I have bought Al Brooks' Trading Course

[Pigsky]

Regarding the analogy of pharmaceuticals and Brooks (and all other vendors for that matter) always showing winning trades.....

it's simple....... advertising

Let's say I have an energy drug that boosts your energy and stamina 50% of the time you take it, and the other 50% of the time does nothing

I create an ad that shows testimonials from 10 people, all of whom say it's a wonderful drug that gave them boundless energy

What will you remember most? The 50% of the time it is supposed to work? Or the ad that showed it working for all people interviewed? You will probably remember the latter because it makes a strong emotional impact.... you may even start thinking of it as a drug that always works, even though you were told it only works half the time.

Good sales pitches target the emotions of the customer, not their rational brains.

Trading educators are very skilled practitioners of this art. They know how to hook people. Only showing winning trades is almost like a form of subliminal advertising.... because at no time does the vendor ever claim you will win every trade.... nevertheless, many customers start to expect to win every trade even though they were never told so.

 

[marketsurfer]

Regarding the analogy of pharmaceuticals and Brooks (and all other vendors for that matter) always showing winning trades.....

it's simple....... advertising

Let's say I have an energy drug that boosts your energy and stamina 50% of the time you take it, and the other 50% of the time does nothing

I create an ad that shows testimonials from 10 people, all of whom say it's a wonderful drug that gave them boundless energy

What will you remember most? The 50% of the time it is supposed to work? Or the ad that showed it working for all people interviewed? You will probably remember the latter because it makes a strong emotional impact.... you may even start thinking of it as a drug that always works, even though you were told it only works half the time.

Good sales pitches target the emotions of the customer, not their rational brains.

Trading educators are very skilled practitioners of this art. They know how to hook people. Only showing winning trades is almost like a form of subliminal advertising.... because at no time does the vendor ever claim you will win every trade.... nevertheless, many customers start to expect to win every trade even though they were never told so.

Excellent post. When you add the allure of easy money, freedom from the "boss", self employment, or even hard won money -- this stuff has incredible power over many people.

Even successful business folks and other professional educated types fall for it. They suspend disbelief -- some people keep buying this nonsense until they are ruined. Others catch on.

The worst of the worst is the lie that failure is good or desirable. This keeps 'em coming back for more. Than you ad the psychological principal that when u win a little it gives u the taste of victory and this drives the hook even deeper into the psyche.

Be careful folks, we are dealing with powerful forces.

So powerful that facts don't matter, interest in the reality of following true trading success is supplanted by "buy my course" or book because i tell you to and what i say matches what you WANT to hear.

Wake up!!

surf

 

[wjk]

Uncle BOB is not one little bit concerned with the way you are thinking, so maybe you should do what he does!

I would say that it all depends on what exactly u are trying to achieve, so maybe, just maybe, you are not fully focused on your target and are leaving a bit of hope and wishing creep in, which of course will not help u one little bit if u are visiting madam guillotine, or some of her acquaintces.

If a bar is outside, and you are inside, what do you do if next bar inside and next bar outside - would you go outside, or stay inside

J_S

He's not concerned and cares not, which is why I couldn't agree more with your 2nd paragragh. My goal is pure objectivity. Not there yet, but making nice gains, to use market terms.

Regarding your question in 3rd para...oio..are both outside bars bear, bull, or 1 of each? Is the inside bar a bear, bull, or doji? Are we in a range, or pull back to ma in trend? Are we at the end of a long trend marking a poss reversal? Did I enter on a fade before the bar broke out in the opposite direction, or enter the breakout of either the failed breakout or the opposite side of the bar as it broke in the new direction, as any of these entries affected my stop placement. I simply cant answer without more info.

Regarding brooks...he provides examples of these scenerios, and more, which is why he is so difficult to read. He tries to show all the possibe outcomes of any given pattern (or single bar in multitudes of scenerios).

Again, I'm referring to the books, not the slides.

 

[J_Smith]

He's not concerned and cares not, which is why I couldn't agree more with your 2nd paragragh. My goal is pure objectivity. Not there yet, but making nice gains, to use market terms.

Regarding your question in 3rd para...oio..are both outside bars bear, bull, or 1 of each? Is the inside bar a bear, bull, or doji? Are we in a range, or pull back to ma in trend? Are we at the end of a long trend marking a poss reversal? Did I enter on a fade before the bar broke out in the opposite direction, or enter the breakout of either the failed breakout or the opposite side of the bar as it broke in the new direction, as any of these entries affected my stop placement. I simply cant answer without more info.

