With STRATxAI, you can create a quantitative portfolio in minutes.  

In this article, we will look at how to build a ‘manual’ stock portfolio. This means that you pick a strategy, build a tracker portfolio and trade alongside  whichever broker you choose. 

1: Find a trading strategy that you want to use

Log in or Launch App to go to your personal dashboard and browse the catalogue of stock strategies to find a strategy that suits your risk tolerance.

Click on your selected strategy or on 'create portfolio' to start 

. When offered the choice between manual and automated, 

Note: Automated portfolio creation is available to 

Name your new portfolio whatever you like, or use one of our pre-populated auto-generated names.

Currently STRATxAI offers US-only stocks (global stocks coming soon), so the conversion value from your currency to USD($) is shown below the amount you input.

In front of you are the stocks which the algorithm has generated; depending on the strategy there will be between 10-25 stocks in the list. You will see the number of shares to purchase for each stock in the list. 

How to purchase the stocks in your broker

 and work your way through the list of stocks, purchasing each as shown.

You may use a market order or a limit order to buy the stock. A 

 should execute instantaneously (using the market’s best price), whereas a 

 could take some time to execute (you decide the price). Most people building an STRATxAI portfolio will choose to use a market order.

Whatever price you paid for the stock, enter that into the “Share Price” input in STRATxAI and 

when you’re building the portfolio, you may not know the exact price which you paid for the stock. If that is the case, take your best guess, or 

 – you can always edit the transaction price afterwards.

If you cannot find the stock in your broker or don’t want to purchase a stock for whatever reason, 

the algorithm will give you a brand new stock

 STRATxAI does not endorse or recommend any individual stock shown in the lists, the stocks are purely generated by the algorithm. 

Next comes the confirmation page which confirms your list of stocks. 

' the completed portfolio will be added to your STRATxAI profile. Take note of your rebalance date, then sit back and relax. 

Congratulations! You have successfully created your first Manual portfolio.

Setting up your first STRATxAI paper portfolio could not be any simpler. See this "how to" guide to do it quickly. 

1. How to create a manual stock portfolio

At STRATxAI, we empower anyone to build and manage their own quantitative investment portfolio. With an automated portfolio simply pick a strategy, create a portfolio and the trades are sent straight to your broker.

In order to enjoy the benefits of an automated stock portfolio, you will need to subscribe to an Established or Xplorer plan with the augmentation of Connect. 

STRATxAI offer seamless integration with 

 for now (with other brokers in the pipeline).  If you do not use one of these two brokers already, you can easily start now. 

Before you can create your first automated portfolio, you will need to link your broker account.

If your brokerage account is connected successfully and the market is open, then you can create a fully-automated quantitative portfolio.

This guide will help you get a portfolio set up in less than 5 minutes. First go to our catalogue of strategies and choose the strategy that best suits your investment idea (learn 

 to go to your personal dashboard and browse the catalogue of stock strategies and search for a trading strategy that suits your risk tolerance.


In this example, we want to find a strategy which contains companies that have mid to large market cap, nice earnings and trade with a slight discount. We will choose STRATxAI's "Deep Quality" strategy. 

Click on your selected strategy or 'create portfolio' to start 

In the first step of the flow you will see two buttons: ‘Manual’ and ‘Automated’. Click Automate.

you must have an Established of Xplorer account with 

you have successfully linked your Interactive Brokers or Alpaca account

Automated portfolios can only be created when the markets are open

NYSE/NASDAQ open 9.30AM to 4.00PM EST Mon-Fri

Choose a new name for your portfolio or stick with the auto generated name pre-populated for you.

. You can invest up to the amount you have available in your Interactive Brokers account.

, so the conversion value from your currency to USD($) is shown below the amount you input. 

You will need US dollars in your broker account. The easiest way to do this is to execute an FX trade with your broker so the US dollar funds are ready (some brokers may allow you to buy US stocks using funds in a different currency).

5: Confirm portfolio and send orders to your broker

Review the list of stocks generated by the strategy. Once you click 

, the market orders are sent to your broker. They should normally execute within a few seconds. You will know when each trade has executed when it gets the status 

Next comes the confirmation page which confirms how many stocks were bought. 

