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Automated Trading System Risk Disclaimer

This document defines the major risks that the user/trader assumes and accepts by using the AutoPilot automated trading system (ATS onwards), commercialized under the DayTradeToWin.com brand and which development and property rights belong to DayTradeToWin.com (DTTW onwards) for use with a trading platform (platform onwards).

Important Risk Disclaimer

The information contained in the reports within this website is provided with the objective of "standardizing" automated trading system performance, and is intended for informational purposes only. It should not be viewed as a solicitation for any specific trading system or system vendor. As past performance does not guarantee future results, these results may have no bearing on, and may not be indicative of, any individual returns realized through participation in this or any other investment. No part of this website should be considered apart from the Disclosure Documents and disclaimers contained herein.

Every effort has been made to ensure that the information on this website is accurate and complete, but neither DTTW, nor our officers, principals, employees or agents shall be liable to any person for any losses, damages, costs or expenses (including, but not limited to, loss of profits, loss of use, direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages) resulting from any errors in, omissions of or alterations to the information. The foregoing shall apply regardless of whether a claim arises in contract, tort, negligence, strict liability otherwise.

In instances where qualitative judgments are issued, the opinions expressed are that of the author, and may not necessarily reflect those of DTTW, their respective subsidiaries, affiliates, officers or employees. You are urged to draw your own conclusions from the data and analysis presented here and elsewhere.

Futures Trading Risks

The risk of loss in trading commodity futures contracts and forex, even when done via an automated trading system, can be substantial. You should therefore carefully consider whether such trading is suitable for you in light of your financial condition. You may sustain a total loss of the initial margin funds and any additional funds that you deposit with your broker to establish or maintain a position in the commodity futures market.

Any specific investment or investment service contained or referred to in this website may not be suitable for all investors. You should not rely on any of the information as a substitute for the exercise of your own skill and judgment in making such a decision on the appropriateness of such investments.

Finally, the ability to withstand losses and to adhere to a particular automated trading system in spite of trading losses are material points which can adversely affect investor performance.

We recommend investors visit the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") website at the following address before trading: http://www.cftc.gov/cftc/cftcbeforetrade.htm

Risks Unique to Automated Trading Systems

Trading systems can be subject to substantial commission charges and costs for the purchase or lease of the system. While the numbers within this website include all such fees, it may be necessary for those accounts that are subject to these charges to make substantial trading profits in the future to avoid depletion or exhaustion of their assets. It is important to note that the performance records on this website are calculated with the listed commission amounts (ranging from $15 to $25), and commission charges above those levels will result in actual performance much worse than the reported performance on this website.

All ATS carry risk, even if the long term profitability is positive. There is no perfect system, nor is there a system that always wins. Any investment in ATS carries great risks, and the performance shown should not blind the user from those risks. It is important to note that the worst losing streak of a system is most often yet to come, and can happen when the system is active in the user's account. The market circumstances can change from the period in which the system was designed, and the system’s rules which have given positive returns in the past can start giving negative returns

Trading systems can be subject to substantial commission charges and costs for the purchase or lease of the system. While the numbers within this website include all such fees, but it may be necessary for those accounts that are subject to these charges to make substantial trading profits in the future to avoid depletion or exhaustion of their assets.

The DTTW Platform as offered through a license with the User’s futures brokerage firm, offers a service to run Automated Trading Systems directly in said User’s futures trading account. This means you, the user, may choose, through controls in the Platform, for your account to be automatically operated following the buy and sell signals generated by one or more ATS.

There are three types of ATS available to the user:

  1. Proprietary systems developed by the user. In this case, DTTW can automate the execution of an ATS whose source code has been provided by the user.
  2. Free Systems. DTTW may make available to the Platform user a number of ATS which are free to use. In some cases they may be open source systems, and in other cases they are systems that DTTW or an external developer has decided to offer free of charge to z users.
  3. Systems with third party licences. In this case the user must pay a license fee to use the ATS. The platform facilitates the payment of this fee to the developer of the systems, and allows the user to activate for trading in the account only those systems the user has purchased a license for.

