From Traders World Fall 2023
The Midas’ Dream Gann Astro-Trading System
An Interview with Alexander Straker
In our modern era rarely do we meet a trader with both an incredible mind, and a methodology so brilliant they can demonstrate the equivalent (via verified live account results) of the old Masters such as Gann, Baumring, Andrews, & Baruch. Alexander Straker is known amongst modern Gann researchers as one of the industry’s leading specialists in market CosmoEconomics as well as strategic risk management based strategies.
Just like we saw with Gann’s official “coming out” in the famous 1909 Ticker Interview where he produced 1000% return in 1-month all audited and documented by an accountant, the thing that stands out about Straker is his ongoing active demonstration of the same kind of trading results that would be expected of a true grandmaster of the markets.
Straker has not only beaten all the documented trading records we have seen of W.D. Gann ’s, but has also produced his results in the same style that Gann was famous for, in beginning with very small account capital, like $300-$1000 and then running that capital up to HUGE profits in a very short period of time. Straker does this to demonstrate that what Gann did is still possible to do in our times using the same numbers, even though $300 in Gann’s day was a good sized account.
It is one thing to produce large returns from big capital, but it is another thing altogether to begin with a tiny bit of seed-capital and then produce HUGE returns from that. What is important about such a demonstration is that shows that even a trader with a small capital base but with the right trading tools or system can become an independent and successful trader. It does not take a large nestegg to generate significant returns.
For example, in a previous issue of Tradersworld, readers may recall an interview discussing Straker producing 12,000% in 1 week, taking his account from $1,000 to over $120,000 in just 5 days. Many people don’t even believe this is possible, but it is FULLY documented including a video of Straker’s online account showing the documented profits at this link:
https://www.cosmoeconomics.com/EZ/ice/ice/alexander-straker-12000-account-record.php
His most recent trading campaign was conducted as an example to illustrate a new system and tools recently developed as the base system for his new book which will be released next month. To support this new work with docuemnted results before its release, I asked Straker to provide live trading proof of concept for his new “Miser’s Dream” trading system which is laid out in the new book release Synchronicity of Numbers (Music of the Spheres Series, Part 1).
This book has been widely anticipated after the incredibly positive feedback from his first two books Pendulum Motion and Golden Speed. As an example, even well known teachers like Ken Gerber from Lambert Gann Educators, have raved about Straker’s work:
“When I was able to get an early copy of Alex’s 3rd book ‘Music of the Spheres’ I was stunned by the amount and quality of the information he provides. Alex ties together astronomy, music, and correct scaling to provide a glimpse inside the market’s true structure. I have read many books in my 30 years of market study and was fortunate to be able to spend hours looking over the W. D. Gann archives in Nikki Jones' possession. I believe Alexander Straker has written material that will go down in history as the truly definitive work on understanding W. D. Gann.” Kenneth Gerber, Lambert Gann Educators
And this is just one such snippet of feedback from well-known and respected authors and traders, move to be found here:
https://www.cosmoeconomics.com/EZ/ice/ice/alexander-straker-customer-feedback.php
And here is a comment by another one of our users:
"This Straker Book 3 is speaking to me on a level that I have never seen before! I am an Electrical Engineer and so this Straker's Music Course is resonating with me in a GREAT WAY, as I know all about wave mechanics and the math behind them. I have been studying Gann (mostly his Tunnel book) since June 2001 and I have to say that I was expecting to ultimately find some kind of "master equation" that you plug in time (x) and get price (y) as the output... but that is not what Gann was implying after 23 years on this research path.I really love the idea that we can predict the LIMITS OF MOTION and when we reach that point we have a high probability trade setup, so being a good trader and using good money management skills is still a very big deal. JM, Petersham, MA
The feedback from Straker’s early access group to the new book confirms that this system provides a solid pathway to making authentic market harmonics work harder for you so your part takes less effort. Set ups are identified & clarified via the tools with minimal discretion. This makes the system simple to follow, easily reproducable, and a breakthrough in understanding precisely how to identify, mark-up, enter, and manage powerful Astro-numeric trade set ups.