Regarding brooks...he provides examples of these scenerios, and more, which is why he is so difficult to read. He tries to show all the possibe outcomes of any given pattern (or single bar in multitudes of scenerios).

Again, I'm referring to the books, not the slides.

You may not know it, but u have just given the reason why so many fail, and then they wonder why!

J_S

 

[J_Smith]

Bottom of Box

No MK, it has been mentioned what uncle BOB is, but as of yet, nobody can find it in any of the textbooks or courses - someone might turn up trumps?

J_S

 

[macattack]

No MK, it has been mentioned what uncle BOB is, but as of yet, nobody can find it in any of the textbooks or courses - someone might turn up trumps?

J_S

Big Outside Bar

 

[Q3D]

He's not concerned and cares not, which is why I couldn't agree more with your 2nd paragragh. My goal is pure objectivity. Not there yet, but making nice gains, to use market terms.

Regarding your question in 3rd para...oio..are both outside bars bear, bull, or 1 of each? Is the inside bar a bear, bull, or doji? Are we in a range, or pull back to ma in trend? Are we at the end of a long trend marking a poss reversal? Did I enter on a fade before the bar broke out in the opposite direction, or enter the breakout of either the failed breakout or the opposite side of the bar as it broke in the new direction, as any of these entries affected my stop placement. I simply cant answer without more info.

Regarding brooks...he provides examples of these scenerios, and more, which is why he is so difficult to read. He tries to show all the possibe outcomes of any given pattern (or single bar in multitudes of scenerios).

Again, I'm referring to the books, not the slides.

Does Brooks' explanation of all potential outcomes of chart patterns strengthen the case that Brooks is able to predict the outcomes of 5-minute-bar patterns with such regularity that day trading becomes not about guessing for him, and that he is so consistently profitable with his chart analysis that the books/courses/webinars are merely a charitable effort to give back to the trading community?

 

[wjk]

Does Brooks' explanation of all potential outcomes of chart patterns strengthen the case that Brooks is able to predict the outcomes of 5-minute-bar patterns with such regularity that day trading becomes not about guessing for him, and that he is so consistently profitable with his chart analysis that the books/courses/webinars are merely a charitable effort to give back to the trading community?

I get the impression from him that there is no knowable outcome, only probability that one outcome may be more likely than another given conext, and that such a probability can change in an instant.

 

[NoDoji]

Is Al Brooks better...does Brooks show or write about how he has lost five, even ten trades in a row... such an event is determined to happen in a stochastic process such as day trading with stops placed closely above or below the ES futures market's average true range.

If your Al Brooks price action based intraday trading plan results in more than four consecutive losses, it's not ready for prime time.

Certain trend following strategies may result in numerous small losses before a solid trend provides the home run profit, but most retail day traders who base their trading on Brooks-style price action concepts will not have five or ten losing trades in a row unless they never took the concepts and tested them to determine a trade management framework that results in a net profitable system.

That's not to say a trader with a superb price action trading plan won't have five or ten losses as a result of trading outside the plan (gambling without an edge).

 

[NoDoji]

You guys who think Brooks only shows winning trades in his book are talking out your arses.

Anyone who's taken the time to read even the first half of his book (and the glossary in the back) knows that he illustrates successful trades and failures. He provide dozens of examples of failures and discusses in great detail how the price action environment is crucial for a price bar or series of bars to open a door of profit opportunity (a statistical edge).

You can have a pretty little pattern in isolation, even a single price bar in isolation, that you believe is a high probability setup when in fact the price action environment (context) is what turns a mere pattern (1-2-3, narrow range consolidation, symmetrical triangle, flag, etc) or individual price bar (bullish/bearish engulfing, shooting star, hammer, inside bar, outside bar, etc) into a true setup.

That's what the "trapped traders" concept is all about. It's about pattern worshippers and candle worshippers and indicator worshippers and news worshippers putting on trades based on a strong belief as the result of something looking/feeling like a slam dunk.

Consistently profitable trading is uncomfortable at first, sometimes for years, because fantastic setups look/feel improbable at the right edge and because it requires full acceptance of uncertainty on every trade.