In a few weeks, we will be releasing our long-awaited educational companion to The Art and Science of Technical Analysis. This project has been three years in planning and development, and, along the way, we also considered a number of possible commercial outlets. At the end of all of this, after considering many possibilities, we arrived at an interesting decision–the course will be completely, 100% free.
This is not a lead in to another, paid, course, nor is it an advertisement for any product or service. (In the interest of full disclosure, I do write and publish daily research for Waverly Advisors. For some traders, the research would be a valuable companion to this course. More information on the research can be found here.) It is also not an effort to sell my book. The book would also be a useful companion/textbook for this course. I will give corresponding readings for each course module and may sometimes refer to material in the book, but the course stands alone and is fully self-contained. You will not need the book to get value from the course.
You are probably wondering why give this material away instead of selling it, and there are two answers. One is that, as I’ve engaged more and more readers who are reading my writing, it has become apparent that, though there is a lot of information available on technical analysis and technically-motivated trading, that information covers a wide range from good to very, very bad. Too many authors simple repeat techniques from other sources that may or may not actually work. For people looking to learn and truly understand technical analysis, whether they be professional money managers who might focus on fundamental analysis, or individual at-home traders, it is very hard to find a solid source of reliable information.
Which brings me to the second reason for making this course available free of charge: the “educational trading industry” often charges exploitive prices for material that may or may not be useful. It is not uncommon to see trading courses offered for $10,000 that are only basic surveys of material available from trading books, or that focus on techniques that are no longer useful. My course is different: these are techniques that have stood the test of time (many of them test out well on commodity prices from the Middle Ages!), and have been useful in my trading. These techniques and concepts are the driving force behind the research I publish with Waverly Advisors, and our outstanding track record is further verification. Simply put–these tools work.
The course will include approximately 20 modules that build skills from the basic elements of technical analysis to a holistic approach to trading. Emphasis will be placed first on how to think about trading problems. I will encourage you to develop a scientific, objective approach to market problems; there is no room for imprecision and delusion. Though this is not a math course, we will look at the mathematical tools you need to understand the market’s movements, and you may find ideas here for further study. Here are some of the topics we will cover:
- Quantitative analysis: how to think about trading problems, how to properly construct and understand a statistical market study. Never be misled by glib “statistics” as presented in the major media or on blogs.
- The nature of the market: How do prices move? What makes prices move? Why is it so hard to make money trading? All of these questions, and more, are important for the trader who seeks to take profits out of the market. Many traders have false ideas about what the market actually is, so they are playing a game that has no connection in reality.
- Specific trading patterns: The decision to buy and sell comes down to understanding how the forces of buying and selling pressure might shape a market in the future. Specific price patterns can point to opportunities and give insight into how to manage the risk in the position. We will also look at what can be quantified in the market (not everything can be), and how to be sure that our patterns are aligned with the underlying tendencies in the market.
- Trading tactics: How to buy and sell. How much to buy and sell. How and when to adjust positions, as they move in your favor or against you. What do you about surprises, before and after trade entry, and how to stay in the flow of a dynamically unfolding marketplace. These questions and many more are essential parts of the traders toolkit.
- Psychology: Trading is hard, and one reason is because the market makes traders work against themselves. Drawing upon my experience as a trader, a teacher and mentor of traders, and a working hypnotherapist, I will include many tools and techniques for enhancing your focus, monitoring your state, and learning to navigate the psychological challenges of trading. Psychology is not an edge in and of itself, but it is very hard to make money if part of you is working against this goal.
- Special topics: Options, developing purely systematic approaches, record keeping, technical tools for long-term investors, spread trading, developing your own indicators, and many other areas will be covered in the course.
Course modules will consist of a video lecture (60-90 minutes in length) with associated “homework.” (The homework will not be graded due to my time constraints.) The course material will be copyrighted, so I ask that you not redistribute or repost it–it will always be available for free, but allow me to maintain and edit it as it develops. There will be quasi-restricted access: you will have to sign up for course access, but, again, it will be free of any charge. There will also be a forum: a bulletin board-style discussion forum in which participants can interact with each other and share trading ideas.
I’m excited to share this course with you. I am familiar with much of the educational material out there, and I’m confident that this, 25-30 hours of video with associated support documents, all tied to a working, verifiable approach to technical trading, will be the equal of anything commercially available. I would only ask a few things of participants: register, do not repost the material, come with an open mind and be prepared to have many of your preconceptions about the market challenged. Critical thinking is perhaps the most important trading skill of all. Be prepared to work hard, and please share your ideas and feedback as we go along.
Registration should be open within the next two weeks. Until then, check out my new website which will be growing over the next several weeks to support this course.
Looking too forward to your course. Has your book.. Brilliant stuff
Thank you. If you’ve found the book useful, an Amazon review would be helpful for other people as they consider whether to buy the book or not. Thanks again! 🙂
I too bought your book last year and enjoyed it immensely! I too also look forward to participating in your upcoming training seminar!
Wow. Extreme generosity. I have been trading 20+ years and I will sign up and go through the course. Bought the book when it first came out. I’ll leave a review on Amazon as well.
Adam, thanks a lot for all the efforts. It is very much appreciated! Apart from the Amazon feedback, which I owe you, the only thing I can give back is feedback:
I’d be especially interested in
– “how to be sure that our patterns are aligned with the underlying tendencies in the market”
– Record keeping, journaling, practical tips for it etc.
– Daily routine (screen, market overview, build a pre-WL, WL etc.)
– How to trade EOD (execution issues), align work-trade-life, probably the part I am mostly struggling with currently
– Checklists – working on this currently: I am trying to create consistent checklists for the different set-ups in your book (95% yours, 5% from the 100 other books I wasted a lot of time on). Your thoughts on personal organization, finding the balance between a structured approach, making sure to follow it, but w/o compromising the “art” in “art % science in TA”… 🙂
Sort of turtle trading. Glad to be part of it. Thanks
All I can say is Thank You ! You are truly giving back the community much more than you have gained from it. I am sure a lot of market participants, whether amateurs / professionals will get to learn a lot from the course. Looking forward to being a part of it !
I bought your book last year and would love to be a part of this course.
Christmas is coming early and I can’t wait to open the presents. ( -_- )
Appreciate the effort! Thanks.
Will there be a limited class size? Just found your site recently and love the content.
Also just a heads up – the main site doesn’t seem to load properly on Firefox. Chrome works fine though.
No limitation to the class size, or to starting time. I expect we will have people working through it at different stages, and I hope to build a bit of a community here of traders supporting each other. More on that soon.
I built the site in Firefox and it loads fine on a few different installations of Firefox I tried. Opera has trouble with it sometimes, but I suppose Opera has problems with everything lol. Let me know if you still have problems. My entire knowledge of web design began less than a week ago, so I may have missed something here.
Glad to be part of it. Glad to be part of it. Thanks
Will be honored to be a part of this course
The biggest challenge for all authors and publishers, especially self-publishers, is getting their books noticed by readers.
Yes, the Amazon reviews are so important in the modern environment… even just as a departure point to start discussion and get people thinking about the ideas in the book. Authors need to not be afraid to ask people to leave those reviews, even though it can feel painfully self-promoting to do so. 🙂
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