Runic Pro

A straightforward sell signal after a bullish exhaustion sequence. The signal worked as intended, and I took profit on the move down.

What's interesting is that this same signal becomes important later in the session—keep reading to see how I used its secondary level (purple line) as a reference point for a buy trade after market conditions changed.

This shows how signals remain relevant even after they're done—their levels become part of the market structure you can use for later trades.

This was a buy signal, but the signal candle had already retraced almost the entire range of the yellow-highlighted exhaustion sequence. That meant I was potentially buying right into resistance—a lower probability setup.

As expected, the trade had more drawdown than usual toward the stop loss. But it quickly turned around, and my trailing stop locked in a small profit when price didn't accelerate strongly enough.

Not a home run, but proper risk management turned a mediocre setup into a winning trade. This is realistic trading—you won't catch every big move, but you can still be profitable.

After the previous trade (which trailed out for a small profit), the market had dumped ~200 points and I spotted signs of a V-shaped reversal forming. The context suggested more upside was coming.

Instead of waiting for a new signal, I used the secondary level (purple line) from that first sell signal (shown in Example 1) as a buy breakout point. When price took out that level after such a big drop, it confirmed the reversal and led to a strong continuation move.

This is the discretionary edge you get with manual trading—using previous signal levels in new contexts for setups the bot wouldn't recognize.

Context matters. This was the 12pm Eastern hour after big moves in the 11am hour. Price was choppy, low range, with candles showing large wicks—classic poor conditions for trend trading.

First trade: Stopped out. No surprise given the choppy conditions. This is what happens when market structure isn't ideal—and it's okay. Losses are part of trading.

Skipped signal: Another sell appeared, but the yellow sequence had tiny range and the signal candle retraced almost all of it. Very low probability, so I would have passed... but I was busy with my kids and missed the notification. Ironically, it hit the secondary (buy) level for a winner!

Second trade: Winner. Yet another low-probability setup (same retracement issue), but I know that around 10 minutes past each hour there's often strong movement. I took it based on time-of-day patterns, and it worked.

Want to learn how to read setups like this? I put together a free training course that shows exactly how I use Runic Pro to trade: Using the signals, managing your trades to minimize risk and maximize profit, and some tips like best hours to trade. Just basic stuff that makes sense and won't clutter your brain.

This shows realistic trading: losses happen, not every signal is worth taking, and sometimes you make decisions based on more than just the setup—like time of day, market context, and experience.

I took the same signal three times—kept trying it because the setup was still valid. But all three got stopped out: first at breakeven (auto BE), second at first trailing stop, third at first trailing stop again.

The context: Recent candles had big wicks compared to their bodies—choppy conditions. I was expecting this kind of whipsaw, which is exactly what happened.

ATM limitation: I was using NinjaTrader's ATM Strategy with auto-breakeven and auto-trailing stops. It's convenient but mechanical—it can't read the room. If I were managing manually, I would have kept the stop at breakeven much longer and set my profit target just under 25100 (around 25098) to catch the move before the chop started again.

This is the tradeoff: ATM strategies automate everything but can't adapt to conditions. Manual management takes more attention but lets you adjust to what you're seeing. Neither is "better"—it depends on your style and how much you can watch.

First trade: Price jumped into profit so fast that my trailing stop got hit before I even knew what happened. Got some profit though!

Second trade: Took the next signal and this one gave me more time. The trailing stop moved a few times before getting hit, locking in a lot more profit.

Not every trade needs a story or complex analysis. Sometimes you just take the signal, let your stops do their job, and move on to the next one.

Sell signal after a big move up. The sell stop got hit, but instead of the usual quick acceleration, this one had drawdown almost to my stop loss.

You can see in the video I moved my mouse to cancel the order—I typically cancel orders after 3-4 bars if they haven't been hit yet. But it filled just in time and ended up being a solid win, even after that scary drawdown.

Not every signal gets hit immediately. Some take a few bars, some test your patience. Having a simple rule (like "4 bars max") helps you stay consistent without overthinking it.

Buy signal that didn't get moving until the 3rd bar after the signal appeared. When it finally hit my buy stop, the move was very fast.