C O N T E N T S

Why is British pound also referred to as "Cable"?
We are not the authority on this, either, but some market historians may suggest that the undersea transatlantic cable may have something to do with it. Long before the sinking of Titanic, the British pounds were as mighty as today's USD and frequently wired back and forth as a dominant currency during its days between North America and Europe via the cable, thus the nickname stuck.

Why buy high and sell low?
Among the indexes and currencies we mention in our web site are:        

The latter three are quoted in the Forex market differently from the rest as JPY per dollar, CAD per dollar, and SWF per dollar. Hence, the higher the quote numbers, the lower the currency values; for example, at the rate 120.00 yen per dollar, JPY is worth less against USD than it is at the rate of 110.00 yen per dollar. Likewise, if JPY's movement pattern is trending up on a screen chart from 110.00 yen per dollar to 120.00 per dollar, JPY' value is actually weakening against USD, and we would want to wait for a higher numbered weaker price to buy yen. As confusing as it seems, we can only take the comfort of knowing that we don't have more than these three currencies, JPY, SWF (CHF), and CAD, to deal with. So, it is buy market low and sell market high for DOW, DLR, AUD, GBP, EUR, and buy chart high and sell chart low for JPY, SWF (CHF), and CAD.


Why a bull trend in chart is a bear trend in value?
Similarly as above, our use of words such as "up" and "down", or "bullish" and "bearish" are meant to intuitively follow or reflect the visual chart direction of a currency's movement, not necessarily its actual market value against USD. In case of JPY, SWF, and CAD, their "bullish" trend in chart means bearish trend in value. For example, if we say "JPY is expected to slide back down from 120.00 to 118.00," we mean that yen's chart movement pattern is to turn south while its value is to strengthen against dollar from the weaker rate of 120.00 to the stronger rate of 118.00.  In our language, all use of these words such as "up and down," "upside and downside," "upward and downward," "going up and coming down," "up trend and down trend" are all meant to refer to the visual charting movements of currencies or indexes, not necessarily their actual market values. One has to get used to it in order to elude the confusion. Fortunately, one usually does in time.

Wouldn't some big players trade against you if you post your trade plans in the open?
There are more than one answer to this question. In theory, yes, other people will and should use our trade plans against us, making their money at our expense. In practice, however, there are a lot more information that has to be assured before anyone may have a chance to jerk us around. For example, for everyone who plan to trade against us, there may be one or two or ten others trading with us, hence making it a bit more challenging for anyone to take upon a shadow competitor like us. That said, during so-called "thin market," few individuals have been reported to cause sizable price fluctuation, much like the ripples caused by a stone dropped in a moonless lake. As such, we do have experienced on increasingly regular basis "innocent" cut-losses, in which the market travels just enough to force us out of positions before swinging back our way again without us in the market to catch any of it. Most of our losses in 2002-3 were of this type. As much as we do not believe it, we as human beings do naturally wonder about its apparent consistency. As a technician, we have yet to be convinced of it. The market is too big an ocean yet to pick on us Nemos.

What do I do if my trade plan is generally sound, but the market goes just enough to trigger my stop-loss before going my way the entire way to profit target?
This question is directly related to the one above. And the answer is sufficiently given in the excerpt from our email back to a viewer: "You have asked a question that all traders must have wrestled with at least one time in their career.  It is a good question that may have many "good" answers to it.  However, our experience as well as those of many others have taught us that any way of trading (chasing the market or waiting for the next trade) carries a factor of risk and reward. It is mixing of the many ways of trading that would get one killed sooner than soon. One needs to decide before hand whether he or she trades by sniffing the wind of market mood, or by following seemingly robotic discipline, and then pick and choose one as his or her trading strategy, and sticks to it.  We have learned to prefer the latter; namely, the strategy of "planning a trade and trading a plan." The market never ends, it comes around and around; hence, there will be endless opportunities for you to go in and fetch riches. If the price action kicks your position out and then still turns to go your way, the most you probably should gain from the loss is the lesson learned on how to time your next entry and stop-loss better.  It is far better to move on to plan your next trade than to dwell on a losing trade and your own emotion to get it back right away."

As talented professionals you seem to be, what is your theory about the market behaviors?
Contrary to popular belief, we are by far and by default of our professions not market theorists, or at least not any more than we are still students who cannot seem to quit learning about the market just yet. For some peculiar reason, however, we are frequently picked on by some "friendly" viewers for a duel of debates over just such matters. And friends or foes, we always end up limping away from each other. To better avoid or at least shorten our future exchanges, we try to sum up our conventional wisdom on a special page to entertain anyone who demands to hear what we have to say about the market behavior and how to go about coping with it. And please bear in mind that, while theories abound and aside, the best and most eloquent way to challenge and debunk SAM-style analysis is to do it with the SAM style, namely, show your guts ahead of time, show your analysis ahead of time, show your trading plans ahead of time, and show your forward trading record that stands the test of time. Most respectfully welcome are critiques coming from viewers who can pass the challenge of completing at least five trades in the SAM style via email to us.

Is market predictable?
The short answer is yes, some of the times, by some of the people. The long answer is that God only knows all about the market all the time, and even then He is not telling anyone about it. Whatever the case may be, we as sub-god humans can only do our best to study, analyze, observe, compare, test, as well as conducting trial-and-error experiments, for the purpose of staying one step ahead of the market. When we manage to have seen and been through enough of the same price patterns, we are bound not to miss too many of them when they repeat again and again.  One of the best ways to study about the market psychology is to learn about ourselves, the human psychology. After all, the market is nothing than a human activity. On good place to start self-analyzing is to mentally hop onto the moon and look back upon the earth at a group of children trying to dare each other into reaching the back gate of a cemetery at midnight. The group's size, spread, and suspense can all be tale tell signs of whether or how fast any of the children would ever get to and back from the curious destination. Except for the prankster kid (or an insider trader) who sets up others for a laugh, the behavior of rest of the gang is very readable, given the group's makeup and other recognizable factors. The group psychology of the market participants should not be very much different from that of graveyard kids on a hot summer night. Practice and perseverance can help getting it right. Delusion and defeatism will not.

If SAM trading system is so good, why aren't you selling it?
The Martians have a name to call one of their own, who travels back from the blue planet not to sell the water it brought back, but to sell tickets for the next ride through the swarms of F-16s and Su-27s for a dip in the Earth's ocean. It's called "Eamo Osu" (you sucker). The day we will sell you the SAM system is most likely the day we find no more use of it, like many others who do sell theirs. Then again, there is another practical reason why we do not market the SAM system for sale, as we do not trust its reliability when operated in the hands of those who may expect from it nothing short of perfection. Neither, moreover, have we ourselves sufficiently reconciled the delicate issue of man vs. machine, in order to render our trading system as a commodity.