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And this is why I don’t sell dreams. Having graduated from several of these “get-rich-quick” workshops/seminars, I came to realize (the hard way) that these dreams only serve to realize the dreams of the guru instead of the student. Thus, anyone who has attended my Previews, Tutorials or workshops, would agree that I have done the right thing by telling the truth about this business. Read the article and you’ll find a lot of things in there will sound familiar if you have heard me before.

Some of the mentions in the article include,

“the tactics they teach don’t really work … 99% will get slaughtered.”

“If there are profits, they are very minimal …”

” … they only sell hope …”

“… it is impossible to be an expert trader overnight. Any kind of trading involves a lot of hard work, preparation and practice.”

“I really studied and practiced hard for six months to earn this (recoup his course fee of $3,800) money.”

But the one thing the article doesn’t mention is the one thing I always stress … YOU WILL LOSE MONEY!! It’s the way you lose, or rather, the way you control your losses that will make the difference. Sounds simple? Not so, so jumping the gun now is not advised … read on …

Anyone can make money in this business. That’s why you occasionally get newbies “striking it rich”. What you don’t read is whether this newbie was able to hang on to his profits. The ability to achieve this simple task of hanging on to profits comes from one simple technique … cutting losses early.

But even that too has its difficulties. This difficulty of cutting losses stems from a deeper rooted mindset which comes from a person’s mentality and character. In other words, psychology … something that almost all workshops don’t address. Your trading psychology constitutes 60% to 70% of the battle when you’re in the market. Yet less than 5% of the lessons given in these workshops focuses on this very significant factor. Some even prey on the ignorance of the public.

To make matters worse, these workshops don’t teach enough of the basics. Rather, they gloss over most (if not all) of the important (and sometimes boring) issues and jump straight into their impressive and complicated strategies … something I am totally against. They almost always teach bullish strategies which, in today’s market, won’t work and maybe even be a killer. And while the most successful gurus of the world will advocate “not losing money” … these false gurus preach “make money!!” Attacking the market with the wrong mindset has never made a trader consistent, let alone profitable. I strongly believe in a defensive mindset when one is in the market. Worse of all, there are still gurus out there that teach “traders” how to gamble, rather than trade.

This report, although I agree with every word that was written in there, upsets me because it will invariably affect what I do as a Trading Coach. The general public will classify me as one of such a “get-rich” program. This pisses me off to no end because other unscrupulous and money grubbing “gurus” have gone and spoilt an otherwise beautiful business in which many individuals could have made a decent secondary income. Their selling of dreams and false hopes, using of statistics to their advertising advantage, hyping up the glory and blocking out the ugliness, shameless promotion of self-running and “reliable” softwares … has made what I do, a taboo.

I will press on regardless. There are many who appreciate what I do and want me to continue my crusade. So I will do so.

In fact, I am so serious about this that my prices are being raised with immediate effect. My tutorial will now be the most expensive this country has to offer. While the other “gurus” slash and cut their course material and course fees, I am increasing my syllabus and upping the price. And I will still continue to teach what I do best … Basic Trading.

I believe that the diligent and worthy trader who wants to take this business seriously, will appreciate the value of my Tutorial and will see past all the bulls**ting hype and euphoria of the other options out there. They will pick the best education money can buy. They will have the right mindset to begin with. They would have done their due diligence. They will know what is best. This is the type of person that will make a good and consistent trader. This is the type of trader I want to teach.

And for those who still believe in dreams … I’ll be seeing you when you need my help.

Happy Hunting!

I am Conrad, the Pattern Trader.

Don’t put the Put down

 One common problem that novices face is the fear or reservation of buying a Put option in a bearish market.

Its not surprising if you consider how we’ve come to perceive a bearish market. Our Neurons have been programmed to think and react to a bearish market with negative connotations such as; Recession, Downturn, Crash, … all things related to a life of struggle and difficulty; Pay Cuts, Retrenchment, Unemployment, etc.

These negative patterns have been ingrained into our lives since we were old enough to understand it and we’ve been unknowingly carrying it for the longest time. When we become traders, this pattern reveals itself openly in our fear to sell short or buy Puts. We would rather stay in our comfort zone and do nothing till the market reverses into our familiar uptrend.

Silly then, if you realize, that we didn’t take the opportunity to make money in the downtrend. And it is a well known fact that money made in a downtrend, is faster than money made in an uptrend. Also sillier is the fact that there is little to fear should the market reverse into an uptrend, because the uptrend is never as fast to rise compared to the sudden decline of a downtrend. Thus, any bullish reversal will still give you ample time to react and limit the damage unlike a bearish reversal which often kills a bullish position in a hurry.

The fear of shorting or buying a Put is an emotional weakness. So if you fall into this category of traders, it only means that you have not entirely addressed the issue of trading without emotion. You are allowing common believes to affect your good sense of trading, thus preventing you from taking advantage of a highly profitable opportunity.

So what do you have to do to overcome this weakness?

It won’t be easy, but it is simple; forget what you think is normal.

Normally, the bear market is never a good thing. Normal thinking people dread a weak market and/or economy. Normal reactions to a bear market is fear and doubt. The normal after effect is sadness and misery.

Now that you know all that, think of all those factors as indicators to sell short. When there is dread, fear, doubt, sadness and misery in the market, this is never a good thing. Thus, we have all the emotional indicators pointing to an opportunity to buy a Put or sell short! Wait a second … don’t get excited … calm down. There is still a lot of work to do before jumping into your Puts and Shorts.

In any bear market, there must always be at least one all-encompassing reason for downtrend. It could be the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the 2000 Recession or Dot.com bubble bursting, the 2005 twin terrors of Katrina or Rita or the current concern with the weak American Housing Sector or Sub-prime lending. Without such a headline, the downtrend could be nothing more than a short term correction. Never-the-less, you need a headline worthy of such a correction too. And the more far reaching the bad news, the longer the effect will last.

Then you jump onto your charts. Using standard indicators and oscillators, confirm that everything is weak, overbought and overvalued. Prices should be trending below the indicators and oscillators are showing negative readings. Volumes should be predominantly Sell biased. Volumes should also be higher than average. Lower highs and lower lows must be more common that higher highs and higher lows.

Then check the market internals with the use of the TRIN and TICK. The TICK should reflect Sellers outpacing Buyers consistently. The TRIN should be showing more Lows than Highs. Remember that between the two, the TRIN is the more reliable read. If you have access to ECN or Level II quotes, confirm a selling sentiment that outpaces the buyers by more than 30%. Then check to see if the Open Interest has been declining steadily.

Then before you click in your entry, think Fibonacci numbers; 2, 3, 5, 8. If the market has tanked for 4 days, expect a bullish stall or reversal for the next 2 or 3 days. If the market tanks a further 7 days, expect an eighth day reversal. A 12 day tank will reverse on the 13th. So never rush your bearish entry on a Fib day to avoid getting caught in bullish correction.

Of course there is more to making money in a bearish market. There are so many more variables to consider but these few techniques I’ve mentioned are the basic level knowledge needed to take on a bearish position.

But the real point of this lessons is; After all this reading, have I distracted you enough to have found yourself not fearing a bearish trade as much now?