Question 1

What is SystemTrader?

Accepted Answer

SystemTrader is a platform for systematic equity traders. We publish four offerings: Live Trading Strategies (seven strategies — Gemini, Mars, Vega, Jupiter, Mercury, Taurus, and Scorpio — with transparent daily signals), a Research Library (39 academic-backed strategies across stocks, options, and ETFs), Trading Tools (twelve real-time market analysis tools), and an Economic Dashboard (52 FRED indicators with S&P 500 overlay charts).

Question 2

Is SystemTrader free?

Accepted Answer

Most of SystemTrader is free — the research library, trading tools, market breadth, economic data, and every strategy methodology page are available at no cost. Live strategy portfolios, signals, stock universes, and the momentum scanner require a SystemTrader Pro subscription at $99 per month.

Question 3

What makes your approach different?

Accepted Answer

Every strategy is rules-based with no human discretion. Each is grounded in academic research with the math, rules, and methodology published openly. Live signals are the same for every subscriber — there are no tiers and no premium picks. The platform also exposes the supporting tools and economic data the strategies are built on.

Question 4

How many live strategies are there?

Accepted Answer

Seven live strategies: Gemini (7-factor stock momentum), Mars (sector rotation), Vega (no-rebalance momentum), Jupiter (bullish momentum), Mercury (3-regime leveraged ETF), Taurus (short bar-pattern weakness), and Scorpio (trend-quality ETF rotation).

Question 5

Which strategy should I use?

Accepted Answer

It depends on your goals and risk tolerance. Long-only stock momentum (Gemini, Vega, Jupiter) targets growing equity exposure. Mars adds sector rotation. Scorpio rotates across sector and commodity ETFs. Taurus shorts weak stocks. Mercury trades leveraged ETFs by regime. Most subscribers run several in parallel — see the Combined Portfolio page for an equal-weighted blend.

Question 6

Can I run multiple strategies?

Accepted Answer

Yes — most subscribers run several in parallel. The strategies are uncorrelated by design (different universes, different signals, different time horizons). The Combined Portfolio page shows an equal-weighted blend of six strategies (Gemini, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, Taurus, Scorpio) rebalanced weekly. Vega is excluded from the combined backtest because it shares Gemini’s signals.

Question 7

What is the Combined Portfolio?

Accepted Answer

The Combined Portfolio is an equal-weighted blend of six live strategies (Gemini, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, Taurus, Scorpio) rebalanced weekly. It demonstrates how diversification across uncorrelated systems can reduce drawdown without sacrificing return. Vega is excluded because it shares Gemini’s signals. Live tracking is at /combined/performance.

Question 8

Are these backtests or live results?

Accepted Answer

Both. Each performance chart combines a historical backtest with live trading. All seven strategies were developed and validated through 2025, then went live on December 1, 2025. Every signal published since launch has been generated and traded in real time, including with founder Yuriy Matso’s own capital. The portion of the equity curve before December 1, 2025 is a faithful backtest on real OHLCV data; the portion after is what the strategies actually did in production.

Question 9

How often is the data updated?

Accepted Answer

All seven strategies refresh nightly after the US market close. New signals appear on the portfolio pages within a few hours of the 4:00 PM ET close. Subscribers can review changes overnight and execute at the next day’s open (T+1).

Question 10

Are more strategies coming?

Accepted Answer

Likely yes. New systematic strategies are added when they survive rigorous backtesting and out-of-sample validation. Each one will keep the same standard: explicit rules, transparent methodology, daily signals.

Question 11

What is Gemini?

Accepted Answer

Gemini is a daily 7-factor momentum strategy. It scores a curated 85-stock universe on Price Performance, Bullish Candle, MA Alignment, Trend Consistency, Volatility, Volume, and Relative Strength, then holds the top 10 by score in an equal-weight portfolio. A QQQ 14-day moving-average filter blocks new entries when the broad market is weak. Execution is T+1 at the open.

Question 12

What is Mars?

Accepted Answer

Mars is a sector rotation momentum strategy. It dynamically filters ~5,600 stocks daily by price ($60–$380) and average volume (≥9M), groups them into 30 sectors, ranks sectors by 200-day momentum (with a 46-day skip), and holds the top 2 stocks from the top 3 sectors — six equal-weight positions. The portfolio rebalances daily.

Question 13

What is Vega?

