Stage 1 · Quality filter
- Price of at least $5
- Custom volume shares traded per day on average per trading bot
- A weekly up-trend: price above a rising 30-week average
Chapter III · How the system works
TradeWise is an AI trading platform that runs a team of nine strategy bots. Every bot shares the same foundation: a scanner that chooses what to watch, live price data, a backtester that tests every rule, a broker that executes, and a record of every step.
Step 1 · The Opportunity Scanner
After each weekday close, the scanner reviews 5,000+ US stocks: the S&P 500, the Russell 1000 (adding large and mid-caps that aren't in the S&P), the Russell 2000, and the total US market (ITOT), plus our own custom list. The bots switch to the new list at the next open. The scanner never places orders; a stock on the list still needs a confirmed signal.
Step 2 · The strategies
No single strategy works in every market. So instead of one bot, we run a team of nine, across three strategies, each built for a different kind of move. Every strategy is backtested on years of history and paper traded in SIM before it earns real money. Today the breakout bots trade live, the intraday bots and the ML AutoTrader trade in SIM, and new strategies are in development.
Our original WiseTrader strategy on five charts, from 5-minute to 4-hour. They buy strong stocks in a weekly up-trend after a confirmed breakout, and can hold overnight.
Three daytime setups, a momentum cross, a red-to-green reclaim and a high-of-day break, each taken only when SPY is in an intraday up-trend and the stock is above its VWAP. Always flat before the close.
Our first auto-trader, and the start of TradeWise. It scores S&P 500 stocks on 21 criteria, asks a machine-learning model how confident it is, and trades for a 1% gain per trade, hands-free from entry to exit.
New strategies for different market conditions. Each one goes through the same path: backtest, paper trading, then a weekly check against its own backtest.
Strategy 1 · Breakout bots · The signal
A stock must prove itself three times before it earns a Buy signal.
The stock closes above its recent high while in a weekly up-trend.
It holds above the breakout level instead of falling back.
It pushes past the pause high. That confirmed bar is the Buy signal.
Every signal also carries a risk count (warning signs such as a weak market) and a trend phase: Early, Established or Mature. An early, strong breakout is labeled Thrust.
Step 3 · The rules
The five breakout bots run the same WiseTrader signal, so a Buy means the same thing on every chart; what differs is how each one trades it. The three intraday trend bots each trade a different daytime setup on the same engine, with targets and stops sized to each stock's own volatility (ATR), and they are always flat before the close. The Wise-Trader ML AutoTrader scores and trades on its own. Every bot has its own take profit, stop, entry filter, volume floor and market rule, each chosen by testing.
| Bot | Strategy | Take profit | Stop | Entry filter | Volume floor | Market rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TWS 5m | Breakout | 2.5% | 10% | Thrust + risk 0–4 | 250K shares traded today | SPY below 20-day avg: Thrust only |
| TWS 15m | Breakout | 1% | 7.5% | Thrust + risk 0–2 | 1.5M shares traded today | None |
| TWS 30m | Breakout | 1% | 7.5% | Thrust + risk 0–4 | 3M shares traded today | None |
| TWS 1h | Breakout | 1% | 7.5% | Thrust + risk 0–1 | 1M shares traded today | SPY below 20-day avg: no new buys |
| TWS 4h | Breakout | 1.5% | 10% | Thrust + risk 0–3 | No minimum | SPY below 20-day avg: no new buys |
| TWS EMAX 15m | Intraday trend | 0.75 × ATR (about 0.9%), at a bar close | 10-bar low, capped at 3 × ATR | 9-EMA crosses above 20-EMA, close above VWAP, 11:00–14:00 ET | 1M shares and $50M a day avg; bar volume at least normal | SPY above its VWAP with 9-EMA above 20-EMA |
| TWS R2G 30m | Intraday trend | 0.75 × ATR (about 1.9%), at a bar close | Low of the day, capped at 3 × ATR | Weak open, then first close back above yesterday's close and VWAP, 10:00–12:30 ET | 1M shares and $100M a day avg; bar volume 1.3× normal | SPY green on the day |
| TWS HOD 30m | Intraday trend | 0.5 × ATR (about 1.3%); stop moves to break-even after half the risk is earned | 10-bar low, capped at 3 × ATR | Holds VWAP and closes above the high of the day, 11:00–14:30 ET | 1M shares and $100M a day avg; bar volume 1.3× normal | SPY green on the day |
| Wise-Trader ML | ML AutoTrader | 1% | [Stop %] | 21-criteria score + ML confidence | [Volume] | S&P 500 universe |
Our backtester replays the exact same indicator over past market history and simulates every trade the way the bots make it. We tested about 18 million combinations of take profit, stop, signal type, volume and market filter. For each bot we kept the settings that scored best and also held up when we nudged them slightly, and that were profitable in both the older and the newer half of the history. Every change is tested there first, before a bot ever trades it.
