Educator whom I rate as worthwhile

[crud-cutter]

I have been investing and later trading since I was 18 yrs old. (Today is my 70th birthday.)
In all that time I have come across a huge number of educators from whom I only picked up bad habits and false information.
I have come across many 'one-eyed' educators - as in they are one eyed in the land of the blind.
And I have found a few that are worthwhile - even if most of their styles/methods do not suit my personality and so I can't trade that way.

The number 1 requirement of choosing a trading system or educator is that what is taught MUST be compatible with your own personality, skills and resources. Otherwise you'll never be able to be successful using it for more than the very short term.

I list those that I rate in the following posts. Note that I don't trade in all the ways shown. Neither do I have any commercial link with any of them except for having been a student on some of their courses.

 

[BigDeal]

The number 1 requirement of choosing a trading system or educator is that what is taught MUST be compatible with your own personality, skills and resources.

Good point - and happy birthday!

 

[crud-cutter]

The most complete trading education I have found teaches how the markets work, how the different types of Institutional traders actually trade (all the way from long only pension funds through Prop Firms to Market Makers), and how we retail traders can use this knowledge of their methods to our advantage be we scalpers or weekly swing traders or anything in between.

He stared trading for UK banks in the 1980's and has been a Quant/Strategist, a trader and an Institutional Trading trainer for various institutions ever since.
He started teaching retail traders in April 2014, but hates marketing webinars - so has taught very few full courses.
His name is Ray and his can be found through CompassFX - even though he concentrates on Futures more than Spot FX, Stocks or Options (he does cover them all to a certain extent).

He is starting his first full course for nearly 2yrs on Monday. Here is a video on one of his 'focus sessions' for his subscribers which CompassFX have released for public view. They say it is only for 'hard-working traders' because Ray is definitely not the 'easy button'.

Note that the chart he shows may be confusing since he is displaying lines which are the inverse of the ES, YM and NQ because he was using that chart for his training of interns (at the Bank he works for) earlier in the day.

Out of all he has taught, I mainly trade news events in the ways he teaches (pre-news, at the news and post-news). These include elections, speeches by Central Bankers as well as economic news releases. These suit my needs for action at a pre-determined time (so I don't get bored waiting around for a trade).

 

[crud-cutter]

The next most comprehensive is The MAX .
These guys have a new course on their scalping system (for which they claim 95% winning trades) though you don't get many trades per day.
Their original course was for swing trading and they have many courses of differing levels of complexity based upon this (in all of those the methodology is the same - just using more indicators, rules, timeframes etc. I took the course 1 level above their entry level back in 2014 (just before I found Ray) and validated their claims of > 70% win rate in my own backtesting. Note that the rules in all their courses/systems are completely defined - so they are fully back-testable.

The problem I had was that their way of trading was reliant on indicators and didn't suit my personality.

I saw this email about their scalping course too late for anybody to get the 'refund', but the course and the information about what is required for Scalping (at the bottom of the email) is still useful for people to know:-

**************************************************************************************************************************
https://ecp.yusercontent.com/mail?ur...M1xToil8_A--~D

Final Call for the Refund Offer

December 2020 was another great month for the MAX Scaping System, with no losing trades! You can go into the New Year with a scalping method that givew you absolute confidence.

This is the last day for the very special New Year's deal, with a $150 refund! That's your bonus for early enrollment, and it disappears at 8 a.m. New York time tomorrow.

This scalping system is...

1. Extremely reliable with 95% wins
2. Providing steady gains
3. Two class webinars teach you how to do it
4. Great addition to your trend trades

This scalping system is not...

1. Providing hi-frequency trading
2. Get-rich-quick scheme

There's nothing quite like the feeling of "pulling the trigger" and already knowing your trade is most likely a winner. 95% is truly awesome! You can attend the class webinars or choose to learn entirely by video. With either choice, you get full support and all indicators and templates...no hidden costs!

MAX ETF Scalping Course
Session 1: 14 January, 3:00 p.m. EDT
Session 2: 21 January, 3:00 p.m. EDT

25% New Year's Discount!
$1999 $1499

Enroll before midnight EST on January 7th and receive a $150 refund! Please allow 8 hours for us to process your refund.

