📖 The Tradecraft Compendium

A Field Guide to 27 Algorithmic Traders

"Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime. But teach a machine to fish, and it will drain the ocean while you sleep."
— Anonymous Quant, 2024

🔥 PRO Compendium 🔥

📊 Data Window: All strategies backtested on 2 years of minute-level market data (February 2024 – February 2026)

📊 Performance Window: 1 Month 3 Months 6 Months YTD 1 Year 2 Years

🌊

Part I: The Swing Traders

Those who dance with the tides, holding positions as the moon waxes and wanes

12 characters

Grace Crossover

The Patient One

"The fast moving average is the heartbeat. The slow moving average is the breath. When heartbeat crosses breath, the mark..."

EMA crossover - 9 EMA crossing 21 EMA signals entry

Stocks with clean trending behavior

Danny Dip

The Optimist

"A 3% pullback in a bull market is just the universe giving you a second chance to buy what you missed...."

Buy 3% dips, target 5% profit

Bull markets and quality stocks

Momo Momentum

The Surfer

"Objects in motion stay in motion. I don't fight physics...."

20-day momentum, 5% threshold confirmation

Growth stocks, meme stocks

Nina Micro

The Sniper

"I don't need to kill with one shot. A thousand paper cuts will do...."

1.5% take-profit, 0.75% stop-loss scalping

Liquid stocks with tight spreads

Yolanda YOLO

The Degen

"A 5% dip is the universe daring you to size up...."

Buy 5% dips, target 10% profit

Meme stocks, volatile crypto

Bruno Breakout

The Explorer

"New highs are not the ceiling—they're the floor for what comes next...."

20-day high breakout with 2% confirmation

Growth stocks breaking out of bases

Professor Mean

The Mathematician

"Price is a drunk stumbling home. It may wander, but it always returns to the mean...."

Trade 2 standard deviation extremes back to mean

Range-bound stocks and ETFs

Victor Volume

The Detective

"Price is what they show you. Volume is what they're actually doing...."

2x volume spike + price movement = institutional entry

Finding accumulation before breakouts

Trent Follower

The Disciple

"I don't have opinions about where the market should go. I only observe where it's going...."

50-day MA trend following, 3% strength threshold

Commodities, currencies, trending markets

Rebel Contraire

The Rebel

"Three red days means the amateurs have sold. Now it's time to buy what they threw away...."

Buy after 3 consecutive down days, target 2% reversal

Oversold bounces, fading crowded trades

Penelope Swing

The Pendulum

"Markets breathe—they inhale greed, exhale fear, and the wise trade the breath...."

Trade 10% range: buy support, sell resistance

Range-bound markets, consolidation periods

Wrecking Ball

The Stock Crash Surgeon

"Stocks crash differently than crypto. Slower, shallower, but the bounces are just as inevitable. PDT rules? They actuall..."

Buy stock momentum crashes, hold 1-3 days (PDT-compliant swing), no stops

Stock crash bounces — 44 validated Tier 1 equities, PDT-compliant swing trades (avg hold 2-3 days)

⚡

Part II: The Day Traders

Those who live and die by the daily candle, never sleeping with a position

8 characters

Orion Breakout

The Early Bird

"The opening range is a coiled spring. When it breaks, ride the explosion...."

Opening range breakout with 0.5% confirmation

High-volume stocks with gap openings

Vicky VWAP

The Anchor

"VWAP is where institutions traded. When price returns there, I trade with them...."

Buy 0.5% below VWAP, exit at VWAP

Liquid, high-volume institutional stocks

Chaz Cheetah

The Cheetah

"Three green candles means momentum is real. I take my 0.5% and vanish...."

Micro-scalp: 3 bullish candles → 0.5% target

High-liquidity, tight-spread stocks

Ruby Rubberband

The Rubber Band

"Stretch a rubber band too far and it snaps back. Same with price...."

Fade 1.5 std dev moves, 0.3% target

Range-bound days, mean-reverting stocks

Gary Gap

The Closer

"Gaps are mistakes. Markets fix their mistakes...."

Trade 1%+ gaps for 50% fill

Common gaps in range-bound stocks

Nina NineEMA

The Ninja

"The 9 EMA is an invisible thread connecting price to truth. I trade the touch...."

Buy 9 EMA touches in uptrends

Trending days on liquid stocks

Howard Hour

The Clock Watcher

"Amateurs open the market. Professionals close it...."

Trade Power Hour (3-4 PM) momentum

Index ETFs, large-cap institutional stocks

Felix FirstRed

The Counter-Puncher

"Let them punch themselves out. Then I strike...."

Short first red after 3 greens, 0.5% target

Overextended momentum, end of runs

🌐

Part III: The Crypto Natives

Those who trade the 24/7 casino, where weekends matter and sleep is optional

7 characters

Wendy Weekend

The Insomniac

"When America sleeps and Asia parties, that's when crypto shows its true face...."

XRP Sunday 10pm → Monday 10pm (24h hold)

XRP weekly momentum trading

Barry BTCorr

The Shadow

"Bitcoin is the sun. Altcoins are planets. Trade the gravitational pull...."

Trade alt multiplier effect on BTC moves

High-beta altcoins during BTC volatility

Luke Liquidation

The Vulture

"Liquidations are a feature, not a bug. I trade the cascade...."

Buy after 10% dump with cascade liquidations

Post-liquidation bounces

Asia Akemi

The Night Owl

"When the crowd panics and sells the dip in euphoria, I'm there to catch it. When fear rules, I sit out...."

Regime-Adaptive: Buy dips ONLY during Extreme Greed (F&G >= 76)

XRP and SOL during Asian session dips in BULL MARKETS ONLY

Wally Whale

The Vulture

"Whales can't hide on-chain. But the real edge isn't following their buys—it's buying their forced sells...."

Buy 3× volume spikes AFTER 15%+ dumps from 24h high

Post-liquidation bounces in volatile crypto

Crasher

The Oracle's Apprentice

"Don't predict the crash. Wait for it, then ride the bounce. Time heals all positions...."

Buy severe momentum crashes, hold fixed time, no stops

Crypto crash bounces in any market regime (validated for both Greed AND Fear)

Crasher Macro

The Fear Whisperer

"When the world panics, crypto crashes harder — and bounces faster. Macro fear is the signal...."

Crasher's crash-bounce thesis gated by FRED macro stress: only enters when VIX>25 OR high-yield credit spread>P75. No stop loss, time-based exits.

Crypto crash bounces during macro stress — VIX predicts winners (delta +1.82 to +4.30 across altcoins)

📅 The Age Spectrum

Each character's age corresponds to when their underlying strategy was first documented or became practical to execute.

● Ancients (100+ years) - Born before electricity

● Veterans (40-80 years) - Proven through decades

● Prime (30-40 years) - Peak of their powers

● Young (10-30 years) - Digital natives

● Children (<10 years) - May not survive