live trading vision · dual broker · updated june 2026
Dual live lanes — Alpaca + Schwab — with evidence, not backtest cosmetics.
Strategy Trader is a controlled live system: Schwab data drives signals, Alpaca and Schwab execute real money with shared risk caps. Every promotion is gated on runtime evidence — closed trades, drawdown behavior, and operator discipline — not screen optics alone.
Live Week 2 · dual lanes active
Alpaca reset 6/01 · Schwab reset 6/08 · 12-symbol watchlist · comparing returns to major indices · projecting to Jan 1, 2027 at +$1/trading day with confidence meter.
Since reset · return
Alpaca+2.86%
Schwab+0.47%
Working balance
Alpaca$1,023.39
Schwab$2,511.69
Major indices · as of 6/12
Since 6/01 (Alpaca window) · since 6/08 (Schwab window)
| Index | 6/01→ | 6/08→ |
|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | −2.21% | +0.34% |
| NASDAQ | −2.88% | +0.74% |
| Dow Jones | +0.32% | +0.82% |
| Russell 2000 | +1.37% | +3.11% |
vs indices
Alpaca ahead of S&P & NASDAQ · Schwab tracks large caps
Speculative · 17%
~10 trading days · 36 closed (Alpaca)
✓
Candidate research
screen50 complete
✓
CDXS/BLZE/MARA era
shakeout
✓
Week 1 live
real money
✓
Control observation
+$1/day · $1,009
✓
Off-hours web data
WEB-001
✓
Weekly P/L review
formal gate A
✓
Dual live prep Wk1
12 stocks · backtest
✓
Live Week 1
Jun 2–6 / 9–13
◐
Live Week 2
dual lanes active
○
This week prep
watchlist review
$
Jan 2027 gate
+$1/day plan
vision · operating model
Boring, visible, repeatable
Schwab data · Alpaca + Schwab execution · S3 dashboards
Strategylong+short
EMA20/EMA50 · RSI bands · completed 5m bars
Rule crossovers on Schwab SIP bars; shorts gated by session VWAP when enabled.
Riskguarded
Alpaca $250 order · Schwab $50 order · $100 daily lockout
Framework bases: Alpaca $994.94 (6/01) · Schwab $2,500 (6/08).
Operationslive
8:20 AM CT start · dual dashboards · EOD flatten
No code changes during market hours except critical hotfix or explicit unwind.
Governanceactive
Release notes · weekly P/L gate · index benchmarks
Promote only when live evidence beats indices and confidence reaches planning-grade.
components · process flow
How Strategy Trader moves from research to controlled live execution
research inputs
Candidate sources
- Finviz · momentum / volatility
- Merrill · 3-month change / SMA distance
- Schwab screen · industry-relative candidates
- Manual review · stringent criteria
→
selection engine
Backtest and shortlist
- Schwab 5-minute bars are the research source
- EMA20/EMA50 + RSI tested long and short
- Backtest P/L is predictive baseline only
- Top dual-side winners → live watchlist (12 symbols)
→
live execution
Dual broker runtime
- Task Scheduler 8:20 AM CT
- Schwab bars drive signals for both lanes
- Alpaca + Schwab bracket orders execute
- live-data.json + schwab-live-data.json publish
Risk controlsFramework bases · per-broker order caps · $100 daily lockout · exposure cap 40%.
MonitoringDual live dashboards, activity logs, alerts, weekly ledger vs indices.
GovernanceRelease notes, rollback plan, no market-hours code changes.
Evidence gateClosed FIFO P/L, drawdown recovery, confidence meter before scale.
live performance · projection
Balance path · Jan 1, 2027 · confidence level
Alpaca since 6/01 · Schwab since 6/08 · +$1/trading day planning bracket
Equity timeline · actual + projected
Alpaca actual (6/01 reset)
Schwab actual (6/08 reset, scaled)
+$1/trading day → $1,167 Jan 2027
Observed linear (unlikely)
Projection confidence meterSpeculative · 17%
SpeculativeEmerging (~30 TD)Planning-grade (~60 TD)Defensible (~126 TD)
Planning uses +$1/trading day until confidence reaches planning-grade (~September 2026). Full observed pace ($2.84/day) stays aggressive until ~250 trading days.
| Benchmark | Since 6/01 | Since 6/08 | Alpaca live | Schwab live |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 (SPY) | −2.21% | +0.34% | +2.86% | +0.47% |
| NASDAQ (QQQ) | −2.88% | +0.74% | +2.86% | +0.47% |
| Dow Jones (DIA) | +0.32% | +0.82% | +2.86% | +0.47% |
| Russell 2000 (IWM) | +1.37% | +3.11% | +2.86% | +0.47% |
| Strategy Trader | +2.86% | +0.47% | Alpaca | Schwab |
governance · runtime evidence
Dual live scorecard
live-data.json + schwab-live-data.json
Equity
Alpaca$1,023.39
Schwab$2,511.69
framework bases6/01 · 6/08
Since reset
Alpaca+2.86%
Schwab+0.47%
vs S&P since reset—
Closed trades
Alpaca36
Schwab24
FIFO since reset—
Exposure
Alpaca0.0%
Schwab9.7%
cap 40%SBLK open Schwab
Weekly ledger · Prep + Week 1 + Week 2 + this week prep
Opening balance · closed trades · credits/debits · closing balance
Alpaca live · reset 6/01
Schwab live · reset 6/08
live week 2 · controlled operations
Live trading cockpit
12 symbols · dual feeds · updated on load
Operating checks · market day cadence
Prep week 1 · backtest as predictive baseline
12 stocks · screen50 lineage · live watchlist Jun 2026
Watchlist: SPIR, HYLN, SSYS, SBLK, RZLT, BB, PCT, CODX, STUB, QH, RDW, AMC — backtest ranked dual-side P/L informed selection; live FIFO confirms top performers.
This week prep (Jun 16+): Review Week 2 drawdown recovery, compare vs Russell/IWM, refresh Schwab token, no watchlist changes unless gate fails.
watchlist · top winning trades
Selected candidates — live FIFO leaders
since reset · closed round trips
| Symbol | Lane | Realized P/L | Round trips | Notes |
|---|
live trading evolution
Path from research to dual live operations
Major changes timeline
Caveats & open risks
- Backtest is predictive baseline only — live FIFO and index comparison are the truth layers.
- Confidence is speculative (~10 trading days) — plan on +$1/day, not observed linear pace.
- Schwab refresh token expires every 7 days — refresh before the trading week.
- Dual-lane symbol routing may differ (Schwab $50 cap vs Alpaca $250).
- Drawdown weeks (6/9–6/11) must recover without giving back the thesis.
under the hood
System
Live_Alpaca_Traderlive
Signals · brackets · live-data.json publish
Live_Schwab_Traderlive
Schwab execution · schwab-live-data.json
schwab_data.pydata
SIP 5m bars · shared signal engine
deploy.pyrelease
S3 + CloudFront · dashboards + site
email_alerteralerts
BUY/SELL/ERROR notifications
trade_loggerdata
CSV + SQLite · FIFO audit trail