The Trading Methods of W. D. Gann
Arcanum Market Research
W. D. GANN: MAGIC IN THE MARKETS FAQ
Our “W. D. GANN: MAGIC IN THE MARKETS” Training has been presented in-person in the past. Due to the global COVID-19 lockdown, we are extending an online option July 6-9, 2021. For details and special registration procedures CLICK HERE. Do you have a serious interest in “Magic In The Markets?” Contact us to arrange a visual “virtual-tour” of the training via Skype. Glancing behind-the-scenes of ‘Magic” via Skype is the best way to affirm your expectations, because seeing the mysterious technique foundations and back-tested power of the techniques puts you one step closer to owning these abilities.
Serious inquiries can also reach us by email or phone at: seminars@tradingwdgann.com or 312-532-2116 11am – 4:30pm CST M-F.
Following are the answers to some of the most frequently asked about W. D. Gann’s trading methods, and our “MAGIC IN THE MARKETS” Training. As this entire website is designed to save us time on the phone, the detailed answers below should clear up a lot of the questions you have before calling us.
HOW ARE W. D. GANN’S ‘UNPUBLISHED’ TRADING METHODS DIFFERENT?
The real market mechanisms discovered and employed by W. D. Gann to trade the markets bear little resemblance to what he described and illustrated in his books. Most everything commercially available labelled ‘Gann’ is simply a new arrangement of descriptions and diagrams from Gann’s books and courses.
Gann never intended to teach his real trading system in his books and courses as summaries. He wrote them as summaries and reminders of his real techniques & strategies to the students he taught privately.
If you have been unsuccessfully trying to decode and trade with methods derived from a face value interpretation of what Gann wrote, its far from your fault. Gann never intended anyone to walk away from one of his books with knowledge of how his methods really work. Gann wanted the serious reader to be drawn into his private teaching circle. Unless any technique or strategy is built upon the foundation of Gann’s Law of Vibration and the correct vibration of each market, it will always operate inconsistently.
For trading professionals who may have avoided Gann because it appeared as vague premises or nutjob astrologers, you may want to take a fresh look at what we have. W. D. Gann’s unpublished system and approach to the markets are completely rule based, objective, and involve precise mathematical formulas. They use non-linear variables and data sets others fail to consider. This means that the most powerful computers and data miners are unable uncover and duplicate these organic strategies and methods by brute force. Few will be able to duplicate the edge Gann will give you.
CAN I DO THIS?
The unpublished market methods and strategies Gann really used to trade are objective and rule based so anyone is able to learn and replicate them. If you are basing this question on your unsuccessful experience with ‘bad Gann’ typified by subjective gut-feels, mysterious premises, incomplete rules, and immeasurable & inconsistent results, please re-read the previous sentence.
Gann’s unpublished methods are hard to find, easier to do. We’ve spent the last 20 years going down over 100 roads for each technique, only to find 1 that works. So we have done the hard part so that you can do the easy part.
The actual calculations are far less complex than far less effective methods. Remember, Gann lacked computers. While we do have pictures of him calculating ratios down to 5 decimals in the Cuban Lottery Binder, he performed the math by hand. So when you think Gann’s methods may be too hard because some nut is calculating fractals of solar flares, look back to what Gann really did. Gann’s formulas, calculations, and market techniques had to have been able to be done by hand.
The modern quant trader, analyst, or programmer will find these formulas much easier and faster to work our than most quant or program trading. They will also find the constants Gann used in his math and formulas refreshing. From my background in electronic institutional trading, rarely do trading programs employ constants. Quant formulas usually involve a lagging measure of past price action in order to project future moves. This means W. D. Gann’s formulas and market techniques are truly objective. In many cases you can draw out a cycle or trend prediction years in advance.
Using data that is exogenous to the markets does take some getting used to. This is true for both the trading professional and Gann Aficionado who has been ‘taught’ inauthentic versions of Gann. But if you have invested in a hoax for years, the methods taught in ‘Magic’ will be unable to provide the key to fix your ‘broken Gann.’ You need to scrap that stuff and learn the real thing.
A warning to “tinkerers.” If you plan to use Gann to spend all your time golfing except for the one morning Gann tells you in advance the market will go up 100 points, then go back to golfing- keep dreaming. If you plan do take the training just to further your research that’s fine- ‘Magic’ will give you the key to build your research on Gann’s Law of Vibration so you can take it to new levels.
If you just want to find once-in-a-lifetime buys at the extreme low price, like Ford at $1 in 2008, Dogecoin in January 2021, McDonalds at $12 in 2003, or Bitcoin at pennies in the teens, you can do that without Gann. Just use your common sense. But if you want to scale up that experience into actively trading the markets making profits regular and drawdowns few, you will need Gann for that.
Read more details about ‘Magic’ and Gann’s methods.
EXPLAIN HOW ‘MAGIC IN THE MARKETS’ IS VALUED
The size and active trading of market professionals allow them to quickly recoup and multiply the price of “W. D. Gann: Magic In The Markets,” making it an outstanding value to them. But we keep the price here to permit access and opportunity to “Gann Aficionados” who have spent years and thousands in search of Gann’s true methods.
Consider the following. My market mentor founded a trading company here in Chicago and sold it for over $30 million. Tens of millions of shares were often employed each day in its use- and someone found that edge to be worth $30 million.