The buy and sell signals of the ATS are generated via real-time market data broadcast to DTTW through various vendors of real-time financial information, and these signals generate orders that are in turn sent back to the futures exchanges hosting said markets, without human intervention, from DTTW servers. Rapid and unexpected movements in prices and/or failures in their diffusion, can generate buy and sell signals that result in gains or losses larger than expected, and are always independent of what may have happened in the historical period analyzed by the user.

DTTW performs the execution of these orders (the buy and sell signals generated by the ATS) for User’s account on a "not held" basis, meaning DTTW shall not be held responsible for the execution of the order at the price indicated or otherwise; and shall not be responsible for the performance of the ATS, including any potential trading losses the user may sustain as a result of use of the ATS.

In particular, DTTW is not responsible for any damages that may result from incorrect functioning of the ATS as well as any technical problem external to DTTW servers such as mechanical or communication line failure, or system errors, or any other cause beyond its control; and can accept and execute orders only if actually received or generated; expressly declining liability for any malfunction of ATS, the telephone network, hosting services and technical support of the ATS.

Because the platform technology ‘syncs’ ATS orders with the open positions in your account, it is of great importance that User’s do not attempt to place any orders directly into their platform account via calling their broker or placing an order on an online system. The resulting trade fill outside of the platform could cause sync issues which could result in additional trades and trading losses. User specifically agrees to not place any trades in their platform account and to assume any and all risks and losses resulting from placing such trades.

The user assumes the use of the platform technology for the implementation of the ATS he or she requests to activate, accepts as their own all operations performed by ATS and exempts DTTW from any responsibilities in the economic result that these operations may generate.

DTTW makes no guarantee, implied or otherwise as to the information provided to investors by third party trading system vendors outside of the platform through their respective websites or otherwise. As such, use of these third party trading systems is at the investors own risk and you acknowledge and agree that DTTW is not responsible for any shortcomings, errors in charging or billing, misrepresentations, or any other wrongdoing on the part of the owner of said third party trading system(s). DTTW recommends investors review the trading system vendors' policies regarding privacy, billing, errors and omissions, etc. before investing.

ATS Activation and Licensing

The platform enables Users to activate one or more ATS for trading in their account and set a Multiplier whereby the number of contracts traded on all signals will be multiplied by the chosen multiplier. For example, if the chosen system trades 2 contracts per signal and the user choose a multiplier of 4, then 8 contracts (2*4) will be executed on the next signal.

Upon activation of an ATS, or change in multiplier, and on every subsequent trading session the system remains active for a User, DTTW will instruct the Broker firm at which the User’s account is held to withhold a margin amount from the account to cover margin and potential losses for that trading session. This amount may vary for future sessions with changes in market conditions, exchange margins, or the risk profile of the system.

At the start of each trading session, we will verify if a User’s account balance covers all the required minimums for the ATS activated by the User. If the balance is below what is required, the platform will automatically deactivate systems until the balance meets the required minimum. The priority for systems being deactivated will be those systems with no open positions first, sorted by most recently activated to least recently activated (longest active), and then those systems with open positions, sorted in the same manner.

DTTW shall not be responsible for any loss, damage, or expense directly or indirectly caused by delays and/or failures in the processing, management, activation, multiplier change, and auto deactivation of ATS as outlined above. In addition, DTTW shall not be responsible for any loss, damage, or expense directly or indirectly caused by the withholding of a margin amount for the trading of ATS User has activated using the platform.

Data and Hypothetical Performance

Backtested, Real-time, and Client Fill Data Sets

The trading system performance on this website is calculated via trades generated on three data sets: 1. Backtested, 2. Real-Time, and where available 3. Client Fills.

Backtested Trades are generated by running a trading system backwards in time, and seeing what trades would have been done in the past when applied to backadjusted data. Real-Time Trades are generated by running the trading system forwards on data each and every day absent any intervention from the system developer, and logging the trades as they happen in real time day after day. Client Fill Trades are generated by running the trading system on LIVE tick data for at least one actual client and tracking the actual buy and sell prices those clients trading the system receive in their account.

Client Fill Trades are used to calculate monthly returns for any month in which clients were trading for the entire month, Real-Time Trades for those months in which there are no client fills for the entire month, and Backtested Trades for those months occurring before we loaded the system onto our trade servers.

Note that the Client Fill Trades are reported across all clients utilizing the platform, across multiple brokers, and are not based solely on the performance of accounts at this brokerage.

