you actually have some humour, tdog. yes, you are correct, "seen" is not the best choice of words in the context. yes, i am still evolving as a trader/market analyst--- if you know my background, i have studied and traded extensively with the more esoteric realm of TA. My first exposure to trading was via an astrologer, gann practioner. i was able to immediately dismiss the relevance of astro on the markets, but gann and elliott ( particularly neally's interpretation of elliott) captured my naive' interest for some time--- to the point of utilizing a tweaked subset of gann to identify certain levels in the nasdaq and djia creating my neogann channel method of trade entry into the indexes. one can review my success and failure using this method in the "surf report" section of journals here on elite trader. did it work? yes, i made money and some uncannily accurate calls in the nasdaq and dow indexes. however, attempting to quantify this system when i started a small fund proved difficult/impossible. my exposure to the fundee world and true market scientists/quants/ managers showed to me the importance of stats and quantification in making decisions. hopefully this answers your query. regards, surf
If I had the knowledge contained in the book 10 years ago, it would have saved me countless hours of working on subjective methods placing my studies on the right path from the start. yes, i stated i am not a "heavy" math guy, meaning advanced mathematics. however, i have taken several university level stats courses and posses a workable knowledge of the subject. the book teaches a way ( what i consider the correct way) to think about TA--- yes, if you have a Ph.D. in stats and are an active market participant, you may not learn much from the book-- but for myself and the majority of traders the book is a treasure trove of guidance. regards, surf
You keep talking in vague generalities which tells me you haven't applied anything. Why don't you just admit you were blowing smoke up everyone's ass. So tell us, it taught you the correct way to think about TA. What was the correct way, and how have you applied it?
Hoodoo. Basic arithmetic would be a start. Surf, here's a primer for you: http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/cgsite/partykitpdfs/newcgpartykit_math.pdf
Hi Steve - thanks for your comments. Actually the title was my idea. So don't blame Wiley for that. As to statistical software - I do mention the one product that I used that can be purchased , White's Reality Check. All other studies were done with software crafted by Tim Masters. The rule experiments were done in Mathematica, but it required special coding. The Monte Carlo Permutation test is not an available product, but I do give away the algorithm for free. It is written up on a monograph by Tim Masters. Just go to www.evidencebasedta.com. The codes for the rules, are simple enough and clearly defined so they can be implemented in any backtest software. I used trade station. What I was really trying to offer in the book is first to make the case against subjective TA and to make the case for objective TA and then evaluating those results with a specific set of statistical tools. I would have loved to be able to point to one of the rules and say --- gold!. It was not to be. So a third point is that it is very hard to find real gold and much of what is offered in other books is either subjective and thus can't be tested or is objective but has not been scrutinized so that we know if it is good or not. So the tidbits that Holy Grail has found in other books, what I would like to know is how he knows that these tidbits are worthwhile. I will ask. No doubt he has some method of evaluating them. David Aronson
Vic and now Ginger have your hoodoo-number. You're not qualified to pick your nose. This from a guy that doesn't know if he's long or short an fx pair.
Please don't feel you need to be gentle about what you say. I do agree people should have a look at the book to see if it what they had in mind. As to the value you have found in other books, what I wish to know is that. How do you determine if these tidbits have value? What I tried to offer in my book is a method for doing exactly that. First, if the method or tidbit is not testable the I claim it has not value on grounds of being meaningless. If it is testable, then how does one determine if the back tested result is due to chance, in the case of back testing a single rule or system, or due to data mining bias in the case of testing many systems and picking the one that performs best. It seem to me that this is the fundamental question that other books on TA, of which I am aware, and I own about 300 of them, never address. I am not being argumentative here. But I am being curious. Can you cite some examples of books with useful tidbits or TA knowledge. If they are out there I would like to know of them. Believe me, many of those 300 books just take up space. I do feel badly that you feel your money was wasted. I am sure that you can offer it for sale on amazon used and get at least some of your money back. I own one TA book written by Tony Crabel, turns out people are willing to pay over 1000 for it. David Aronson
Thanks for the title folks, but I have no Ph.d or masters degree. Maybe in the next life. David Aronson