Consistency Notes When Mixing Manual and Automated Trades

I run both manual and automated trades in the same account, and the hardest part is not the trading. It is keeping my records consistent enough that I can trust the daily totals. My rule is simple: every fill gets a source tag at the moment it is recorded. Manual entries get “manual”; anything from my script gets “auto”. If I edit a trade later, I keep the original tag and note the change in a comments field. That one habit makes the rest of the review much less ambiguous.

The next step is deduplication. My broker statement and my automation log often describe the same fill with slightly different timestamps or order IDs. I match on three fields: symbol, side, and fill time within a small window. If two records match, I keep the broker record as the primary and attach the automation record as supporting detail. I do not average them or add them together. For example, if one log says 9:31:05 and the other says 9:31:07 for the same quantity, I treat it as one trade, not two.

Day totals deserve their own check. I calculate the total from the deduplicated trade list, then compare it with a separate count from the raw broker export. If the two differ, I stop and find out why before I look at performance. A mismatch of even one small trade can change how a day looks against a consistency rule. I also record whether the day includes open positions, because an open trade is not a closed result.

• Tag source at entry, not later.
• Match on symbol, side, and time window.
• Keep one primary record per fill.
• Reconcile daily totals before reviewing charts.

For dashboard mapping, I use the same field names everywhere: source, symbol, side, open time, close time, quantity, and realized result. That way the dashboard does not invent a second version of the day. When I need a repeatable format for this, I check the propfirmconsistency manual-auto trade log page and adapt the fields to my own records. I also verify current account terms with my provider, since rules can change. The goal is boring consistency: one trade, one row, one total I can explain.

— Jordan Blake