Published: August 20, 2025

Last Updated: May 21, 2026.

Throughout this article, you will find links to other Education Center articles to give you more information. These links will open in a new tab, so you can return to this article after reviewing the information.

Step 1: Import your portfolios

There are three ways to create a portfolio within your TradeSmith Finance platform: Link to Brokerage, Add Manually, and Upload CSV File.

• Link to Brokerage: import your online brokerage account(s).

• Add Manually: create a manual investment portfolio or watchlist to track new potential trades.

• Upload CSV File: upload a spreadsheet of securities as a portfolio.

Step 2: Plan Your Exit Strategy

TradeSmith helps you stay disciplined in your trade planning. Emotional investing — driven by fear or greed — often leads to missed opportunities or unnecessary losses. Our system is designed to help you avoid those pitfalls. 

TradeSmith’s proprietary indicators:

TradeSmith uses the Health Indicator to help you quickly understand how your positions are performing.

When a security is in the Green Zone, it means it’s healthy and moving normally, given the expected level of risk. That expected risk is measured by the Volatility Quotient (VQ). 

Think of the VQ as a guide that tells us how much a security typically moves up or down. Using historical price data, we calculate the normal movement for an index, mutual fund, ETF, stock, or even a cryptocurrency. 

If you’re using the Health Indicator as a simple exit strategy, here’s an easy way to remember it: 

• Green means buy 
• Yellow means hold 
• Red means sell 

To learn more about your TradeStops exit strategies, click here.

Step 3: Assess the Health of the markets

Go to the Market Outlook tab of the Markets page to assess the health of the major U.S. and international markets.

Image as of Feb. 9, 2026.

TradeSmith’s Health Indicator helps you quickly gauge how major U.S. and international markets are performing. When markets are in the Green Zone, it signals healthy, normal movement in line with expected risk levels.

These risk levels are measured using the Volatility Quotient (VQ), which estimates how much a security typically moves up or down based on historical price data. TradeSmith applies VQ across markets, including stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, indexes, and cryptocurrencies.

A price drop of about half its VQ places a security in the Yellow Zone, signaling caution and a potential pullback. A decline exceeding its full VQ moves it into the Red Zone, indicating unhealthy behavior outside its normal range.

To learn more about how to assess the health of the markets, click here.

Our Bull and Bear Market signals warn of changes in market trends and are derived from each market’s health and health distribution.

Step 4: Use the Screener Tool to find opportunities

It’s important to understand the health of the markets you’re investing in because even the best stocks can have a hard time performing in unhealthy markets. 

By focusing on healthy stocks in strong markets, you’re improving your odds and setting yourself up for more consistent results. 

The View Components link on the “List” view of the Market Outlook and S&P Sectors tabs lets you find healthy stocks in your preferred markets.

Image as of Feb. 9, 2026.

Once in the Screener tool, you can refine your search and apply filters, such as the Health Indicator Green Zone, to find healthy stocks within any given index or sector.

To learn more about how to use the Screener tool, click here.

Step 5: Find opportunities through TradeSmith’s strategies

Do you want to invest like the top hedge funds or billionaires? How about making extra income with our dividend-earning strategy or finding stocks with the potential to soar higher? These are just a few of our investment strategies.

To access your available Ideas Lab strategies, go to the Strategies tab in the Invest page.

Note: Your available navigational tabs and pages will vary depending on your TradeSmith subscription.

Image as of Feb. 9, 2026.

You will find all the information you need to follow each strategy here.

To learn more about how to navigate your Strategies page, click here.

Bear and bull markets offer significant opportunities. The key is to use strategies that fit market conditions.

Trade360 is TradeSmith’s powerful bundle of TradeStops and Ideas.

TradeStops simplifies the key steps of investing — research, planning, and position sizing — helping you manage risk with the confidence of a seasoned professional.

Ideas delivers market indicators and discovery tools designed to help you spot new opportunities in any market environment.

Need Help? 

Our Customer Success team is ready to assist: 

• Phone: 1-866-385-2076 (toll-free) 
• Email: [email protected] 

*Note—The tabs and features you see on your TradeSmith Finance site will vary based on your subscription(s) and subscription level(s).