Final confirmation page allows you to review the list of stocks for the last time, once you click 

 the process is complete and the orders will be executed. 

 you can view performance, check out key metrics and view your holdings.

 tab you can view transaction level data (every buy or sell you have ever made). If a stock in your portfolio goes through a 

stock split, delisting, name change, or any other even

 tab you can seeing any outstanding, unfilled orders that are yet to be executed.

To keep an eye on your portfolio health, you need to log in periodically to rebalance and keep it in line with the strategy. This is usually monthly.   You will be notified via email when your rebalance is due (ensure you are subscribed to our mailing list to receive this).

When a rebalance is due, you will return to STRATxAI, navigate to the relevant portfolio and click the 

 button. You will be taken through a wizard to buy and sell stocks and shares in your portfolio. It should take all of about 60 seconds.

You can read a full guide on how to rebalance an automated portfolio 

When creating and rebalancing your portfolio, 2% of the portfolio amount is held in cash 

. This small cash buffer is used to cover slippage, spreads, market volatility, commissions, transaction costs, and any other fees incurred by your broker. 

For example, if you are creating a portfolio with a total value of $5000, $100 will remain in your brokerage account to cover any costs associated with the transaction. 

STRATxAI do not apply any additional fees to the transactions.

Setting up your first STRATxAI portfolio could not be any simpler. See this "how to" guide to do it quickly. 

2. How to create an automated stock portfolio

This article is for users on an Established or Xplorer plan which has been augmented with Connect.

STRATxAI offers seamless integration with 

In this post we go through some of the key steps to opening an Interactive Broker account. It should not take long to fill in the IBKR online form, provided you 

. Check the requirements for your domain 

You would want to factor in a few days to a week before you have a fully approved and funded IBKR Pro account (this is fast compared to most comparable brokers today). Once you are up and running it is straightforward to 

: Each STRATxAI Strategy must be held in isolation in a single IBKR account. If you have or plan to have any 

 positions or invest in multiple STRATxAI strategies, then you will need to 

. There needs to be one sub-account per STRATxAI strategy and any non-STRATxAI stocks should be held in their own separate account. 

How do I open an Interactive Brokers account ?

Go to the relevant Interactive Brokers website for your region and click on "Open Account" and then "Start Application".

Follow the on screen instructions to set up your username and password, as well as verifying your email address.

The next part is the Financial Questionnaire which may seem long, but we have some pointers for you below.

Once that part is complete, you will be asked to upload your documents for verification and need to wait a few days for the application to be reviewed.

The Interactive Brokers financial questionnaire

The questionnaire is well laid out and self explanatory for the most part. Here are a few pointers on the following questions.

Up front you will have the choice of Cash or Margin. 

 requires you to have the funds available for all transactions and generally there are less trading experience requirements. It would be a good choice for a 

Most users will likely choose an individual account, but you can also select a joint or retirement account. Note that a retirement account such as an IRA account, will require some 

You will be asked to provide a breakdown of your sources of income. It could be that you select 100% as “Income from Employment” but there are many other options to choose from, including inheritance, property or even unemployment allowance.

If you are new to trading this section may seem daunting, so while you may have 

 that has got you to this point is relevant.

When selecting various asset classes of your choosing, bear in mind that to integrate your IBKR account with STRATxAI, you will need to have permission for ‘

’ so they are both worth requesting now at application.

Hopefully you checked the Interactive Brokers 

 before starting and you have all the documents to hand.

You will have the option to confirm your mobile number and it's useful to do it at this point. 

Interactive Brokers say they will prioritise the review of applications that already have been funded, so it’s worth transferring your first funds while you are waiting.

As you will likely be wiring funds from your bank account, speed things up by having your mobile banking app or other authentication device provided by your bank.

Factor in that depending on how much you are transferring, you may exceed your daily transfer allowance and may need to break it down over a few days.

Depending on your location, the transfer may be an International Bank transfer which could take a day or so longer also.

*This article was last updated in 2022. If you come across any substantial differences when you open your IBKR account, please get in touch and let us know so we may update this guide accordingly. 

Step-by-step guide for opening an interactive brokers accounts.

3. How to open a broker account (IBKR)

We will take you step by step on how to link to an online broker

 (with additional brokers in the pipeline). 

If you have not already set up a broker account with one of these providers, you can set one up easily.  Find out more on 

Begin on your STRATxAI dashboard. Click on Add Integration under Broker Integrations.

Broker integration will be a quick and straightforward process for most users. 

