I started out studying charts and trading back in college in 1989 through Ken Roberts and his "World's Most Profitable Manual" or something like that. It was basically a pattern trading system for the futures market with a lot of hype. Knowing what I know now, it was probably the "World's Most Dangerous Manual". It really only showed a few patterns and then hyped up the amount of money one could make with little regard to money management. I do think chart patterns are key and while I never traded a dime in the future's market, I still watch for chart patterns as they provide the best setups and easy targets for trading. I never did do any actual trading while going through college, but I analyzed futures charts and paper traded off and on until about 1997.
In 2001, I saw some 4x Made Easy infomercial that introduced me to the forex market and rekindled the trading bug. I attended one of their seminars to find out more but wasn't impressed with the price nor the marketing hype and gimmicks. But I was very interested in the forex market and the low margin requirements to get in the game. It was also my first introduction to indicators. My previous study had been only chart patterns and trend lines. Trading naked as it's called. I will say that the basic 4x Made Easy concept works. Trading multiple time frames and waiting for all time frames to be in agreement.
Over the next year or so after that 4x Made Easy seminar, I studied every indicator out there. The usage, the math, the pros, and cons. I came pretty close to replicating the 4x Made Easy lines. I also designed some indicators of my own that went into a complete system I designed in Excel with a live data feed and flashing colors showing when and where to buy/sell. It was basically 4x Made Easy on steroids. I did very well with that system but it was missing one element. Time.
My 4x Made Hard system, as I called it, was very good for showing when to trade with the trend, what price to add on and exit and a general idea on when. But there was no precise way to gauge turns in advance other than a couple of probables that showed up on the intraday charts occasionally. In researching, designing, and using the system, I did learn a lot about market price behavior. There's a pretty detailed journal at moneytec.com that goes over some of my exploits from back then. A lot of the images probably don't work though. http://www.moneytec.com/forums/f118/4x-made-hard-1-0-a-15803/
In researching how to add a time element to the 4x Made Hard system, a whole world was opened up that I had no idea existed. My first research was into WD Gann. Most of his writings went right over my head. I then read people's writings about using the Gann Square of Nine. Now it was starting to make sense. From there I found Brad Cowan's works. Again, most of it went right over my head. But diligent study not only of his books, but his suggested areas of study... ie platonic solids, sacred geometry, astronomy, astrology, etc... I made my first forecast using market geometry and cycles on the EURUSD pair. That pattern took about a month to play out, but price hit my target almost to the day and to the exact price and conformed completely to the geometric structure.
I used to keep some trading journals at www.moneytec.com. From that, I met a guy who became my mentor and showed me the path. From this path I've met a handful of others on the same journey whom have provided me more than I could ever imagine in finding the cycles or price and time in the markets. So a big thank you goes out to Stoxx, Akuma, Soso, Bear, and Xtsunami. They'll occasionally post here: http://beginnertrader.com/forum2/
I never really went back to that 4x Made Hard stuff. I was able to get the charts out of Excel and into Metatrader 4, but I rarely use it. I did add a cyclical element that is still in sinc, though. But even then, I think that there are better ways. And that is what this blog is about.
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