Over the coming years, Van Tharp foresees excellent trading opportunities in the currency market because of several big-picture forces. Primarily, central banks will continue their attempts to influence the relative value of their currencies against other currencies. Combine that with the imbalances caused by trade and debt levels and we have a currency market that promises to remain lively for some time to come.

Add to this attractive volatility one important, very practical and positive point for individuals: Forex has evolved into a market in which individual investors can trade efficiently. That wasn't always the case. It used to make little sense for individual traders to trade currencies because you had to have a significant amount of capital to open a Forex trading account, which were only available at big money-center banks. The emergence over the last decade, however, of “smaller” currency brokers with electronic platforms and a broad base of retail traders has made the Forex market more accessible and easier to navigate for individuals. This large group of retail traders has complemented the ever-existent institutional trading to create an even larger and more liquid market for currency exchange.

Van Tharp Institute clients have been requesting a Forex trading workshop consistently for the last few years. Now we're proud to present a three-day workshop that will show you what it takes to trade Forex and send you home with three trading systems—and even some hands-on trading experience.

Your presenter, Gabriel Grammatidis, has enjoyed a successful evolution as a Forex trader over the last few years and now wants to share some of his experience with other traders. He has a varied and fascinating background.

After working for PIMCO and a top 5 global investment manager for over ten years, Gabriel decided to pursue his passion for trading and personal development by leaving his successful financial career and enrolling in Dr. Tharp’s Super Trader program. In the program, he had to unlearn most of what he’d been taught and adopt new ways of thinking that would allow him to start winning consistently in his trading. Gabriel graduated two years ago from the Super Trader program and has fully transitioned to full-time trading.

Born in Switzerland of Greek and German parents, Gabriel has always felt a natural attraction to the international nature of currency trading; though he lives in Germany, he’s worked and traveled extensively outside the Euro zone. Additionally, the 24-hour Forex spot (cash) market allows him to choose various trading timeframes and to trade at times of the day that best fit his lifestyle.

The Theory: All You Need to Know About Forex

Gabriel will spend most of the workshop teaching his systems, but for much of the first morning, he’ll go over the basics of trading the Forex spot market and cover such topics as:

• Why trade Forex?
• What are the advantages and drawbacks of trading Forex versus other instruments?
• What are the main market characteristics, and who are the Forex market participants?
• What methods work best in the Forex market?
• How are Forex chart characteristics different than stocks or futures?
• What do you look for in a Forex broker? What do you avoid?
• Why Forex may actually be the best market for new traders to learn trading.

The Method

Gabriel will discuss a number of Forex trading ideas at his workshop and teach three specific trading systems. All three are trend-based; you can see the price action patterns in the price charts. His systems can be traded in various timeframes and can be traded across a wide range of currency pairs. Gabriel’s preferred style is swing trading using primarily 15-minute, 60-minute and 240-minute candle charts. His trades usually tend to evolve over a timeframe of anywhere from several hours to a couple of days (or even weeks, in the case of strong trends).

The Systems

All three systems are based on the concept of trend-following. Each system is based on similar “ingredients,” but each has a different recipe to capture a different part of the trend. Consequently, the systems are complementary to each other and together offer trading setups nearly every day of the year.

Gabriel’s first system, which he developed while in the Super Trader program, is his most mechanical system. It has a high win rate and takes advantage of a common trend occurrence—breakout failures. Watching 15-minute charts and trading only the most liquid currency pairs, the system finds more than 100 trades per year. Gabriel trades it strictly by the rules and is confident that someone with the programming skills could turn it into an automated trading system.

His second system is based on price breakouts, which are very easy to spot on the charts. This system requires a bit more experience to trade profitably than his first system. It has a lower win rate of around 50%, but generates more trade setups, resulting in similar system performance results.

Gabriel's third system requires more "hands-on" attention. It uses tight stops, so it has the lowest win rate of his three systems. However, because it provides about 200 trades per year (just on the big currency pairs), it is the most profitable and prolific system for traders with some experience and discretion.

The Results

With System Quality Number™ scores of between 3.6 to over 4, all of Gabriel’s systems rank in the "Excellent" category in Van’s trading system classification! You can use position sizing™ strategies to achieve your trading objectives more easily with systems that have a high SQN score. When you get back home, you can adapt the systems to different currency pairs, shorter time frames, longer time frames, or even to different markets! Gabriel himself has started trading these systems on Gold, Silver and Oil futures contracts, the German DAX index and less liquid Forex pairs with similarly strong results. He also trades them with timeframes as short as a 20-tick chart and as long as end-of-day prices. You have plenty of flexibility to adapt the systems so they fit you.

Trade Before You Leave the Workshop!

Have you ever attended a trading workshop that taught a lot of methodology and a bunch of rules, only to find that you had trouble trading it when you got back home because you had so little experience with it? Gabriel had that experience and wants to better prepare the traders at his workshop.

Students in his course come away with a solid understanding of the trading process because they practice the setups, entries and exits! Gabriel makes extensive use of a trading simulator, so you go home already having traded the systems.

After a thorough review of each system, he slowly walks you through a number of trades on each system that has multiple time frame charts—basically the same screen setup that Gabriel uses to identify setups, entries and exits. All of these trades use recorded historical data run on a software system that reproduces the price charts from the date and time in the live market. You will be able to watch the setups happen as he explains how to get ready for and make the entry, and then how to get ready for and make the exit. After walking the class through several simulations, Gabriel allows students to talk through several additional examples with minimal guidance from him.

You learn, not only by seeing and hearing, but by doing! When you get home, you’ll already have made a number of trades in each system—which means you’ll have a running start. And just to be sure, Gabriel provides everyone with pages of additional example trades to take home and study.

"The best aspect of the course was the knowledgeable, accessible instructor."—Harold.G, Las Vegas, NV

"I am a Forex trader, and I thought Gabriel did an excellent job introducing everyone to Forex."—Anonymous, Melbourne, Australia

“Very quality documentation and presentation technology… I didn’t expect I would learn as much as I did.”—Robert Allen, Fountain Hills, AZ

"The best takeaway was the workbook, which will allow me to review and trade the system."—Rick F., Tampa, FL

“I loved the class and would recommend.”—Terry Hudgins, Farmville, VA

"The course dispelled my erroneous beliefs about the Forex market, and there is a definite nugget by integrating simulation into the course."—John G.,Melbourne, FL

“These are thoroughly tested and proven systems, with quantified, proven results.”—Jim Cook, Waterville, ME

"Before the workshop, I thought Forex was too risky for trading, but now I can see myself trading Forex. I would like to attend a longer workshop with Gabriel."—Peter W, New York, NY

"I think the structure is great for learning—basic information, system description, examples, and then live-trading the simulator. Do more of these."—Jan S., Madrid, Spain

The best aspect of the course was...

“Expertise of instructor; his accessibility and clear answers to questions, use of many charts, real-life examples.”—Kathy McGuire, Asheville, NC

 

“The well-organized workbook and the live simulator really helped my understanding of the concepts… The instructor did a great job organizing the course, as well as teaching the course.”—Anonymous

 

“Live-trade walkthroughs and associated discussions.”—Peter Shearing, Australia

 

“Learning 3 specific, tested systems in a new (to me) market (FX).”—Daniel Taylor, Dallas, TX

My biggest surprise from the course was...

“That all of the expectations I had were met or exceeded (I actually created an expectation list prior to arriving).”