Click here to Enroll

If you need monthly payments, a credit card can be used at the above link.

In case you missed our prior MAX Scalping Preview webinar last year, you can watch the playback and learn much more about MAX scalping. Please note that the excellent win rate was maintained throughout the year, and also that US traders are having success with Oanda for scalping. Click Here to Watch


IMPORTANT INFO

This information is critical for all traders.

Brokers
We will leave it up to each individual to choose your own broker for your country's circumstances.It is impossible for us to stay current on what is available or allowed in each country.

The only broker in the USA reasonable for this scalping method is Oanda. Residents of other countries have more options.

Here are questions you should ask any broker you are considering for scalping trades:

1. Do you have a lot of customers to produce good activity/volume on the charts?
A good $ volume would be at least several 100s of millions per day.
This way the tick volume on the charts will be reasonably well correlated to the actual trade volume.
(Unlike the Futures markets, Forex (& MT4) do not display the real contract volume as there is no central exchange.
https://smartforexlearning.com/forex...-shouldnt-use/
One of the indicators used in the Scalping Course requires a good representation of the volume for accuracy.

2. Is your Trade Execution fast enough for scalping?
We want almost instant execution of trade orders...1 second is too long.
You can check the "Ping" Value in the Account.
Less than 150ms is recommended.

3. What are your Spreads like?
We prefer 1/2 a pip or less.
Items 1 & 2 above are required to minimize potential losses due to small/slow moves.

4. Commissions -- some brokers use commisions instead of spreads, and others charge a commission in addition to the spread..
The commission must be small - no more than the equivalent of a 1/3 of a pip when converted.

Best Times/Markets to use
This scalping method can be used in all sessions,. The Lonson Session and the first 4 hours of the US Session are usually the most productive.

Best Pairs for Scalping
7 Majors + EURGBP (Good spreads & volume)
The following are not good for Scalping on the MT4 Platform:
DAX, Gold, other Indices, CFDs (Unless you are trading future contracts directly on a platform (eg Ninja).

Indicators
All required indicators are included in the course. No additional purchases are required.

Hoping your New Year is having a great start!

The MAX Team
Eusebio, Chris, Craig
****************************************************************************************************

 

[crud-cutter]

Here is another attempt at reproducing an email from Lance Beggs (this time with his latest email):
*************************************************************************

​ ​

YTC Trading Newsletter - 8th January 2021​

​ The Second Week Restart YTC Price Action Trader - Feedback First Day Back from a Break Hi Traders, I'm a big believer in getting the year off to a good start. A thorough review of 2020 combined with effective planning and preparation, with the aim of taking 2021 to never-before-seen levels of performance. If you've already done this, as I have, then you may have no need for this week's newsletter. For everyone else... this one is for you. Happy Trading, Lance Beggs.​

The Second Week Restart​

One week down. Fifty one to go. I hope you're off to a good start. But I know there are some who already dread the outcome this year. At least two of you were chatting with me this week, following Wednesday mornings social media post. Their problems go FAR beyond what was discussed in this post. Not only was their daily performance sub-standard. But this also occurred on the back of almost non-existent year-end review and planning. In one case there was none at all. Just cruising into the new year with the same plan and (lack of) preparation that guided his performance the prior year. In the other case, there was an attempt at a review, but the outcome was little more than generic and useless statements such as the all-too-common, "I need to be more disciplined with taking my trades". If a social media post can act as a wake-up call to two of you, then I'm almost certain there are more. The good news is that the second week of the year gives you a second chance at starting the year right. The 7 Ps were repeatedly drummed into me during my Army life - Prior Preparation and Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. In the trading world that's not enough. You need edge. And you need the ability to execute it. But it's going to be a damn sight harder if you don't plan and prepare. Hence some of my other social media posts: On the 28th of December: On the 3rd of January: Nothing will change this year... unless you change. So if your thoughts at the end of this first week of trading are basically, "Here we go again - same old crap!", then it's time to change. Schedule time this weekend. Or maybe even the whole second week (you've still got another 50 to go). Take the whole month of January if you need. You've been gifted a do-over. Don't waste this opportunity. Review your 2020 performance. Identify the gap between actual and desired performance. And develop a plan to bridge that gap. And please... implement a process for regular review and feedback throughout 2021. The second week of the year gives you a second chance at starting the year right. Prepare for this coming week in the way that you WISH you prepared for the first week, having now learnt with the benefit of hindsight. Go for it, Lance Beggs *********************************************************************​