It is a precision based approach as would be expected from authentic harmonics, and Straker fully explains the tools and applications in the book with a mini-campaign illustration including all the charts and account records showing the entries and exits (different to the campaign we are discussing today).
Let’s ask Alexander himself about his system…
Brad: Firstly, what is it you regard as important about this new book?
Alexander: This book aims to solve two big problems I often see with traders aiming to apply harmonics, geometry, and/or Gann systems:
1) Lack of a clear plan: too much discretion, overuse of tools, and lack of defined steps.
2) Indecision with regard to trade and risk management leading to weak reward for risk ratio and sometimes potentially good entries going to waste.
The big key with this system is that the reward-for-risk multiples are built into the system itself and the tools enforce the correct core risk management approach for swing trading. Assuming a trader has a reasonable method to locate an entry, then the most important element (often missing) is understanding exactly where should the stop go, and how long is ideal to stay in your trade in the context of the chart being traded and where are the ideal close out targets lie?
Having conviction about these trade management points is very important to achieve proper reward for risk multiples and grasp the key to long term market success. Fully comprehending the set of principles and tools in the book, and practising the specific system given ensures you have a consistent and reliable core advantage or ‘edge’ founded on solid reward for risk multiples. These can be gradually improved over time by following and further working with these principles. How to Pyramid is fully explained step by step, again with charts and live trading examples.
The request for a demonstration was made only a few weeks prior to this article being due for publication. Straker’s record below is for 10 trading days (2 of which were spent on a fishing trip with his sons). We are talking intra-day trading on small to medium time frames, a challenging proposition!
If you have seen Straker’s previous results, you know what to expect here… well, Straker has done it again and traded a $302 account up to $22,464 (and this is not even including the floating profit of $484 or withdrawal of $700!). This trading campaign produced a return of 7,700% in 10 trading days with a 2 day holiday! This is far from the only time we have seen Straker produce these eye-popping kind of results. See more examples here:
Above is the account Straker traded showing the starting deposit and initial series of trades. Following that is shown the campaign outcomes and equity curve. No trading was done on the 25th or 26th of September as Straker was away with his sons on a brief vacation. From the 27th onwards, Straker accelarated the campaign realising he only had limited time to build the account by applying heavy leverage for the final few days trading.
Brad: So, how much initial capital investment did you start with in the account?
Alex: The account had $2 in it, and I deposited another $300 the first day, so $302 starting capital.
Brad: What market(s) were you trading?
Alex: Mainly Gold & SP500 cash index, less often the NASDAQ.
Brad: What vehicle are you trading, stock, options, CFD’s?
Alex: In this case, CFD’s with good size leverage.
Brad: $300 seems like an awfully low amount to start with to even be able to buy anything?
Alex: Fortunately, my leverage rate is 500 to 1. This is not available to retail traders who get 30 to 1.
Brad: WOW! 500 to 1! Now I begin to see how you generate such massive returns. But with 500x leverage that means any loss is also multiplied by 500x, which is a rather scarry proposition for most traders. You just have some serious cajónes to be able to take on that kind of risk!
Alex: Well, as we all know, that level of leverage is really a double-edged sword and must be applied responsibly and with precision to make it work in your favor. But what it demonstrates is the confidence I have in my risk management and the precision of the mechanics of my systems, both in Pendulum Motion and in this new Music trading system. The entries they provide are so precise that the stop placement is incredibly tight with very limited risk, thereby greatly limiting my downside exposure. Without this high degree of accuracy, I would not be able to use such a high leverage rate.
Brad: Will your system work in any market?
Alex: Yes, it is universal due to the mathematical nature of the foundations.
Brad: What time frame are you trading on?
Alex: In the book itself, an intra-day campaign on 2-minute charts is thoroughly laid out with all charts and actual account snapshots of the live trades provided. The point of the book’s example campaign is not to achieve some kind of spectacular result (which BTW it is not), the point is to show how to be consistently profitable by correctly applying risk management.
