PORTFOLIO ANALYTICS | AUGUST 2026
Inside the 18 System NQ Portfolio: Excel, Python, MultiCharts and TradeStation Analytics
A detailed look at how we measure portfolio performance, compare drawdown calculations, evaluate strategy diversification and make systematic trading decisions using data instead of emotion.
One Portfolio, Four Independent Analytics Platforms
The 18 System NQ Portfolio is not evaluated through a single equity curve or one software platform. We use several independent analytics environments to examine the portfolio from different perspectives:
- TradeStation for strategy execution, chart analysis and trade-data exports.
- MultiCharts Portfolio Trader for portfolio-level performance and intratrade analysis.
- Microsoft Excel for combined end-of-day equity and drawdown calculations.
- Python Portfolio Metrics for trade-level filtering, strategy selection, session analysis and expanded portfolio research.
Portfolio Performance Snapshot
Portfolio Net Profit
$2.55 Million+
End-of-Day Max Drawdown
$53,475
Closed-Trade Max Drawdown
$61,345
Average Trade P&L
$142.19
Results shown in the video include $25 per round turn for estimated slippage and commissions. The exact result varies slightly by platform, data structure and drawdown methodology.
Why Drawdown Depends on How You Measure It
One of the most important parts of the analysis is understanding that there is no single universal drawdown number. The result depends on the equity data being measured and the point at which the portfolio is marked.
End-of-Day Drawdown
The Excel portfolio calculator combines each strategy’s daily results and measures the portfolio from one completed trading day to the next. This is the primary method we use for portfolio-level risk management. In the current analysis, the maximum end-of-day drawdown was approximately $53,475, and the portfolio was at a new end-of-day equity peak.
Closed-Trade Drawdown
Python Portfolio Metrics measures the sequence of individual closed trades. Because trades close at different times during the session, the closed-trade equity curve can show a drawdown even when the portfolio finishes the day at a new end-of-day high. In this analysis, the maximum closed-trade drawdown was approximately $61,345.
Intratrade Drawdown
MultiCharts can also estimate portfolio drawdown using the high and low price extremes that occur while trades remain open. This intratrade measurement produced a larger value of approximately $82,170. It represents a different and more granular risk perspective than either end-of-day or closed-trade analysis.
How a Portfolio Can Be at an Equity Peak and Still Show a Drawdown
The Stock Index Portfolio 18 gained approximately $44,335 during the session discussed in the video. On an end-of-day basis, that gain moved the portfolio to a new equity peak.
However, some strategies closed losing trades after the portfolio had already reached a higher intraday level. That left the closed-trade analysis approximately $1,025 below its peak, even though the end-of-day portfolio calculation showed a current drawdown of zero.
What Each Analytics Platform Contributes
TradeStation: Strategy Charts and Trade Exports
TradeStation provides the individual charts, strategy signals and trade records behind the portfolio. The video shows all 18 strategies running across separate NQ charts, including long, short, trend, reversal and opening-range setups.
Trade data is exported from TradeStation and then loaded into Excel and Python for additional portfolio-level analysis.
Excel: End-of-Day Portfolio Accounting
Excel has been part of our portfolio analytics process for approximately 25 years. Each strategy’s exported daily result is combined into a single portfolio equity curve. The workbook calculates total profit, monthly performance, historical drawdown, margin requirements and estimated minimum account size.
MultiCharts: Independent Portfolio Verification
MultiCharts Portfolio Trader provides another independent implementation of the same portfolio. It allows us to compare portfolio-level equity, closed-trade results and intratrade drawdown calculations using a separate software environment.
The disadvantage is calculation time. Removing or adding a strategy can require the entire portfolio analysis to be rerun, which may take 30 minutes or longer depending on the number of strategies and the historical test period.
