Making a Living while Cruising

[Cormorant]

Thanks for that tutorial, IM! I'm going to give it a try.

While we're on the subject of spread trading, I wanted to mention a service I use in addition to MRCI: SeasonAlgo.com. They offer a monthly 15-20 recommendations (many of which overlap MRCI); plus they have a lot more research, analytic, and graphing tools if you want to investigate other spreads.

You can basically construct any spread that you're curious about, see it graphed out, and then backtest it to see its results in each of the past 15 years.

You can also research spreads that have performed best over the prior 5, 10, 15, 20, or 30 years.

Very helpful as a complement to MRCI.

[russtak]

Hi IB-TWS Gurus
Is there a way to add a new field (contract purchase date) to your TWS portfolio page so that you can group your contracts via this date and not by contract description?
tks Russell

[Cormorant]

I'm not sure if I understand the question, but . . . . have you tried right-clicking on any line of your portfolio screen, and choosing "Create Group Header"? Then you can drag your contracts under the header bar grouped by each spread. Make notes to yourself about exit date, etc.

[russtak]

Tks Cormorant,

Let me illustrate with an example

I bought
spread 1 Lo RB Jul 14 / Sh HO Jul 14
spread 2 Lo HO Dec 14 / Sh HO Jul 14

I created group header for spread 1 and this correctly shows 1 contract of each but when I create the second spread TWS groups the 2 HO's together along with the RB. So on my portfolio page I now have under the group header:

2 contract Sh HO Jul 14
1 contract Lo RB Jul 14

and under spread 2's group header I have 1 contract HO Dec 14 all by itself.

This makes it tough to keep an eye on stop loss etc

tks Russell

[Cormorant]

Yeah -- quite annoying! I've never figured out how to separate those.

[Certeza]

Import trades to excel and sort by time stamp.

You can either import manually or setup a DDE link.

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by russtak

Tks Cormorant,

Let me illustrate with an example

I bought
spread 1 Lo RB Jul 14 / Sh HO Jul 14
spread 2 Lo HO Dec 14 / Sh HO Jul 14

I created group header for spread 1 and this correctly shows 1 contract of each but when I create the second spread TWS groups the 2 HO's together along with the RB. So on my portfolio page I now have under the group header:

2 contract Sh HO Jul 14
1 contract Lo RB Jul 14

and under spread 2's group header I have 1 contract HO Dec 14 all by itself.

This makes it tough to keep an eye on stop loss etc

tks Russell

Russell, there isn't a way to have the same contract on multiple lines. I've requested this as a feature with IB, but I have no idea if it is ever going to happen. What I do to help keep it straight is to check daily in the p.m. on Moore to see the status of the different spreads. If one has tripped the stop, I set up a sell for the next morning.

[Certeza]

Originally Posted by Delfin

Russell, there isn't a way to have the same contract on multiple lines. I've requested this as a feature with IB, but I have no idea if it is ever going to happen. What I do to help keep it straight is to check daily in the p.m. on Moore to see the status of the different spreads. If one has tripped the stop, I set up a sell for the next morning.

TWS has the functionality to pretty much do anything via the API. If you aren't familiar with Java or C++, then just use the DDE to Excel. Most people are familiar with excel. You can accomplish the trade sorting and tracking with basic macros from there.

[Cormorant]

Also you can set up a "watch list" on TWS -- that's what IB recommended to me. However it requires double-entry of all data (once for the trade, once for the watch list).

One other thing I do is get the combo trade on one line, right click and choose Chart>New Chart. That'll open a continuously running chart that you can always bring up and glance at. You can even do Edit>Horizontal Line and place a white line at your stop. I keep a half dozen of these running all the time. In Win 7 you can simply mouse over them in the taskbar and they'll pop up -- very easy to scan. WinXP and Win8 require clicking on each chart individually. So long as you don't X out of the chart, it'll reopen automatically next time you log in to TWS.

[RokNRich]

I see that Delfin hasn't logged in for quite some time...any updates as to how this is working out for some of you other folks ? I've looked into this a few times but have yet to pull the trigger, but am getting closer and closer to needing to supplement potential cruising kitty.

Thanks !

[boden36]

I don't know what Delfin is doing, but I am still trading. Made well over 100% return last financial yr (June/July). So far this year. I have found this year difficult and am down 10% so far but that is part of the game.
This will only work on the boat if you have a reliable internet connection or somebody you can delegate to when you are out of touch. I feel insecure if I can't check each day but in Australia I find a prepaid dongle works OK if we are within mobile phone coverage.

Regards,
Richard.

[cwyckham]

I tried trading for about 18 months (not Delfin's method). I did great for a while, but the recent volatility really did me in. I didn't lose money in the end, but I made less than if I'd just stayed in index funds.

I think that some trading is probably still in my future and I love how much I learned from it, but I've moved on to working on setting up an online business that would be able to generate passive income while at sea and then be kept up when able to connect to the internet.

I've just started down this road, but I'm blogging about the process if anybody's interested in following along. I've learned a ton already and am very excited about the possibilities. It probably won't make me rich, but it may make enough to extend our cruising time when the kids are old enough for us to launch.

Chris

[stgermain45]

For those interested, Delfin has setup a Yahoo group to further discuss using MRCI data and the Interactive Brokers platform for spread trading.

Yahoo group: mrci
mrci@yahoogroups.com

Delfin has been very gracious with his time in helping me through some of the complexity of entering trades on the IB platform. This space will be used to further discuss some of the strategies, techniques, and overall experience using MRCI suggested trades and IB. For those interested parties seeking further understanding and especially to the folks already employing Delfin's method, I encourage you to head on over and join the group.

Regards,
Chris

[katsailing]

Does anyone have any ideas on what one can do to actually earn a living while living aboard your boat? My husband is skilled in carpentry and I have office skills.

[Julie Mor]

Originally Posted by katsailing

Does anyone have any ideas on what one can do to actually earn a living while living aboard your boat? My husband is skilled in carpentry and I have office skills.

Boats always need repairing...

The first thing that comes to mind is utilizing his carpentry skills, if those skills include cabinetmaker level skills. Pull into a harbor or anchorage and there may be sailors who would appreciate those skills. I have heard some harbors frown on this activity because it takes revenue out of their pockets but that varies from place to place.

If your office skills can be utilized in writing articles about your experiences, you could earn some money there, though the writing skills are more important than typing skills.