Robert Miner--Dynamic Trader

[pandion 10]

Hello all-

I'm new here... new to trading, but have worked in finance and the markets my whole career (fundamental analysis, value, long term investing). Has anyone here used Robert Miner's software, or just his approach to trading in general? It seems intuitive to me. His book I thought was well done, but trying to determine if I should shell out $2,000 for his software. It seems like TradeStation's market scanner could probably get me a lot of what Miner's scanning does with his software. Does Miner's software have anything else that is just not doable through TS? The one proprieatary thing only his software offers is his DTosc oscillator. Is that much better than regular stochastics... can anyone compare the two and if there is any practical differences?

 

Any other swing trading approaches I should look into? I dont' want to kill myself for looking for the elusive holy grail... but would like to be aware if there is anything blatant I am missing.

 

thank you

Drew

[sicktrader 10]

You won't make it if you are always tailing. You need to implement your own ideas instead of buying and selling with everyone else. His system is complete garbage, put the 2k into a micro account and start learning on your own.

[MidKnight 12]

Totally agree with sicktrader. When I was first starting out I bought his software and his book and his daily reports. This was back in late 2003. His reports were extremely bearish and stayed that way for at least a year which is as long as I stayed subscribed. His software is nothing fancy, you can get the same tools in virtually any much cheaper software. We all know what the market started in late 2003, a massive massive rally.

 

Stay away from him and his stuff. I'd be ultra surprised if that guy could trade his way out of a wet paper bag using the approach he recommends.

 

With kind regards,

MK

[BlowFish 10]

I can't comment on Miners software (I did read some of his stuff when god was a boy, can't have been that memorable as I don't recall much about it). I have to respectfully disagree about forging your own way. There are plenty of systems, methods and approaches for sale and in the public domain that can be traded profitably. There are some right here on TL. Some gurus spread this idea ('you have to make it your own') to hide the fact that the stuff they are peddling is not particularly efficacious. The reason that people fail at trading is more likely to be that they can not consistently follow a system or method rather than it being 'faulty'.

[statsign 10]

DTosc is StochasticRSI available here.

[pandion 10]

DTosc is StochasticRSI available here.

 

where would I find that? Is it written somewhere in Trade Station "Easy Language?" I am not a programmer, so would need a lot of hand holding to get it set up properly in TS.

 

thanks for your response

Drew

[statsign 10]

http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/f56/stochrsi-7674.html

[MCM 10]

I have read and enjoyed his book - and do feel that there is useful information that is tradeable. As far as the software - though it makes external retracements, internal retracements, and symmetry retracements alot easier to do in TS - do I really want to spend 2K on a program that is nicer to draw lines with? In the end - I dont see any other benefit to it. (I was never was interested in the screener - since I trade the same basket of stocks and futures - I can easily scan that basket for my set ups)

 

You can get pretty damn fast with TS in drawing the lines after a little practice.

 

Carolyn Boroden is another trader who learned Miner's methods - and trades it on a daily basis. (FibQueen is her moniker - and has also written a book somewhat similar to Miner's but with more emphasis towards day trading. I have joined her trading room in the past for a free trial and watched her trade these set ups in multiple futures market with success. She gives out some free videos daily on trading that style - so I would recommend her as a resource for free daily "examples". (fibonacciqueen.com)

 

As far as his ability to trade - I have no idea. MidKnight might be right about his lack of ability to find sunlight while stuck in a hole on a summer day. But is success in a field a prerequisite for passing on useful information? (A good question. I would argue yes if you want that person to be a mentor. I would argue no if they are merely a conduit of information that they are passing on to you in a useful way. Business/Law/Medical schools are prime examples of the latter.) I know he did win the Robbins Trading Contest in the 90's in the future market (mentioned in a Traders Audio interview Traders Interviews - View - TraderPlanet, but I have no idea who he was against/etc.) So who knows.

 

I think the best thing he has taught me is trading in two time frames - and obeying the direction of the higher time frame. In looking at my trading journal - those trades have a much higher win rate than the other trades. (as they say - the trend is your friend).

 

I agree with Blowfish - in the end it has more to do with the trader pulling the trigger than the system they are using. Good luck.

 

 

Peace

[DaKine 10]

An alternative to DTosc could be a double smoothed stoch, the dtosc isn't going to provide you anything different IMO. I have the software but am no longer using it... Wish i could sell it off but I can't... To be fair from my understanding Carolyn B is not a trader she offers a service that plots Fib S/R and Fib extension targets using Miner's methods minus EW. But she is an analyst not a trader. EW was tough for me so i dropped it... My suggestion would be go the Wyckoff way...

 

l8r