In this more recent campaign done at your request, I traded a variety of time frames from 2-minute to 256-minute. My favored intra-day time frames are specifically (in no particular order) 2m, 8m, 32m, 128m, 512m. This system is equally effective for larger time frames such as daily, weekly, 15-day, etc.
The chart below illustrates some of the actual trades from this campaign on SP500 cash index (CFD). Everything is labelled on the chart itself. You can refer back to the trade series list to verify these positions. They will all be documented on the CosmoEcomomics.com site by the time we release the book, and if they are not up yet, people can contact you.
Obviously, I did not provide the entire trade list above, that would bore everyone to tears! However, as I told you, I am happy for those records to be provided privately to customers.
Brad: Okay, sure, anyone desiring the entire set of records of every trade can email me at institute@cosmoeconomics.com and I’ll send them to you.
Brad: So, about how many trades a day did you place?
Alex: Not counting the 2 days off, it was 351 trades over 8 days. Around 45 trades per day. Getting results like these does take a commitment to consistent charting and execution.
Brad: Yea, that is a LOT of trades… I’m not sure most normal people can manage that kind of trading frequency. Can this system be traded on different time frames that are not so short-term?
Alex: Yes, the book specifies how to apply the system to intra-day as well as daily and longer-term time frames such as Daily. There are very slight differences in the approach to shorter- and longer-term trading, but the core principles always remain the same.
Of course, the reason that I usually use such low time periods for my trading in my tests is that the fastest way to generate the highest returns is with a larger number of trades. So, to produce these huge returns, I zoom into a very low time level so that in 10 days I can find 350 trades and then apply the extremely high leverage I have access too. This is why the numbers I generate look so impossible to most traders as they are not able to work within such parameters.
If I were trading on a daily level, it would take a lot more time to find 350 trades, weeks or perhaps months depending upon how many markets I was working with. And if I were using 30:1 leverage instead of 500:1, the returns would be about 1/10th what I have produced here. So this will perhaps help to provide a bit more relative context to the returns most people are accustomed to, but they would still fall within the many 100’s% return.
Brad: Perhaps for your next sample trading run, you could do an example without trading CFD’s, which we can’t trade here in the US, as well as trading on a higher up timeframe like hourly or even daily. That would give us a better sense of what the returns would look like for normal traders using regular leverage and trading on a more accessible timeframe. Can a normal trader use it to effectively trade a stock of their choice on, say, a daily timeframe?
Alex: Yes, of course!
Brad: Will it work on commodities and Forex? What about Bitcoin?
Alex: Yes, Yes, and Yes. It’s the time and price numbers themselves that are important to the method, not the instrument.
Brad: How difficult is it to trade this system?
Alex: As long as you can comprehend the logic and rules (which are not complex), this system is comparatively easy to follow in relation to most harmonic and Gann based systems. There is very little discretion, the tools do most of the heavy lifting for you. I would not say it is for beginners due to the Astro cycle element, but anyone with some experience in charting will be able to learn this system and attain profitability.
Brad: How time/effort intensive is the required analysis? How automated is the procedure?
Alex: It takes about 3 minutes to mark up a chart set up manually, about 1 minute with the automated toolset. Maybe another minute to check the rules, validate the set-up and enter the trade. Trade management time allocation depends greatly on the time frame being traded. The two main targets can be calculated immediately upon placing the trade as well as the stop placement, with zero discretion.
Stop placement is always dictated by the tools themselves. This system stands alone as a robust bread and butter approach. Thankfully, it is also easy to integrate with prior knowledge and once the risk management principles are comprehended, they form a solid foundation for any kind of preferred approach, such as pure swing trading, scale in-scale out, pyramiding, etc.
Brad: How complex is the analysis and decision-making process? Or, in other words, how “out of the box” applicable is the system?
Alex: If you know what simple Dow Theory means and can follow basic mathematics, you can definitely apply this system. Without exposing all the chart mark-ups, this next 256-minute chart bare-bones example (above) is what the system’s most relevant tool lines will look like for a normal chart set up. There are some more details that confirm the set up not shown.