 

[crud-cutter]

Of course there are many 'one-eyed' educators who know/teach some valid things but have large blind spots in their methodologies'
Of of those is Boris Schlossberg of BK Forex. I'm subscribed to his emails only because it provides endless mirth and chances to poke fun at him in my thread (nearing 6yrs old) on another forum.

So here is an email from Boris Schlossberg (of BK Forex) which is unusual because I agree with most of it:

**************************************************************************************************************************

Dear Ian
Timeless Tips for Trading

Now that we are respectable members of the suburban bourgeoisie, @HedgeFundGirl decided to buy an Air Fryer for our cavernous kitchen. So naturally I hopped on YouTube to learn all about the wonders of grease free cooking, but instead of looking at endless recipes for fried chicken I actually found a clip that showed me the 10 most common mistakes made with the product - and that was far more useful.


So in the very same spirit, as we kick off the New Year here are some of my timeless tips for trading from the school of hard knocks.


Do it on a Demo.

This seems so obvious but I am always amazed at how few people follow this rule. Have a new algo you need to test? A new indicator, hell do you just want to figure out how to place a buy stop versus a buy limit on the platform? Always, always, always do it on a demo. Every broker has a demo platform. No matter how experienced you are whenever you always need to get comfortable and knowledgeable about all the buttons by trying them out first on fake money.

This goes double for any script, indicator or Expert Advisor you want to try. Code is like a virus - you never know what’s truly inside you let it run in its natural environment. Running code on demo is less a matter of time and more a matter of volume - do at least 10-30 trades on a demo to make sure nothing funky is going on.

(btw - do I do this myself? Hell no. So this is clearly a case of do as I say not as I do - but I promise to try much harder this year. At least in my case I burn nickels and dimes instead of G’s and Racks on my trading experimentation)


Get the F out.

You hit a buy instead of a sell? You entered a candle too early or a candle too late? You opened with 100,000 instead of 10,000? Get. The. F. Out. It doesn’t matter if the trade is working. It doesn’t matter if you think you can trade out of it. It doesn’t matter if you now suddenly like the short side of the market instead of the long side. The error trade is the Keyser Soze moment of the market. It never looks dangerous at first but it will always burn all your money, your confidence and your sense of self worth in the end. Maybe not the first time, maybe not the second, maybe not the third but always in the end. Get. The. F. Out.

Adding to Losers is For Losers

Paul Tudor Jones made that statement iconographic in the history of trading but it is actually false in lots of circumstances. Adding to losers is the perfect strategy if you are countertrading in a choppy market. Adding to losers is the foundation of dollar cost averaging - which remains the single best way to long term invest because of the upward drift of stocks. Adding to losers can even work in strong trends as long you properly size and catch the retracements.

There is only one problem. If you are adding to losers as a speculative trader you are always one trade away from bankruptcy. It's the equivalent of having beachfront property in Carolina low country. Eventually the Hurricane will wash away the house.

That’s because adding to losers will not only stress your finances but much more importantly will really stress your psyche. Holding a trade on the losing side of the market is like being screamed at by an angry mob. Eventually you will just want to leave - and typically you always cover the position a few percent from the low or the high.

Ok, fair enough. We should never add to losers. But that’s not what really happens in trading. In real trading you may be disciplined in your stops - up to a point. Take three stopouts in a row and the willpower starts to waver. If the next trade starts moving against you - what do you do? You pull your stop of course, because you are convinced by the gambler's fallacy that the market can’t go any higher or lower. What do you do next? You ADD.

This is always the moment of greatest vulnerability for anyone who trades. You never start out planning to add to your losers, but somehow you end up doing it.

