I am already a veteran reviewer of Jeff Greenblatt’s opera magna, since I already did a review for his well known book “Breakthrough Strategies for Predicting Any Market” :). In the beginning, I must admit I was a bit confused by the cryptic language and by the unorthodox approaches used by Jeff in that book. But since then I read a few other books on trading and the light started to shine at the end of this tunnel. So here I am, with a new review on Greenblatt’s latest DVD trading series of videos, “Harnessing Explosive Market Turns”.
Jeff Greenblatt is one of the most interesting technical traders of our days. In fact, he is one of the most pure technicians I ever met trading, meaning that his focus on patterns and graphical analysis goes to the extremes. Greenblatt rarely looks at the context (he rarely does fundamental analysis) to base his trades on. He rather validates his graphical analysis with the fundamental parameters verification, not the other way around, as most of the traders do in practice. From this perspective, you could call Greenblatt a contrarian investor – which he is not, since he just uses a different method, not the opposite one of the market.
What is the DVD set about?
The set focuses on 3 main topics which every trader (experienced or not) is most likely to look for:
1. Pattern search in trading:
How to use the patterns found with these indicators, like the first leg down, to avoid limiting your potential profit in trades.
2. How to use the trading automation tools:
Fully functioning access to Jeff’s custom software that allows you to find and see the setups with the click of your mouse.
3. Back testing via historical analysis
In-depth historical analysis of the indicators and how they have worked–and could have made money–in virtually every bull and bear market.
In a sense, all these 3 topics are used back and forth in every trade. They are common obsessions among nowadays’ trader theoreticians – I also met this kind of educational agenda for example to Steve Palmquist. And whilst the techniques of Steve Palmquist seem sometimes arguable, they are the backbone of the arsenal of most traders.
The main difference between Palmquist’s techniques and the ones from the “Harnessing Explosive Market Turns” DVD consists in the type of approach. Ither traders have also a practical approach. The presenters of various investment techniques usually speak about their experiences and try to derive conclusions based on as much empirical evidence as possible. Jeff Greenblatt does his job somehow differently – he starts from the practical perspective (usually a good example) and then he works his way out to your understanding by building a richer picture. This is not a better or a worse teaching method – it is just a different one. Depending on the type of trader you are, you can choose a method or another
For example, if you are a trader who likes to put his hands on a practical type of trade, it is better to start with a DVD review by Jeff Greenblatt. He will throw you into the water – e.g. into trading a specific type of share over a defined timeframe – maybe Citibank with a 4 hours candlestick pattern. After the first shock, Greenblatt will relieve a bit of the pressure from the cold water of the market movements and will show you some of the analyzing signs. He then builds very quickly an understanding of the techniques and reveals what you should really see and how should you trade that asset in that environment. And Greenblatt does it very quickly; therefore you must be a somehow experienced trader to understand his techniques working in practice.
On the other hand, the other technical analysis teachers start by showing you a bit of an investment trading theory, and then their applications into practical environments. This later approach is more suitable for the reflexive and / or the inexperienced trader, meaning that you should be that kind of person to really follow this approach. Neither method is wrong. It just happened that I was more reflexive than practical and Greenblatt’s “Harnessing Explosive Market Turns” looked a bit strange in the beginning. It just took me a longer time to get there, which is fine as long as you start to understand the facts…
This DVD has an extra bonus added as a benefit. With the DVD you should also receive a demonstration on Jeff’s Time Zone Software that counts the bars for you instantly. For a technical trader it is quite a tedious matter to count all the bars for various setups in the market and what Greenblatt developed was quite interesting. It would take quite a long time to scan the charts and reveal the setups, whilst the software semi-automates the task. I have not tested this yet in practice but it should be a pretty neat tool for the day trader, shouldn’t it?
What was also interesting was the Q&A approach on the lessons. The presentation session recorded for this DVD had lots of attendees and there are quite a few good points raised. It is not like being there though… Anyway, the “Harnessing Explosive Market Turns: Finding Profitable Set-ups with Fibonacci, Lucas, Elliott Wave, and Candlesticks”
DVD set is quite an extensive set of tools for the common investor. Whether they will work in the practice and bring you the happiness you are looking for – well, no one can guarantee that, right?