Backtests are simulated results chosen with hindsight. Live results will differ and are usually lower.
Strategy 2 · Intraday trend bots
Three newer bots built on the same order engine, each trading one daytime setup drawn from professional trading playbooks. We turned the strongest ideas into rules, tested them on two years of history across hundreds of stocks, and kept the three that held up best. None of them holds a position overnight.
Backtests are simulated results chosen with hindsight. Live results will differ and are usually lower.
Strategy 3 · Wise-Trader ML AutoTrader
Before the breakout and intraday bots, there was the Wise-Trader. It is still running, and it is the most machine-learning-driven bot on the team.
A 1% target is a rule the bot follows, not a promise of results. Trades can and do lose.
Step 4 · Safety
Every strategy runs on the same order engine. When in doubt, the bots stop and check rather than send another order.
Every order is recorded before it's sent. If a reply is lost, the bot checks with the broker before trying again.
Every filled buy, even a partial one, gets a stop order at the broker, so it stays protected if the computer goes down.
A sell converts the existing stop into a market order, so two orders never compete for the same shares.
After a restart, each bot picks up its open positions and stops from the broker.
A stock held by one bot is locked for the others.
No after-hours orders, and market holidays are detected before the open.
The TWS Core Bar Hub streams prices from TradeStation once for every watched stock, and the breakout and intraday bots read from it. The raw data is quality-checked against TradeStation's own bars every day and reviewed again every week.
Every buy, sell, fill and rejection is recorded with price, stop, result and order details.
Step 5 · Alerts
Every fill from the breakout bots sends a Discord WebHook via Peakbot. Each bot also has a desktop control panel showing its watchlist, open positions and settings, with one-click charts.
TWS FILLED BUY NVDA | 5m | 15 sh @ 210.90 | 09:35 ET
TWS FILLED BUY INTC | 15m | 30 sh @ 84.54 | 10:15 ET TWS FILLED SELL NVDA | 5m | Take profit | 15 sh @ 213.25 | +1.11% | 11:10 ET TWS FILLED SELL INTC | 15m | Take profit | 30 sh @ 86.15 | +1.92% | 12:30 ET
Sample messages with illustrative prices, not real trades.
Step 6 · Where we're headed
Our vision is AI trading that grows by evidence: more strategies, tested harder, measured every week, and only trusted with real money once they've earned it.
Strategy Health compares each bot's live results with its backtest every week and gives a verdict: OK, watch, half size or pause.
We're building TWS Core, one bot that combines what we've learned on every timeframe to pick the best two to four trades a day, or none.
New bots for different market conditions, each one backtested and paper traded before it joins the team.
We're moving the bots to a cloud server so they run around the clock and can be reached as web apps.
Where we are today
Every bot first ran on real prices with no orders, then placed real orders in TradeStation's simulated account.
The five breakout bots trade live with real money at small size. The three intraday bots and the ML AutoTrader are paper trading in SIM.
New strategies are in development. Each one earns live money the same way: backtest, SIM, then a weekly check against its own record.
When we share results, they will be real, dated and complete, losses included.
Next · Chapter IV