KING - PRH's review

Yes, there is a new hero in town. His name is PRH. That's his initials that he wants to be known by and so I will honor it. 

When he was ordering KING he was totally new to trading, but only 8 weeks later he is doing probably better than I was 4-6 months into my emini trading career, although back then I had already been trading for many years, if only stocks and stock options. 

If I stopped now I really think I could make $100 per day net, but I didn't think I could do that 6-8 weeks ago... - PRH

Of course, I am very delighted by his fantastic progress, but I am not surprised by it one bit. It's obvious from his email that he is a bright, hard working fellow, capable of introspection and definitely not someone to easily give up. That's the type of person I love to have as my client because I think I can truly help him or her. I would even say that it's people like PRH that are most likely to succeed in this business whether they use KING to accomplish that goal or some other e-mini trading course. 

But why exactly would anyone want to try something else than KING? After all, KING is hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars less expensive than anything else out there of comparable nature. I believe that's really a rhetorical question, at least to the smart people like PRH. 

His email that I received not long ago can be seen here and here (in two parts to show it in its entirety). I also quote it right below. It is followed by two comments I wanted to make to highlight and explain certain points he makes in that email of his that, I must say, I found genuinely candid and I hope you will receive it as such too. Needless to say, I do appreciate that he took his time to elaborate on his experience using KING and was kind enough to let me share it with you.

Hi Wally,

I know I haven't emailed you since I received your program so I thought I would drop you a line.  I am new to trading, I didn't even know where to start when I got your package.  I feel like I have had a steep learning curve since I received KING.  I didn't really do anything with the material until mid-July, once I did try to read things I just didn't get it, I was ready to give up.   At first I didn't have an account to trade with, so I was just trying to read the material, big mistake, you really need to start doing right away even if things are completely wrong.  Once I got an account and was on the simulator, then you can practice what is in the manual.  I started out just trading one contract on the simulator for 5 points, total misery, I was on the losing end of everything.  My first week I could not keep track of whether (...) was the Red/Yellow or the Red/Green it was so frustrating.  I built up the next couple of weeks to breaking even with a couple of 50's per day maybe a loss one day a week.  I finally shot for $100 per week, I managed to do that with just trading one contract for 5 points, adding to position with another contract, managed 3-4 days $100 plus with a break even day.  I am now at a point where I can get really focused and do $175-$250 for a couple of days, then the wheels seem to come off me and I lose focus end up with big losses, most of the previous days gains.   I traded today(just to get back to normal) with just doing 1 contract and 5 points and was able to do $100 in an hour, 4 trades.  I know what the answer is in my trading, it's all in the manual, once the money get's bigger the other side of my brain is taking over and fighting the rational side that is cool and calm.  I am going into trades where a second later I know the trade was a mistake, then once I am biased on a side of the market I do it again and again, when the real side of my brain says do the opposite based on the info presented.  When I trade 1 contract for 5 points, I stay in a trade until I get a result or see things going against me which is rare.  I don't know whether this is just a learning curve again, I am only trading 1-3 contracts with 3 for special circumstances, mostly 1-2.   I could sit here and tell you all of the things that are going well or bad in my trading and they are all in the manual.  I think I have made every mistake that one can make, but I missed the bit in the manual where it tells you to read the last few pages with all of the observations/recommendations for good trading a few times a week, I am going to do that from now on.

I know I can consistently do about $100 a day net on 7 trades or less(figuring $5 per trade), with maybe a loss here and there.  I don't think that is a bad place to be after 2 months of simulator trading, I always make sure my trades would have made it, they go a few points or more above or below otherwise I don't count them.  On my good days I am right in the middle of an up or a down trend, on the days I am taking losses I am always on the top or bottom going in the opposite direction which I know for the bad days I am just reacting to situations.

I really do feel different on good days, I find trading easy, I find I am really mechanical and just let things go.

I know my results (I am not organized to have my graphs and P&L sheets to give you)  don't match that of some of your other students but I don't think you will be disappointed with me, I am getting there.  I think this is just more of an evaluation of myself and my weaknesses, and I know I need to keep on the simulator doing the fundamentals.

