KING - Todd's review

Todd is one of my recent clients. He bought his copy of KING and George IV in February 2010 and then on March 1st, 2010, he bought a copy of George V. When ordering George V through Paypal, he added some comments about KING. I asked him if I could quote them on my site. Little did I know that I was in for a major surprise for he sent me a much longer opinion of KING, that read very much like a thought out review, the very same day. I did not anticipate it at all. Needless to say, I appreciate Todd's fine piece of work very much.

It turns out that Todd works for a major futures brokerage in the US, as you can also find out from his email quoted below, so he certainly has a considerable knowledge of the futures business. He even attached a scanned copy of his business card to the email in question so I was able to verify it. However, per his request, I cannot reveal which firm it is.

I think that Todd makes quite a few important and very valid points in his review, some of which I often address on this site, too. The point about trading being essentially always discretionary in nature is particularly interesting and very relevant to KING as well. 

You can read his review, or opinion, of KING in what follows. The screenshots of his email follow next.

Wally,

Sorry for the long email in advance.

I work for a major futures Broker. While I am prohibited from recommending your program specifically I can say this. Whether the trader is experienced or they are new to futures / trading, this is a tough business. Most people fail for four simple reasons, I have been guilty of each of these at some point myself:

1. They do not control risk appropriately

2. They overtrade 

3. Do not follow the predefined plan

4. Keep looking for the magic bullet

The plethora of “New Indicators” being sold are like the sirens in the Iliad. They bring in unknowing participants into the game ill prepared to handle the dynamics of the market and the noise created by all the sources of information available. There is no magic bullet, but one can be successful to methods that are based upon which the market operates. 

King is more than a “system”. As a matter for clarity I would not even consider it a system. After reviewing all of the material, it lays the foundation for one to be successful based upon the principles of the market. In one way I was taken back by the volume of information, but after studying it. Really, really studying it and sitting back and think a bit more I came to the conclusion that it was pure genius on your part (intentional or not). King is a discretionary system (based upon principles). Discretionary trading is the natural progression of every trader and in reality we all trade on a discretionary basis anyway. The genius part from my perspective is that the simple act of reading it, digesting it, organizing it, laying out and setting up brought a level of clarity not commonly available to those looking for help. 

Why do I say this? 

Because most people buy indicators, platforms, an advisory service or even an auto-executed computer system. This is short-term thinking and will eventually lead to a less than ideal ending. I have seen it time and time again, even with an auto-executed system. Why do people leave an auto executed system that shows good results over a long period of time? In my experience it is because it is not their own experience they can fall back, it is only the hypothetical model, and when they look at their account in a drawdown they develop or their level of fear increases. Then they make the decision to stop using it and never give the system or themselves a chance for the system to work again. They exercised their own discretion to stop using the system.

For someone who subscribes to a service they exercise discretion to take a trade given to them or not. Do they get out now or wait till the advisory service post the next message? We all exercise discretion at different levels. 

If someone is going embark on this journey they need to develop their discretionary style and King walks them through this. King allows one to build the intuition from the ground up themself. It is a process in and of itself, which is based upon market principles (in this case George IV and V), that will develop one into a successful trader. The principles outlined in King address the four areas above to offer those dedicated a good chance of success. King addresses how to manage risk, prevent over trading and offers a defined plan. The continued search of the magic bullet is up to them. I would recommend dedicating the time to keep working with King instead. 

I see and use indicators on a variety of platforms every day, these change (or at least are repackaged), but the principles are consistent. King is a great program for these reasons. I would urge people to keep working through it. Reading and re-reading it. Take notes, watch the market for an hour or two in the morning, take some notes on the observations and go back and review the material again. Trade on a demo account, not like a video game but like real money according to the program. It will work, but one has to go through the process for themself. It’s not complicated but requires patience and commitment. 

Thanks for putting time and effort into helping people see through the noise and misinformation. 

Regards, 

Todd

P.S. You can use my first name, Please do not use the name of the company. I do not want this to be construed in appropiately by anyone as you endoursing my firm or anything such as that. I sincerely appreciate your work and believe that you can help many new and experienced traders. If I can ever be of any help let me know.

Here are the screenshots of his email: part1, part2, and part3.