Posted by Peter on October 31, 2002 at 18:00:25:
In Reply to: Former Ken Roberts Course Member posted by William G. on October 13, 2002 at 10:15:42:
WilliamAre you saying you averaged 450%+ return for each separate year of the 4 year period, in which case an account worth $10,000 at the beginning of the period would be worth almost $20,000,000 at the end.Thanks and continued success !: I purchased Ken's course on Futures & Options trading back in 1996. Within 4 months I wiped out a $7000 account. You CANNOT make money with his system. You might get lucky and catch a major move early on, but in the long run you WILL lose. After my dreadful experience, I backtested Ken's system with his recommended $2000-$5000 account over a 10 year period, and lost money EVERY YEAR!His method of entry does successfully catch many of the major moves (especially the sideways formations), so I was determined to figure out why the system failed so horribly year after year.The major problems with Ken's course is that it is not back tested, so he can't back up the wild claims. It also has no clearly defined rules for formations & stops. The course also lacks any mention of money management. Money management is the KEY ingredient to becoming one of the 5% of successful traders.Ken's course does not answer the following major questions. How many contracts and what % to risk per to trade? What is the realistic minimum startup capital?What markets to trade based on account size? What markets to avoid based on account size?I can make money with a terrible entry selection system that is only 30% accurate, simply by applying sound money management rules. When his system produces the eventual 5-10 trade losing streak like every other system on the planet, you're dead! Either: (1) You will completely wipe out like me, or (2) You will have such a large % drawdown that your confidence in yourself and the system will be shaken.After my initial wipeout, I had to learn everying the hard way. There are certain things you just can't learn in any course or trading book. No one can teach you how to conquering fear & greed No trading system can account for price slippage, gap openings or limit moves. No one can teach you what it was like on Sep 11 caught short gold and siver or long the US Dollar & US Stock indexes. These are market lessons you can only learn from hands on market experience.Back to Ken's course...I still implement 123's and sideways channels as entry methods in my current trading plan, but I had to create my own CLEARLY defined rules for entry formations, initial stops, trailing stops and re-entry methods. His system provides none of the above.Since then I have become a very successful trader averaging 450%+ returns over the past 4 years. I'm presently up 526% this year as of the Oct 9th close. Learning how to become a successful trader is not difficult, just don't expect to find the answers in any of Ken Robert's courses.If you have any questions just ask.