Swing Trading – A Great Way to Trade:
Ken Long – Swing Trading Systems Video Home Study, Presented
Do you want to trade more frequently but lack time to sit in front of a monitor during market hours?
Do want higher returns than what you can generate with buy and hold in your retirement account?
Do you have reliable trading systems for the bull, sideways, and bear market types?
Are you looking for a series of relatively uncorrelated opportunities to trade nearly every day?
Would you be comfortable putting on short positions?
Do you already follow the markets closely?
Are you capable of entering simple trade orders?
Would you like a more systematic approach to trading?
Are you disciplined enough to follow the rules – even though you may not feel entirely comfortable?
To trade successfully, do you really know what else you need in addition to HAVING good trading systems?
If you answered yes to some or all of these questions, the new Swing Trading Systems Elearning course might have what you need.
Swing Trading Systems eLearning Course, a short overview of the course.
5 Swing Systems:
In the Swing Trading Systems Elearning course, Dr. Ken Long teaches five swing trading systems that he developed and traded.
Some of these systems are based on research from published work of analysts or traders while others are his own unique creations.
These are not conceptual strategies which should work in theory or which have nice back tests. These systems have specific rules that have proven themselves to work in live trading. In addition to Dr. Long’s track record trading them over a period of several years, he has lots of anecdotal data from institutional and individual traders who attended his previous swing workshops and who trade these systems actively today. These five swing systems generate setup signals that are the basis for many of Dr. Long’s intraday trades today as well.
Here are some common elements for all five swing systems:
Dr. Long explains why the system works and how to execute it.
The systems do not require a suspension of your beliefs or mental acrobatics to follow the rules – you understand why the price is expected to move and how the rules try to capture that move.
They are rule-based with several simple rules for setups, entries, initial stops, and exits.
No advanced degrees or advanced programming skills required to execute the rules; they are straightforward.
They all have a positive expectancy.
Traded by the rules, you can expect the systems to make money on average over the long run in the appropriate market types.
All of the systems work in bull markets while some of them work in sideways and bear markets.
(In addition, Dr. Long describes variations of two of the systems that work in bear markets as well.)
You will be able to use the systems in various kinds of markets.
The systems track records earned SQN scores in the range from 2.1 to over 5.
The system performance for all of the systems ranks from good to superb according to Dr. Tharp’s methodology.
They all have a winning trade percentage of 50% and greater.
Your losing streaks should be relatively shorter compared to traditional low winning percentage systems.
The systems’ signals are mostly un-correlated.
The entry signals you get from each system tend to be different rather than having the same candidates show up in multiple systems.
Dr. Long provides possible variations on various rules in order to help the system fit you.
These systems are robust, so they are somewhat flexible in their execution. In many cases, you can adjust the rules, and they will still have a positive expectancy.
They can all be operated outside of market hours
You can do your trading “homework†in the evenings, in the mornings, and on weekends. Operating all five systems can take minutes per day rather than hours per day.
Individual traders, hedge funds, and institutional managers trade forms of Dr. Long’s systems today
You can have the confidence the systems are capable of working well for a number of other traders beyond just Dr. Long himself.
The system documents contain a set of representative case study charts
You can study the price action on charts for actual identified setups and/or completed trades.
Here’s a little more detail on each of the systems:
System 1: Channeling:
On a regular basis, price pulls away from the primary trend. That signals either a reversal or an opportunity to rejoin the trend with an attractive entry. This system captures those resumptions of trend with a simple set of setup conditions, entry rules, and exit rules. For as simple as the system appears, however, it produces consistently great results. Long only system, the bull market only.
System 2: Overreaction:
Dr. Long likes to say that “the market will never react when it can overreact.†Consequently, it overreacts all the time —which offers regular opportunities for traders to profit from these overreactions. These trades, however, require a way to know whether price moves are average or exceptional. Dr. Long has devised such a system and built a robust set of rules that reaps regular returns from the return to “normal†conditions. Long and short positions, generates signals in both bull and bear markets.
