How DART Works

The algorithm in plain english.

1

We watch 8 high-volume stocks every 15 minutes

AAPL, MSFT, NVDA, TSLA, AMZN, META, GOOGL, and AMD. Every 15 minutes during market hours (9:30 AM – 4 PM ET) we pull the latest 5-minute candles and run the numbers. These are the most liquid names on the market — tight spreads, tons of volume. We skip ETFs like SPY and QQQ because their intraday swings are too small for this strategy.

2

Buy the dips — but not the freefalls

The core idea is mean reversion: when a stock dips below its Bollinger Band floor and the RSI confirms “oversold,” we buy. We also check VWAP, volume, and trend direction. The key insight: we only enter when signal confidence is in a specific “goldilocks zone” (68–80). Below that isn’t convincing enough. Above that means every indicator is screaming at once — which usually means a real crash, not a dip. We learned that one from the data.

3

Small bites, fast exits, no overnight holds

Every trade targets +1.2% profit and has a -0.5% stop-loss — roughly 2.4:1 reward-to-risk. We check exits on every 5-minute candle so stops fire precisely. All positions close at end of day — no overnight risk, no gap-down surprises. After a stop-loss, we sit out that stock for 15 minutes to avoid whipsawing back in.

4

Never go all-in on one thing

Max 8 positions at a time, and no single stock gets more than 30% of the portfolio. Each position is roughly 18–25% of the portfolio depending on signal strength. Positions turn over fast — average hold time is about 60–90 minutes. This way one bad trade can’t blow up the whole account.

5

Validated on 30 days of real data, then kept running

We backtest against a full month of actual market data to prove the model works — including down markets. Once validated, a daily cron job fetches fresh prices and keeps trading. Same rules, same discipline. The dashboard updates every day so you can see exactly what it’s doing and how the snowball is growing.

Signals at a glance

Buy when

  • Price below lower Bollinger Band
  • RSI under 30 (oversold)
  • Price below VWAP
  • Volume spike confirms conviction
  • Bullish trend (SMA 8 > SMA 21)
  • Confidence 68–80 (reject extremes)

Exit when

  • +1.2% take profit (lock in quick gains)
  • -0.5% stop loss (cut losers fast)
  • End of trading day (close everything)

Backtest results

30-Day Return

+3.48%

$34,836 on $1M

Round Trips

99

~5 trades/day

Annualized

~42%

projected at current pace