This daily setup is quite a slow patience-tester compared to the 2-minute chart set ups I like to trade, none the less, it provides a solid example of how the system works. But you can see why I prefer to zoom down to quite small timeframes to generate a much higher frequency of trade setups in very short periods of time. It’s a much more efficient way to generate these high returns.
Anyway, on the chart above, the purple vertical line is a timing line (expect a pivot close by). The horizontal lines are all support/resistance known in advance. As the pivot happens below the horizontal red line and rejects this line from below, this shows a short set up emerging. Entry is confirmed by the close below the low of the high pivot bar (happens on the next bar as marked) and targets are immediately set as the 2 green lines with the stop loss placed just above the timing pivot.
As you can see, the targets were both successful with Target 1 giving around 3 to 1 reward for risk and Target 2 giving around 7 to 1 reward, for an overall reward for risk of 5 to 1, considering the dual exit.
This chart helps illustrate the relatively simple nature of this system. Naturally, there are more tools that complete the system (not shown here), but the important point is the concept of trading from known harmonic horizontal line to horizontal line areas that gives the strong reward for risk ratios by following what Gann taught about natural growth according to numbers. The key information in relation to the core of this system is from one of Gann’s Introductory Stock Market Courses, Natural Resistance Levels and Time Cycle Points.
Brad: So how subjective is it? Will one guy do better on it than another due to skill and experience?
Alex: That’s kind of like saying will Roger Federer most likely do better at a game of Tennis than me? LOL! Naturally skill and experience always come into play to some degree mainly because with it comes the ability to filter trades more diligently. Of course, as an educator, the aim is to overcome this through presenting quality strategies, clear instructions and procedures, with preferably no discretion, and importantly applying no more or less information than is necessary! Early feedback is that this has been achieved at least to some degree with this book.
Brad: Does it require any kind of prerequisite trading knowledge/skill to do this so that you’d do a much better job trading it than a newbie would be able to?
Alex: Just a basic understanding of charts is enough to use 80% of this system. The Astro cycle timing is the only slightly more challenging element, but the process and programmed tools make this very easy to apply in practice with consistent results due to the specific nature of the steps.
Brad: Are the stops automatically generated?
Alex: It's not discretionary, it is rules-based. Depending on the entry signal, they are most often ‘tight’ on risk compared with reward, exactly the way it is meant to be.
Brad: Are the signals mechanically generated or are they based upon subjective decision making and subjective analysis?
Alex: Basically, applying the tools makes it easy to identify the signals. No flashing arrow will pop up, but for the bread-and-butter setup, you simply need to identify trend according to Dow Theory on 2 levels (major and minor trend – all taught in the book), plus observe when price rejects a support or resistance area at the same time as a timing line signal occurs. Then you set your 2 targets to the next set of lines clearly shown to you on the chart.
Here’s another example to illustrate: pink line = entry, red line = stop loss, green lines = targets, vertical dashed line = timing line.
Brad: So, is the low start capital amount why the curve is initially somewhat flat for the first 275 trades, or is that more just the nature of the trades due to market movement?
Alex: Partly me being more cautious in early stages of the campaign to make sure the account gets some steady uplift, and partly due to the market movement being a little stagnant through that period.
Brad: And then it really takes off, is that due to the larger amounts compounding more quickly, or did the market increase its volatility, get into a trend, or do something that just generated a lot better trades?
Alex: Yes, the volatility did increase. Also, after achieving some reasonable growth in the account I began to push things along with a little more managed risk and higher leverage as mentioned above.
Brad: Just wondering about that HUGE growth spike, is it a natural result of the system efficiency or representative more of a “lucky streak” where the market started moving better to allow more profit capture?
Alex: My focus is always to keep consistently applying the principles correctly and trade the plan well. Sooner or later, the stronger market moves will eventually come along and accelerate the equity growth curve. This happened more towards the end of the campaign in this case, when I was also maximizing the risk outlay as I had identified a good quality down trend on the 256-minute chart and was aiming to finish the campaign with a strong growth sequence. Turned out to be quite a nice increase.