My evaluation on the course.... initially when I got the course:  I thought I had wasted my money, it wasn't what I expected at all too difficult not enough basic info.  The package is very basic with word docs, pdf's and some videos.  You don't have the prettiest course on the market, you certainly went light on the bells and whistles.  What I will say as you can figure from what I have said above there is a lot of information, some of which I am still working through, and the base manual/document for KING is really all you need.   If I stopped now I really think I could make $100 per day net, but I didn't think I could do that 6-8 weeks ago so I am going to keep trying and trading even if it is on the simulator, I am not ready for live yet.  Sometimes when I read about your other students I feel like I should be further ahead and I try to push too hard, I really just need to keep things in perspective I have only been doing this 8 weeks.  One main thing I would say about your course is for someone who is new to trading, it's not easy, but it can be made much easier by trading early on in the simulator just to see how the (...) etc. all relate to each other in realtime. Sometimes you just have to get in the car and drive it when it comes to eminis.

I could go on forever, but I would just be quoting your website and/or course.

I am enjoying the course although over the last 8 weeks there were periods I really wanted to just give up, I know that is the time that you are probably learning something and need to keep going, I think I am in one right now. If I have to go another 8 weeks or more, I don't have a problem, the fundamentals are there and sometimes I see them after I place a trade, I need to work on that.

I like your course Wally, I am looking forward to a few updates over the next few months.

Let me now address two points he brings up in his email.

1. "KING can be challenging to total beginners." 

Well, PRH's own experience and brilliant progress seems to contradict that a bit, but I am not going to lie to you that KING was meant with total newbies in mind. It was not, and I don't hide it on this site at all. In fact, I mention that KING was originally meant for my George IV clients and I even required that those who wanted to get KING buy George IV first to see if they were capable of handling trading. What this also means is that the ideal candidate for KING is someone with a bit of exposure to trading emini futures, even just on a simulator. That clearly was not PRH's case. But I believe, and I say so in the KING's FAQ as well, that as long as you know well your charting package and your trading platform, and are able to practice on a simulator you can consider yourself a candidate for KING. However, KING is not a basic emini trading course, I never implied it was, and considering that basic emini trading information is freely available out there, including this site, I did not think that adding it to KING was necessary. Moreover, most trading courses out there also assume certain prerequisites, certain basics and I don't think they are different in this regard from KING at all. 

2. "Expected something else."

That's actually a very good thing. Because that means you can learn something new. As a scientist by training I love a good surprise, I love things I did not expect. I am not sure I am like most, and I suspect I am not, but I do believe that being open to new things will make you more successful. Unfortunately, many people when faced with things they did not expect give up right away, thus letting their prejudices win. PRH did not give up, he took up the challenge of mastering KING and 8 weeks later he is a better trader than 90% of trading wannabes will ever be. Notice that he is not quite sure if his progress is good enough, but for someone who started from zero his progress is definitely very good. And again, please keep in mind that your expectations of how fast your progress should be may lead to disappointments and so it's important to keep such expectations in check. Just keep doing your thing and do it as systematically as possible and you will be doing better than most. Notice also how his opinion of KING has changed after he gave it a fair try. That's the point that I like to emphasize and so let me do it again this time using PRH's experience. Namely, no one can honestly guarantee you anything when it comes to trading, but I am convinced and do believe I have accumulated plenty of evidence on this site that once you start learning and practicing you will be making progress with KING. Sometimes even as fast as PRH and let's not forget that he started as a skeptic.

Update (12/30/10): I heard from PRH shortly before Christmas. He bought the materials from the last KING mentoring session that he could not attend and then sent me an email about his recent progress. It turns out that he is now trading foreign (non-US) futures markets at night as his new day job does not allow him to day trade YM, his favorite emini market. I must say that I really admire his commitment to trading and I am pleased to tell you that his commitment is paying off: he is averaging $100-200 a day, or rather a night. Remember, 6 months ago he knew virtually nothing about day trading, and now he is comfortably trading markets I have never even touched! I am really happy for him and hope that his example inspires others to give day trading a try. It's not for everyone, but if you are like PRH (bright and hardworking), you do stand a good chance to succeed at it.

Update (8/24/11): Yesterday, I got an email from PRH, from a hospital that he has been at for about 3 weeks. One of his vital organs got seriously infected and the poor fellow almost died 2 weeks ago. It's always sad to hear this kind of news. I do wish him a very speedy recovery and I hope that everybody joins me in wishing him the same.