We have included some tips and common FAQ's further down.

Once you have integrated your broker, you can check your connections at any time on the dashboard.  If you click on the broker you can view all the accounts associated with the connection. 

With Alpaca you can connect one Alpaca account to one STRATxAI portfolio. To connect additional STRATxAI portfolios you will need to set up another Alpaca account. 

With IBKR you can have multiple sub accounts on one Master IBKR account. If you have multiple sub accounts, you can switch between them by choosing the appropriate Account ID from the dropdown on the left of the screen. 

 you can click the refresh button to load and sync the subaccount with STRATxAI.

 successfully and the market is open, then you can 

create a fully-automated quantitative portfolio

Once you have have your Alpaca username and password to hand, you are ready to go. 

If you are separately logged into Alpaca on your browser this will be even faster. 

Simply click Allow on the Alpaca authorization page.

You will immediately be returned to your STRATxAI dashboard where you will see Alpaca Markets listed as a Stock Broker Integration

The IBKR Mobile App downloaded and activated

For US customers, make sure you have an IBKR Pro account (not IBKR lite)

 username and password into the two fields available. 

You can switch between ‘Live Trading’ and ‘Paper Trading’ mode. 

Live Trading: uses your real IBKR account – ie. real cash or margin

Paper Trading: uses a simulated IBKR account – they normally give you $100,000 to play around with.

Note. You may have different Live and Paper Trading usernames, you can view this information within the settings page in IBKR.

IBKR Possible problems or error Messages 

Check that you entered your Interactive Broker credentials as opposed to STRATxAI account credentials.  

Ensure that you are using your current password. You can verify this by logging into your Interactive Brokers account through their website. 

If you have forgotten your username or password then this can be reset via the Interactive Brokers website.

2. You have the wrong type of IBKR account

 account to integrate with STRATxAI. This is the default in most regions, but in the US there is an option for IBKR Lite.  If that's you, then go ahead and set up a Pro account – it’s pretty quick (and free, of course).

The IBKR username and password that you use to log in to your overall IBKR account are not necessarily the same username and password specifically used for Paper Trading. It is quick to identify if this is the case. 

 look down the left hand column until you see Paper Trading Account and the account name listed.

Click to access the full details which will include your 

You can choose to share market data with your main account. 



*This article was updated in 2022. If you come across any substantial differences relating to the IBKR or Alpaca side of the process, please let us know so may update this guide. 

Step-by-step guide for linking your stockbroker account to your STRATxAI account. 

4. How to link your broker to STRATxAI

In this article, we will look at how to rebalance stock portfolio with STRATxAI in just a few minutes.

Rebalancing your portfolio is an important part of managing your investments. It means 

to get back to your original asset allocation


For stock-pickers, this can be a laborious process but as a quantitative investor using STRATxAI to manage your portfolios you can enjoy simple and easy rebalancing.


Have an in depth read about rebalancing 

 or continue on for the step by step guide to rebalancing your STRATxAI portfolio. Both the 


Keeping a portfolio up-to-date is very important as it keeps the portfolio in line with the trading strategy. When a trading strategy is backtested, rebalancing can play a huge role in the variability of returns.


Depending on the STRATxAI strategy your portfolio is based on, you will have a 

rebalance period each month, quarter or year

. However you can choose to rebalance at any time you like to keep your portfolio up to date. 

Available to all Established and Xplorer plan users. 


Navigate to the portfolio you want to rebalance and click the 

 button in the portfolio overview pane on the left.


This optional step allows you to add an additional contribution (cash) to your portfolio. If you don’t want to add any more cash, you can click 


This step show you the list of stocks and the number of shares which you will need to sell.

 The trading strategy algorithm compares your portfolio to the current strategy screen and runs an equal-weighting algorithm over the full portfolio.

 to execute the selling and buying of stocks using the list provided.

Whatever price you sold the stock for, enter that into the 

 button – this signifies you have sold the stock in your broker.

If you do not want to sell a stock or cannot sell a stock for whatever reason, click the 

 button – this signifies you did not sell the stock and will remove it from the rebalance.

when you’re building the portfolio, you may not know the exact price which you sold the stock for. If that is the case, take your best guess, or 

 STRATxAI does not endorse or recommend any individual stock shown in this list; the stocks are purely generated by the algorithm.


