anyone trading Brooks or studying him
- Thread starter padutrader
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Returning to your original question – yes, I am reading the first Al Brooks book at the moment, in fact going through it for the second time now.
It is an interesting read, and I am getting more from it on second reading. I already think I have had my 50 quids worth. I have made more than that trading in the last week, though not much more as I am still a cheapskate when it comes to risking real money.
I think nearly everyone who has read this book will know it is very badly written and constructed. He uses terms not defined till much later in the book, and some of the descriptions are hard to follow. When I found myself reading sentences about stuff like failed countertrend breakout failures , it felt like my head would explode, and I was in a Monty Python world where he was just having a laugh. And yet, and yet…
Some of his setups sounded reasonable, and when I tried one of his easier setups on a simulator, it seemed to make some sense. So I did what I always do; programmed up a simple algorithm, and tested it on 5 years of Dow Jones index data, not in any great expectation of a positive result.
But there it was. A simple H1 algorithm of buying into a trend on a pullback under certain conditions had a positive expectancy over many hundreds of trades.
Now this may not be tradeable; the positive expectancy was small, and though I allowed for trading costs, I did not allow for slippage. But it was a very simple system that could no doubt be improved.
So here’s the thing. Many people on here think AL Brooks is a charlatan selling snake oil. My impressions of him are absolutely not that. His methods may or may not work, but he sounds sincere enough to me, and his book goes into mind numbing detail on his method, which seems to hang together ok as far as it goes.
Oddly, in all the panning of Brooks, I have yet to see anyone criticise his methods – only his presentation, and the fact that he reveals no trading history.
My own take on it is that if you can become a more successful trader following his books and methods, it doesn’t really matter about any of that. Enough people on here claim to do that for me to think it is worth spending some time on. What else am I going to do during lockdown?
The simplest thing I have taken from it so far is to give up trying to day trade the minute charts. The five minute chart is much easier to understand and trade. It may be obvious to most of you, but it was a revelation to me. I suspect his methods may not be that far away from Alexander Elder in his books, which are a much easier read and which I can recommend. I’ll go back to them and have a look at some point.
In the meantime OP, thanks for your interesting threads; I am following your related journal as well with interest. All the best.
It is an interesting read, and I am getting more from it on second reading. I already think I have had my 50 quids worth. I have made more than that trading in the last week, though not much more as I am still a cheapskate when it comes to risking real money.
I think nearly everyone who has read this book will know it is very badly written and constructed. He uses terms not defined till much later in the book, and some of the descriptions are hard to follow. When I found myself reading sentences about stuff like failed countertrend breakout failures , it felt like my head would explode, and I was in a Monty Python world where he was just having a laugh. And yet, and yet…
Some of his setups sounded reasonable, and when I tried one of his easier setups on a simulator, it seemed to make some sense. So I did what I always do; programmed up a simple algorithm, and tested it on 5 years of Dow Jones index data, not in any great expectation of a positive result.
But there it was. A simple H1 algorithm of buying into a trend on a pullback under certain conditions had a positive expectancy over many hundreds of trades.
Now this may not be tradeable; the positive expectancy was small, and though I allowed for trading costs, I did not allow for slippage. But it was a very simple system that could no doubt be improved.
So here’s the thing. Many people on here think AL Brooks is a charlatan selling snake oil. My impressions of him are absolutely not that. His methods may or may not work, but he sounds sincere enough to me, and his book goes into mind numbing detail on his method, which seems to hang together ok as far as it goes.
Oddly, in all the panning of Brooks, I have yet to see anyone criticise his methods – only his presentation, and the fact that he reveals no trading history.
My own take on it is that if you can become a more successful trader following his books and methods, it doesn’t really matter about any of that. Enough people on here claim to do that for me to think it is worth spending some time on. What else am I going to do during lockdown?
The simplest thing I have taken from it so far is to give up trying to day trade the minute charts. The five minute chart is much easier to understand and trade. It may be obvious to most of you, but it was a revelation to me. I suspect his methods may not be that far away from Alexander Elder in his books, which are a much easier read and which I can recommend. I’ll go back to them and have a look at some point.
In the meantime OP, thanks for your interesting threads; I am following your related journal as well with interest. All the best.
wow.
what a perfect write up about somebody i have been studying for 13 years.
it says it all about Brooks in a few lines.
you have fantastic ability to describe it perfectly.
so perfectly in fact that i have copied and saved it so that i can reproduce it and quote you for enlightening anyone else who wonders what he is getting into when he reads brooks
yes it happened to me too .
that is actually what most would call break out pull back.
what is called a wedge he calls a channel line breakout failure, which it undoubtedly is, but it took me a long time to understand it.
his chapter on trend lines is really useful.
brooks advises all new traders to trade this one set up.
a casino operates under a very small edge and so why cant a trader
Thanks for the kind comments padutrader . Yes, I am looking for simple setups that have a positive edge. Simple usually seems better to me in this game. Doesn't need to be much. That small edge for casinos built Las Vegas after all. 
I have just finished studying all 3 of his books and I'm trying (in vain!) to apply them profitably. As he says in his books, at the end of the day all the trades look so easy but while they're unfolding, the bull and bear case looks equally strong. My search for other PA traders using Al Brooks' method got me to ET. You, sir, are the first person I'm following here. Would love to connect with others using his methods.
thanks for this.........
i think his first book is the best......
you should read that first
i have a journal where i am trying to trade using his 'way' and from today all my trades have a detailed explanation of why i entered or exited.
Tribute to Brooks | Elite Trader
if you have any specific questions about brooks i will be happy to try and help