System 3: 5 Days Down:
Dr. Long developed and tested this system after reading a research paper that mentioned a phenomenon whereby stocks that have fallen for five or more straight days tend to bounce up at that point or start back down again. Dr. Long thought about how to “systematize†that idea, and it worked—and still works quite well. Like the washout system, there’s often a secondary and more reliable continuation trade, so this is really two systems rather than one. Long only, works in bull, sideways and bear markets. Dr. Long also discusses a shorting variation of the system for bear markets.
System 4: 551w:
One of Dr. Long’s long-time students came up with the idea of combining three setup criteria and discussed it with Dr. Long at one of his workshops. Dr. Long liked the idea so much that he actually started trading it the next week. It combines three consecutive setups from other systems that build off each other for a highly reliable trade. It’s simple to use, and—as with Dr. Long’s other systems—can be applied either mechanically or with trader discretion for some added benefit. Long only, bull and sideways markets.
System 5: Washout:
This system watches out for extreme overreactions measured on both a short-term and long-term basis, but there are important safety measures in place to ensure that you don’t get caught trying to catch a falling knife. The system usually exits the trades in a couple of days and in many cases benefits from a follow-on or continuation trade. Long only, bull, sideways, and bear markets. Dr. Long discusses a shorting variation for bear markets specifically.
“System†6+: Multiple Additional Ideas and Trading Strategies:
Dr. Long never teaches just the material in his workbook. He always goes beyond and talks at length about trading strategies, new system ideas, systems in the research stage, new “production†systems and the system development process in general. He will also touch on ideas for taking swing system signals to find shorter-term trades, though, at the system level, he will only be teaching swing systems in this workshop. Dr. Long never fails to inspire and enlighten.
Every time I sit through one of Ken’s trading workshops, I make new discoveries. Ken keeps coming up with new trading ideas and continues to push the performance envelope with his trading results. He’s developed some of the best swing trading systems I’ve ever seen. Ken generously teaches other interested traders the methods he uses every day, and many of my Super Traders trade the systems he presents in this workshop. If you could use some great-performing trading systems or need a proven process for daily trading preparation, see how an advanced student of the markets (as Ken likes to call himself) approaches his craft. — VKT
The Swing Trading Systems Elearning Course:
Convenient
Study when you want, where you want.
Proceed at your own pace
You can work through the course over a one long day or spread it out over a few weeks – you decide. You will have access to the course for unlimited viewing over a full year.
Review as many times as you like
Elearning students – even those who attended the same live workshop – have said that more than any other benefit, the ability review certain sections of the course more than once is a huge advantage.
Downloadable files
You get a ton of supporting material – nearly thirty files to download.
Thorough explanation and description of swing system rules
You will understand each system – why it works, how it works, and how to execute.
A bonus section covering turbo trading
For those interested in using the swing system setups for intraday trading.
Swing Trading Systems Course Structure:
This e-learning course has been separated into two parts.
1) Part I has four sections
2) Part II has only one section
Part I Section 1, Baseline Lectures:
In this series of four lectures, Dr. Long covers topics ranging from adult learning theory to his trading principles to market types. There are about two hours of streaming lectures and about ten downloadable documents.
Part I Section 2, Channeling System and Overreaction System:
Dr. Long covers the logic behind and rules for the first two trading systems in nearly an hour and a half of lectures. In addition, there are about a half dozen documents relating to this section available for download which includes the written rules for each system and a number of case study setup charts or completed trade charts for each system.
Part I Section 3, Trading Strategies:
During the roughly two and a half hours of lectures in this section, Dr. Long discusses a number of important trading topics that relate to understanding system results and working to improve system performance in various ways. He provides interesting concepts that are valuable as well as exercises that are highly practical.
Part I Section 4, Bonus Section:
Dr. Long evolved from a mechanical swing trader into a rule-based discretionary intraday trader over a period of about ten years. He still uses many of the mechanical swing system setup signals taught in this course for his day trades now. For those traders who are interested and able, he shares his knowledge of how to “turbocharge†swing trade setups and make day trades out of them – or to start them off as day trades and convert them into swing trades. He calls this process “Swing trading – one day at a time.†He also provides several strategies (not a full-blown rule set for a trading system) that work well on an intraday basis. Traders who are uninterested or unable to manage positions during market hours may skip this bonus section.