This step show you the list of stocks and the number of shares which you will need to buy.

It is identical to the previous step, but for buying securities rather than selling them.

 and work your way through the list of stocks, buying each stock shown.

When you have taken action on each stock, click the button 

 to finish the rebalancing process and go the portfolio.

 tab you can view transaction level data (every buy or sell you have ever made). You can click a transaction row to edit it (eg. change the purchase price or the number of shares purchased). You can also click 

 to buy/sell a stock in the portfolio – you can add any publicly-traded company in the USA to the portfolio.


You will be notified when your next rebalance is due via email.


Available to all Established and Xplorer plan users with the augmentation of 


First, make sure you have established a live connection with your broker account, check your Dashboard for your live connections. STRATxAI offers integration with 

 The stock market must be open for you to be able to rebalance your portfolio live (9:30am – 4pm EST).

This optional step allows you to add an additional contribution (cash) to your portfolio. If you don’t want to add any more cash, you can click 


This step show you the list of stocks and the number of shares which you will sell.

 The trading strategy algorithm compares your portfolio to the current strategy screen and runs an equal-weighting algorithm over the full portfolio. The list shown are all the stocks and shares that have left the screen.

 STRATxAI does not endorse or recommend any individual stock shown in this list; the stocks are purely generated by the algorithm.


Buying stocks is identical to the previous step, but for buying securities rather than selling them.


If a stock in your portfolio goes through a stock split, delisting, name change, or any other event, it will be handled automatically. These are summarised as 


You will be reminded when your next rebalance is due via email.

Here are some of the common reasons for an error message: 

, and you are trying to rebalance a Premium strategy.

There are existing open orders in your brokerage account.

If you encounter any additional problems, see if it helps to log out and log back in again. Otherwise please 

Portfolio rebalancing is a crucial part of any long-term investment strategy. This post provides a detailed overview of STRATxAI rebalances.

5. How to rebalance a STRATxAI portfolio

This guide is for Established or Xplorer plan holders. Or Beginner plan users who have augmented with Xtra DCA. 

Dollar Cost Averaging is an excellent technique to decrease volatility and invest for the long term. A DCA is an investment approach that divides the total investment amount into periodic purchases. This reduces the impact of volatility of a particular asset on your overall investment. 

Let's assume we want to invest $2,000 in Bitcoin. We could do this with a 

t amount into smaller sums so that we get an average cost over a period of time. 

Rather than investing the $2,000 at once, we could invest $50 a week for 40 weeks.

You will need an account set up with a cryptocurrency broker before you get started. STRATxAI offers seamless integration with 

Once you have that in place the process is easy. Simply connect your broker, choose your cryptocurrency, investment amount, and the period you want to place purchases. 

Log in or Launch App on STRATxAI and navigate via Strategies to the 

After you have selected your broker or exchange, you will need to enter your credentials (API Key and Secret Key) to set up the integration. Details on how to find this information are shown for each broker.

 and away you go! Your DCA is all set up.

with the fiat or stablecoin that you wish to create the DCA with. Your DCA will fail until you have enough funds to cover the cost of your transaction. You can create DCAs with any fiat or stable coin the exchange supports, these include USD, EUR, GBP, USDC, USDT etc.

From the confirmation screen, you have two options, either 

 which will take you to view your new crypto DCA portfolio.

Creating a dollar-cost averaging crypto strategy is very easy. Check out this how-to guide.

6. How to create a crypto DCA

There are a few events which will trigger STRATxAI to automatically add a transaction to your STRATxAI portfolio. These can be summarised as 

A delisting occurs when a stock is removed from an exchange, this can happen for a variety of reasons including 

broker will automatically sell off the position 

event and adds a sell transaction to your portfolio to keep it inline with your broker. 

This means you could have some extra cash lying about in your broker – the next rebalance will fix this and bring your portfolio back up to the number of stocks it is supposed to have.

The impact of delisting, stock split, mergers and other corporate actions on your STRATxAI portfolio

Alpaca now available to integrate with STRATxAI

Sign up to unlock

How to create a manual stock portfolio

How to create an automated stock portfolio

How to open a broker account (IBKR)

How to link your broker to STRATxAI

How to rebalance a STRATxAI portfolio

How to create a crypto DCA

How to handle corporate actions

How to create an IBKR sub account

Alpaca now available to integrate with STRATxAI