stressful to manage, trust me. Performance has been getting steadily better (orders have been getting filled without issues for well over a month now). Closing positions has not been an issue for over a month as well. Excellent so far. FREE SIMULATOR, when you open an account! SureTrader does NOT offer that. The executions are very fast. Short inventory is excellent (they route through IB and seem to have even more available sometimes) I have not had any crashes of the platform. Windows 10 Pro. They do not restrict margin with many stocks, only in very very rare cases is margin restricted. I think in 3 months I've only seen 1 stock restricted and that was LFIN lol R.I.P. This is a huge advantage to build up small accounts over other brokers like SureTrader and IB. You need at least 5K buying power to make profits over these $2.95 commission fees on most stocks we trade. With 4:1 margin for <2.5K balance and 6:1 for >2.5K that's not hard to maintain and slowly grow on 1-2 trades daily A+ setups. The growing pains of their risk/margin policy changes has settled down. I think they compromised what they can manage and what traders feel comfortable using. It has been over a month I think, since the last big change, and I like what their rules offer! Makes new traders at ease. Rules are available on their website to view. I can pretty much use margin on almost all stocks I trade without issue. I don't trade stocks less than $10 too much and their rules tend to be for very low priced penny stocks. So if you trade from Fernando's watch list you may not be able to use too much margin. Also be aware that in the past you may have been able to swing positions using full margin, that has since been reduced to 2:1 margin, you get an email warning around ~3:48PM and ~3:53PM their system automatically brings you within that limit. When I asked, forced liquidation was not a part of their procedures but came into effect without me being made aware...so it's best to double check their rules weekly or you can learn the hard way. Remember they sometimes update their rules without emailing clients. If you were able to swing with margin in the past, give them a call to make sure you stay within guidelines come market close...if you're caught in a bad trade but like the daily swing. This really doesn't matter because you shouldn't be swinging with much margin anyway right? All in all, I would continue to use this broker and recommend them to new traders wanting to build up their accounts, learn to trade, practice in a sim for free, and use an excellent and tested platform. They are constantly improving and love to receive constructive feedback. It can only get better from here as they develop. Oh yeah wait times on the phone are usually pretty low, couple minutes at most, unlike some other brokers and their service team remembers you! Thanks Andrew for working with CMEG to help us small account holders be able to day trade along side the big boys.