Brad: If you had not closed it out at this point, do you anticipate the growth curve would have continued to move at an exponential rate or might it have flattened out again, then spiked again?
Alex: After closing out a large increase like that final run, normally the next period will be a little slower, just the nature of the ebb and flow of volatility in an intra-day context. It’s important not to start forcing trades, especially just after the excitement of a large win when you feel as if everything is going your way. I find, at these times, it is best to put the brakes on risk a little and take extra time and care with choosing the next set up. Quite often after a large profit is taken at a target-2, the next setup will be a counter trend opportunity as in the example below.
In this case, the expectation is for a smaller swing, so it is wise to shoot for only a target-1. It is a matter of maximizing each individual setup according to its own merits, but not trying to force something that is not really there. Reward for risk on this counter-trend trade is only around 1.5 to 1, any less and it would not be worth even looking at. A slightly tighter stop could have been applied in this case to improve the ratio.
Brad: Can anybody trade this system and generate returns in the 1000’s% a month, or does that require your special level of skill?
Alex: My belief is that anyone willing to put the effort into learning and practicing good trading systems and habits can ‘make the turn’ and become consistently profitable. This system focusses on making it easy to apply the one big key that absolutely must be managed correctly… reward for risk! Following this system with conviction will lead to profitability. Other factors that impact results will be the effects of existing trading skills and human behavior in response to the psychology of trading.
Brad: What would be the more regular expectation of a normal trader or even a not so skilled trader?
Alex: That is exactly the point, expectation! Mindset and conviction can be developed and will make a difference, this takes time and active trading experience for which there is no substitute. Developing self-belief, and more importantly, existing in that state of belief in your own abilities, plus having conviction in your system is a large step towards success.
Of 30 trades and initially maintain at least a 50% win rate. As long as you follow the risk management plan, this win rate will result in some profit and account growth. Even at a bit lower win rate, a profit will most likely be the result due to the risk management built into the system. The next goal is to work on filtering trades more effectively and lifting this win rate to 60-70%, then very large campaign results are within reach providing you can maintain this skill level.
Brad: Will the same system work with a much larger amount of base capital?
Alex: Yes of course, the only difference is in psychology and human behavior.
Brad: Could this system, for instance, be used with a large investment fund, or are there scale-up limitations?
Alex: The only limitations here are the same as for any other system, available liquidity is the main consideration.
Brad: How many different markets at a time could one trade using this technology?
Alex: In theory, as many as you can chart! In practice it’s a case of how many do you need to reach your goals and what is realistic? This depends on the time frame being traded.
For me, the answer is 1 – 3 markets per campaign is the right number to provide plenty of opportunities without being overwhelmed by too much information. If I am trading a very short time frame such as 2-minute charts, then I find it best to stick with 1 market only. Longer time frames potentially allow for more chart work as there is less pressure on the trade placement and management.
All of the details and processes of this trading system are fully explained in the new Book 3, Part 1 of my Universal Golden Keys Series, Music of the Spheres: Astro-Gnomonic Impulse and the Geometry of Tim. Initially, this book contained a collection of about a dozen different proprietary astro-trading tools and techniques that were left to the user to apply as they so desired.
However, upon further reflection, I realized that to build the series of techniques around a core trading system that would which then advanced as each new set of tools was presented in Parts 2, 3, and 4 would provide a stronger foundation and understanding for traders who were not as clear as to what to do with the collection of trading tools as I am.
We are currently in the final phase of breaking this work into the 4 separate pieces of advancing sophistication. The above trading system is presented as the core system upon which the astro-trading techniques are based introduced in Part 1, The Synchronicity of Numbers, and then will be further extended and refined through the sequence of the later volumes which will come over the next year.
Everything discussed above will be available in Part 1, The Synchronicity of Numbers. We are also just completing sets of automated tools to apply this system on our partner software platforms, Wave59, Optuma and Tradingview. So, there will be multiple software options for users according to their preference and budget.
