Systematic swing trading · US stocks · your own account
Your PC. Your brokerage account.
One decision a day at 3:55 pm New York time.
Nexus Trader is a rules-based swing-trading program that runs on your own computer, in your own Interactive Brokers account. You keep the account and the money. The software places the orders and manages the stops. Nexus never holds, accesses, or controls your funds.
Read this before anything else
The risk, spelled out first
Most trading websites put this part in small print at the bottom. It belongs at the top. If any line below is a surprise, this product is not for you yet.
Most trades lose
About 4 out of 5 trades lose a small amount; returns depend on a small number of large winners. Extended periods of flat or negative performance are normal.
It trades on margin
The strategy uses margin (up to 1.5× gross leverage) and can lose more than the amount invested in a single position; the simulated maximum drawdown was −23% (5-year) to −27% (10-year), the longest stretch below a prior equity peak lasted about 18 months, and future drawdowns can be deeper and longer.
Losing streaks last months
The longest simulated run without a single winning trade was 42 consecutive trades — about three months. Turning the system off mid-streak keeps the losses and misses the recoveries.
Simulations are not promises
The published backtest results are simulations. They do not represent actual trading, do not capture every cost or market condition, and are not a forecast of your account.
How it works
What the program does on your PC, every trading day
A list of 15 US stocks
Every week the Nexus server builds a watchlist of 15 US stocks using momentum, trend, and fundamental screens, and your program downloads it as one cryptographically signed bundle — identical for every user. If the bundle is missing or invalid, the program takes no new entries and emails you.
Stops watched from before dawn
Your PC wakes and the program starts monitoring existing protective stops in extended hours. Software updates are checked here too — they apply only on the next start, never mid-session.
One decision cycle a day
The single daily decision: up to 4 new entries (at most 14 positions), stop adjustments, and risk checks. Every position is protected by a hard stop-loss order resting at the broker — it stays in force even if your PC dies.
An email so you always know
A daily summary lands in your inbox every trading evening, and a monthly statement on the 1st. You can also see everything directly in Interactive Brokers at any time — it is your account.
What it is not
Software you run — nothing more
- Not a managed account. Nobody at Nexus manages your money or supervises your trading. The software runs on your machine, on your account, at your decision.
- Not investment advice. Every subscriber receives the same weekly data. The software knows nothing about your finances, objectives, or suitability, and no one at Nexus makes recommendations to you.
- Not custody. Money never leaves your own Interactive Brokers account. The software never sees your broker password — it talks to your own logged-in trading workstation on the same PC.
- Not a signal service. There is nothing to copy by hand. The program executes its published rule set automatically, or it does nothing.
Performance — simulated, with the full context
The backtest, and everything it doesn't promise
Two windows, one uniform data set, no cherry-picking. These are simulations — read the context block and the disclaimer below the charts as carefully as the headline numbers.
| Window | Total return | Max drawdown | Closed trades | SPY same window |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 years (Jun 2021 – May 2026) | +622.17% | −23.40% | 750 | ≈ +90% |
| 10 years (May 2016 – May 2026) * | +1,349.31% | −27.02% | 1,559 | ≈ +318% |
The context that always travels with those numbers
- Win rate ≈ 19%. Roughly 4 of 5 trades lose a small amount; the average winner is 7–8× the average loser, and the top ten winners carried about 70% of net profit. The edge is a right tail, not a hit rate.
- Losing streaks: the longest simulated run without a single winner was 42 consecutive trades (~3 months, 5-year run; the 10-year run's longest was 41). Streaks of 22 or more winless trades occurred about once every 10 months.
- Time under water: the longest stretch below a prior equity peak was about 18 months. New highs come in bursts — most of the simulated gains arrived in the final stretch of each window.
- There is a losing calendar year: 2022 finished at −4.4% in the 5-year run (−3.9% in the 10-year run) while SPY lost ≈ 19%.
- Run-to-run noise: single-run total-return noise was measured at roughly ±130 percentage points in a 10-seed robustness study of the predecessor configuration.
- * 10-year caveat: the stock universe uses a current-day snapshot (historical snapshots do not exist), which flatters the early years of the 10-year window. The 10-year figure is quoted only with this caveat.
- Stop-fill convention: the simulation fills stops at the stop price. Live, stops are monitored in extended hours from 04:00 ET, and real fills can be worse than the stop in thin pre-market conditions — live drawdowns can exceed the simulated figures.
Check the work
Every closed trade from both simulations is published — entry, exit, size, profit or loss, and the exact rule that closed it — along with the day-by-day equity series. Real-money operation runs since July 4, 2026 in the operator's own account, with monthly statements from July 2026 onward.