Accepted Answer

Vega is a no-rebalance momentum strategy that uses Gemini’s 7-factor scoring and the same 85-stock universe. The difference: positions are not resized daily back to equal weight. Winners are allowed to run, losers exit only when they fall out of the top set or the QQQ market filter fires. Lower turnover, larger position drift, different return profile from Gemini.

Question 14

What is Jupiter?

Accepted Answer

Jupiter is a long-only bullish momentum strategy. It scores a price/volume-filtered stock universe on a composite of bullish bar patterns, new-high frequency, and low realized volatility — every qualifying stock competes directly on composite score, no sector grouping. Top-ranked stocks form an equal-weight portfolio rebalanced daily with T+1 execution.

Question 15

What is Mercury?

Accepted Answer

Mercury is a 3-regime leveraged ETF strategy that trades QQQ and TQQQ. The regime is determined by SMA(170) margin, VIX (<28), and ADX(27) (<21). Within BULL, an EMA(40) filter gates TQQQ exposure. BULL holds 60% QQQ long + 15% TQQQ long; SIDEWAYS holds 10% QQQ long + 60% TQQQ short; BEAR holds 40% QQQ long + 5% TQQQ short. All executions happen at the next day’s open.

Question 16

What is Taurus?

Accepted Answer

Taurus is a short-only bar-pattern weakness strategy. From a ~3,200-symbol easy-to-borrow universe (price $44–$220, average volume ≥500k), it scores stocks on a 3-component weakness measure — Big Up Move Ratio (50%), Bear Bar Ratio (40%), New Low Count (10%) — over an 80-day lookback. The three weakest stocks form an equal-weight short portfolio rebalanced daily.

Question 17

What is Scorpio?

Accepted Answer

Scorpio is a trend-quality ETF rotation strategy. It scores 19 sector and commodity ETFs daily on a 50/50 blend of R² (10-day trend consistency) and SMA 30/100 alignment, then holds the top 3 in equal-weight positions (~33% each). Long-only, always fully invested, T+1 execution. No intra-cycle rebalancing — positions only change when an ETF rotates out of the top 3.

Question 18

What does T+1 execution mean?

Accepted Answer

Signals are computed after the close on day T using that day’s data, and orders are placed at the open on day T+1 (the next trading day). This eliminates look-ahead bias in backtests and gives subscribers all evening to review signals and prepare orders. Every live strategy on SystemTrader uses T+1 execution.

Question 19

What does equal-weight rebalancing mean?

Accepted Answer

Each position gets the same dollar share of the portfolio. If a strategy holds 6 positions, each starts at ~16.7%. As prices move, positions drift; rebalancing trims winners and adds to laggards to bring weights back to target. Most live strategies rebalance daily. Vega does not rebalance (winners run). Scorpio only rebalances on rotation, not within a holding period.

Question 20

When are signals published?

Accepted Answer

Signals are computed after the 4:00 PM ET market close. Updated portfolio and signal pages are typically live within a few hours, well before the next session’s open. You have all evening and morning to review changes and place orders for the open.

Question 21

How much capital do I need?

Accepted Answer

There is no platform-imposed minimum, but practical minimums depend on the strategy. Long-only strategies with 6–10 positions are realistic from roughly $5,000–$10,000 (smaller breaks equal-weighting because of share-rounding). Mercury and Taurus require margin accounts, which most US brokers gate at $2,000. Position sizing is your decision — the strategies publish weights, not dollar amounts.

Question 22

Do I need a margin account?

Accepted Answer

For long-only strategies (Gemini, Mars, Vega, Jupiter, Scorpio) a regular cash or margin account works. Taurus shorts stocks, which requires a margin account at most US brokers. Mercury holds short TQQQ in two of its three regimes, so it also requires a margin account. Confirm short availability with your broker — easy-to-borrow lists vary.

Question 23

Which brokers can I use?

Accepted Answer

Any US broker that supports stocks and ETFs works — the strategies don’t depend on broker-specific features. Common choices include Interactive Brokers, TradeStation, Fidelity, and Charles Schwab. For Taurus and Mercury (short positions), confirm your broker has the required symbols available to short.

Question 24

What is the Research Library?

Accepted Answer

The Research Library documents 39 academically-grounded trading strategies across three categories: 11 stock strategies (momentum, value, low volatility, pairs trading, mean reversion, multi-factor, and more), 23 options strategies (spreads, straddles, strangles, iron condors, butterflies, ladders, and more), and 5 ETF strategies (sector rotation, alpha rotation, R-squared, mean reversion, multi-asset trend). Each page covers the original research, the math, explicit trading rules, an implementation guide, and risk discussion.