Monthly, Annual Percentage Returns (and Related Statistics)

Hypothetical Results

No matter which data set s used, the calculated results are hypothetical in that they represent returns in a model account. The model account rises or falls by the single contract profit and loss achieved by the system in whichever data set is available. The hypothetical model account begins with the Suggested Capital level listed, and is reset to that amount each month.

Suggested Capital

The Suggested Capital number shown on the platform is calculated based on a proprietary risk analysis methodology designed by DTTW which results in a suggested starting capital amount roughly 3 times the expected maximum drawdown of the trading system. (However, no guarantee, expressed or implied, is given that the system can not lose more than 1/3 of the suggested capital amount. Indeed, as the disclaimer above states - you may sustain a total loss of the initial margin funds and any additional funds that you deposit with your broker to establish or maintain a position in the commodity futures market.)

The percentage returns reflect inclusion of commissions, slippage, fees, and the cost of the system. The monthly cost deduction = number of monthly trades * listed commission + listed slippage value. The monthly cost of the system is subtracted from the net profit/loss prior to calculating the percentage return.

Slippage

Slippage is the difference between where a trading system signal believes it was filled and where the client actually got filled. Slippage is a result of the spread between the bid and offer in a market [while a signal uses the last price as a trigger, that price is usually unattainable - with buyers having to pay the offer price (higher than the last price) and sellers having to sell at the bid price (lower than the last price)], the type of orders used, data latency, the time of day orders are generated, the number of contracts being traded on a system, and more.

In order to provide the most realistic information about the past performance of a system possible, DTTW is not content to merely use a single estimate for slippage across every market and trading system. Instead, For real-time or Backtested trades which have not been executed in real accounts, DTTW applies the difference between the Real-Time Trades and Client Fill Trades witnessed on all other trading systems utilizing the same futures market with at least one customer actively trading (the slippage) over the past 50 trading sessions; resulting in a dynamic slippage number which reflects the volatility in the market, investor participation, and more.

General

The trading system performance data on this website may change at any time without warning due to several circumstances, including but not limited to refreshes of market data used to calculate system signals, upgrades or changes to the system code by its developer, changes to the minimum investment amount, commissions, or slippage estimates, and more.

The actual percentage gains/losses experienced by investors will vary depending on many factors, including, but not limited to: starting account balances, market behavior, the duration and extent of investor participation (whether or not all signals are taken) in the specified system, and money management techniques.

It is important to note that the method of resetting the model account to the Suggested Capital amount at the start of each month creates a track record which is representative of the simple returns for each time period, but that it does not, by definition, show how returns would compound over time. Should an investor following any trading system listed within this website trading a single contract indefinitely without also resetting their account to the initial capital amount each month, their performance will differ from the performance detailed herein.

Hypothetical Performance Disclaimers

Please read carefully the CFTC required disclaimer regarding hypothetical results below.

HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE MANY INHERENT LIMITATIONS, SOME OF WHICH ARE DESCRIBED BELOW. NO REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFITS OR LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE SHOWN; IN FACT, THERE ARE FREQUENTLY SHARP DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND THE ACTUAL RESULTS SUBSEQUENTLY ACHIEVED BY ANY PARTICULAR TRADING PROGRAM. ONE OF THE LIMITATIONS OF HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS IS THAT THEY ARE GENERALLY PREPARED WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT. IN ADDITION, HYPOTHETICAL TRADING DOES NOT INVOLVE FINANCIAL RISK, AND NO HYPOTHETICAL TRADING RECORD CAN COMPLETELY ACCOUNT FOR THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL RISK OF ACTUAL TRADING. FOR EXAMPLE, THE ABILITY TO WITHSTAND LOSSES OR TO ADHERE TO A PARTICULAR TRADING PROGRAM IN SPITE OF TRADING LOSSES ARE MATERIAL POINTS WHICH CAN ALSO ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING RESULTS. THERE ARE NUMEROUS OTHER FACTORS RELATED TO THE MARKETS IN GENERAL OR TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ANY SPECIFIC TRADING PROGRAM WHICH CANNOT BE FULLY ACCOUNTED FOR IN THE PREPARATION OF HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND ALL WHICH CAN ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING RESULTS.

