The Trend Dynamics Trading Course -- Providing ideas, insights and training
for professional stock index & futures traders since 1994

The following e-mail was received on 22 Dec 2000, and is on file in our office.

From: Ron. R.
Subject: Thank you
Date: Friday, 22 Dec 2000

Dear Joseph and Jess, This being a time of the year for reflection, taking stock and giving thanks, I couldn't let the season go by without taking the opportunity to express my gratitude to you both for all you have done for me and my family.  I'm coming to the end of my second year as a Trend Dynamics student and I have reached a level of confidence and understanding (and self-confidence and self-understanding) that I have had only rare glimpses of in the past. Thanks to your painstaking and heroic efforts at articulating the subtle and dynamic concepts contained in the Course, TD Labs and on-line, you have literally given me the gift of sight.

I have come to understand that there is an order present where I once saw only chaos. As I have come to appreciate the principles you set forth in the Course and internalize them so that I can express them in my own trading, I can only profess wonder not only  at the fact that you undertook the task of expressing these concepts, but that you succeeded so admirably. You truly captured lightning in a bottle.I'm sure there were times when you questioned whether the result would justify the effort, so I want you to know that, years after you struggled to wrestle your thoughts into print, your ideas are still changing lives.

My story is similar to that of most traders. I made money and lost money. I thought I was "there," but suddenly I wasn't. I knew there were others who were doing what I hoped to be doing, but somehow I never quite got there. I overtraded and I undertraded.  I read everything, I bought tapes, I attended weekend courses at airport hotels. I spent three days sitting in front of a CQG screen with George Lane learning the secrets of stochastics. I quit. I returned. I quit again. I returned again. The postman tortured me daily with solicitations from every huckster in the world offering me the secret to trading fame and fortune. I cannot tell you why I didn't throw the Trend Dynamics offer in the trash, but it sat on my desk for weeks, maybe months, before I called you, Jess.

I was fairly noncomittal after reading the first few issues. I rushed through them, looking for the hidden nugget, the simple secret to spinning dross into gold. I was looking for the indicator, which red line had to cross which blue line to create divergence to tell me when to buy or sell. I became frustrated that I couldn't locate that nugget and thought that this was just another scam, a great way for you to take my money slowly over several years.

I can't tell you what finally clicked. Maybe it was the first time I recognized a 5D RePo all by myself. I quit doing other things, bought the rest of the Course all at once and began to read an issue per day in February 1999. I've been online since April 1999. My trading journey since then has been a slow, tortuous march where I was accompanied by my own personal Ghost of Trading Past.

I tried TD with stochastics, TD with daytrading, TD with Market Logic, TD with everything but astrology. If you are going to take up trading, you must be prepared to meet yourself. By this I mean, you must meet your Self. You must be prepared to open your eyes and see clearly each and every flaw, weakness and every bit and piece of personal ugliness that restrains you from clear vision ("trading what you see"). Then you must purge yourself of these toxins any way you can. (I have had my wife come into my office during the day and physically force me to leave so that I wouldn't feel compelled to act on intraday head-fakes.) Taped to the top of my monitor is the phrase "I don't trade the markets, I trade myself."

Earlier this year I began trading individual stocks. Like Jerry, I found the tempo and rhythm of stocks to resonate with my own. I slowly (and I do mean slowly) began to choke the demon from me that wouldn't sit still and insisted on closing a position at the first sign of adversity. I can't tell you how many times I bought into an 18D RePo and was out before the first 5D line change, only to watch the trade mature from 2X where I got out to 20X days later.  

Jess, you were dead right when you told me that doing my own research would burn the concepts into my marrow so that I could trade with confidence. Since I started trading with 45' ORBs, I haven't had a losing month and I didn't even clue into short positions until late November. I'm still leaving far more on the table than I pull into the net, but I'm getting better at swallowing hard, closing my eyes tight, and just taking the trade. As the result of my positive experience, I have the confidence to begin 2001 with a plan to trade as my sole livelihood and to support my family from my trading business. I never would have done it without you. You brought me into your Tribe and you taught me to fish. You have given me an infrared camera that I use in a world where no one other than my Tribe knows about heat signatures.

Things happen at 5D, 18D and 54D line change points and POCs to which all others are blind. The term "edge" is an eloquent understatement. The knowledge you have given me is the answer to a prayer. Where I once asked for the strength to reach for trading profits, now I need only ask for the strength to bend over and pick them up. This electronic Tribe is a curious thing to a man my age. I carry on important discussions every day with other members, but I've only actually spoken to Jess and Jerry. While I've never heard the sound of your voice, Joseph, your written voice resonates within me and your words and your ideas have guided me to a better understanding, not only of the markets, but of myself. Thank you both for all you have done for me.