FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Following are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions we get about our work with W. D. Gann’s trading methods, and the “MAGIC IN THE MARKETS” Course. As this entire website is designed to save us time on the phone, the detailed answers below should clear up a lot of the questions you have before calling us.
 

WHO TAKES ‘W.D. GANN:MAGIC IN THE MARKETS?’

Three groups of people generally take the course. First, the smallest group is made up of esoteric researchers and wealthy individuals who are either fascinated with this material or Gann; or the financial markets are a passion of theirs and the price will not affect their bottom line.

The second group is growing, and they are professional market analysts. In the ultra-competitive field of market analysis and research, they find that W. D. Gann’s unique methods can give them an edge not found anywhere else in the field of technical analysis of financial markets.

The third group is of course traders and investment managers. Some emanate from the largest of global financial houses. Of this group, more and more portfolio managers are turning up as we have begun to gear the course to professionals that manage portfolios under mandates such as sector rotation, relative strength, and mandatory sector investment.
 

WHAT ARE THE PRE-REQUISITES FOR THE ‘W.D GANN: MAGIC IN THE MARKETS COURSE?’

Recipients of the W. D. Gann “MAGIC IN THE MARKETS” course have been diverse. So let’s break the answer down by audience:

First, let’s address those who have studied something called “Gann,” but are not active, consistent analysts or traders. Those that are able to immediately apply the concepts in the “Magic” Course to the financial markets are technical analysts or traders who already have a consistent approach to the markets and are frequently “pushing the button.” Trying to learn how to approach the financial markets AND learn the new paradigm of Gann’s original, exogenous, unpublished market techniques at the same time can be overwhelming. The easiest and quickest way to begin applying these techniques is to take one or two of Gann’s systems or techniques and synthesize it into your existing trading or analysis system.

The good news is that there are no expensive books or prep work that you must undertake. W. D. Gann did not publish anything that would work “out of the box.” All his public material constituted coded reminders to his students, and did not reveal his true system through his written works. So the best prep is to be familiar with approaches to the market you are interested in. We can recommend some specific books on Gann’s recommended reading list once you have signed up for the course.

Most likely the true methods of W. D. Gann will be a new paradigm to even those that have “studied W. D. Gann’s concepts” for years. Occasionally they are looking for the unicorn of the magic alternating cycle. Many have lost money and have not seen anyone else make money at it. They then try to find the key to make their “broken Gann” work in our material. Lose this stuff.

We offer preparatory webinars for those who register and give a deposit for the course that will help them before they attend the seminar.

DO YOU GIVE PREDICTIONS, TRADES, OR ENTRIES AND EXITS IN ADVANCE TO THOSE CONSIDERING THE COURSE?

Not anymore. We used to, and even included live trading via Skype to many. It just got to be too much of a pain in the ass for several reasons. Our legal counsel does not want us to post anything of a predictive nature due to liability concerns. The signals for Gann trades are tied to rules and a system. To communicate all of those is like teaching the course in advance, and most traders are not profitable because they can’t follow rules.

DOES THE COURSE INCLUDE THE MAGIC ‘UP/DOWN’ UNICORN CYCLE?

Yes, we teach W. D. Gann’s original alternating cycle generation method and it back-tests extremely well. No, it is not a unicorn. Gann’s original method for projecting intraday, monthly, yearly, and larger cycles like the Robert Gordon 7 Days using the Law of Vibration are included in the course. You can see the examples (many) on our ‘cycles’ page. Since you would not trade EVERY cycle leg, or turn, and each trader would approach these turns very differently, we cannot offer trading stats on these cycles. But we can statistically test the success of each cycle leg, and thus the whole cycle. Our test is this: the cycle should always alternate up and down. There are no ‘inversions,’ only market failures- usually due to unexpected news. For each leg to be a success, the price at the end of the cycle leg has to be lower or higher than the price at the beginning, corresponding to the predicted direction of alternation for that cycle leg. According to that test, our alternating cycle legs and turns experience a failure rate of under 8%. Not to mention that the market often has a significant move in the predicted direction even during many of these ‘failures.’ That being said, please read the following.

W. D. Gann used the term “cycles” many times in his writings when he was describing the Arcana Trend Machine as well as fixed cycles. And many references to the Arcana in “Tunnel Thru The Air” are mistaken for the “up/down” cycles working on several time frames. W. D. Gann attributed a relatively small space in his writings to what could be interpreted as “up and down” cycles. In many of his writings these ‘cycles’ just do not exist. We believe used other cycle methods more extensively, and wrote more about them. Gann certainly did not “push” and review these techniques to his students in the same way as he did the Arcana, Day Divination and Polarity Lines.

