May 2026 Small Account Portfolio Update: 13 Strategies

Had another nice month, will now focus more on risk...

Algorithmicguys

Jun 02, 2026

This is the May update for my small account futures portfolio.

The portfolio is still built mostly with micro futures contracts, one contract per system unless stated otherwise.

May was a good month.

The account started May at approximately $34,390, including the $60 platform fee.

May closed with +$2,498 in strategy profit. All commission and slippage numbers are baked in.

After the TradeStation platform fee, the account will start June around $36,828.

That puts May at roughly +7.3%.

Since February 3, 2026, when I started tracking this small account portfolio, the account is up approximately +32.2%.

Starting balance: $27,821
Estimated end of May balance: $36,828
Overall gain: +$9,007
Overall return: +32.2%

May was helped a lot by the new Gold system and stronger index systems. MGC, MES, and MNQ carried the month. Corn, MYM, and MCL were negative, but the losses stayed small.

What I Traded in May

This was the May version of the small account portfolio.

13 systems total

MES.D Turnaround Tuesday
Micro S&P futures long Tuesday system
MCL Short 1 Day
Micro crude oil short system, 2 micro contracts
Corn 480 Kepler
Corn short system, 480-minute bars
MYM 360 S2
Micro Dow short system
This was paused mid-month after it exceeded its incubation drawdown limit and went below incubation PnL. I am watching it for now.
MES.D Extreme RSI
Daily MES long mean reversion system using RSI
MNQ 60 Phaedra
MNQ 60-minute long system with an NQ daily filter and day-of-week logic
MBT 1440 Galaxy Long
Micro Bitcoin long system, shared with Founding members
ES 1440 Monthly Seas
End-of-month seasonal ES long system
MES K3 L
MES long system, shared with Founding members
MGC Long/Short Breakout
Gold breakout system, new addition for May
Trades both long and short
MES 600 L1
MES 600-minute long system, holds for 2 bars
MES 600 L3
MES 600-minute long system, longer hold, holds for 9 bars
MNQ 600
MNQ 600-minute system, new addition for May
Holds around 2–3 bars

May Portfolio Metrics

• Trading systems: 13

• Net profit: +$2,498

• Monthly return: +7.26%

• Starting balance: $34,390

• Ending balance: $36,828

• Trades taken: 27

May Market Contribution

• MGC: +$1,440

• MES: +$1,115

• MNQ: +$931

• MYM: -$349

• Corn: -$225

• MCL: -$454

Total: +$2,498

The new MGC long/short breakout system made +$1,440 in May. That was the best contributor in the portfolio.

MES and MNQ were also strong, adding +$1,115 and +$931.

MCL had a losing month, but it only took two trades, so I am not going to overreact to that yet, plus the oil market puked for a week or so after.

MYM was different. That system broke one of my rules, so I paused it mid May. I would rather stop a weak system early than keep trading it just because it is already in the portfolio.

Trade List for May

It added an extra trade here but its close to my PNL

What Changed From April

In April, I said I was making a few smaller changes going into May.

The biggest change was adding the new Gold long/short breakout system.

That helped right away.

I also moved some weaker MES exposure to the side and replaced it with stronger MES and MNQ systems.

I do not want to constantly change the portfolio. That can get dangerous fast. But I also do not want to ignore systems that are clearly breaking down.

If a system passes incubation, fits the portfolio, and is still behaving well, it can be added.

If a system breaks its incubation drawdown rule, I can pause it.

That is what happened with MYM.

What May Showed Me

May was a good reminder that a portfolio does not need every system to work at the same time.

MGC, MES, and MNQ did the heavy lifting.

Corn, MYM, and MCL lost money, but those losses did not ruin the month.

That is what I want from a diversified futures portfolio.

The best part was the non-index exposure. Gold helped a lot, and that matters because I do not want this account to become too dependent on stock index systems.

I still want exposure across:

Indexes
Metals
Energy
Grains
Bitcoin

The portfolio will never be perfectly balanced, especially with a small account, but I do not want all the risk coming from the same place.

Contract Exposure

Even with 13 systems, the portfolio usually only has a few positions open at one time.

In May, the most I had open at once was 3 systems.

The timing of the trades helps, but I still need to watch the overlap.

The things I am watching most:

Index overlap
Gold exposure
Energy exposure
Bitcoin exposure
Margin usage
Systems holding through the same market moves

The Part That Bothers Me

If I had only traded the original February through April portfolio, May would have been much weaker.

That is good because the changes helped.

But it also bothers me a little.

Timing can make changes look smarter than they really are. A new system can come in at the right time and look great for one month. That does not mean it is automatically a core system.

So I am happy with May, but I am not treating one strong month as proof that the portfolio is solved.

The new May systems helped a lot.