All the time we are asked, “so there’s 93% 3-to-1 reward-to-risk trades with your Gann, right? Let’s stop and think for a sec. If the price of my mentor’s software that guaranteed just 1 penny a day sold for $30 million, what do you think a simple (cause it should take a few seconds, right?) strategy giving 93% 3-to-1 trades on any market you want any time you want would be priced at?
‘Magic In The Markets” is geared toward providing a consistent edge to the market professional trading regularly with larger size. Here’s the rub: unless you approach the market in the same way, you probably won’t do well over the long haul. So looking for a cheap trading education geared to part time trading is destined to be a waste of money on the outset.
Do you want to build your market philosophy and trading strategies on the right foundation from the outset? Learning the forces that move the markets, tuning your indicators to your market, and going over your trading plan in free follow up for the current price of ‘Magic’ is much cheaper than the frustration of paying for a few incomplete or inconsistent methods that require good gut feel. Plus the account or two you’ll probably blow up at some point. Do doctors avoid Medical School for an internet DIY course? Would you let them operate on you?
What’s less expensive? Paying for the entire catalogue of W. D. Gann’s market methods, or spending a frustrating 2021 losing money with something that was never really Gann the first place?
HOW CAN I PREPARE FOR ‘W.D GANN: MAGIC IN THE MARKETS COURSE?’ ARE THERE PRE-REQUISITES?
VIEW OUTLINE OF TRAINING . Before the 4-day training sessions we also have live, interactive preparatory webinars and consultations before the 4-day training sessions to help you hit the ground running.
Those who have the most success with ‘Magic’ are active traders with adequate capital who already have an organized approach to the market. Reducing risk & drawdown, achieving greater consistency, filtering out bad trades, better timing, precise pricing, and organizing their approach are all common ways trading professionals benefit from ‘Magic.’
Future traders wanting to get right foot and build their market philosophy, trading style, on the proper foundation of how the market really works benefit avoid wasting years and thousands of dollars on faulty, incomplete, and inconsistent methodologies. If you are in this camp, you also must realize that learning the basics of the market AND Gann’s unpublished methods involving data exogenous to the market will require more mental acumen than an established trader.
With the exception of Earik Beann’s “Handbook of Market Esoterica,” everything commercially available will be worthless in preparing you for “W. D. Gann: magic In The Markets.” It may even screw you up. Even very expensive books and course will not aid in preparation.
There are a few books on Gann’s recommended reading lust we can submit that will help you become familiar with some of the more intricate concepts in the training. These are helpful but far from necessary.
DO YOU GIVE PREDICTIONS, TRADES, OR ENTRIES AND EXITS IN ADVANCE TO THOSE CONSIDERING THE COURSE?
Our lawyers prohibit us from doing this. We offer references and pictorial back-testing.
Our lawyers prohibit us from doing this. We do provide references and testimonials if your level of interest rises to take the “Virtual Tour.” Pictorial back-testing in far excess of industry standards should suffice.
So many times someone will ask us to predict a “turn time.” Gann had a particular way to achieve each technique but also a particular instance in which to use that technique to achieve a certain market goal. Gann’s individual techniques are best understood within the context of Gann’s roadmap for when and where the market is going. All the techniques Gann developed are tied together by the control system of Gann’s astro-numerology and work together in harmony. If something is 85% effective you will be unable to judge its competency if the one time you observe it is in the losing 15%.
Another example. In the Soybean mechanical system, Gann used a certain squaring technique in an odd way to predict pullback prices. He then used the framing parameters of the Mechanical method to establish certain “time periods.” Finally, Gann set an expiration time for each price projection based on his proprietary use of these “time periods.” Trying to communicate, explain or gauge all that in one prediction is impossible. Gann measured and gauged the success of the system that organized those techniques over a much longer time.
DO I NEED SPECIAL SOFTWARE?
W. D. calculated and implemented these methods by hand. You can too and implement on any software. Most calculations can be done by hand in under 1 minute. Drawing out a monthly or annual cycle may take up to 1 hour by hand. A spreadsheet can also increase accuracy and decrease time.
Wave59 is uniquely designed from the ground up around the way Gann drew out charts and the ephemeris by hand. It packages 2 to 3 steps of the process, so you can focus on applying the technique quickly. This is immensely helpful in the stage where you first learn Gann’s trading techniques and want to hit the ground running.
We provide Gann’s LOV software for projecting high and low prices in an Excel frame for speed. We further include chart templates and proprietary indicators with open code on Excel, EFS, and Wave59 Qscript.
Solarfire and Optuma are unable to do the progressions necessary for Arcana and a couple other techniques. This is because Solarfire is set up so that all progressions must start from natal. Gann did it another way that Wave59 is uniquely designed from the ground up around. It is the same way Gann drew out charts and the ephemeris by hand. Wave59 packages 2 to 3 steps of the process, so you can focus on applying the technique quickly. This is immensely helpful in the stage where you first learn Gann’s trading techniques and want to hit the ground running.
In our community of alum there are a few people you will have access to that have spread-sheeted as well as automated some techniques in Wave59, Esignal, Tradestation, Ninja, and Optuma. They proved automation can be done with much of Gann. (Note: we are far from guaranteeing these individuals with impart their knowledge if you take the course, especially for free.)
