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Mark you privately e mail me a week ago with this in a response to post I
did. Who honestly makes money
trading. I'm glad you decide to make this information available to the
list. You express to me privately you would like to share this with the
list but you didn't want to be harassed about telling a truth. At that time
you didn't mention the Vender I glad you did that as well. Maybe more like
you out there in our members list with such good news but like you were
hesitate to come forward from seeing all the bashing going on here.
Sometimes bashing of Venders is warranted and I believe Mark Brown and
others do this list more good than harm protecting Newbies, if fact I know
they do. Even Mark and others never have bad things to say about the truth
or truthful venders. I would love to hear more success stories like this we
all hear so much bad or false news when it come to this business. Thanks
Robert
Mark Johnson wrote:
>Various old-timer members of the omega list have inveigled
>me into posting this article. I wrote it and it was originally
>published in a newsletter called _Club_3000_News_ (issue 98.02)
>about nine months ago.
>
>Club 3000 is, in my opinion, a tremendously valuable resource
>for mechanical systems traders. Their email is club3000@xxxxxxxx,
>their phone is (616) 623-8235, and their internet home page
>URL is http://www.ison.com/club3000 . You should subscribe;
>I do. And I have profited enormously from the info I've read
>in its pages.
>
>In January of this year, I went through my statements for the
>previous 12 months, and I decided that I would take a chance
>on being ridiculed, by revealing my exact trading results.
>So I wrote the article you see reprinted below.
>
>My goal is not to focus upon one particular system or one
>particular method of betsize selection; rather it is to
>say, "here's one person's results. It CAN BE DONE, I
>know it can be done, because I DID IT." So don't send
>me email saying "I am too lazy to look up Keith Fitschen
>in the phone book or in Futures Truth or in TASC or in
>Futures Magazine, so I demand you send me the following
>information" --- because the particular details of this
>one particular system are NOT the point.
>
>The point is, vendors DO exist who give out real-money
>account statements, and systems-for-sale DO exist that
>generate profits in real-money accounts, and regular folks
>like you and me CAN make money trading vendor-sold
>mechanical systems. I know this is true: it happened to
>me, I have one hundred eighteen thousand reasons to
>believe it.
>
>
>===============================================================
>===============================================================
>Reprinted WITH PERMISSION from Club 3000 News, issue 98.02:
>(mailed approx 25 Jan 1998)
>
> I'd like to offer some words of encouragement to
>Club3000 members: The little guy, the nonprofessional,
>the part-time trader can make money trading futures
>using 100% mechanical systems purchased from vendors.
>I offer myself as a living example: In the 12 months
>of calendar 1997, I made $118K in net profits
>(a return of 87.8% on my trading capital), trading a
>mechanical system I bought from a vendor who
>advertises right here in Club 3000 News.
>
> My purpose in writing this article is neither to brag
>about myself nor to boost the sales of some vendor's
>product. Instead, I'm writing to present some actual
>real-time, real-money evidence that it not only can
>it be done, it has been done, in real life, by a
>regular guy, a non-professional. Many people are
>eager to tell you this is impossible. It's even been
>said by a Club 3000 member, Robert Miner, both here in
>the newsletter (issue 95.04) and on the Internet website
>he advertises in "The vendors speak" at the back. A few
>excerpts from his remarks:
>
> "The myth that a so-called mechanical trading or
> investing 'system' may be purchased that will
> provide consistent and significant profits over time
> is a sad reminder that a significant portion of
> the population has more money than brainpower..."
>
> "I don't believe there has ever been a system sold to
> the public that the purchaser has profited from over
> a period of more than a few months. The relatively
> brief period of profitability always seems to be
> followed by consistent losses that wipe out any
> accumulated profit in a short amount of time."
>
> "They [systems vendors] know the trading system will
> never perform to the level of their hypothetical
> results. They know because the systems sold have
> never actually performed in real-time trading...."
>
>
> Discouraging, isn't it? Not only does it sound
>impossible for regular folks like you and me to make a
>profit, we're led to believe that only egotists and
>suckers are naive enough to think otherwise. But I did
>make a profit, using a system I purchased from a vendor.
>Brokerage statements have been provided with this
>article to corroborate the results.
>
> 1997 began with $149,841 in my trading account. Two
>weeks into the year (on 1/15/97) I withdrew $15,000. I
>finished the year with $253,284 in the account. That's a
>net profit of $118,443 for the year.
>{Math: (253-(150-15)=118K)} Return on capital was
>87.8%. {Math: 253/(150-15)=1.87x} These are real-
>money figures, including real rollovers, real commissions,
>real fees, and real slippage.
>
> My trading in 1997 incurred more commissions than a
>"theoretical" analysis would predict. I switched
>brokers in July, from a "Broker Assist" type of
>account ($39/round turn) to a "Full Discount" account
>($24/R.T.). This required extra trades (with extra
>commissions and extra slippages) to close and re-open
>existing positions, but still the year was satisfyingly
>profitable.
>
> My net account equity values in 1997 were:
>
> 12/31/96 $ 149,841
> 1/15/97 (withdrew $15,000)
> 1/31/97 $ 181,740
> 2/28/97 $ 237,543
> 3/31/97 $ 319,647
> 4/30/97 $ 293,402
> 5/31/97 $ 241,270
> 6/30/97 $ 194,022
> 7/31/97 $ 279,860
> 8/31/97 $ 223,839
> 9/30/97 $ 238,358
> 10/31/97 $ 268,751
> 11/30/97 $ 221,343
> 12/31/97 $ 253,284
>
> Peak account equity for the year occurred on April
>10th, at $335,146. Lowest subsequent equity was on
>June 30th, at $194,022. Therefore my drawdown in
>1997 reached a maximum of 42%.
>{Math: (335-194)/335=0.42} Remarkably, my results
>of 87% profits with 42% max drawdown, are exactly
>as member K. D. Angle predicted more than 3 years
>ago (in issue 94.14):
>
> "... this 2-to-1 ratio of return to drawdown is a
> very common occurrence in the vast majority of
> trading programs ..."
>
> Like many (most?) Club3000 members, I'm just a part
>time trader. I work an 8-to-6 job, 40+ hours a week, and
>trade futures in my spare time. When I come home from
>work I turn my computer on, download daily data, run
>my systems code, print out any orders that might need
>to be placed the next day, and then I turn my computer
>off. This takes about 15-20 minutes. Once or twice a
>week I have to telephone an order to my broker;
>counting this as 20 minutes, I spend a total of 120
>minutes per week trading futures. I don't find it
>excessive.
>
> I trade the system on a portfolio of 25 futures
>markets, drawn from four sectors: the energies, the
>"softs," the currencies, and the interest rates.
>Big winners in 1997 were Dollar Index, Japanese Yen,
>Coffee, and Crude Oil. Big losers were Lumber,
>Mexican Peso, and Unleaded Gasoline.
>
> I purchased this system from its author and vendor,
>Keith Fitschen of Beavercreek, Ohio, USA. I have no
>affiliation with Mr. Fitschen except that I'm a
>satisfied customer. He advertizes the system here in
>the newsletter, as well as in Futures and
>Stocks & Commodities. The ads contain the rarely seen
>phrase "account statements available," a practice
>I wish more trading system vendors would adopt. I've
>sent for and received these statements, and they show
>real-time, real-money profits over a 16 month period.
>
> I imagine that the naysayers will dismiss me and
>my results, but everything I've said is true. I really
>did trade a vendor system for a full calendar year,
>and I really did make 87% ($118K) in real-money
>profits. It's not impossible: I did it. Others
>can too.
>
>Mark Johnson
>
>
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