as i said earlier there were times when they'd average in to a trade and take the average entry price. a noob trading 1 or 2 cars can't do that; and thus can't duplicate that track record for those trades. furthermore, more often than not, alex called for newbies to exit before hitting target 1 (which is what goes in the track record). also, there were times when he called an out for newbies, the trade went against them, and then got stopped out - that verbal exit by alex was posted as the exit (instead of the stop). the latter was rare but i did see it a couple times. it's not quite as bad as some of the other rooms i've been to but it's still pretty much a best case scenario type deal. it's the kind of thing a newbie like myself salivates over though, until of course reality bites you in the ass.
I haven't read austinp's reply to this (or anyone else's, kinda buys watching my Long ES position), but he's shared pretty much all of the information on his setups through various posts (read between the lines ... HELLO!) and a lot of the information on his money management. His setups (like most) are based at least in part on recurring patterns, which I've already mentioned ... regardless of entry/exit methodologies (which can be found if one looks hard enough, period) and money management (ditto), good trading is mostly about maintaining a positive mindset, i.e., psychology. A subject matter that I would have thought you would know something about ... Jimmy Jam
Bosco 81, thanks for the info, I appreciate it. I guess what I was trying to get at is that their posted track record could afford to be MUCH worse, and still be very good. Can you comment on how you've been doing, in % terms, when you say reality has bitten you in the ass?
You've given a lot of good information. Thank you. ... and for the record, I think Neet's summation is pretty much on target, so take it for what it's worth, apply it to your situation, and act accordingly. Oh yeah, the aforementioned Long? - a quick 2pts ES, waiting for the next setup. Good trading, JJ P.S. I hope this Journal actually hangs around for a while, information is good, the more we can get, the better.
I fully agree, that's exactly the point I tried to get clarified. PT is advertising that one could have made $ 34.000 in the last 3 months following exactly all their calls. But no post regarding PT so far has convinced me of that or even 50% of that. The best indication I get so far is that you break even but probably lose in the first couple of months. So what's the $ 34.000/3 months claim worth?
upon joining i was willing to watch 10% of my account evaporate in an effort to learn Alex's methods and get on the road to profitability. i lost ~12% while in the room (~2 months). compounded with the $300 monthly fee, i simply wasn't willing to stay. admittedly it was the "best" i had ever done while trading - i lost at my lowest rate ever lol. i've sinced packed up and moved out to (hopefully) greener pastures their track record is highly optimistic. is it attainable? sure, if you have a large account and are able to scale in and out of trades (meaning you're playing decent size). i have no doubt that alex duplicates or even exceeds the given track record - he plays with serious size. i think a noob (someone trading 1 or 2 cars tops) might do well to toss the track record in an excel spreadsheet, adjust cars to 1 not 6, adjust all wins to 5 ticks (which is where they recommend traders start scaling out), remove the maxspan trades, and add a tick slippage on the stops. i think that might be a good representation of what a noob should expect. i actually haven't done it myself, however. the problem with the above though is if you're going for 5 tick targets or thereabouts (which is what PT says scale out at and what alex often said "newbies get out") you're looking at using a 15+ tick stop on the next trade. 3 wins in a row can be wiped out by just a single loser. as i've made clear, i'm a newbie, but even i know that's not a formula for long term success in this business.
Exactly. From what I've heard (from bosco81 and others), it's attainable by trading 6 contracts, and trading relatively aggressively, but not realistic for the conservative new trader. I'd just like to get more opinions...
Once again, your experience is proving invaluable for the readers of the thread, and they are being given the knowledgebase they require to make informed decisions in a responsible fashion. *** I did a quick analysis of their market calls for 3/1/07 based on their daily trade log which is recorded and published for free public viewing: Puretick Log 3/1/07 I had to adjust the timezone 1 hour (I am on ET time). With that in mind, here are the results from that day: 6 scalps 5 made money (+5 ticks, take partial profit, move stop to breakeven) 1 lost money (-15 ticks)* 1 max-span 1 lost money (-15 ticks)* [update - actually Alex called for this trade to be canceled at -6 ticks ... hard to analyze records and watch my charts at the same time] Because it is the YM, there is some subjectivity on fills for entry/exit/stop loss. But it appears to be a viable scalping method, based on my analysis of the price action of the YM on 3/1/07. I personally would have taken a couple of Longs (from the Open and at Midday) and rode the uptrend. Both methods would have made money on that day. NOTE: If anyone finds any of this information to be incorrect or partial, please fell free to correct, I'm just going on the info / knowledge I have at this time. * Protective Stops are based on the information that bosco81 posted about their protective stops. *** (chart) Good trading, Jimmy Jam