W. D. GANN'S MECHANICAL METHOD (OVERNIGHT CHART)
In the "Stock Market Course" W. D. Gann introduces us to the 'Mechanical Method,' also called the 'Overnight Chart.' He further elaborates on the method and adds some slightly different twists in "The Commodities Course."
When he wrote these works later in his life, Gann became a bit frustrated that his students couldn't grasp the more intricate astro-based techniques that he laid out in "The Truth of The Stock Tape," and "The Tunnel Thru The Air." So he pushed this ingenious system because it was both self-contained and was less dependent on the astro and numerology of his other methods.
Originally designed for the US Indexes, the Mechanical Method identified a 2- 4 day trend for its entries and exits. It is flexible, and can be used for shorter timeframes like intraday or intra-week. The real beauty of the Gann's Mechanical is that it is self-contained. That is, the pattern of the market itself determines the trader's risk, reward, and money management.
A word of caution. Though this method depends far less on astro and numerology, it has taken us about 10 years to decode. That's because, though Gann's descriptions of this system seem fairly simple and straightforward, the basics for decoding his description are found in other places in his written works. There are a couple tricks to this, and we know many people who trade something along the lines of what seems self-evident in Gann's description. They all lose money. That's because Gann's actual methods are pretty different from what seems to be written.
Now that being said, the Mechanical Method is simply incredible when it is unlocked. Gann somehow discovered or was shown some timeless principles that measure supply, demand, and near-term market direction over a couple days. It doesn't really look like anything but a bunch of random entries and exits if we showed you a picture. But we can show you the back-testing. We had to repeat it over and over by hand because it looked too good to be true. Pictured to the left is the entire 2019 by the month of back-testing the ES with just 2 contracts, with many of the positions exiting before EOD. The numbers represent points. We usually shave 10% off the profitability, and even then its pretty amazing.
Shortly we will be adding to this page batch-testing of the result of the Mechanical Method during most of the months of the severe drop of the financial crisis around 2008, and add a variant of the testing of 2019 to include gross wins vs. gross losses.