Part II, 5 Days Down System, 551w System, and Washout System:
In Part II of the course, Dr. Long explains the rules for the final three trading systems and provides some information on how they trade, as well as how the rules can be varied. He lectures for about a half an hour on each system, and there are nearly ten documents related to the systems available for download including the rules as well as case studies for each.
Tharp Think Essentials Elearning Bonus – a $1,295 value
A few words from Van:
Recently, we started offering online versions of some technical workshops. This development prompted me to evaluate our courses because our mission is personal transformation through the trading metaphor. I want to make sure everything we offer embodies our mission and that we avoid becoming just like any other trading education company.
Most trading education companies are happy to sell you a “magic†system that you can supposedly trade profitably once you learn it. We know, however, (and you might have had this experience too) that that’s just not how people become good traders – for two main reasons. First, trading well requires a lot more than a system. If all you needed was a system, then anybody that had ever gone to a trading system workshop would be a market wizard. Second, no single trading system is magic. Certain systems for certain traders under certain conditions can appear to perform magically but change the trader or the conditions, and the “magic†disappears.
I want our clients to understand and transform themselves in order to become better traders. To help us fulfill our mission, I include a recording of my Tharp Think Essentials workshop – for no extra charge. Learn the critical points in it to help you better trade Ken’s great systems. — Van
Even with great systems, if you ignore the foundation of a solid trading business, you are likely to trade like nearly everyone else in the markets —wanting to be right about your trades, acting from a position of fear or greed, and making lots of costly mistakes. Without understanding your personal psychology and lacking knowledge about transforming yourself, trying to trade great systems can actually be a very frustrating experience rather than a liberating one.
High-Level Concepts Covered in Tharp Think Essentials:
Learn how you are programmed by “the Matrix†and how to clear your old programming. What if you could start to reprogram yourself to function at a near-super-human level? And all it takes to do so is to recognize your old program (beliefs and strategies), get rid of what’s useless and adopt what really works. It’s not that hard if you are willing to do the work and really look at yourself.
For example, a programmer knows that correct programming will enable a computer to do what it’s supposed to do. And you can’t allow the system to be harmed by viruses and other malware if you want it to run effectively.
So don’t you think it’s important to do that for yourself?
Have you asked yourself these questions:
Is your “programming†working well?
What do you need to reprogram?
What’s holding you back from performing at a peak level?
Do you have any viruses that continually sabotage what you are trying to accomplish?
In this course, you’ll learn ways to recognize your old programming and start the reprogramming process including:
Recognizing your key beliefs that limit you,
Learning how to reprogram them,
Understanding how to use feeling release to unlock stuck beliefs that you know hold you back, and
Learning some of your mental strategies, such as how you convince yourself that something works, whether it actually does or not.
Beyond your personal psychology, a real key to trading success (one that even most professional traders don’t understand) is that you achieve your objectives through position sizing strategies. Your trading objectives involve the returns and the drawdowns on your equity. We’ll discuss various objectives and how to use position sizing to achieve them. Based on what we’ve have seen from great traders over the years, having great position sizing strategies is more important than having great trading systems.
Finally, you’ll learn from mistakes … the bane of all traders. By Dr. Tharp’s definition, a mistake occurs when you don’t follow your rules. You’ll learn that the average trader is only about 70-80% efficient — meaning they make 2-3 mistakes in every ten trades. That’s enough to turn a great system into a losing system and possibly enough to make you abandon something that is perfectly good without even understanding why it doesn’t seem to “work†for you.
You will learn:
1) How to recognize the most common mistakes that people make and what they can cost you.
2) How to measure your efficiency.
3) And most importantly, three simple tasks that you can perform every day to eliminate mistakes and prevent you from repeating them. (Repeating mistakes is very common for many people.)
Any trader who learns how to prevent mistakes, understand their psychology, transform themselves and develop effective position sizing strategies could immediately see a huge increase in the level of their profitability. These topics are critical to understanding – in addition to having great systems.