Python: Flexible Trade-Level Portfolio Research
The Python Portfolio Metrics tool operates as a trade database rather than only a combined daily equity curve. This makes it possible to filter and study the portfolio by:
- Long trades versus short trades
- Specific date ranges
- Day-session versus overnight trades
- Markets within a multi-market portfolio
- Individual strategy contributions
- Portfolio optimizer and machine-learning selection criteria
Adjustments can be evaluated quickly without waiting for a complete MultiCharts portfolio recalculation.
Diversification Is More Than Owning 18 Strategies
A portfolio is not diversified simply because it contains a large number of systems. The strategies must respond differently to changing market conditions.
The 18 System NQ Portfolio combines several distinct trading approaches:
Some strategies in the current portfolio are at or near equity peaks. Others are in moderate or historically difficult drawdown cycles. That difference is intentional.
A portfolio in which every strategy is simultaneously at an equity peak may contain more hidden concentration risk than it appears to have.
If ten similar trend systems reach equity peaks together, they may also enter drawdowns together when the market becomes choppy. Combining strategies in different performance cycles can reduce dependence on one market regime.
Individual Strategy Cycles
The video reviews the individual equity curves behind the portfolio. Examples include:
- Cobra 3, Cobra 3 2022 and the original Open Range at or near equity peaks.
- NQ Pulse, MAG 7 and VSD Trender operating in drawdown cycles.
- Gap Continuation 2024 beginning to recover after recently exceeding a previous drawdown level.
- Active Trader 2022 and Opening Chop 2 near historically difficult drawdown levels.
- EVP 1 in an extended drawdown but retained for its potential to capture larger moves.
- Momentum Reversal beginning to recover and appearing among the portfolio’s leading strategies on selected days.
- V-Reversal variants experiencing a difficult period while remaining within the historical risk framework discussed in the video.
Using Data Instead of Emotion
One of the greatest risks in systematic trading is abandoning a strategy because its recent performance feels different or unusually difficult.
A rapid drawdown naturally raises questions:
Has the market permanently changed?
Has the strategy stopped working?
Should the system be removed immediately?
Those questions cannot be answered reliably through emotion or short-term observation. We examine the current drawdown relative to the strategy’s historical drawdowns, the contribution of the other portfolio systems and whether the portfolio remains inside its established risk tolerances.
A diversified portfolio allows certain strategies to experience losses while other strategies offset those losses. That is one of the primary reasons to evaluate systems at the portfolio level rather than judging each strategy from a single recent sequence.
The Next Step: AI-Assisted Portfolio Selection
The Python environment also creates a foundation for testing machine-learning and AI-based portfolio selection methods.
Rather than selecting systems solely from a static list, an optimizer can evaluate criteria such as drawdown, correlation, direction, trading session and recent strategy behavior. These tools may help identify which strategies should be included under a defined portfolio-selection framework.
AI does not eliminate the need for robust historical testing or risk controls. It provides another analytical layer that can be evaluated alongside the existing Excel, TradeStation and MultiCharts processes.
Portfolio Decisions Require More Than One Equity Curve
The 18 System NQ Portfolio selection was developed in May 2025. The portfolio continues to move through changing market conditions, with some strategies reaching new equity peaks while others remain in normal or difficult drawdown cycles.
The purpose of maintaining multiple analytics platforms is not to find the most favorable statistic. It is to understand the portfolio from several legitimate perspectives:
- How is the portfolio performing at the end of each trading day?
- What happens across the sequence of individual closed trades?
- What is the potential intratrade risk while positions remain open?
- Which strategies are contributing to gains or losses?
- Is the portfolio still operating within its established historical risk framework?
This type of analysis helps us avoid making portfolio changes at the wrong time simply because recent trading has been emotionally uncomfortable.
Explore the 18 System NQ Portfolio
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Risk Disclosure
Futures and options trading involves substantial risk and is not suitable for every investor. An investor could potentially lose all or more than the investor's initial investment. Risk capital is money that can be lost without jeopardizing financial security or lifestyle. Only risk capital should be used for trading. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Hypothetical or simulated performance results have inherent limitations and do not represent actual trading unless specifically identified as such.