Luther Jensen has some important things to say about catching every cycle turn on a daily chart. He advises against such a pursuit due to two important factors. First, the same cycles begin from more than one point in the year, blurring the clarity of trends and turns. Second, these cycles are subject to interference from unexpected news. As Jensen was talking about news frequency years ago, this phenomenon must be infinity more profound. Bottom line: You will need more of Gann’s techniques mixed in if you are going to make money from these cycles.

A final word of warning on alternating cycles. We cannot find anyone who is willing to produce a profitable account statement that can be clearly traced back to up/down cycle turns on a daily chart. Yes, we know of Gann practitioners who can produce such a statement but the trades stem from other techniques; or from Gann methods integrated into a secular approach. This is a red flag.
 

DO YOU NEED SPECIAL SOFTWARE?

Most of the techniques (with the exception of 1 or 2 intraday techniques) can be done by hand in under 1 minute, or with a hand drawn ephemeris like Gann used. And we actually provide the LOV software on Excel with the course. But you will want to use software to speed up your applications and enable you to follow multiple markets on smaller time frames with these methods. We include proprietary software with open code on Excel, Esignal EFS, and Wave59 Qscript.

Many traders who have taken the “Magic” Course have used Wave59 for years, as we do. Optuma has made great advancements in Gann application as well. Wave59 packages 2 to 3 steps of the process so you can focus on applying the technique quickly. This is immensely helpful in the stage where you first learn Gann’s trading techniques and want to hit the ground running.
 

DO YOU SELL THE MANUAL SEPERATELY OR OFFER THE COURSE ONLINE?

No and no. Each manual is updated and crafted to the markets and timeframes traded by the 5 traders or analysts in attending that particular seminar. Each manual is only produced for a specific recipient. You would have to attend the course and see the material to realize that you must be present in person to see how it is applied.
We do not do anything online or make electronic copies of any material due to piracy concerns. This material is far too unique and valuable. Everyone we know who has gone the electronic route has been pirated. The above also applies here: You would not get the same understanding of this material online, as many of the examples in the seminar are demonstrated on recent, live data.

DISCLAIMER

Futures, Equities, and Options trading has large potential rewards, but also large potential risk and is not suitable for everyone. You must be aware of the risks and be willing to accept them in order to invest in the futures and options markets. Don’t trade with money you can’t afford to lose. This is neither a solicitation nor an offer to Buy/Sell futures, stocks or options on the same. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to anything shown on this website. The past performance of any trading system or methodology is not necessarily indicative of future results. No one associated with this seminar or Chicagodaytrading.com are Registered Investment Advisors, Commodity Trading Advisors, or certified, registered, affiliated or approved in in any way with either the National Futures Association, Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodities Futures Trading Commission, or any other organization.

The “Magic In The Markets” course exegetes and replicates, as best as possible, the original trading and analysis techniques of the late trader W.D. Gann; and not necessarily the trading methods of the author or presenter of the course. Traders using Gann’s techniques may not be able to duplicate the trading results of W.D. Gann for many reasons, including, but not limited to, skill of the individual trader and the changes in financial markets since Gann traded. Recipients of this course receive hypothetical, back–tested data and not actual trading results. In an attempt to include all the markets and time frames that Gann traded during his lifetime, course includes far more applications to market instruments and time frames than the author or presenter can possibly trade. Course author & presenter has sources of income apart from trading. “Magic in the Markets” contains both Gann’s combinations of trading & analysis techniques and standalone techniques that can be integrated into existing analysis or trading approaches. Hypothetical back–testing of the performance of the function of analysis techniques are displayed pictorially for many markets and time frames on recent market data.

CFTC RULE 4.41

HYPOTHETICAL OR SIMULATED PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE CERTAIN LIMITATIONS. UNLIKE AN ACTUAL PERFORMANCE RECORD, SIMULATED RESULTS DO NOT REPRESENT ACTUAL TRADING. ALSO, SINCE THE TRADES HAVE NOT BEEN EXECUTED, THE RESULTS MAY HAVE UNDER-OR-OVER COMPENSATED FOR THE IMPACT, IF ANY, OF CERTAIN MARKET FACTORS, SUCH AS LACK OF LIQUIDITY. SIMULATED TRADING PROGRAMS IN GENERAL ARE ALSO SUBJECT TO THE FACT THAT THEY ARE DESIGNED WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT. NO REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFIT OR LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE SHOWN.