base.report | Start Simple: Build the Habit First

I’m active in multiple fields: trading, writing, and cyber security and data privacy.

Occasionally, I come across the same concept in all three fields. That’s when I really pay attention — it suggests a fundamental principle is at play. If I can internalise it, I can improve. Or make work and/or life easier.

One such concept is to prioritise rows over columns.

Put differently, you want to make sure you have complete records first. ‘Get into the rhythm’, as a colleague put it. Build the habit.

Once you’ve developed that habit, you can expand it. You can collect further data points. You can get into a new rhythm.

Let’s go through four examples of how traders can apply this principle.

Example #1: Trading journals

Trading journals are an obvious place to start.

On Substack, I’ve written a lot about quantitative analysis of your Excel-based trading journal, outlining specific techniques I’ve developed myself but were inspired by Tom Dante. Though the techniques themselves are simple, they require a meaningful commitment from the trader.

You’re not just recording all your trades, but are logging a significant number of data points for each trade.

Most traders fail at the first hurdle — they don’t record their trades.

But if you’re new to journaling, don’t fall into the trap of trying to go from 0 to 100 quickly.

I see this a lot when people ask me for help with their journal. And believe me — I’m delighted when someone comes across my techniques, and gets so excited about them they want to implement all of them right away!

The key is to develop the habit for the long term. Not to just do this for a few weeks or months, then lose interest or feel overwhelmed. When that happens, inevitably, you’ll stop logging (all) your trades.

So, first, get into the habit of logging your trades at all, tracking just the ‘obvious’ data points: entries, exits, number of shares, etc. Only after that, start adding more nuanced data. Details on the stock, for example — market cap, ADR, earnings, etc. Or setup details — setup pole %, base depth, base length, etc.

Develop the (basic) habit before you start adding detail.

Example #2: Situational awareness

During the 2023 (and earlier) streams, Qullamaggie pointed to a few simple market filters: just using the moving averages on the $QQQ or $IWM, for example. If the 10 MA is above the 20 MA, you may trade. Otherwise, stay out of the markets.

Is that oversimplified? Sure.

But it’s a heck of a lot better than just blindly hoping for the best, using a complicated system you’re not ready for.

An advanced method is of no use to you if it doesn’t tell you what you need to know — whether you should be trading, considering the market environment, and if yes, how aggressively to trade.

You can also get a quick overview of the overall market health on base.report:

Example #3: Themed watchlists

Linked to situational awareness is building themed watchlists. Anthony Shi, following his TraderLion interview, did an AMA (‘ask me anything’) in the Qullamaggie Discord. One of the questions that came up was how to deal with the overwhelming nature of flipping through hundreds of charts, and trying to make sense of it all.

Anthony responded with some great advice. To paraphrase his two key points:

Be persistent — just keep at it.
Chunk things up.

To me, these points are related. Consistency is vital, and the easiest, most reliable way to achieve it is to start small.

Make it simple — start with themed watchlists of up to five names each, for example, then get in the habit of checking those names when a stock within that theme catches your interest (by setting up or breaking out, for example). By keeping your watchlists small, you’ll also find it easier to compare one group against another.

Incomplete data you can make sense of is far better than complete data that fries your brain.

As you get comfortable with this habit, you can gradually grow these lists. Gradually add that complexity and nuance. Bit by bit, complete the data.

Another tip is to break up larger industries into smaller groups or themes. For instance, ‘banks — regional’ contains over 300 stocks. You can, however, find groups of stocks within this industry that move in tandem with that group, but not necessarily with the wider industry.

base.report can help you identify such groups. For example, if you looked up $BBAR, an Argentinian bank, then checked similar charts, you could quickly and easily find other Argentinian banks:

You can learn more about base.report’s chart similarity filter in this blog.

Example #4: Scan routine

Last month, Clement Ang (a USIC 2024 competitor) guest posted on my Substack, describing his routine as a part-time trader. Clearly, he’s a very dedicated trader, going through 800–1,000 charts over the weekend, using commutes and lunch breaks well, and so on.

However, Clement also remarked: “For my daily routine, I’ve made a deliberate decision not to scan for new stocks during the weekdays, as time doesn’t permit me to do so.”

And sure, Clement isn’t a novice trader — he can make sense of a lot of data, when he has the time. But he’s had to simplify his routine — especially his scanning routine — during the week.

This is a common theme among part-time traders. It’s not just a matter of time — it’s also a matter of bandwidth. If you try to do too much — whether in terms of quantity or difficulty — you’re prone to overwhelming yourself and faltering.

So, figure out what’s essential, and stick to that. Ask yourself what really matters.

To quote Anthony: “No process works if you can’t stick to it. An oversimplified process that is carried out religiously is 100x better than the perfect process rarely completed.”

base.report is designed to be simple

When I asked Shan (aka ‘e0’), the software’s founder and developer, what problems base.report solves, he replied:

“For one, it massively cuts down scanning time. I think most traders apply their filters to end up with hundreds of charts. They then manually go through those hundreds of ideas to find a handful of actionable ones.

“In base.report, I can sort charts by resemblance to my ideal chart pattern [our walkthrough teaches you how]. I also use the ‘Charts’ layout, which displays multiple charts at a time. Combined, I can find setups I like in just a couple of minutes.”

This makes base.report an ideal candidate for simplifying your routines.

Want to give us a go? You can use our screener right away here — no strings attached.

Want to learn more about base.report first? Check out the full Q&A with Shan.

Give us your feedback!

We’re always looking to improve base.report. Many enhancements are a direct result of user feedback. And we incorporate most feedback within weeks, if not days!

Please email us at [email protected] or join us on Discord. Whether you want to share feedback or have a question, we’re always happy to help!

Start Simple: Build the Habit First