Now I want to see if they keep helping after the easy first impression is gone.

June Plan

For June, I am not planning to make major changes.

The main focus is risk control.

I added an 18% closed-trade drawdown hard stop at the portfolio level.

If the portfolio reaches an 18% closed-trade drawdown, I will stop trading the futures systems and review what is happening before turning anything back on.

I also plan to start cutting risk before that point.

Around a 12% drawdown, I will look at turning off some of the longer holding index systems. I do not want to wait until the full stop is hit before risk.

The June plan:

Keep the portfolio from becoming too equity heavy
Keep tracking the new MGC long/short breakout system
Watch MYM after it exceeded its incubation drawdown limit
Keep building more energy and metals systems
Continue searching for a clean short stock index system for larger down days
Eventually add a short Bitcoin system to balance the long Bitcoin exposure and bet some different long exposure that trades more often
Use the 18% closed-trade drawdown stop as the hard line

Portfolio Stop Plan

Focus more on risk

As you get into deeper and deeper drawdown the more you will have to make to get back to breakeven and recover from that DD.

A 15% drawdown only needs about a 17.6% gain to get back to breakeven. That is painful, but manageable.

A 25% drawdown needs a much larger 33.3% gain just to recover.

And once you get to a 50% drawdown, the account has to make 100% just to get back to where it started.

I asked ChatGPT to act like a trading risk manager and review the portfolio objectively. I also told it I did not want to sit through a drawdown larger than 18%.

Using the current estimated account size of $36,848, this is the drawdown plan I am working with.

I may turn this into its own post here on our substack.

Normal Zone / 5% Drawdown

Dollar drawdown: $1,842.40
Balance: $35,005.60
Status: Normal warning
Action: Keep trading

Review:

MGC dependence
Take a close look at indexes or weaker strategies do not pause

Do not add another index or gold system just because May was green.

10% Drawdown

Dollar drawdown: $3,684.80
Balance: $33,163.20
Status: Risk reduction zone
Action: Pause weaker systems and reduce correlated index exposure

Review:

Systems with weak live behavior from February through May
Strategies that are negative live
Systems that are too similar to each other

Do not let every system keep firing just because they are already in the portfolio.

12% Drawdown

Dollar drawdown: $4,421.76
Balance: $32,426.24
Status: Serious caution
Action: Trade only core keepers

Review:

Whether the portfolio changed too much from the original mix
Which systems are still making money live
Which systems are stuck in drawdown

Do not add new systems here.

15% Drawdown

Dollar drawdown: $5,527.20
Balance: $31,320.80
Status: Defensive mode
Action: Cut total heat by at least 50%

Review:

Full system-by-system live performance
Live results versus expected behavior
Correlation
Slippage
Weakest systems

Do not average down risk emotionally.

18% Hard Stop

Dollar drawdown: $6,632.64
Balance: $30,215.36
Status: Stop trading all futures systems
Action: Flatten, pause all systems, and review the portfolio

Review:

Correlation
Slippage
Market regime
Weakest systems
Strategy overlap
Whether the portfolio became too index heavy
Whether new additions made the risk worse or better

Restart rules:

Do not increase size.
Do not add systems just to make the money back faster.
Do not take extra risk because the account is in drawdown.

If the portfolio hits the hard stop, the first job is to stop the damage.

Making it back comes later.

One more note:

Also, I will treat a rapid drawdown more aggressively than a slow bleed.

Focus More on Researching New Markets in June

Research Candidates for the Small Portfolio

Short list of markets I want to research for possible small portfolio additions:

Currencies — Long and Short
5-Year Note / FV — Long and Short or
10-Year Note / TY — Long and Short
Micro Crude Oil / MCL — Long
Micro Natural Gas / MNG — Long and Short
Micro Copper / MHG — Long and Short
Micro Bitcoin / MBT — Long and Short
Micro Ether / MET — Long and Short

Overall Results Since February

Since I started tracking this small account portfolio on February 3, 2026, the account has grown from approximately $27,821 on Feb 3rd to $36,828 on May 31st.

Starting balance: $27,821

End of May balance: $36,828

Overall gain: +$9,007

Overall return: +32.2%

The portfolio may change slightly over time as I add and remove systems.

I still want to track performance from the original starting balance, but I also want to show monthly returns based on the capital being used at the start of each month.

That gives a better view of both sides:

Longer term account growth
Monthly performance from the current version of the portfolio

For now, May was a strong month.

The portfolio got help from Gold, MES, and MNQ.

The weak systems did not do enough damage to ruin the month.

MYM broke a post incubation rule, so I paused it.

June is less about adding more and more systems.

It is about protecting the gains, watching the new systems, and making sure one good month does not turn into overconfidence in my trading which has been my crutch in the past.

- TraderDunn