Futures
Truth website review published in the
October/November 2000 issue.
By Rob Keener
Who is the product
for?
The
daily newsletter is geared towards futures traders, although
Pattern Trapper trading techniques are promoted as being just
as effective with indices and individual stocks having good
liquidity.
Skill Level: Intermediate
to Advanced
What is it?
The
Pattern Trapper is a daily subscription service that uses
technical analysis to filter futures contracts for potential
trade set-ups. All subscribers get a 25-page book titled "The
Guide to Using The Pattern Trapper" and indicators programmed
for TradeStation that are used as a compliment to the Pattern
Trapper concepts. (If you use TradeStation) Keep in mind that
this is not a purely mechanical system. This is a discretionary
rule based approach.
Review:
Pattern
recognition has been an important topic of debate since the
first bar chart was penciled. Some refer to it as an art and
others use the term science when discussing the various patterns
found on different time frames and the myriad instruments
that may be traded. Is pattern recognition an innate talent
or learned technique? This question comes up often. The answer
is a debatable issue and regardless of your stance on the
topic, there are nice tools out there to simplify the process.
And as you are probably formulating, The Pattern Trapper is
one of those tools.
Features:
The
Pattern Trapper is a synthesis of years of experience by the
vendor, Bob Hunt, and some popular concepts brought forth
by Linda Raschke and Larry Connors in the book "Street
Smarts" (recommended). The daily newsletter provides
detailed commentary for the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and T-Bond
futures markets, as well as Pattern Signals, Pivot Levels,
and Range Projections for thirty different commodities. Filter
analysis for the Highest Potential Set-ups in the fore mentioned
markets are also included.
This
gives you an idea of what you get, but how do you use it?
Aha! Mr. Hunt also includes a manual that covers the basics
of using the signals and characterizes the use with adjectives
like aggressive and conservative to give you an idea of the
level of confidence associated with the signals.
There
is also a section on Bonds (on the website and in the manual)
that covers the fundamentals of trading this vehicle and the
behavior specific to this market. The presentation is in an
easy to understand table and the charts are clear and concise.
User-friendliness:
The
whole process of interpreting the signals given by The Pattern
Trapper is about as straight forward as it gets. To get the
information, open your email client and then click the link
to today's issue. Next, read what it says. That's it.
Performance:
Due
to the fact that this is a discretionary rule based approach
there is no way to create hypothetical numbers on the performance
of this service and there are no promises of instant wealth.
Discretion, position sizing and exits will be different for
each individual. And as you might imagine this is the strength
of the service. Instead of becoming a system follower, you
can use these concepts to develop a risk-controlled approach
that fits your style. If you become comfortable with the signals
and create a "system" of your own, there may be
some enlightening growth in your trading approach.
Support:
The
website is filled with answers to the popular questions. Also,
Mr. Hunt is very responsive in regard to supporting his product.
Summary:
The
Pattern Trapper is a nice tool. This simple approach could
easily open your mind to the use of some basic concepts that
are often over looked when education begins for traders. There
is a degree of confidence in relation to the concepts set
forth by Mr. Hunt and the evidence is easily seen by simply
paper trading or just marking the signals on a chart as they
occur. This is good stuff and the funny thing is, it actually
makes sense. |
