🔥Join us, Tom Hougaard and Steve Ward for a 3 hour Trading Masterclass🔥

When I started trading, which was back in 1998, I was led to believe that all I needed for success was an “edge”. I was told that this edge could be found by studying technical analysis. So, I did. I studied
it all. Murphy. McGee, Bollinger. Fibonacci. Gann. Wycoff. Elliott Waves. The list of names is long, and my bookshelf is buckling under the weight of the so-called wisdom it is carrying.

And yet, in spite of my earnest effort, my sincerest devotion, I was not making money. Well, that is not entirely true. When I made money, I never made as much as I thought I should have made.

When I lost, I always seem to lose a lot more than I had made, and also a lot faster than I made it. To some extent, that is still true today, even though I am a hugely successful trader, if judged by trading size and returns on funds. My criticism of myself, my introspection, and perhaps most importantly, my experience that the markets “giveth” and the market “taketh away”, means that I never rest on my laurels. You are never out of the fight, the fight with changing markets, and the fight with yourself and your belief system.

Over the last 7 years I have steadily morphed into a different kind of trader. My book Best Loser Wins has tried to capture this evolution, one that I feel is a natural progression in any trader’s
journey, and one which should be cherished.

What am I talking about? In short, I no longer believe in technical analysis as an “edge”. When Bollinger Bands were introduced in the 1980’s, those that believed in it, and followed it, were rewarded with outsized returns. However, as the tool gained notoriety and popularity, its efficacy diminished, to the point where, by the 2000s, it was a beautiful contrarian indicator.

Technical analysis and the associated tools, in all its permutations, are so commonly available now, and very cheaply too, that I fear it has lost all its value. The edge is gone, and my broker statement told the sorry tale years ago. I began working on a new set of beliefs about trading as early as 2012. I don’t consider myself a visionary, but I had enough personal insight to realise that if Bollinger Bands was anything to go by, then many tools would lose its efficacy too. The only constant about the markets is that they are never constant.

In my talk I want to break down the process of what I call “situational analysis”, which is a significant move away from traditional technical analysis, and yet close enough to not turn my back on charts.

The focus is not to be good at every single facet of the trading day, but to specialise in the time zones where you as a trader are active.
However, no matter how competent and airtight your method is, you still have to be able to trade it.

If you have the slightest doubt, your subconscious will magnify those doubts into full blown cognitive nightmares, and you will be unable to consistently execute your “edge”.
Together with Steve Ward, a gentleman, whose work on the mind and performance, has been captured in his books (see Harriman House and Wiley publishers), this 3-hour talk is a recipe.

It is a recipe for a new perspective on trading, one where we stop blindly trotting down the same path as everyone else, because we are let to believe there is safety in numbers.

Yes, there are safety in numbers, if you want to belong to the group of 90% of traders, who have yet to bridge the gap between what they know about trading, and what their returns are. It is an opportunity to gain a fresh perspective on trading, through the application of a new and enhanced mindset, given by Steve Ward as well as Tom Hougaard, and through the application of a new approach to technical analysis.