Copy Cat or How to Use a Successful Trading System

How many books have you read about successful traders? How they did this or that and made a fortune and are still doing it. You say to yourself, "I'm going to follow his method and get rich".

So you subscribe to his newsletter (they all have one, $250) and buy his course on CD Rom ($495)and next time he is anywhere near you attend his seminar with a $500 discount for only $2495. You do understand you must do exactly as he does and you try your best to follow the directions, but for some reason you still are not making money. At least you are not losing as much as you did before (I hope).

Go look in the mirror. You are not Richard Russell, Richard Wyckoff, Bill O'Neil or any one of the great gurus of the market place. Each one of them has devoted every minute of his life to understanding the market. Each one is very successful and each one has a completely different way of approaching trading. Can you copy any one of them? It is very doubtful.

These great teachers can help you, but you have to develop your own method and style of investment. Whether it is long term or short term it must be something with which you resonate. When I was a floor trader there were a thousand guys trading and I know there were a thousand different guide lines. No one had the same buy or sell signal. If they all followed a pat program they would all be buying and selling at the same time so it could not work.

I have stood in the pit and watched the same person offer to buy and when there was no seller he would then offer to sell usually at the same price. Yes, he was scalping for one or 2 ticks, but he knew what he was doing even if it looked strange. A friend of mine could arbitrage by standing in the middle of the gold pit and hit buys and sells that were off by one or two ticks because they could not hear each other due to the noise of other traders who were shouting their offers.

You can look at the basic trading style of one of the "greats", but you must adapt it to your method. I have not seen anyone able to successfully copy a trading program exactly. You will improvise and find a slightly new approach that becomes "yours". It then becomes part of your cellular being. It works for you and probably won't work for anyone else.

If the programs the hype masters are selling work so well why aren't there more rich traders? And if the programs are so darn good why are they telling you?

To be a successful trader you can't copy cat an existing program, but you can take a basic trading vehicle and modify it your own plan. Turn that cat into your own tiger.

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

In The News:

Yahoo! News: Top Stories

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Dec. 1, 2008. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)AP - The reality that the nation is indeed in recession and that the downturn may well be prolonged sent Wall Street plunging Monday, hurtling the Dow Jones industrials down nearly 700 points and wiping out more than half of last week's big gains. All the major indicators fell more than 7 percent, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index down nearly 9 percent.



President-elect Barack Obama, left, stands with Secretary of State-designate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., center, and National Security Adviser-designate Ret. Marine Gen. James Jones, right, at a news conference in Chicago, Dec. 1, 2008. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)AP - President-elect Barack Obama picked a national security team headed by former campaign rival Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bush administration holdover Robert Gates on Monday, and said he wants to consult with military commanders before settling on a firm timetable to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq.



A sale sign is posted at jewlery store in Daly City, Calif., Monday, Nov. 24, 2008. The economy took a tumble in the summer that was worse than first thought as American consumers throttled back their spending by the most in 28 years, further proof the country is almost certainly in the throes of a painful recession. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)AP - The U.S. economy has been in a recession since December 2007, the National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday. The NBER — a private, nonprofit research organization — said its group of academic economists who determine business cycles met and decided that the U.S. recession began last December.



Tape covers bullet holes in the windows of the newly-reopened Refresh Cafe in the landmark Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station, in Mumbai, India, Monday Dec. 1, 2008.  This scarred and traumatized city struggled back to its feet Monday, reopening schools and businesses, as residents tried to come to terms with the string of terror attacks that brought bloodshed to the heart of Mumbai. The owner of the cafe said he had little choice but to reopen the fast food restaurant in the station, even though its glass wall is scarred with bullet holes, half his staff refused to come back and his brother is on a ventilator in the intensive care unit after being shot in the abdomen by the attackers. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)AP - India demanded Monday that Pakistan take "strong action" against those behind the deadly Mumbai attacks, and Washington pressured Islamabad to cooperate with the investigation.



President George W. Bush speaks as he participates in the Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health, Monday, Dec. 1, 2008, at the Newseum in Washington.  (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)AP - President George W. Bush says history will judge him, but he is getting his own crack first. Bush is using his final 50 days in office to tout his legacy, hoping to leave a lasting impression of overshadowed progress. On Monday, World AIDS Day, Bush was heralded for his leadership in fighting the disease, a point that even his Democratic critics readily concede.



