Frequently Asked Questions

This is much more than a course, it is also a ready made portfolio of systems that can be up and running immediately, out of the box. I actually run these exact same systems.

The course has two goals, to teach you how to become an effective administer of an automated trading portfolio, and to teach you how to analyze, develop and put into production your own strategies.

My goal is to provide you with the philosophy, knowledge and tools to build, run and maintain a successful portfolio of automated strategies.

The capital you need depends on the strategy you develop and how it is structured, if you develop for example on Forex you can size your trades small enough to work with very limited capital (using mini or microlots). You could start with $200-$1000.

Futures require more money, you can size your account based on the impact of the largest losing trade in your strategy or on the drawdown. Many futures products require under $1000 to maintain margin requirements. Most brokers require $5000 minimum in your account, but realistically you’ll need $15-$50K to trade.

Stocks are subject to the pattern day trader rule, requiring a minimum of $25k capital in your account.

To be more detailed, if you want to trade “expensive” markets such as Bond futures, Silver, Crude etc, you need a certain capitalization (around $15k per strategy per contract) to adequately handle drawdown periods. A typical portfolio minimal portfolio may contain 3 strategies each with 1 contract, so that would require $45k.

Why not? It’s business.

There is an opportunity out there to offer my experience, an expensive experience worth much more than the price that I offer it at. Why should I forget about it?

I’ve been asked many times to offer some course of this kind to get the benefit for time invested. It is not about money, not in trading and not in this business, it is always about the business itself measured with money.

I do trade and I do teach, I actually spend more time developing this courses simply because my automated systems work without direct action from me, yet I monitor all of them every day and I add new systems from time to time. To teach is another source of income, and when in business multiple sources of income are important and smart.

The course is suitable for all traders who are willing to roll up their sleeves and work hard on their education. As a beginner trader, and early in your trading journey, you will see things with an open mind, without prejudices. That’s a huge plus.

The concepts are actually not hard to understand, but you need to “do your homework” to fully understand them. Having direct access to Ernie as a coach and mentor is a game changer, no other course offers anything like that.

My primary platform for backtesting and systems development is TradeStation. It’s the number one trading platform for professional and retail traders. I also have used MultiCharts, which is a TradeStation compatible system, with a lot of great unique features.

There’s a very good platform called Trade Navigator, which I don’t have personal experience with, but have reviewed its features, and know experienced systems developers and my personal mentor have used, with great success.

I have also used Microsoft Excel to both develop ideas and strategies and then backtest them.

The platform you use depends on what you want out of it. I can personally support TradeStation because my AutoTrader systems are built on it, and that’s what I have most experience with. But any capable system, such as the ones listed above, will do just fine.

The course is all about how to trade the Notes over Bonds futures spread using our proprietary strategy and methodology. Students will gain a complete understanding of the strategy, the tools and how to execute the trade on the Tradestation platform. The course is highly individualized with one-on-one training sessions and on-going mentoring and support.

The training is conducted over Skype in 3 to 5 sessions of about an hour to an 90 minutes, depending upon the students experience and understanding of the subject matter. After the training is complete, we go into mentor mode, where you can set up a Skype session and I will answer all your questions and provide further guidance. The mentoring is ongoing, no limit.

Experience helps but is not necessary. We prefer students that don’t have a lot of “baggage” because this methodology may seem contrary to many of the main stream tenets of trading.

The short answer is yes. Ernie has spent the last 8 years developing the tools and methodology specifically for the Tradestation platform. It is simply the best trading platform available to professional and retail traders. Also, when you open an account through Ernie you will receive a substantial discount on commissions and platform fees.

Yes. I post all my trades to a private Twitter account in near real time, including the time and price of the trade, along with annotated charts and commentary.

No, this is a very relaxed form of trading. There are only 2 to 7 trades per week, it is up to the trader whether they take all the trades or not. In most cases you will know a trade is setting up hours before the need to execute.