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Q&A: This weekend we respond to readers questions.
Dear Speculators,
As promised, this weekend we'll publish responses to reader questions.
Q: How many trades do you anticipate per month?
A: We expect roughly 2 to 6, depending on market accuracy and the action of
the system.
Q: Do I have to follow your emails all day long to follow your system?
A: No, we act in the morning, so as long as you can check your emails before
the open, you can follow our system. Or you can participate with one of our
auto trading brokerages.
Q: Will you update every afternoon in the Rydex Dynamic Trading?
A: No. We provide intra day updates - periodically when market conditions warrant.
However, we act in the AM, so intra day updates will not contain trading
advice.
Q: Do you have back tested results for your system?
A: No. I'm a big opponent of back testing. I've seen numerous back tested systems
eventually fail, even after great runs, because there is always a subjective
component that can't be programmed when the system is actually put into practice,
or because the data elements that the system utilizes change and the programmer/trader
is unaware of these underlying changes in a key data element to their system.
Unlike any other trader, I enter my system data by hand into a spreadsheet
and don't rely on data providers for accuracy. I check each piece of data
and perform a modification to one piece of data that no one else does - based
on my in depth knowledge of the intricacy of these data elements. By paying
such close attention to the data, I can see when they go through changes
and monitor how those changes impact the system. As we develop a track record,
that track record will be posted to the site and will allow you to see how
the system actually performs - not how it hypothetically performs.
Q: With the Rydex Dynamic System, do you recommend taking the AM pricing or
trading at the close?
A: While we recommend the AM pricing, the system can be followed by trading
at the close. There's an element of randomness in market timing where a system
will either be rewarded or not by pricing between the am and the close. Most
traders don't accept this very short term randomness and feel the need to act
as soon as possible on any signal. This system is designed to get you in early.
So the precise timing of entry - over time - should have a limited impact on
the system performance.
Q: Your system was on a sell signal - why are you issuing another sell signal?
A: When I took over this service, it was on a sell signal and had short positions
open. On Wednesday, those short positions were stopped out by our auto traders,
effectively closing out the last position on the previous system and allowing
us to open a new position under the new system. Since we have some readers
on auto trading and some readers who were not and never updated traders for
the activation of a stop - this inaugural signal was meant to get everyone
in sync with the new system going forward. Accordingly, if you're following
us, you should be short.
Q: Are you going to trade the SPY?
A: No, we'll no longer trade the SPY - the service will be renamed the QQQQ
Alert. We trade one thing and we trade it very well. Diverting your focus
only leads to watering down potential performance. Of course with increased
reward comes increased risk. But that's the nature of trading the Dynamic
Trading Service.
Q: What type of drawdowns do you expect?
A: We can not answer this question at this time as 1) the answer would be specific
to the individual vehicle you trade - QQQQ, versus the Rydex Venture/Velocity,
versus the QQQQ Options. Over time, as we produce trades, this drawdown will
become evident and we'll report on it frequently. The good thing about short
term trading is that drawdowns are usually limited in time as the system
responds more quickly to short term moves.
Drawdowns are interesting phenomena in the newsletter business. For the most
part, people tend to subscribe to a newsletter when a system is doing its best,
which is normally right before a drawdown. The new subscriber goes through
a drawdown and usually unsubscribes, which is usually right before the system
goes through its next advance. I've been doing this long enough to see this
cycle through several times. In fact, I can usually see market bottoms by the
number and negative nature of emails I get from subscribers. And vice versa,
I usually get a market top just after I write an article about how well the
system has performed. It's just human nature.
Q: How is your system different from your stockbarometer system?
A: Time frame. The stockbarometer is a combination of short and intermediate
term oscillators that try to position for each and every market swing but
are tuned to deliver its best performance in intermediate term market moves.
Dynamic Trading is a series of short term oscillators that are tuned to deliver
the best returns when the market is going through short term oscillations.
The DT may under perform in intermediate term trends. The DT is designed
to be complimentary to the barometer system. But they are not the same
and will obviously go through periods when they are not in sync. Both
systems trade at the open.
Of course, if you have any additional questions, please feel free to email
me at jay@stockbarometer.com.
Be sure to reference Dynamic Trading, since the service you subscribe
to will determine the perspective of my response.
Dynamic Trading Signals are based on a series of Oscillators tuned to the
short and intermediate term movement of the market. Our goal is to be in
the market at all times and switch from bearish to bullish positions in line
with the markets movements.
DYNAMIC TRADING OSCILLATOR

Discussion: Here are the DT's primary two oscillators - and the main
reason we went short on Friday. We'll now include a short term oscillator with
every Weekly Wrap Up - to prepare you for the week ahead. This will take the
place of Monday's Morning Call. And we'll return to our normal
schedule on Tuesday mornings.
10/20/40 WEEK CYCLE
The following chart shows our 10/20/40 week cycles. The 40
week is also referred to as the 9-month cycle. Cycles are not short term
tools for determining precise entry and exit points, they're primarily used
for intermediate or longer term positioning and forecasting.

INVESTOR'S INTELLIGENCE BULL BEAR SPREAD
Each week, Investor's Intelligence polls a number of newsletter writers.
The poll results in a number of bullish advisors and a number of bearish
advisors. The difference between those two numbers produces the following
chart. It's believed, that when a majority of newsletter writers (like us)
are bullish, that the market is near a top, and vice versa. I'm also under
the belief that the direction of this line is as critical as the number.

EQUITY INDEX OPTION VOLUME RATIO
The market is all about risk, and there are two primary classes of participants
in the market, the individual investors and the institutions. Individuals
primarily trade equity options and institutions primarily trade index options.
So the relationship between the two gives us an idea of how much risk the
individual is willing to take on. At tops, the individual tends to take on
too much risk, making this indicator rise. At bottoms, the individual is
usually washed out of the market, making this indicator fall.

QQQQ v. SPY RELATIVE STRENGTH
Risk tells us a lot about the market. This indicator looks at risk from
another perspective. When market participants overall increase their willingness
to take on risk, it's bullish for the market. That risk shift is shown on
the above chart as a shift in relative strength from the Nasdaq to the NYSE.
Note when we refer to Nasdaq, we're primarily looking at the QQQQ - since
that's the focus of our service. And when we say NYSE, we look at the SPY.

MONEY FLOW
This indicator looks at the flow of money in and out of various investment
vehicles. For the most part, when money flow reaches an extreme, in either
buying or selling, the market is at a top or a bottom, respectively.

NDX CHART

In summary:
While the system issued a Sell Signal on Friday and we positioned short, the
intermediate term indicators above suggest that we're not in for the dooms
day scenario that others may have you believe is ahead of us. With the Fed
meeting on Wednesday, it may take a few days for whatever the next market move
to set up and get going. We also have a divergence in the market whereas the
SPY has reversed below resistance and the NDX has broken the previous swing
high on increased volume.
As for position entry, in each of our services, the action on the nasdaq was
what we expected - a gap up and close lower, which has characteristically marked
several previous tops in the NDX. This gave us good pricing (better than had
we bought on the close the day before) and each position is showing a profit.
But a day does not a trade make, and next week should be a tough road as the
market digests a Fed meeting and volatility should increase as we move into
a seasonally weak period.
Best regards and good trading!
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