Remember, you get the entire Tharp Think Essentials Workshop – a total of more than 7 hours of recorded lectures – included for free with Part I of the Swing Trading Systems Elearning Course.
About Your Swing Trading Systems Course Instructor, Dr. Ken Long:
Dr. Long has been a professional instructor and excellent communicator in some form for the last thirty years. He was a career military officer whose last assignment was instructing at the US Army Command and General Staff College. Since retiring, Dr. Long has continued as an instructor at the staff college.
Dr. Long started out early in his career as a typical investor. Over time and with much personal research, however, he became an early adopter of an active mutual fund switching strategy. He started taking workshops from Dr. Tharp about fifteen years back and quickly mastered the elements of Tharp Think.
He taught his mutual fund switching strategy here over ten years ago. Since then, he has evolved from primarily a long-term investor into a mechanical swing trader and finally into a rule-based discretionary intraday trader. He still maintains longer positions and has a keen understanding that what’s happening in the market over longer time frames can help inform his shorter term trading and vice versa. He has taught the Swing Trading Systems workshop approximately twelve times over the last ten years or so and has consistently received the highest feedback remarks from students.
What You Will Need, Technical Requirements for the eLearning Course:
Before purchasing this eLearning course, you will need the following:
1. A Google ID
You already have a Google ID if you have one of the following:
A G-mail email address
An account with YouTube, Google Play, Google Plus or Google Maps account
Your company email is hosted via Google
If you do not have any of the above, you can set up a Google ID here.
Note — You will need your Google ID prior to purchasing this course as the checkout process requires you to enter your Gmail address or email address associated with your Google account. If not having a google ID is a hindrance to purchasing the course, please contact us, and we will assist you.
2. An internet connection with enough bandwidth to enable you to watch streaming video.
We recommend a minimum Internet connection speed of 500kbps to be able to watch the videos with good resolution and minimal buffering.
3. The eLearning website works best with browsers other than Internet Explorer. We recommend students use Google Chrome to watch the streaming video lectures. Firefox or Safari are also acceptable.
4. You DO NOT need to install Google drive on your system. All you will do is enter the id, and all of the content is available to you.
This shows where you enter your ID and agree to terms during the check out process…
Once you complete the check out process, a new webpage will load.
Our Risk-Reversal Guarantee:
Because this course is online and therefore a little different than our workshops, our guarantee is a bit different as well. You have 24 hours to review the course – which would allow you to log in and determine if the course is a good fit. If it’s not going to meet your needs, contact us within 24 hours of your purchase and we’ll discontinue your subscription and issue you a refund. After the initial 24 hour review period, we can no longer provide a refund.
Q & A:
Q – Should I take the eLearning course or attend the live workshop?
A – While there are a number of benefits of attending a live workshop, we have no plans to present Swing Trading Systems in a live workshop format for at least the next two years. Based on the quality of the material and the lower investment in time and money compared with a live workshop, the feedback we have received so far about our eLearning courses has been unanimously positive. We believe you’ll find the online learning experience enjoyable, informative, and rewarding.
Q – How does a Van Tharp Institute online coursework?
A – After checkout, you will be provided a website to which you will gain access to a Google login. On that site, you will find the streaming video lectures which you will be able to watch YouTube videos. You are not allowed to download the videos, but you are allowed to download all of the related document files that come with the course. You will be allowed to access the course site with your subscription for a period of one year – through your downloaded documents are yours to keep.
Q – Why do I need a Google ID to enroll in this course?
A – After considering a lot of video hosting options we determined that Google via their Google Drive service provides an effective and efficient way to host the significant amount of course content. To access Google Drive, you need a Google ID. If you need assistance with setting up a Google account, please contact us before making your purchase.
Q – Why do I need a broadband Internet connection to watch the course?
A – The lectures are all provided as streaming video recordings from the live workshop. You need a fast enough connection to be able to watch the video without frequent interruptions and enough resolution to be able to interpret what you see. A dial-up account will not allow you to watch the videos effectively if at all. Even if you have “broadband†service, you may experience buffering (interruptions in the video playback) or a lower resolution of the video (fuzzy image), just as you would if streaming video service like Netflix without enough bandwidth.
