Valuation
Is it Overvalued or Undervalued?
Valuation looks at Key Ratios and Projected Price to evaluate the stock’s current value.
Key Ratios like both trailing and forward PE along with PEG (Price/Earnings/Growth) are weighed.
The Price compared to Book (flow of business), Cash Flow, and Sales are also very important factors to provide a well-rounded synopsis of the valuation modeling of the stock.
Evaluate Existing Positions
Positions will automatically show on the options chain for the active brokerage account.
You can also access directly from Broker Positions. Select “Analyze” from the Action menu. 
This will display the current values as well as entry cost and current P/L.
Here you can also close the position or evaluate adjustments on the trade.
Adding an Account
Accessing a live account is easy. Currently Choice Trade, Tradier, Schwab, E*TRADE are offered through this platform. More brokerages will be added.
To add an Existing Brokerage Account or add a Virtual or Manual Account:
1. Clicking on the “+” icon will display the screen below
2. Select your Brokerage, Virtual or Manual Account from the drop-down
3. Read & Accept Terms and Conditions
4. Click “Continue”
Live Accounts will prompt you to enter your credentials on the next screen.
Virtual** and Manual Accounts will automatically activate.
To add a New Live Account, click on the “Open New Account” box on upper right of the above screen.
Select the account you want to add by clicking the selected brokerage.
Click the “Done” button.
You’ll be directed to the brokerage website to guide you through the process of completing an application.
**TradeStation requires a completed account application to create a Virtual Account.
Manual Account Overview
A Manual Account is versatile resource tool which can enhance your trading effectiveness. You can also use this to track trades from an outside brokerage account.
Use the Manual Account for educational purposes.
- It offers flexibility and control, while providing the Analytics and Journal to help you reinforce the “Learning to Earning” process. This allows you to focus on learning the strategies.
- Place trades any time of day or night – all get immediately executed at the price entered. No need for the market to be open.
- No Buying Power limits – no expensive spread margin requirements to adhere to, no limit on how much you can buy/sell
- Place trades in the past.
- Enter trades from Backtest Mode
Use to tracking external accounts
- Can be used to track trades placed at brokers not integrated into the platform
- You can enter the date and fill prices of your actual trades
- This enables portfolio management along with your other accounts
- You can use full Journal function for tracking your progress
Manual Accounts are identified by a narrow Red Bar and are, by default, Auto-Journaled.
Entering trades in a Manual Account takes only a few steps and is similar to a regular trade.
You can also bring up the ticket from any trade point. Simply start a trade and select the manual account just like you would select any other account.
(Bold indicates unique to Manual ticket):
1. Enter the Stock Symbol, or name of Company (Smart search will display potential matches)
2. If this is a past trade, use the calendar/date picker to select date
3. Click “Stock”, “Call” or “Put” to build trade, change quantity, Expiry and Strike (if applicable)
4. Bid/Ask will automatically populate if a specific price is not entered
5. Complete Order Type, Duration and Condition
6. Click “Review” to confirm information is correct, then ‘Submit” on next screen.
The order will appear in Order Status as “Executed” and operate the same way as other accounts.
Position Indication on the Chain
When evaluating an existing position on the options chain, the positions held are indicated with arrows on the chain. The arrows point to the quantity entry box of the held position.
Green arrows 
indicate Long or Buy positions.
Red arrows 
indicate Short or Sell positions.
Industry Performance Bar Chart
The Bar Chart is located on the Market Tab and updates dynamically with selected Heat Map Index and Time Frame. This provides an additional view of the overall Market by Industry. Below is a 3 month Heat Map/Bar Chart view of the S&P 500. The bottom Bar Chart shows a 6 month view.
Each Industry is represented by a unique color and are listed by Market Cap – largest on top to the smallest at the bottom. Hover your cursor over each bar for the Industry name and % change of the selected time period to appear.
The center of the Chart is Neutral and will appear blank just prior to the Market’s Opening Bell. Bars extending right of center represents Gains, left of center represents a Loss for the time period selected on the Heat Map.
Journal Navigation
It’s easy to look up trades. Choose from Stock symbols, tags used (ex: #bullCall, #longStraddle), Notes containing certain words or phrases, or date ranges from 1 Day to 1 Year.
On the individual Trade tabs, click the 
icon to expand the trade detail. To edit/add tags, notes, to the trade entry, click 
then ‘save’ when completed.
Once the Trade Tab is expanding , you have additional options: The “Replay” icon, 
, sends a trade from the Journal to Backtest Analysis. You can delete a Journal Entry by clicking on 
.
Virtual Account Overview
Virtual Trading gives you the real trading experience without risking any money. It is a valuable “next step” learning tool – designed to mimic the trading experience as closely as possible.
You’ll start with a $100,000 account. Virtual, of course.
Trades are executed during Market hours – 9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. Eastern Time, however there is a 15 minute delay after Market open for orders to begin executing.
As with Live Accounts, there are limits on trades if there is not sufficient Buying Power in your Virtual Account. There can be expensive Spread/Margin Requirements to adhere to.
Virtual Accounts do have limitations that Live Accounts do not have:
Virtual Accounts are not subject or responsive to Corporate actions such as buyouts, name or symbol changes, stock/option splits and strike price adjustments to name some examples.
Virtual Accounts are “Auto-Journaled”. This automatically keeps record of all trades for later analysis and reconciling.
These practice accounts are identified by a yellow bar on the left side of the account window.
Virtual Accounts are powered by Choice Trade to provide the real trading experience.
Color Tag Trading Accounts
Select a unique color for each trading account on the Account Summary tab. Each trade in that account will display that color on the Journal trade tab entry.
Now it’s easier than ever to identify trades at a a glance.
Snapshot: Comparing Positions
The Snapshot feature gives you the ability to compare up to three scenarios in one view without having to change screens or erase previous setups. You can even submit a trade from this part of the platform!
- From the Calls+Puts chain (as well as “Calls” or “Puts”) enter the initial trade position.
- Next click one of the camera icons:
- Repeat the first step using the Rolling Icons to adjust the initial position to a new scenario:
- Click the 2nd camera icon & repeat the above steps for the last trade comparison.
Note: The position lines are color coded to match the Snapshot (or New) icon.
Once you decide on the optimal position, click ‘Trade’ from the P&L Graph and you’ll be taken to the Order Ticket of your brokerage account with the option information auto-filled. 
