You can create a trading strategy for free. Use this period to try our features. Kick the tires for 14-days, enter buys or sells (“signals”), explore trade entry methods, and generally learn your way around. If you like us (we’re sure you will) then we ask you to select a plan based on your needs.

Once you start signing up subscribers, we’ll take care of all the transaction processing. We pay strategy managers 50% of any subscriptions you collect through Collective2, but only if and when you collect subscription fees. 

Everything is included:

• Offer Autotrading to subscribers. Included.
• Broadcast signals via email, Instant Messenger, or cell phone. Included.
• Private forum for your subscribers. Included.

You can charge subscribers any amount but the “sweet spot” seems to be between the $49 and $199 monthly price point. Most strategies offer free trial periods.

Another important factor to consider is the amount of capital required to follow your strategy to account for margin, position sizing, draw down, and other factors. Strategies that require more than $50,000 may be less popular than those that can be followed with a smaller initial investment.

Because of our peculiar philosophy about the importance of “go-forward public commitment,” we eschew backtested results due to the selection bias inherent in them. Thus we do not allow you to import backtested results into your C2 system. However, it is perfectly fine if you want to describe your backtesting results, but remember to not include performance numbers in your system description on your C2 system page. 

You’re probably thinking “How am I to compete with other systems if I don’t have any history?”. Well, the answer is every vendor starts this way. No matter how old the system is you see on C2, they are all started the same…with no history or backtested data showing. The only data for your system on C2 is what happens here on C2.

You can send back testing results to potential subscribers, but C2 cannot verify them on your behalf.

You only need to reveal the information about your strategy that you want to reveal. If you use an automated strategy such as a MetaTrader EA or a TradeStation EasyLanguage program, you do not reveal (or even distribute) your program to anyone! Also, you can delay trade data — even closed trade information — from non-subscribers for a period of time that you specify.

With over 101,000 registered users, and hundreds of millions of dollars of automated transactions flowing through our platform each week, Collective2 is the dominant trading strategy platform. If your strategy performs well at C2, you will probably make money.

How much? That obviously depends on your strategy, but we can give you some benchmarks. The highest-grossing strategy on C2 has earned over a half-million dollars. Other strategies approach the $100,000 dollars in revenue level. And quite a few good strategies cluster around the $20,000 to $30,000 level.

You do not need a live (or real money) brokerage account to manage a trading strategy on Collective2. However, you can “run your strategy,” (submit buy and sell signals) with a live brokerage account at Interactive Brokers, OptionsHouse, and several other popular broker platforms.  

A trading strategy on Collective2 is also known as a “Model Account.” Although this is a simulated account, it is not an imaginary track record, based on how you would-have (should-have… could-have) traded.* You actually have to tell us: “It is time to buy XXX now.” Or: “Take a profit now on my position in YYY.” The results of these real-time buy and sell signals are the track record we show to prospective subscribers.

If you are an American citizen, the short answer is: No, you do not need to register with any government agency, or pass any kind of test, or have a license in order to publish trading advice. However, you must be aware of certain restrictions. The most important restriction is this. You cannot provide individualized advice to clients. That is, you cannot offer different advice to different clients based on their individual  financial situations.

If you are not an American citizen, please check with a local attorney as to what kind of constraints your government places upon you. Of note, Collective2 has trade leaders from over 30 countries. 

Collective2 supports stocks, options, futures, and forex. You can trade multiple instruments in a single strategy although most strategy managers on the platform focus in a specific market. (e.g. a “futures” trading strategy) 

To “manage a strategy” here on Collective2, you’ll need to submit buy and sell signals. That means: when it’s time to buy something, you need to tell us, “Buy now.” When it’s time to sell, you’ll need to tell us, “Sell now.”

The most simple method for communicating with C2 is to type your buy and sell signals directly into our web site, which then “publishes” them for your subscribers. It’s like using an online broker, but no broker account is required.

Or, you can explore the more advanced choices which include API, email, platform connectors (NinjaTrader, MT4, TradeStation), or programming in our Seetu language.