Q – Do these systems work for investors outside the US markets?
A – As presented, Dr. Long’s systems rely heavily on large-cap stocks and liquid ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) traded on US exchanges. The concepts underlying why the systems work, however, do not require that these are the only instruments or the only geographic market in which the systems could work. We have reports from previous workshop students that the systems generally work for large-cap stocks and major ETF (or index instruments) in major European and major Asian markets – though we do not represent that or have data for confirmation. You will need to perform your own due diligence and determine if the edges the systems enjoy apply in other geographic markets or with other instruments.
Q – I have never actively managed my investments or traded before. Will this course tell me how?
A – No. This course assumes students either have traded or understand how to accomplish a number of tasks related to active investing – though you don’t need to be highly experienced in trading to use the systems. We would probably label this course as an advanced beginner or intermediate trader level course – even while many experienced traders and money managers benefit as well from Dr. Long’s innovative thinking. To be able to benefit from the course, someone would need to: know how to buy and sell equities or ETFs, how to find daily prices for ETFs or other instruments, understand how to use several technical indicators are and understand a number of trading terms. Of course, mathematical abilities tend to be very supportive for good trading as well.
Q – Do the Swing systems perform well in bear market conditions?
A – Several of the systems do function in bear markets. In addition, Dr. Long discusses ways several system variations that would work well in bear markets.
Student Testimonials From The Live Swing Workshops:
“Brilliant work! Great courses. I really feel like Ken has filled in a lot of gaps for me on broad market analysis, statistical approaches to the markets and specific trade tactics.â€â€” David Smith
“I now have a better understanding of my trading strengths and weaknesses.â€â€” Paul Waldo Laurel, MD
“Great center, great class, invaluable information that I don’t think can be found anywhere else.â€â€” Peter Wechter New York, NY
“Every question I had was answered. Ken is sure to explain everything thoroughly. If you have a question, he will explain in a way you’ll understand.â€â€” Wade Fisher, Lewistown, PA
“You helped me realize the ultimate importance of everything else that is involved in trading. It was so great to see someone that puts as much work into preparation as you do with years of experience has proven to me that there is no easy way that I was looking for. I have developed some great strategies that work very well with very high percentage win ratios when properly prepared and trades planned out and followed properly.†— Ron Mercacante, FL
“Ken, I want to share a trade with you that I was fortunate enough to have positioned myself correctly to reap the rewards, thanks to your teachings. I found VRTX on Sunday night as a 5DD setup (I have to do all of my trading research and setups after-hours because of my job). I framed it as taught and set my entry at $65.10, 0.05 above the previous day’s high. Notes from that night in my comments section are “price finding support at MLR90.†Got in at 65.10 on Monday. Monday night, I put a trailing stop of $2.14 on it (I used ATR15, which was the middle value of ATR5, ATR10, and ATR15). Notes from that night are “again support at MLR90. Look out for hesitation at the BBmean (69.84, Zeno stop for 2R).†I went to work for 12 hours today and came home to find that I had sold VRTX at $96.65! WHAT! umm… MATH… that’s a 14.7R gain!
I struggle to find the right words to express the gratitude I feel for you and what you have shared with me. You are what I call a “life-changer†— someone who emits high, positive energy, and who is willing to share his expert knowledge and energy for the betterment of those he comes in contact with. Thank you for sharing with me. I believe the right thing for me to do is to pay it forward, and so I am. I continue to learn and grow in life through trading. I appreciate this trade for what it is and how it makes me feel, and now it is time to prepare for the next one. Follow the rules and enjoy the process — the rest is MATH…I would have never known any of this without reading Van’s books, taking your at-home courses, and subscribing to your newsletter for the past 5-6 years. So my deepest thanks to all of you guys for what you’re doing. Keep up the great work, and hope all is well with you.†— Anonymous
Swing Trade Video Updates:
From time to time we will be posting Swing Trade video updates from Ken.
Links are provided below:
August 24th Update
September 3rd Update
September 30th Update
October 13th Update
October 14th Update