Last fall I was very interested in purchasing the TTM Universal System by John Clayburg over at Online System Trading. I was looking for an automated system to complement my descressionary day trading when I stumbled upon a webinar by Dr. Clayburg and his Universal System seemed like a real possibility. However, I was a little skeptical to put forth $7,500 on a trading system I did not fully understand. So, I did some research. I first discovered Clayburg offers no trial version of his software and I didn't know anyone who really uses it. You can lease the Universal System for $600 per month, but that did not satisfy me. So, I decided to become a member of his site ($30 per month) so I could view the member videos and participate in the discussion forum and see what else I could learn about the system. I'm glad I joined!
To make a long story short, the Universal System is tricky to setup and trade effectively. You simply don't just turn it on. Far from it. It needs to be optimized tested, refined before committing any money. Furthermore, when Clayburg shows off one of his performance reports or displays an equity curve on a particular trading system, commissions and slippage are not included. That sure makes the equity curve look great! Now, he has his reasons for not including commissions and slippage, but in my opinion this can be very deceiving for people new to the Universal System. While Clayburg does provided a lot of very helpful information with his video updates I have to say in the end I'm glad I didn't purchase the Universal Trading System for $7,500. I fear I would be very disappointed.
A few weeks back a stumbled upon this! The Universal Clone - a free beta download. I've been playing with it for a few weeks now (not with real money!) and would like to start a series of posts highlighting the trading parameters and results I've been a achieving. Don't expect too much! I'm still learning and I've not found a profitable system that remains profitable on a consistent basis.
Anyway, maybe we can learn a little about the system and who knows, maybe we can develop a tradable system. If you have been thinking about buying the Universal System, try the Universal Clone out first. It's free (for now anyway) and you get to see how the Universal trades without spending $7,500.
So, go download a copy of the Universal Clone and follow along.