Custom Portfolios

Putting combinations of automated trading systems together in a portfolio creates a hypothetical past performance track record, as the combined performance was created after the fact. Even a portfolio whose components each have track records which are 100% actual, and are not hypothetical, must still be considered hypothetical, as the components may not have traded together in the manner shown. The hypothetical performance of a custom portfolio should not be considered separate from the respective disclosure documents associated with the portfolio's components. As always, past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

COMPOSITE HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE MANY INHERENT LIMITATIONS, SOME OF WHICH ARE DESCRIBED BELOW. NO REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY MULTI-ADVISOR MANAGED ACCOUNT OR POOL WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE A COMPOSITE PERFORMANCE RECORD SIMILAR TO THAT SHOWN. IN FACT, THERE ARE FREQUENTLY SHARP DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A HYPOTHETICAL COMPOSITE PERFORMANCE RECORD AND THE ACTUAL RECORD SUBSEQUENTLY ACHIEVED.

ONE OF THE LIMITATIONS OF A HYPOTHETICAL COMPOSITE PERFORMANCE RECORD IS THAT DECISIONS RELATING TO THE SELECTION OF TRADING ADVISORS AND THE ALLOCATION OF ASSETS AMONG THOSE ADVISORS WERE MADE WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT BASED UPON THE HISTORICAL RATES OF RETURN OF THE SELECTED TRADING ADVISORS.

THEREFORE, COMPOSITE PERFORMANCE RECORDS INVARIABLY SHOW POSITIVE RATES OF RETURN. ANOTHER INHERENT LIMITATION ON THESE RESULTS IS THAT THE ALLOCATION DECISIONS REFLECTED IN THE PERFORMANCE RECORD WERE NOT MADE UNDER ACTUAL MARKET CONDITIONS AND, THEREFORE, CANNOT COMPLETELY ACCOUNT FOR THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL RISK IN ACTUAL TRADING. FURTHERMORE, THE COMPOSITE PERFORMANCE RECORD MAY BE DISTORTED BECAUSE THE ALLOCATION OF ASSETS CHANGES FROM TIME TO TIME AND THESE ADJUSTMENTS ARE NOT REFLECTED IN THE COMPOSITE.

THESE PERFORMANCE TABLES AND RESULTS ARE HYPOTHETICAL IN NATURE AND DO NOT REPRESENT TRADING IN ACTUAL ACCOUNTS.

General Security Recommendations

Security measures and reasonable precautions that customers should take when accessing their online accounts:

  • When you are given your access credentials, change your password upon first login.
  • Use a secure password (i.e. min 8 characters, include numbers, special symbols).
  • Make sure that no one else would be able to observe or steal your access credentials.
  • Install anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall software in their personal computers and mobile devices.
  • Update operating systems, anti-virus and firewall products with security patches or newer versions on a regular basis.
  • Remove file and printer sharing in computers, especially when they are connected to the internet.
  • Make regular backup of critical data.
  • Consider the use of encryption technology to protect highly sensitive or confidential information.
  • Log off the online session when you are done using the service.
  • Clear browser cache after the online session.
  • Do not install software or run programs of unknown origin.
  • Delete junk or chain emails.
  • Do not open email attachments from strangers.
  • Do not disclose personal, financial or credit card information to little-known or suspect websites.
  • Do not use a computer or a device which cannot be trusted.
  • Do not use public or internet café computers to access this service.

Important Risk Disclosure

Futures trading is complex and carries the risk of substantial losses. It is not suitable for all investors. The ability to withstand losses and to adhere to a particular trading program in spite of trading losses are material points which can adversely affect investor returns.

The returns for trading systems listed throughout this website are hypothetical in that they represent returns in a model account. The model account rises or falls by the average single contract profit and loss achieved by clients trading actual money pursuant to the listed system’s trading signals on the appropriate dates (client fills), or if no actual client profit or loss available – by the hypothetical single contract profit and loss of trades generated by the system’s trading signals on that day in real time (real-time) less slippage, or if no real time profit or loss available – by the hypothetical single contract profit and loss of trades generated by running the system logic backwards on backadjusted data (backadjusted).

