AI Day Trader
Scorecard
| Days | Calls | Wins | AI result | Without AI | AI edge | If held to plan | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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How the AI Day Trader works
The AI Day Trader follows five tickers each trading day: the index ETFs SPY, QQQ and IWM, plus two stock picks that change daily. Six rule-based day trading strategies scan 5-minute charts for setups. When one appears, an AI model weighs the setup against the wider picture, including the daily trend, price action, options flow, large block trades and the news, and decides whether to take it or pass.
Every decision is logged with a timestamp before the outcome is known, and nothing is edited afterwards. Each call has a fixed entry, target, invalidation level and time limit that never move once the call is logged. Passes are logged too, with the reason, and once a passed setup has played out the page shows what taking it would have returned.
Each strategy keeps its own record. A ticker can have more than one call open at once, one per strategy, and each is graded separately.
The scorecard compares the AI's calls with the same strategies run without the AI, taking every setup the rules find. The difference, the AI edge, shows whether the AI's judgement adds anything over the rules alone.
The day trading strategies
Opening range breakout strategy
The opening range is the high and low of the first 30 minutes of trading, from 9:30 to 10:00 Eastern. An opening range breakout is a 5-minute bar that closes above the range high, or below the range low, on rising volume. The target is one range width beyond the entry, the invalidation is the middle of the range, and the call has 60 minutes to work. Only the first breakout in each direction counts, and only before 11:30. Full guide to the opening range breakout strategy, with live results.
VWAP pullback strategy
VWAP is the volume-weighted average price for the day. On a trending day, price holds on one side of VWAP while VWAP itself slopes in the trend's direction. A VWAP pullback call fires when price dips back to VWAP during an established trend and then closes back beyond the pullback bar, showing the dip has ended. The target is the day's prior high or low, and the setup is skipped when that target is too close to justify the risk. Full guide to the VWAP pullback strategy, with live results.
Failed breakout reversal
Breakouts that fail quickly tend to reverse, because traders who bought the break are caught on the wrong side. This setup watches the opening range, the prior day's high and low, and the day's own high and low. When a 5-minute bar closes beyond one of those levels and price closes back inside within three bars, the call is taken against the failed break. The invalidation sits just beyond the furthest point of the false move. Full guide to the failed breakout strategy, with live results.
Gap and go
When a stock or ETF opens with a large gap from the prior close, the first 15 minutes set a range. A gap and go call fires when a 5-minute bar then closes beyond that range in the gap's direction, which shows the gap is being extended and not faded. The target is one range width beyond the entry, and the invalidation is the middle of the range. Full guide to the gap and go strategy, with live results.
Intraday momentum
Research on index ETFs has found that the market's move in the first half hour tends to carry into the last half hour. This call is decided at 3:30 PM Eastern: if the first half hour moved far enough from the prior close, the last 30 minutes are traded in the same direction and the call is held to the close. Full guide to the intraday momentum strategy, with live results.
Trend run
Some days a stock just keeps running. It holds above VWAP all day and never pulls back far enough for a VWAP pullback, so the other setups never fire. Trend run is built for those days. Once most of the session's 5-minute closes have been on one side of VWAP and the stock has already moved a good share of its normal daily range from the open, it waits for a short, shallow pause near the high of the day. The entry is a 5-minute close at a new high of the day out of that pause, and the invalidation sits just below the pause. It runs on the daily stock picks only, and only in the direction of the market's daily trend. It uses a trailing exit: the call stays open until a 5-minute bar closes back through VWAP, its invalidation is hit, or the closing bell. The mirror image applies to a stock that keeps falling. Full guide to the trend run strategy, with live results.
Frequently asked questions
What is the AI Day Trader?
It is a StreetAlpha page that makes live intraday trading calls on five tickers each day: SPY, QQQ, IWM and two stock picks. Rule-based strategies find setups on 5-minute charts, and an AI model decides whether to take or pass each one. Every call is logged with a timestamp before its outcome is known.
Which day trading strategies does it use?
Six: the opening range breakout, the VWAP pullback in a trend, the failed breakout reversal, gap and go, intraday momentum, and trend run. Each has fixed rules for its entry, target, invalidation and time limit, and each keeps its own record.
What is an opening range breakout?
The opening range is the high and low of the first 30 minutes of trading. An opening range breakout is a 5-minute close above that high or below that low on rising volume. The target is one range width beyond the entry and the invalidation is the middle of the range.
How is the AI Day Trader's performance measured?
Each call's result is the percent move from entry to exit, with every call the same size and a small 0.005% allowance taken off for the bid-ask spread. Results are summed and shown next to the same strategies without the AI, taking every setup the rules find. The difference, the AI edge, shows whether the AI's judgement added anything.
What are the bubbles and the panel under the chart?
They show options flow on the ticker. Each bubble is a large options trade: $500,000 or more in premium, on a contract expiring within two weeks, with spreads and other multi-leg trades left out. Green bubbles above the candles lean bullish, orange ones below lean bearish, and grey ones are mixed. A trade leans bullish when calls are bought at the ask or puts are sold at the bid, and bearish the other way round. A bigger bubble means more premium, and a thicker ring marks a sweep. The panel under the chart is the day's net options premium: call buying minus put buying, added up through the session. The AI looks at options flow when it decides whether to take a setup, but flow is context, not a signal on its own. The Trades and Premium buttons above the chart turn each part on or off.
Does the AI Day Trader place real trades?
No. It publishes calls and tracks how they would have done. It does not place trades and nothing on the page is investment advice.
Is the AI Day Trader free?
SPY is free to watch live, and the full scorecard is open to everyone. A free account adds one of the day's stock picks and replays. AI Starter and AI Pro members see all five tickers with full call details the moment a call fires.