In this photo released by KATV Television, news anchor Anne Pressly, is shown in a June 26, 2008, photo in Little Rock, Ark.  Pressly died Oct. 25, 2008 as a result of an Oct. 20 attack, and Little Rock Police named a suspect in the case Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008. (AP Photo/KATV Television)AP - The parents of the television anchorwoman who was beaten to death said Monday there is evidence their daughter also was sexually assaulted, and that she broke her hand fighting her attacker. Five days after a suspect was arrested in the Oct. 20 beating of KATV anchorwoman Anne Pressly, Guy and Patti Cannady said on NBC's "Today" that the family still has many questions about the killing.



Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, center, waves to a crowd during a campaign stop for U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga, Monday, Dec. 1, 2008 in Savannah, Ga. Chambliss and Democratic challenger Jim Martin are   in a Tuesday runoff that will shape Democrats' hold on power in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)AP - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin urged Georgia voters to back Sen. Saxby Chambliss in Tuesday's runoff in an election eve appeal that underscored her popularity within the Republican Party and the GOP's efforts to stave off erosion of its shrinking Senate numbers.



AP - Almost one in five young American adults has a personality disorder that interferes with everyday life, and even more abuse alcohol or drugs, researchers reported Monday in the most extensive study of its kind.

AP - A man who rammed his truck into a woman's vehicle on a highway early Friday told authorities he crashed into her while going more than 100 mph because God told him "she needed to be taken off the road."

New York Giants' Plaxico Burress, right, arrives at Manhattan Supreme Court for arraignment with an unidentified man on Monday, Dec. 1, 2008 in New York. Burress accidentally shot himself at a Manhattan nightclub Friday evening and was treated at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He was released Saturday.  (AP Photo/David Karp)AP - Plaxico Burress was led out of a police precinct in handcuffs Monday after surrendering on a weapons possession charge, and authorities said that teammate Antonio Pierce is being investigated over his role in an accidental shooting at a Manhattan nightclub.



President-elect Barack Obama announces that Sen. Hillary Clinton will be his choice for Secretary of State during a news conference in Chicago December 1, 2008. (John Gress/Reuters)Reuters - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama named former rival Hillary Clinton as secretary of state on Monday and said Robert Gates would remain defense secretary in a national security team charged with recasting America's leadership role in the world.



A trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, November 13, 2008. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)Reuters - Stocks tumbled on Monday as news pointing to the deepening economic slump around the world erased much of last week's sharp gains, with financial services companies and retailers among Wall Street's biggest casualties.



Members of ZAKA, Israel's non-governmental rescue-and-recovery organization which specializes in collecting human remains to ensure a proper Jewish burial, speak with policemen after performing religious rituals in front of Nariman House in Mumbai's Colaba area, December 1, 2008. (Jayanta Shaw/Reuters)Reuters - India demanded Pakistan take decisive action over deadly attacks in Mumbai it said were carried out by militants from its nuclear-armed rival, while the West urged cooperation to ease tension.



President Bush and first lady Laura Bush walk to make a statement on the attacks in Mumbai on the South Lawn of the White House, November 29, 2008. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)Reuters - President George W. Bush said the biggest regret of his presidency was flawed intelligence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and told ABC "World News" in an interview airing on Monday that he was unprepared for war when he took office.



A woman watches as people shop in the Time's Square Toys 'R' Us store on 'Black Friday' in New York, November 28, 2008. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)Reuters - The U.S. economy has been in a recession for a year, the nation's business cycle arbiter declared on Monday, while European leaders vowed to step up public spending to try to cushion a deepening downturn.



Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi speaks during a news conference in the U.S. Capitol in Washington November 21, 2008. (Molly Riley/Reuters)Reuters - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi met leading governors on Monday to discuss the size and shape of an economic stimulus package that one Democratic aide said was likely to cost around $500 billion.



An anti-government demonstrator chases after a suspected pro-government supporter in Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport on December 1, 2008. (Kerek Wongsa =/Reuters)Reuters - Thai protesters prepared to end their three-month occupation of the Prime Minister's office on Monday to consolidate their grip on the main airport ahead of a court verdict that could dissolve the elected government.



Birmingham Mayor Larry P. Langford in an undated photo. (Handout/Reuters)Reuters - Federal authorities arrested the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, on Monday in a corruption probe surrounding a massive sewer bond debt that has forced Jefferson County to the brink of bankruptcy.



Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, President-elect Barack Obama's choice for homeland security chief, speaks at a press conference at the Hilton Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. Obama on Monday nominated Hillary Clinton to be his AFP - Barack Obama on Monday nominated Hillary Clinton to be his "tough," "smart" secretary of state as his former foe vowed to give her all to steer America through a storm of international crises.



Map locating the attacks in Mumbai. India has formally accused AFP - India on Monday formally accused "elements" in Pakistan of being behind the devastating Islamic militant attacks in Mumbai and demanded that Islamabad take "strong action".




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