Question 25

Where do the strategies come from?

Accepted Answer

All strategies are based on published academic research. SystemTrader documents what researchers have discovered and validated in peer-reviewed journals like the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, and Review of Financial Studies. Every strategy page cites the original papers with links to free PDFs when available.

Question 26

What trading tools do you offer?

Accepted Answer

Eight real-time market analysis tools: Market Heatmap (D3 treemap by sector and market cap), Momentum Scanner (7-factor scoring across all stocks — Pro), Market Breadth (A-D Line, NH-NL, MA breadth, Hindenburg Omen), Sector Performance (rotation across 10 themes), Unusual Volume (volume-spike detection with date picker), Signals (SPY technical triggers with forward-return base rates), Fund Managers (quarterly 13F holdings from legendary investors), and VIX (term-structure analysis for volatility regime detection).

Question 27

What economic data do you provide?

Accepted Answer

Interactive charts for 40+ economic indicators sourced from FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data). Each chart includes an S&P 500 overlay so you can see how economic releases correlate with market action. Categories include Labor Market, Inflation, Economic Growth, Consumer, Housing, Trade, Interest Rates, Money & Credit, and Financial Conditions.

Question 28

How often is the economic data updated?

Accepted Answer

Economic indicator data is updated daily when new releases are available. The release calendar shows upcoming publication dates for all indicators. SPY price data is updated daily after the US market close.

Question 29

How do I subscribe?

Accepted Answer

Click "Subscribe" on the pricing page or the home page. You will be redirected to a Square checkout page to enter your payment details. Once your card is charged, the system grants access automatically and you can start using the protected pages within a minute.

Question 30

How do I cancel?

Accepted Answer

Visit the Profile page and click "Cancel Subscription". Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current paid period — you keep access through that date. We do not issue refunds for partial periods, but cancellation stops all future charges immediately.

Question 31

What payment methods do you accept?

Accepted Answer

Major credit and debit cards via Square (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover). Square handles all payment processing — SystemTrader does not store card details.

Question 32

Are these strategies guaranteed to make money?

Accepted Answer

No. No trading strategy is guaranteed to be profitable. While the strategies are based on academically-validated factors and live-tested with the founder’s own capital, real risks remain: past performance does not guarantee future results, factors can underperform for extended periods, market conditions change and historical premiums can erode, and implementation costs (commissions, slippage, taxes) can significantly reduce returns.

Question 33

What are the risks of short selling (Taurus)?

Accepted Answer

Short selling carries unique risks: theoretically unlimited losses if a stock rises sharply, margin calls if positions move against you, borrow fees that vary by symbol, hard-to-borrow restrictions that can force buy-ins, and forced cover during squeezes. Taurus mitigates some of this by limiting itself to easy-to-borrow names, but the risks remain and you should understand them fully before shorting.

Question 34

What are the risks of leveraged ETFs (Mercury)?

Accepted Answer

Leveraged ETFs like TQQQ amplify daily returns by 3x — both up and down. Compounding decay over time means leveraged ETFs underperform their stated multiple in volatile or sideways markets. Drawdowns can be severe and sudden. Mercury exploits decay deliberately in two of its three regimes via short TQQQ, but long TQQQ exposure in BULL regimes carries the full leveraged downside if the regime call is wrong.

Question 35

Is this investment advice?

Accepted Answer

No. SystemTrader is for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing on the platform constitutes investment advice, financial advice, or a recommendation to buy or sell any securities. SystemTrader is not a registered investment advisor or broker-dealer. You should conduct your own research and consult with qualified financial advisors before making any investment decisions.

Question 36

Who runs SystemTrader?

Accepted Answer

SystemTrader was built by Yuriy Matso, a product leader with over 20 years building web and mobile applications and 17 years of personal trading experience. Yuriy also created FutAlgo, a portfolio of NQ/ES day and swing trading systems. The site grew out of his personal systematic trading workflow.

Question 37

Does Yuriy actually trade these strategies?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every signal published on SystemTrader is one Yuriy acts on with his own capital. The platform exists because he was running these systems for himself first; publishing the signals to subscribers is a natural extension of that workflow.

Question 38

Why should I create an account?

Accepted Answer

A free account lets you save preferences and is the entry point for subscribing to SystemTrader Pro, which unlocks the live portfolios, signals, stock universes for all seven strategies, and the momentum scanner. The research library, methodology pages, market breadth, sector performance, heatmap, signals tool, fund managers tool, VIX tool, and economic dashboard are free without an account.

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