Note that the Client Fill Trades are reported across all clients utilizing the platform, across multiple brokers, and are not based solely on the performance of accounts at this brokerage.

The hypothetical model account begins with the initial capital level listed, and is reset to that amount each month. The percentage returns reflect inclusion of commissions, fees, slippage, and the cost of the system. The monthly cost of the system is subtracted from the net profit/loss prior to calculating the percentage return.

If and when a trading system has an open trade, the returns are marked to market on a daily basis, using the backadjusted data available on the day the computer backtest was performed for backtested trades, and the closing price of the then front month contract for real time and client fill trades. For a trade which spans months, therefore, the gain or loss for the month ending with an open trade is the marked to market gain or loss (the month end price minus the entry price, and vice versa for short trades).

The actual percentage gains/losses experienced by investors will vary depending on many factors, including, but not limited to: starting account balances, market behavior, the duration and extent of investor’s participation (whether or not all signals are taken) in the specified system and money management techniques. Because of this, actual percentage gains/losses experienced by investors may be materially different than the percentage gains/losses as presented on this website.

Please read carefully the CFTC required disclaimer regarding hypothetical results below. HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE MANY INHERENT LIMITATIONS, SOME OF WHICH ARE DESCRIBED BELOW. NO REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFITS OR LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE SHOWN; IN FACT, THERE ARE FREQUENTLY SHARP DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND THE ACTUAL RESULTS SUBSEQUENTLY ACHIEVED BY ANY PARTICULAR TRADING PROGRAM. ONE OF THE LIMITATIONS OF HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS IS THAT THEY ARE GENERALLY PREPARED WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT. IN ADDITION, HYPOTHETICAL TRADING DOES NOT INVOLVE FINANCIAL RISK, AND NO HYPOTHETICAL TRADING RECORD CAN COMPLETELY ACCOUNT FOR THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL RISK OF ACTUAL TRADING. FOR EXAMPLE, THE ABILITY TO WITHSTAND LOSSES OR TO ADHERE TO A PARTICULAR TRADING PROGRAM IN SPITE OF TRADING LOSSES ARE MATERIAL POINTS WHICH CAN ALSO ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING RESULTS. THERE ARE NUMEROUS OTHER FACTORS RELATED TO THE MARKETS IN GENERAL OR TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ANY SPECIFIC TRADING PROGRAM WHICH CANNOT BE FULLY ACCOUNTED FOR IN THE PREPARATION OF HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND ALL WHICH CAN ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING RESULTS.

The information contained in the reports within this site is provided with the objective of “standarizing” trading systems account performance and is intended for informational purposes only. It should not be viewed as a solicitation for the referenced system or vendor. While the information and statistics within this website are believed to be complete and accurate, we cannot guarantee their completeness or accuracy. As past performance does not guarantee future results, these results may have no bearing on, and may not be indicative of, any individual returns realized through participation in this or any other investment.

The statistics on this page are calculated via the combination of three hypothetical data sets:

  1. Backtested
  2. Tracked
  3. Live (where available)

Backtested performance is calculated by running a trading system backwards in time, and seeing what trades would have been done in the past when applied to backadjusted data. Tracked performance is calculated by running the trading system forwards on data each and every day, and logging the trades as they happen in real time day after day. Live performance is calculated by running the trading system on live tick data for actual clients and tracking the actual buy and sell prices those clients trading the system receive in their account.

We use Live results to calculate monthly returns for any month in which clients were trading for the entire month, Tracked fills for those months in which there are no client fills for the entire month, and computer generated fills for those months occurring before we loaded the system onto our trade servers. The results are hypothetical in that they represent returns in a model account. The model account rises or falls by the single contract profit and loss achieved by the system in whichever data set is available. The hypothetical model account begins with the Sugested Capital listed, and is reset to that amount each month. The percentage returns reflect inclusion of commissions, fees, slippage, and the cost of the system. The commission, slippage, fees, and monthly system costs are subtracted from the net profit/loss prior to calculating the percentage return.

Please note that the method of resetting the model account to the initial value at the start of each month creates a track record which is representative of the simple returns for each time period, but that it does not, by definition, show how returns would compound over time. Should an investor following said program trade a single contract indefinitely without also resetting their account to the initial capital amount each month, their performance will differ from the performance detailed herein.