"Saturday Seminars" - Trading the Pankin Strategy for 30% Annual Gains & Low Risk

Could you use a purely mechanical timing formula that has produced 30 percent gains a year since 1986 with strictly controlled risk? Nelson teaches you everything you need to trade the Pankin Sector Fund Strategy for exceptional profits and reduced risk. The Pankin Strategy trades Fidelity Select sector funds. Sector funds tend to trend more consistently than individual stocks or commodities and produce unusually reliable trading patterns. If you had traded this simple yet powerful system over the past twelve years, you would have outperformed 99 percent of all CTAs. The Pankin Strategy takes just a few minutes each week to update, uses straightforward logic and works for virtually any size account.

The Pankin Strategy has a superb hypothetical track record — 35 percent annual gains since 1986 (real-time performance has been just as strong). However, the original strategy requires withstanding drawdowns most individual traders find unacceptable. Money manager Mark Pankin, developer of the system, posted returns of 57 percent in 1995 and 45 percent in 1996 but the drawdowns sometimes represented as much as 25 percent of total equity.

To better gauge the risk, Nelson tests the Pankin Strategy over a wider range of market conditions. In this workshop, he simulates Pankin trading back to 1970 (considerably longer than the Fidelity Select sector funds have actually been traded). You will see that the original strategy would have generated reassuringly strong profits throughout the past twenty-eight years but with frequent and often punishing equity drawdowns (the maximum equity dip would have been an unacceptable 45 percent).

To help curb the risk, Nelson introduces you to a variety of defensive tactics he uses along with the original Pankin Strategy. As he adds risk-control measures, you will observe a powerful trading system unfold. To insure that the evolving system is theoretically sound, he tests the findings across multiple portfolios, time frames and signals. The resulting variant of the Pankin Strategy has gained 30 percent a year since 1986 with just 12 percent drawdown!

Central to this final comprehensive trading system is a filter Nelson uses to confirm Pankin signals. He demonstrates how this indicator is almost certain to capture every major stock market trend. With this and other defensive measures, you will trade the Pankin Strategy more confidently to achieve aggressive profits with limited risk.

Building a Mechanical Trading System from the Ground Up (1996).

Testing is a critical area often neglected by technicians and traders. Nelson clearly demonstrates the ease with which testing can be performed given today’s sophisticated workstations and high-performance computers. The testing power that these tools provide is now readily accessible to all traders and managers.

Nelson describes the process of building a mechanical trading system, providing concrete examples of high-return/low-risk strategies for a range of markets. Nelson also shares his favorite high-performance trading systems tested on TradeStationTM. The code (which is given to you) and methods Nelson uses are clearly stated and can be translated for use with many other popular software systems.

Nelson FreeburgNelson Freeburg is editor of Formula Research, a monthly financial letter that builds systematic timing models for the futures, fixed income, cash, and stock markets. Nelson took up trading while pursuing a Ph.D. at Columbia University. Totally absorbed by the financial markets, Nelson left academia. He decided to let the markets, rather than the university, provide his education. He began publishing Formula Research in 1991 in order to share his findings with a small nucleus of professional traders. Today, Formula Research serves hundreds of money managers and serious researchers in the cash and futures markets. Nelson’s subscribers include many of the leading names in global trading and finance. Nelson initially confined his research and trading to chart signals. When overall results proved poor, he began to examine point and figure, Elliott Wave, Market Profile, candlestick analysis, and an assortment of other technical theories. Nelson considers all of these methods deficient in their application because of their reliance on subjective judgement. In particular, Nelson feels that chart patterns become elusive in fast-paced, highly leveraged markets (such as cash foreign exchange) and that the clear buy and sell signals illustrated in textbooks rarely appear as clearly and reliably in practice. To address these shortcomings, Nelson began testing the theories of leading technicians as well as his own theories against an extensive historical database covering a broad variety of traded market items. Nelson uses the financial database he built, which reaches back into the last century, to test systems in which he can examine clearly defined and precise mechanical buy and sell signals, devoid of subjectivity. Using these objective standards, Nelson can rigorously evaluate complex system features. Additional rules, such as the user’s profit targets and stop orders, or mental stop points, can further strengthen this testing process. As a result of his research, Nelson has developed an impressive number of advanced trading systems.

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Saturday Seminars are just a taste of the power of INO TV. The web's only online video and audio library for trading education. So watch four videos in our free version of INO TV click here.

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Free Video Seminar - “The Art of Morphing”

Have you ever had just one of those trade? You know, the kind of trade that looks like a dream come true, but then all of a sudden starts to shift, morph and turns into a nightmare? As Adam Hewison, (president of INO.com) likes to say, “A bad trade is like a dead fish: The longer you keep it the worse it stinks.” There is one INO TV author that explains what to do when you are caught in a “stinky” situation. Ron Ianieri would tell you that the answer is to morph. Morphing is the process in which the wrong position is quickly and efficiently changed into the right position by simply adding or subtracting from the current position based on an understanding of synthetic positions. Used by professional floor traders, this method helps manage positions in relation to movements in stock price, time and volatility.

Ron started his career on the floor of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange working on the Foreign Currency Options Floor just after the crash of ’87. After two years he moved to the Equity Options Floor and was trained in option theory by well known technical and analytical traders Cooper, Neff and Associates. Ron then joined TFM Investment Group where he served as the Option Specialist in Dell Computer during the early 1990’s at a time when DELL was one of the busiest option books in the US. During this period, Ron began to develop his highly respected Option Tradero Trainee Course. He later became a manager at a large, fast growing specialist unit, Gateway Partners, where he was an integral part of their expansion.

