Hello,
I thought I may add my two cents into this discussion and offer a different perspective. Here it goes:
I purchased Harvey's course a few months ago. During that time, I was on a break from University so there was no studying and I didn't have a job, so I had some time. However, prior to purchasing the course, I had spent several months watching his videos with a skeptical eye, asking myself why he would sell his secrets when he is doing (as it appears) so well with them. Anyways, as I watched more and more, I found it all the more interesting and decided to purchase his course.
I read his course for about 2 months, reading the 2 main books several times to understand the concepts fully (the other books are purely just for interest; not mandatory reading). Please know that before purchasing his course, I was more of an advocate of fundamental analysis rather than technical analysis; the latter I didn't believe to be efficient for a buy and hold strategy. But that was before I was introduced to day trading by Harvey Walsh.
Anyways, after reading his course, I decided to try it out. I wanted to focus on mastering the strategies presented, so I purchased a 1-year subscription of eSignal, the same software used in Harvey's videos. I wanted to focus on having everything constant but just having to learn the strategies, instead of having to waste time learning another software that would distract me from my main goal. eSignal has an awesome paper trading feature built in it which almost resembles the actual trading behaviour if using real money. Anyways, I have spent almost a month paper trading his strategies (out of the bunch of strategies presented in his course, I have chosen the ones that make the most logical sense to me and the ones that provide me with consistent profits) and I honestly have to say that I am impressed.
Harvey emphasizes simplicity; he doesn't (neither do I) see the need to have multiple monitors, or the need to have a hundreds of studies in a chart, or to use complicated mathematical formula's to predict price movement. Price behaviour is controlled mostly by human psychology and human psychology is not governed by something as logical and scientific as mathematics. Mathematics and other complicated technical studies are way too scientific to be able to model accurately (let alone predict) the price action of a stock. I am studying Financial Economics at one of the top universities in the world and we use very complicated mathematics in our courses (dynamic optimization, control theory, differential equations, chaos, game theory etc...), so when I see an economic model trying to replicate human behaviour, I am forced to validate the assumptions behind the model. However, in trading, many of the technical studies are based on rigourous quantitative analytics that just don't apply to price behaviour (in the real world, not academically). In that sense, Harvey strongly emphasizes simplicity. He uses just one or two on-chart indicators (to see patterns and potential exits), about 3 off-chart indicators (to judge entry), and performs pre-market homework by finding stocks that may show good momentum. I will not go into detail about this whole process and how it is done as I believe it would be unfair to Harvey, and for those who want to learn should pay.
Now obviously, actions speak louder than words. So what are my results? I restrict myself to trading only the first 2.5 hours of the market (as I am a full-time student). But this lets me keep in control and disciplined. I am not going to say that I haven't lost money in any trade - that would be a lie. But, what I can say honestly is that by following the strategies proposed in Harvey's course, I have been able to consistently make more profitable trades than non-profitable trades. If you want numbers, then on average, my daily take, after commisions, is about $500 in the 2.5 hours in the market. And this is only with 4 months of studying the course and 1.5-2 months of paper trading.
Harvey emphasizes, also, that people should not give up too easily. When I started paper trading, for about the first couple of weeks, every morning I would wake up to find myself losing more money than gaining. I could easily say to myself that the course is at fault and day trading just cannot be that simple. But, I stuck through it, I had already invested a lot of time and money in it. So then, I re-read the course books in an entire weekend, made my own notes out of them, and got back into it. I realized then that the problem was at my end; there was no problem with the course. The problem was that I wasn't executing the trades correctly; my mind frame was not set correctly as Harvey described it should be. I took the steps necessary to correct this problem and got back in the game. Now, with some practice, I can say that I have consistently been able to make good money everyday and I can only thank Harvey for that.
For those people who are looking for a "get rich quick" scheme, this is not your thing. I had to give up a lot of friends + family time, a lot of money, and a lot of sleep just to be able to develop the correct mind frame of a day trader. Now, with the correct mind frame, I am trading to focus on mastering the strategies presented. With a combination of a correct mind frame, devotion to sticking with something, and investing a lot of your precious time, it is possible.
Amit D
