I first started trading the Bonds in May of 1985. I realised very early that if I was to succeed, I had to learn and study the market. My first introduction to technical analysis was to start plotting daily and weekly price charts manually. I also started keeping a journal of all my trades, and recorded all my observations about the market. By studying the charts I could see how certain patterns kept repeating themselves. It was as if the Bonds traded with some mathematical order. Many times I was able to project a turning point to within a few ticks.
After years of trading I formulated a set of complex rules for trading the Bonds. I also acquired an uncanny feel for the market from plotting manually my charts for many years. However even though I had all this, success in trading still eluded me. I lacked the objectivity needed to win consistently. I traded from 1985 to 1992 with limited success. The problem was too much emotion during trading, afraid to pull the trigger, forgetting important rules, or making the wrong interpretation of the market.
Finally in 1992 I started writing the ATS-3200 Trading System. I turned all my trading rules into indicators. By turning everything into numbers, I could then write computer programmes to find patterns in the indicators that consistently signalled either an over bought market condition or an over sold market condition. These rules then became the adaptive genetic algorithms of the System.
My first year of trading was very successful. After my first success with the System, I kept improving it, and during this time I too had to acquire the discipline to follow my own System.
All the System does is shift the odds in your favor. There is no holy grail. Only by trading the System consistently over a long period of time can you hope to succeed.
I hope that through my homepage and my web site I will meet other traders who have the same passion for the bond market that I have and who share some of my other hobbies and interests. To learn more about the 'ATS' systems click here.