Odds Czar: Simple Biases in the Futures Markets 2005

Victor S wrote:

Out of curiosity, which futures are you trading? CBOT only?

Actually I'm not using CBOT products at the moment. I'm trading emini S&Ps, Nasdaq and Russell.
 
setharb wrote
hi art

one of your books has an interview with tom willis

is this the "willis" of willis and jenkins

who were managing futures funds
in the 80's and maybe 90's ?

also ... which of your 3 books do you consider the best or have gotten the most feedback on ?

hi seth-
yes, tom willis is from willis and jenkins. he's a sharp, independent thinker and was actually featured in two of my books. "when supertraders meet kryptonite' and "market beaters".

i'm most partial to market beaters because i'm such a mechanical system freak. (i was kind of awestruck with the luminaries i was able to interview). kryptonite, though, is a pretty unique snapshot of how traders deal with catastrophic losses. their stories, although unusually large in scope, have common application as universal as losses themselves. my first book, "market rap: the odyssey of a still-struggling commodity trader" has some simple system ideas and lots of reflection on my personal ups and downs in the market. again, i was hoping to convey trader identification via the journey of one individual. (me). (i used to wonder "am i the only one who feels this way??")
market beaters and kryptonite are receiving equally steady recognition. i'm proud to report they were both recently published in japan.
 
setharb wrote
is the interview you did with Rich D in TASC early
this yr worth reading ?
obviously, things like that are down to personal taste. i could tell you stories about some people that have ferocious negative feelings about richard dennis.
i lean closer to the hero worship side. (not too close hopefully--i do want to maintain journalistic integrity). but even if there weren't examples of him successfully putting his money where his mouth was (such as the whole turtle saga), you can't walk away from talking to him without being profoundly impacted by his observations. it wouldn't matter to me if he never granted me another interview--just being able to kick market ideas back and forth with him was one of the highlights of my writing/trading career.
yes, i think the interview is worth tracking down.
 
setharb wrote
have you ever tried using pivots for intraday trading ?

did you find it hard to make the switch to screen trading from floor trading ?

did you ever trade with charlie D or Tom B or chip K or Brumfield on the floor ?

i've looked at pivots (and just about everything else). i think i'm using some of the principles particualrly in exit strategies. (if you're long for x number of bars and a high is made with sucessively lower highs on each side, then you act. i don't know how exactly on point i am with the concept--my programing is solitary and sometimes clumsy)

i found no problem making the transition because i was totally mechanical during the change. it was only a help to be able to put my orders online rather than have some idiot not pick up the phone or botch the order on the other end. and it was great going from routine full point slippage-commisision rips in the full size S&Ps to right-on-the-money fills in the eminis.

never traded with any otf the guys you listed. read a good book about the late charlie d--that's about it.
 
Quote from Art Collins:

Here are my current bullish biases (+1). All reverse cases are bearish (-1).

1. The 2-day average is less than the 5-day average.
2. The close is greater than the 40-day closing average
3. The highest close of the past 50 days occurred before the lowest.
4. The close is greater than the previous close and the range is less than the average 10-day range OR the close is less than the previous close and the range is greater than the average 10-day average range.
5. The close is greater than the 15-day high-and-low average (15-day high average plus 15-day low average divided by 2).
6. CUP trade. For the last three trading days, the middle day had both the lowest low and the lowest close. In addition, the low on the middle day must also be lower than the lows from the previous three trading days before the middle day. (CAP would be reverse and bearish.)
7. The highest low minus the lowest low of the last 3 days is less than or equal to 20% of the highest high minus the lowest low of the last 3 days.
8. For the previous two days, the market closed lower than it opened.

Did you obtain these biases through simple trial-and-error, or did some of your subjects share them with you?
 
poundtherock said
Did you obtain these biases through simple trial-and-error, or did some of your subjects share them with you?
this was all a product of my own reseach. i will be posting trade station performance summaries substantiating the biases within the next few days.
 
art ... thanks for answering my PM here

I am curious ... when you wrote your first book

you were struggling or at least not as consistently
profitable as now ?

what time frame works best for you now and

why do you not trade FX or Crude or other volatile futures ? you seem to give signals for the USD / Euro
so does that mean you sometimes do trade this ?
 
Quote from Art Collins:

poundtherock said
this was all a product of my own reseach. i will be posting trade station performance summaries substantiating the biases within the next few days.

Thank you. By the way, did you have any favorite interview subjects from a technical perspective?
 
i v trader wrote
SPX 2 day ave is currently 1181.7 and 5 days is 1182.7 , so its contributes +1 to your total of +2 count (buy signal) , but if tomorrow SPX will close at 1185( DOWN 1.5 point) the 2 days ave will be at 1185.8 and 5 days at 1182. 2.

So the count will go to -1 and made the total count=0( neutral or exit).
In the meantime , I lost 1.5 point on bullish count. Where I'm going wrong here (without checking the other indicators) ?


i'm using the emini futures for all the stock indexes. the computations use the 3:15 close as ground zero for the next day. i come up with 118400 for the two day average and 118500 for the five day. that's a buy bias(+1)
 
Quote from Art Collins:

i v trader wrote


i'm using the emini futures for all the stock indexes. the computations use the 3:15 close as ground zero for the next day. i come up with 118400 for the two day average and 118500 for the five day. that's a buy bias(+1)

I don't follow the emini , but I'm sure I can come up with similar scenario for emini Monday close to make 2 days > 5 days and turn the count from (+1) to (-1) WHILE the price of emini (and my long position) goes down.
 
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