At that moment it’s always good to refer to tip #2.


Be Smaller

Re-reading Jack Schwager’s Hedge Fund Market Wizards I came across an interesting quote. One of the traders says, “It’s never the price. It’s always the size.” He was referring to how traders get into trouble. This is very true. Small size can absorb far greater variance in price letting you stay in the trade until it makes money. You can absorb 100 pips of adverse movement on a 10,000 unit position versus a 100,000 unit position. On a 1,000 unit position you can absorb 1000 pips of negative movement. Size matters - just not in the way we have been taught.

If you want to trade larger then make your account smaller. Keep only the margin you need for the strategy and size you want to trade. If the strategy is working you won’t need any more money. If you are margined out - that the market’s way of telling you the strategy has stopped working for now. Say thank you and be grateful that you kept the rest of your money in reserve.

Kill You Trade Blotter

You should never know if you are winning or losing when you are trading. Your only job is to take and make good trades that are true to your process. The moment you look at you P/L you will no longer be trading the market but trading your equity. The market couldn’t care about equity. In fact the market’s only job is to take your equity away. Trading after all is just a civilized way of raiding and looting and if you want to win the game, the key is to never keep score but just to keep playing well.

***********************************************************************************************************************************

> Where I disagree with Boris is about adding to losers. Some of my own trading style requires me to add to losing positions, but it is all pre-planned to be within my maximum tolerated loss!
These trades are where I have huge value in my direction but can't quite be certain (liquidity and Order Flow) as to where the short -term Top or Bottom will actually be. I don't want to get stopped out when value is even more in my favour, so I pre-plan a range of 3 or so entry levels with a common Stop Loss price.
For my personality there is nothing more likely to get me on-tilt than getting stopped out without giving the trade enough room and failing to load-up when the value in my favour increases!

This type of trading was popularised by 'Buzzy' Schwartz aka 'Pit Bull'. Buzzy traded value based upon correlated markets (amongst other things) while I trade value around/at news events and thus have to use Limit Orders (like he did) because when one of those big news events hits if you enter with a Market Order you will probably already be filled waay away from the price you intended!

 

[crud-cutter]

Some retail traders are like a man with a hammer, but no screwdriver. Every situation looks like a nail, even if it's a screw.
Because some of us don't have the tools to trade both Trending Markets and Range-bound or Sideways Markets.

Here is a recent email from Lance Beggs (of Your Trading Coach) which talks about this problem:

*********************************************************************************************************

​

​ ​

YTC Trading Newsletter - 15th January 2021​

​ Structure within Structure - 2 YTC Price Action Trader - Feedback I Know Nothing! Hi Traders, I only traded Monday this week (due to family needs). And what a crappy session that was. But still... it allows us to see one way that I like to trade the structure WITHIN a larger sideways structure. Happy Trading, Lance Beggs.​

Structure within Structure​

Sideways trend structure is more common than many new traders imagine. So it's important to learn how to recognise a sideways market. (For my Sideways Trend Definition, see Page 101 (and Fig 3.44) of Chapter 3 of the YTC Price Action Trader.) And it's important to find the way that YOU best trade this market. Some traders thrive in sideways conditions, preferring them to a more directional environment. Others, like me, take them as a signal to step back a little, slow down and only take the best of the best trade opportunities. Typically I approach it in this way...

continued in next posts ...

 

[crud-cutter]

Continued from previous post ...

But I do remain somewhat focussed on price. Not intensely. Just a relaxed, casual observation.

Because there are times when I may be able to see edge within the structure. And when I might be tempted to exploit that edge.

The prior article on this topic demonstrated one such example, where the sideways range was particularly wide and a stable directional trend developed within that larger structure.

But more often than not it's when something like this occurs...

Continued in Next posts....

 

[crud-cutter]

Continued from previous post ...

Just like occurred here... in a rather messy example on a day with particularly unfavourable conditions. But hey, that's the nature of this game. It's not always smooth price flow and easy movement to the target.

Note that the market doesn't start off with a sideways trend. That trend structure forms a little later. First, there is some opportunity to play off the prior day's low (PDL) support.

