In this issue:
I. NeuroShell Trader Advanced Seminar heads west
II. Commentary by Steve Ward, CEO
III. Release 5.3
IV. Ward Systems will be closed July 4.
V. One way to stop this newsletter
*******************************************************
I. NeuroShell Trader Advanced Seminar heads west
The NeuroShell Trader Advanced Seminar is once again going on the road and this time the location will be in the southwestern United States in early October 2007. The exact details are being worked out as this newsletter is being prepared, but we hope to have all of the information by the July newsletter. Watch this space!
In the meantime, there are several things we know for sure. The seminar will be conducted by Steve Ward, CEO and Chief Technical Officer of Ward Systems Group, and Marge Sherald, COO of Ward Systems Group Inc. and author of many articles on artificial intelligence and trading. The seminar will cover the following topics:
Drilling Into Existing Data
Linear and Non-linear Regression Methodologies
Pattern Matching
Theory and Practical Operation of Neural Networks
Embedding Nets into Trading Strategies
Ensemble Estimators
Recurrent Nets in Neural Indicators
Classification Models using Neural Indicators, Cluster Indicators, and Adaptive Net Indicators
Theory and Practical Operation of Genetic Algorithms
Locking and Pairing Optimization Parameters
Optimization Objectives
Theory and Practical Operation of Paper Trading
Fuzzy Pattern Recognition
Fuzzy Sets
Building Fundamental Models with NeuroShell Classifier
Scanning
Chart Page Calculation Indicators
Hedging Portfolios
Accessing the (red) Active Bar
Using Redundant Haar Wavelets
The Interactive Brokers Interface
Trigger and Flag Indicators
Specifying Limit Prices
Programming Indicators in Power Basic
Why should you attend? We think one of our attendees from the March 2007 seminar says it best:
“Thank you for another excellent seminar – the best yet. I won’t be able to get to working with all the techniques you gave us for awhile, but with the excellent documentation you sent with us, I will be able to implement any that I wish whenever I have the opportunity. Even though I began using NeuroShell first on a 286 12 MHz computer, I found this seminar to be extremely valuable, and I expect to easily recoup the cost in improved models. While I sensed that even very experienced users found much to learn at the seminar, less experienced users were able to see not only where they were going, but how to get there. This seminar was a very significant boost up the learning curve.”
*******************************************************
II. Commentary by Steve Ward, CEO
1. Devil take the Hindmost. That’s the title of another great book I read recently, this one written by Edward Chancellor. It is pretty dry, slow reading, but if you think you might be fascinated by the history of bubbles, I recommend it. Edward Chancellor has done more research for this book than anyone has for any book I’ve ever read. He does almost a blow-by-blow description of every major bubble since the Dutch tulip mania of the 1630s, where speculation drove the cost of a tulip bulb to more than the cost of a small townhouse in Holland at the time. You can read all the rationalizations of the speculators as they get caught up in the bubbles, followed by the blame game after the bubbles burst.
You wonder how generation after generation gets hooked on these things in spite of all the warnings from the past. On the other hand, I either didn’t read about all these financial speculations in school, or I didn’t pay attention. Sure, the roaring 20s and crash of 1929 were covered, but do the history books detail the South Sea Bubble of 1720, the South American Mining Mania of 1825, the Railway Mania of 1845, and all the panics and bubbles of the Gilded Age? Chancellor also illuminates the “Cowboy Capitalism” of the 1980s, including the junk bond mania and the 1987 crash. He winds up with a great account of the huge Japanese Bubble Economy and crash, and the bail-out of Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM was the hedge fund known as the Rolls-Royce of hedge funds). Too bad the book was first printed in June 2000 – a few months later and he could have written a lot more, but it was pretty easy to see that the high tech bubble was just like all the others. I really enjoyed the book, although I kept waiting for a prescription to tell me exactly when to bail out before a bubble bursts. Worth 5 times its $15 paperback price tag.
2. Summer Days. Summer is slow for us because everybody is on vacation somewhere, and the markets are flat. We have been known some days to shut down the whole office a little early and go to the pizza joint down the street to drink beer. If you wait until late in the afternoon eastern time to call or email us in the summer, don’t be surprised if we don’t answer. Call earlier.
*******************************************************
III. Release 5.3
We are now shipping release 5.3, which has fixed a number of bugs that were in 5.2 and 5.1. Release 5.3 is a free download which you request by sending an email to support@wardsystems.com if you are already an owner of release 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, or 5.3 betas. We will not be working on any bugs found in previous releases. We send 5.3 updates on an individual basis, and we check each user for validity, so we can only send out a limited number each day. Therefore, it could take a few weeks to get 5.3 out to everyone who wants it. Please bear with us on this. You can check what release you are currently running by selecting the Help menu –> About NeuroShell Trader. Some of you may already have 5.3.
*******************************************************
IV. Ward Systems will be closed July 4.
July 4th is the US Independence Day, a holiday in the US which we will be observing.
*******************************************************
V. One way to stop this newsletter
It is really easy. Just change your email address and don’t tell us.
*******************************************************