STREET DOGS: The well-chosen example
Jack Schwager: The fact is that you can always find a favourable illustration for almost any trading system
In his book, The New Market Wizards, Jack Schwager shared one of his pet peeves, "the well-chosen example". The term refers to a chart pattern or trading strategy that has been taken from an isolated scenario and presented as though it is able to continue to produce profitable trades, when that’s not the case. In his latest book, A Complete Guide to The Futures Market, he again takes up the issue, by saying: "[Imagine] you’ve plunked down your $895 to attend the 10th annual Secret of the Millionaires futures trading seminar. At that price, you figure the speakers will be revealing some very valuable information. The speaker is explaining the Super-Razzle-Dazzle (SRD) futures trading system. The slide on the huge screen reveals a price chart with ‘B’ and ‘S’ symbols representing buy and sell points. The slide is impressive: All of the buys seem to be lower than the sells. "This is brought home even more dramatically in the next slide, which reveals the equity stream that would have b...
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