At this point I stepped back. The P&L was in the green, but it's clear that (a) the level was not providing clear directional follow through, with buyers and sellers battling for dominance and causing chop, and (b) I was not reading this well.

Do NOT be afraid to step back and say, "I can't read this. I don't know which side is in control here. I don't see the structure that is building (ahead of price). And basically, I have no idea what is going on."

It happens more than we like to admit.

Step back. And wait.

Continued in next post ...

 

[crud-cutter]

continued from previous post...

Continued on next post...

 

[crud-cutter]

Continued from previous post.....

Note the choppy overlap of the candles, with endless wicks (tails) above and below. These are conditions I particularly dislike. If I can profit on a day like this, I consider myself lucky.

It's time to stand aside now.

Don't push your luck in unfavourable conditions. You'll rarely win.

As it says in the last image, take your profits and move on. Next time, it might be different.

Happy trading,

Lance Beggs

*****************************************************************************************************************

 

[crud-cutter]

A question sent via PM in the ForexFactory site:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: ianf0ster | From: xxxxxxx | Sent: Jan 25, 2021 8:06pm
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Are you still trading this system?


https://www.forexfactory.com/thread/...53#post3637753

**************************************************************************
And my answer:

Hi xxxxx,
I did their course and back-tested the system I was taught. I think I only got around a 75% win rate., but average win size was bigger than the average loss.
Then I tried forward trading it in Demo mode, but found I had problems with it:
A. I found I got bored and distracted waiting for a setup.
B. I was hesitant about entering a trades, which meant I was always very late - having waited for more 'confirmation'.

So although the MAX is a suite of courses which I recommend, I have never been able to bring myself to trade it live.

Instead I trade the economic (and sometimes political) news, plus key events (opens, closes Fixes and auctions) as I was taught by Ray at CompassFx. But his style is very much based upon Value, Levels and Orderflow rather than just Price Action and Volume , so it is more difficult to learn and there are really no indicators for you to blame when you get it wrong!

So which is the better system? Well Ray's is much, much more complete, but requires much more work and thought. But it is probably too much for most of those who are just looking for a conventional retail indicator based system. For those people one or more versions of the MAX is what they need.

I hope this helps.

 

[crud-cutter]

I've also recently had questions about how I trade from some of my fellow students of Ray.

Now I can't explain everything because of the Non-Disclosure Agreement, but here is what I can divulge in this forum:

I'm able to spend what I consider to be fairly long periods intensely focussed, up to 1 or even 2hrs. But not for the 8Hr plus periods that Eusebio used to be able to manage in his trading.

I get distracted while waiting for a trade to set up, so I find that scheduled times really help me avoid missing trades.

1. I call myself a 'News Trader' which I am, but these days I'm more of an 'Event Trader'.
This means that I look to trade in Markets which during my trading will/are displaying high volatility.
I'm sh*t at trading low to medium volatility because when I take a position on the wrong side of such a market, I will be like a frog being boiled to death - not realising how hot the water is getting until I incur an uncomfortably large loss with no immediate prospect of recouping the loss.

These events include major Economic results, economic or political 'sound bites', Session Opens& Closes, 'Auctions' & 'Fixes' and the MOC madness.

2. I trade these in a way I have adapted since summer 2014 when I was first taught News trading (the Institutional way) by Ray.
This includes paying attention to the sentiment and market structure before the period of trading.

3. I have traded 'reverse pyramid' multi-unit, multi-level entry since long before Ray mentioned 'Buzzy' Schwartz. I don't know if she still uses it too, but at one time NNNNNN also used it. Though we were trading different markets and using different quantities and gaps between levels.

Back then I was trading CFDs and so didn't have the LOB available to me, so my gaps between levels were much more fixed and regular than they are today. Now I adjust levels and sizes based upon Price Action, Volume, Value Line action, Levels and LOB. But it still conforms to a rough master pattern with a hard (emergency) protective Stop just before my maximum pain threshold!

