Futures Paycheck builds its position gradually rather than committing your whole allocation on the first day. Here's how it decides how much, and when.
Working out the total
Before entering, the system asks your brokerage what margin one /ES contract requires right now. It divides your allocation — after any reduction from the trend indicator — by that figure to get a total contract target.
Because margin is confirmed with your brokerage rather than estimated, this reflects your actual account.
Spreading the entries
That total is then spread across specific weekdays:
Total contracts | Entry days (Eastern) | Per entry |
1 | Wednesday | 1 |
2 | Tuesday and Thursday | 1 |
3 or more | Monday, Wednesday, Friday | Total divided by 3 |
If your allocation supports 9 contracts, the system enters 3 on each of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until fully deployed.
The point is to avoid putting the entire allocation on at one price on one day. Spreading entries across a week means your position is built at a range of prices.
What this means in practice
A newly deployed system takes time to reach full size. If you deploy on a Tuesday with a schedule of Monday, Wednesday and Friday, your first entry is Wednesday and full deployment takes a week or more.
Seeing only part of your allocation in use during the first week is expected.
Stable sizing during deployment
Futures margin moves during the day. To stop the schedule shifting underneath itself, the system locks its contract target and margin figure when a deployment cycle starts and reuses them until the cycle completes.
A new cycle begins when all positions are closed and nothing is pending, or when your allocation changes.
Why an entry was skipped
All of these appear in your execution history:
Not a scheduled entry day — the most common. Your system only enters on its assigned days.
Exceeds remaining allocation — open positions have used the budget. It resumes as positions close.
Already submitted today — an entry has already gone in. One per strategy per day.
Entries halted — the trend indicator is in a halt state or unavailable.
Market closed — including early-close days.
Pending orders
Entries are limit orders at the mid price, placed with day duration. A position shows as pending until your brokerage confirms the fill, then becomes open.
If the order doesn't fill by the end of the day, it's cancelled and the position is marked cancelled. The system tries again on the next scheduled entry day.
Pending positions don't count toward committed capital until they fill.
Changing your allocation
Raising it lets the system work toward more contracts on subsequent entry days. Lowering it doesn't close positions already open — those run to their take profit or stop loss.