When our co-founder left his position at a dealing desk and began to explore the tools available to retail traders, he was quickly disappointed by the lack of advancement over the past decades.
As the real market-movers (algorithmic trading firms) advance to new heights of competition (against each other), the retail space continues to be "educated" by con artists who sell the same old snake oil conspiracy theoryes and techniques with no basis in reality.
Retail traders are between 5 to 15 percent of volume on highly-liquid markets like index futures and currency markets. Believing that every move is out to get you is like believing a star player's main goal is to take down the other team's benched rookie.
Sure, the outcomes of the games may affect you, and your instincts (and the techniques you are taught) are likely to work against you... but it's definitely not because the people who move these markets care about your one micro or even mini contract while they're busy trading the value of your home multipled by 100 or more.
The good news? Because you are not the target, there are different opportunities you can capitalize on. The fact that the major players don't actually care about you and your trades is, ironically, one of your few advantages.
A.M. stands Auction Markets and also the dawn of a new day.
We are a research and development team working with pro traders whose passion is testing new ideas and fostering a better understanding real edges in the financial markets.
Auction Market Theory is something of a misnomer because it's far more than just a theory. It's the only framework that describes how financial markets actually work.
As we continue to develop free resources for serious traders looking to move beyond the retail snake oil education concepts, we first landed on a critical piece of the puzzle that many traders struggle with: Lack of consistency without a trading journal.
While this sounds incredibly over-simplifying, it's the truth we've seen time and time again, regardless of the type of strategy you trade.
We are always developing new tools and other ways to help real traders develop.
After decades of experience, we have found that successful traders come in two categories:
- Fund Managers: Long-term low-return low-drawdown investors who can manage enormous amounts of capital with low volatility (appealing to investors in a world where a 25 million fund is considered extremely small and most retail trading strategies are not at all viable)
- Successful Day Traders: High volatility, high variance, short-term traders who trade on timeframes that large market participants do not compete on (these are the successful retail traders who often start with evaluation prop firms)
We've worked mainly with the Fund Manager category. We're now actively seeking traders with proven experience and skills in the latter category. With our trading journal app, you can run Monte Carlo simulations and see your stats for how likely you are to pass prop firm challenge accounts. Many traders are able to do this due to a combination of luck and timing, but we are looking for traders who are able to do it consistently in different market conditions. Traditional funds consider you not to be "investable" but we were founded with the belief that a combination of high performing successful day traders can internally reduce volatility with low enough correlation. In other words, we are looking for a variety of independently-minded traders who think outside the box and do it well. If you fit this criteria but are still under-funded, use the trading journal to prove your stats. We will contact you to verify that your trading data is legitimate and can be verified (since you can manually enter any data you like, so we can't trust the data alone) for potential recruitment into our team of pro traders. In effect, we aim to find real skill and talent. Your entry for this opportunity is always free and you'll learn more about yourself along the way. If you want to create a second account under a different email address in the journal and just use it to measure your low quality B-setups to learn from, you're welcome to use it for that too.
If you're always curious about the inner workings of the edges you find in the market, and have the drive to pursue to uniquely independent life of a professional trader, the road ahead is simple: Read what you see, try your best to profit from it, and whether you win or lose... journal all of your trades accurately.
Every member of our team went through a phase where we believed that it was not necessary to keep a trading journal. Some believed it was enough to just do it and somehow we would remember what worked or didn't work. But the markets aren't that simple. The strategy that gave you a euphoric win last week may have negative expected value over the coming year. The other trade that you chalked up as a lucky trade might be the edge you've been looking for. The only way to know is to keep doing it and gather data.
That's why we developed the free AM Trading Journal to help our traders grow the right way. Now you can use it for free too.
© 2025 AM Research Group.
All rights reserved.
Terms of Service |
Privacy Policy
Risk disclosure: Futures and derivatives trading entails substantial risk and is not suitable for every investor. Never risk more than you can afford to lose. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Nothing contained herein is a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell futures, options, forex, or other derivative contracts.