4. The upside to the way I trade is that I very rarely have a net losing trade. The downsides are that when I do they are big ones and when I get my entry just right I make the least money since I'm in there with only my minimum position size. However this is completely compatible with my personality.
******** WARNING Never trade a style that goes against your own personality - if you do then you are doomed to failure and frustration! *************

5. It took me a long time to discover that I do best if I take my first partial profits 'too soon'. Since I realised this key fact I have never regretted exiting too soon and seeing a strong price move resume. Instead I focus on looking for a new entry point to get me back in again.

6. I use most of what Ray has taught me, but still haven't been able to incorporated any serious OrderFlow analysis into my trading.
I use 2 different charting platforms: Sierra Chart and TradingView simultaneously. But I only execute my my trades on Sierra Chart (using both DOM and Chart simultaneously) because TradingView isn't good for trade execution.

Here is all I look at for my trading apart from my Newsfeeds and Economic Calendars.

 

[crud-cutter]

I just know somebody is going to claim that I don't really trade a real money account, or that I win big one day and so my results are just based upon luck etc.

Here are some screen shots which may help convince you otherwise:
My first trades yesterday, got back to desk from getting a cup of tea to find ES had dropped like a stone after the Johnson & Johnson vaccine announcement headline.( Note the full statement was not bearish - but the news-reading Algos only work off the headlines.

 

[crud-cutter]

I was trading the Micro E-Mini, so the 2 trades combined netted me approx $105 after commission in less than 23 minutes ( it 's a 30secod chart).


My TradingView chart was showing my London Open 'Box' at that time, the ES bounced off the bottom of it to the tick! Too bad I was not back at my desk a couple of minutes earlier, or I could have entered the trade much lower down!

 

[crud-cutter]

My statement for yesterday (also covers Tuesday , Wed and Thus. By coincidence although it only shows the last4 days ( that first entry is always 0 ), I didn't trade on Monday due to various reasons including getting a Covid19 jab.

 

[crud-cutter]

My Monthly statement
And yes, I had my best week last week and I was a little down on the account before then - so what?
That is a +79% week in a moderate sized real-money account !

 

[McQuant]

The most complete trading education I have found teaches how the markets work, how the different types of Institutional traders actually trade (all the way from long only pension funds through Prop Firms to Market Makers), and how we retail traders can use this knowledge of their methods to our advantage be we scalpers or weekly swing traders or anything in between.

He stared trading for UK banks in the 1980's and has been a Quant/Strategist, a trader and an Institutional Trading trainer for various institutions ever since.
He started teaching retail traders in April 2014, but hates marketing webinars - so has taught very few full courses.
His name is Ray and his can be found through CompassFX - even though he concentrates on Futures more than Spot FX, Stocks or Options (he does cover them all to a certain extent).

He is starting his first full course for nearly 2yrs on Monday. Here is a video on one of his 'focus sessions' for his subscribers which CompassFX have released for public view. They say it is only for 'hard-working traders' because Ray is definitely not the 'easy button'.

Note that the chart he shows may be confusing since he is displaying lines which are the inverse of the ES, YM and NQ because he was using that chart for his training of interns (at the Bank he works for) earlier in the day.

Out of all he has taught, I mainly trade news events in the ways he teaches (pre-news, at the news and post-news). These include elections, speeches by Central Bankers as well as economic news releases. These suit my needs for action at a pre-determined time (so I don't get bored waiting around for a trade).

Hi Ian,
I agree, Ray is top-notch educator that I know. His knowledge of financial market is inexhaustible. One and half year since I started watching his sessions, I learnt a lot thanks to him. Two facts specifically that I was not aware of before which I personally consider as being the most important.

1. Price is nothing, value is everything
2. Markets are highly interwoven

Only these 2 things completely changed my view of financial markets.

 

[Faust88]

I have joined Ray's class last November... what he teaches is absolutely out of this (retail) world. I dare to say it is impossible to aquire this knowledge unless you are working at a trading desk for a bank, hedge fund or prop firm. And from what I hear, there are prop firms and then there are prop firms, apparently some don't teach at all.

Anyway, I love the classes , yet at the same time I feel completely overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of content...also I am still far away from profitability. It still isn't easy...