Raw data: 5-year daily equity (CSV) · 10-year daily equity (CSV) · 5-year trades (CSV) · 10-year trades (CSV)
Backtested results are hypothetical. They do not represent actual trading and do not account for all market conditions or costs. Past performance, real or simulated, is not indicative of future results.
The strategy uses margin (up to 1.5× gross leverage) and can lose more than the amount invested in a single position; the simulated maximum drawdown was −23% (5-year) to −27% (10-year), the longest stretch below a prior equity peak lasted about 18 months, and future drawdowns can be deeper and longer.
About 4 out of 5 trades lose a small amount; returns depend on a small number of large winners. Extended periods of flat or negative performance are normal.
Requirements
What you need before day one
| Broker account | Interactive Brokers margin account, dedicated to Nexus Trader — the program adopts and manages every position it finds in the account |
|---|---|
| Account size | minimum CAD 5,000 · recommended CAD 7,000+ |
| Market data | Live US market-data subscription at IBKR (≈ US$5–15/month; delayed data is not sufficient) |
| Computer | Windows 10/11 PC, on and awake 04:00–20:00 ET on trading days (the installer disables sleep on AC power) |
| Broker software | IBKR Trader Workstation (TWS) running with API access enabled; IB Key two-factor renewals are yours to complete |
| An address for alerts, daily summaries, and monthly statements |
Why the minimum: the measured failure point is near CAD 3,000 — position sizing rounds toward zero shares and the strategy stops working; CAD 5,000 sits safely above it. This is a measured floor, not a marketing number.
Pricing
One number: 0.10% of your monthly average, per month
monthly fee = monthly average account equity ÷ 1,000
Each month the software averages your account's daily equity (the broker's net liquidation value, in CAD) and the fee is that average divided by 1,000 — 0.10% per month. You receive a statement showing the full calculation at least 10 days before every charge.
- No minimum fee, no maximum fee, no performance fee, no per-trade fee.
- Paper (simulated) mode is the free trial — no card required.
- The private beta is free. Paid subscriptions begin only after the beta.
- If payment lapses, the software stops opening new positions — it never liquidates your account for non-payment.
- Cancel any time from the billing portal or by email; the plan ends at the end of the billing month with no termination charge.
Honesty over reach
Who this is not for
- Anyone who cannot afford to watch their account fall 25% or more and stay below its peak for a year or longer.
- Anyone who would switch the system off after ten losing trades in a row — streaks of twenty or more are part of normal operation.
- Anyone who needs the money within a few years, or is trading savings they cannot lose.
- Anyone who wants someone else to be responsible. You remain the account holder, with full authority and the duty to supervise your own account.
Getting started
Three steps, in order
Broker setup
Open a dedicated IBKR margin account, add US-stock permissions and the live market-data subscription, and install TWS. Account opening takes one to two weeks — it is the long pole.
Install & run on paper
Install Nexus Trader, connect it to your paper account, and let it run simulated sessions until you have seen its daily rhythm with your own eyes — entries, stops, summaries.
Acknowledge the risk, go live
Before real money, the software requires you to individually accept each item of the Live Trading Risk Acknowledgment inside the app. Only then does live trading unlock — and it stays your decision every day after.
FAQ
Fair questions
Do you ever touch my money?
No. Your money stays in your own Interactive Brokers account. The software never sees your broker password — it connects to your own logged-in TWS on the same PC — and Nexus has no mechanism to move funds, place orders remotely, or liquidate anything in your account.
Can I lose more than I put in?
The strategy uses margin (up to 1.5× gross leverage), so a position can lose more than the amount you mentally allocated to it, and account-level losses can exceed the simulated history. If you cannot accept that sentence, do not go live.
What happens if my PC crashes mid-trade?
Every position is protected by a hard stop-loss order resting at the broker, not on your PC. If your computer dies, the stops remain in force at IBKR, and you can always manage the account directly in TWS or on your phone.
What data leaves my computer?
Licensing data (a one-way pseudonymous token for the account your license is bound to — never the full account number — plus its last 4 characters, your PC's name, and one-way-hashed device fingerprints), minimal status emails relayed through our server — by default just a generic category line, with the detailed content saved to a file on your own PC — and ordinary server connection logs (IP address and time). No usage analytics, no tracking, never your broker credentials. The Privacy Policy lists every flow.
Why does the win rate matter less than it seems?
Because the strategy is built on a right tail: about 4 of 5 trades lose a small, controlled amount, and the few winners are large — the average winner was 7–8× the average loser in simulation. Judging it on any individual trade, or any individual month, measures the wrong thing.
Can I stop it whenever I want?
Yes. You can stop new entries with one switch, stop the program entirely, or act directly at the broker at any moment — it is your account, and the software never has more authority than you do. Remember that stopping mid-losing-streak is how the losses are kept and the recoveries are missed.