100 years ago Gann and Livermore made fortunes anticipating economic movement. Gann did it with astrology and mathematics and Livermore did it thru a crude spread sheet.
There was no internet, CNBC, telephone usage was cumbersome, expensive and not as widespread, same for the telegraph, newspapers were printed twice daily and radio was just being invented. Point is, information was not received as fast as today. These two good men were able to trade pure crowd emotions.
Today, with information coming in so fast from so many sources, it is difficult to know what will affect the market, what will not and what is already priced in. The radio wave prediction model is not a trading plan, but a suggestion. Only on truly dead news and announcement days is the model 85% accurate.
Which brings me to the reverse trader's grail. An indicator so consistently wrong, one just fades its signals. On a purely mechanical level, this will make its user wonderful profits. It does not call absolute high and lows but relative highs and lows. Good enough to trade against.
Instrument of choice is the Russell 2000 eMini. Here are the rules of my usage.
A. 8 trades maximum, or close of trading session. Whichever comes first.
B. Trade all signals. However, the current signal must be at least 15 minutes apart from last signal.
C. As soon as market opens, initiate trade in direction of overnight trend. This alone has a 50% probability of producing an average 20 tick loss or a 10 to 50 tick runaway gain. Look for reverse signal.
For spits and giggles, here are the results of the last two days. Times posted are Central.
October 6, 2006
S 08:30 746.00
L 09:01 742.70
S 09:19 741.00
L 09:29 741.10
S 10:10 742.90
L 11:51 742.40
S 14:02 747.20
L 15:14 744.60
Total trades: 7
Wins: 5
Losses:2
Tick total: 112
October 9, 2006
S 08:30 743.50
L 09:01 742.00
S 12:55 749.10
L 15:14 750.00
Total trades: 3
Wins: 2
Losses: 1
Tick total: 77
I've traded this way for almost 3 years. Four out of five days are profitable, which means, I give back on the fifth day, what was earned on the fourth, for an average 3 up days out of 5. I average 50 ticks per day or 150 per week. This method is horrid! Proper money management escapes me. No stops. I know if I had good m.m. rules, I could squeeze another 10 ticks or so per week. Since I am only earning 150 weekly ticks, I feel like a pauper when I know at least twice that is possible. Why does this elude me so?