Currently, Ianieri is the chief options strategist and co-founder of The Options University.

We welcome you to watch Ianieri's 90-minute seminar, “The Art of Morphing” at no charge by visiting INO TV Free.

After you watch this seminar please tell us what you think by emailing

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Enjoy,

Lindsay Thompson
Director of New Business Development
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Traders Toolbox: Candlestick Formations

Japanese candlesticks, which have been enjoying the spotlight in recent years, are difficult to explain in one broad brush. Candlesticks draw on the same open-high-low-close data as do bars. Here the length of the bar, or "candle," is determined by the high and low, but the area between the open and close is considered the most important.

This area, the "body" of the candle, is filled with blue (or white for most charting programs) for closes higher than open, and is filled with red (or black from most charting programs) for down days. The wicks above and below constitute the "shadow" of the candle, or high or low.

No pattern is 100% correct, but these formations are often time incorporated into many mechanical systems and can provide as great information source for the naked eye.

*Change to hammer and hanging man made on 12-10-08.

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Doji - When the open and close price is almost the exact same value and the tails are not excessively long. This formation can alert investors of a possible indecision and during oversold or overbought conditions can possibly signal for reversal. The bulls and bears are equally pushing the price.

Long-Legged Doji - You can recognize this formation by one or two long tails (shadows). This formation will sometimes alert that we have reached the top of the market or warn that the trend has lost sense of direction.

Gravestone Doji - This formation occurs when the open and close price is the same or near the low of the bar (period). Although this can be found at the bottom of a trend, this formation can be used to pick out market tops.

Hanging Man - This formation looks like a body with feet dangling... or a hanging man. This occurs when there is profit taking near market open, then a rally with a close at or near the open price.  This formation can alert of a reversal and is typically found at the top of an up-trend. The longer the shadow, the greater the change is for a reversal.

Hammer - This formation is a short body with a tail that is twice the body's length. This occurs when there is a sell off near open, but then a rally supports a close at or near the open. This formation can alert of a reversal and is typically found at the bottom of a downtrend. The longer the shadow, the greater the changes are of reversal.

Spinning Top - This short body has sizable tables both on the top and bottom of the bar. This formation often times represents indecision and a standoff among the bears and bulls. There is little movement between the open and close, but both the bears and the bulls were active that trading day. After a long blue candlestick, a spinning top suggests weakness among the bulls. After a long red candlestick, a spinning top suggests weakness among the bears.

Bearish Engulfing Pattern - This formation is a major reversal pattern after the completion of an uptrend. After a blue candlestick, the next day will open above the previous day's positive close, throughout the trading day it will blow past the previous days open completely engulfing the previous day's movement.

Bullish Engulfing Pattern - This formation is a major reversal pattern after the completion of a downtrend. After a red candlestick, the next day will open below the previous day's negative close, throughout the trading day it will blow past the previous days open completely engulfing the previous day's movement.

Evening Star - This is a top reversal signal suggesting that prices will go lower. It is formed after an obvious uptrend. The 1st candlestick is a long blue box (usually when the confidence had peaked). This stick is followed by a small blue body, when the trading range for the day has remained small. The third bar (red) plows down at least 50% past the 1st day's bar signifying that the bears have taken control.

Morning Star - This is a bottom reversal signal suggesting that prices will go higher. It is formed after an obvious downtrend. The 1st candlestick is a long red box followed by a small blue box, when the trading range for the day has remained small. The third bar (blue) shoots up at least 50% over the 1st day's bar signifying that the bulls have taken control.

Dark Cloud Cover - This is a two bar formation that is found at the end of an upturn or at a congested trading area. The first bar is a blue (positive movement) bar followed by a red bar which reaches over the open of the previous days close and closes at least 50% down the previous days bar.

Piercing Pattern - This is a two bar formation that is found at the end of a declining market. The first bar is a red (declining movement) bar followed by a blue bar which opens (often gaps) below the previous days close and reaches at least 50% of the previous days bar.

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You can learn more about Candlestick formations by visiting INO TV.

"Saturday Seminars" - Trading the Equity Curve

In this seminar, Bob focuses on using the trading equity curve to improve the performance of mechanical trading systems. He talks about the primary types of mechanical trading systems and what causes them to experience drawdown periods. He discusses the best types of trading systems to use for different kinds of tradable items. You will learn how the moving averages of equity curves, combined with the equity curves themselves, can serve as a money management technique to reduce drawdowns and even turn losing periods into winning periods.

Bob uses several examples of mechanical trading systems to show how this technique can quickly identify changes from congestion periods to trending periods and vice versa. He also discusses how to adjust the equity curve for any phenomenon that causes account drawdowns. Bob explains how applying his techniques in conjunction with several of the systems he discusses can signal when and how to place limit orders, thereby significantly reducing slippage.

Bob McCulloughBob McCullough writes the frequently quoted newsletter Investotalk and is president of Liberty Research Corporation, which produces and distributes Investograph Plus, a technical analysis and charting program. He has spoken at many meetings of computer-oriented investors, and recently published his book, A New Look at Technical Analysis. Bob graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in chemical engineering. He soon became interested in computers, and joined IBM to develop real-time process control and laboratory automation computer systems. He became interested in applying some of the pattern recognition techniques used in computerized laboratory analysis to the stock market when he read Hurst’s The Profit Magic of Stock Market Analysis. Bob combined his experience in trading, programming, and engineering in the development of Investograph Plus. In this work, he has developed several unique indicators and mechanical trading systems.

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Saturday Seminars are just a taste of the power of INO TV. The web's only online video and audio library for trading education. So watch four videos in our free version of INO TV click here.

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