Earl J. Swan III
Director of Sales and Marketing of ExitPoints.com
Program(s) Developed: Epic, Score & Starter trading system.
Interviewed by John F. Gallwas, Founder of Striker Securities, Inc.
Earl Swan III works out of home in Guilford, Ct. located on Long Island Sound 15 miles East of New Haven, Connecticut, where 52 years ago, he started his career. One of the highlights of his extensive participation in the financial serves industry was in 1991 when he joined Robert Prechter's Elliot Wave International ("EWI") as "Director of Institutional Sales". At EWI he met and worked with David Register, who went on to be the founder of ExitPoints.com , and the interviewee in our July 2014 Striker Report. Earl is now "Director of Sales and Marketing" for ExitPoints.com.
John Gallwas: Why did you join ExitPoints.com as Director of Sales and Marketing?
ExitPoints.com founded in 2003, develops futures trading systems using artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is the human-like intelligence exhibited by machines or software. David Register's experience started at Lockheed, where he was a member of NASA's famed Artificial Intelligence Team. From this research background David developed the algorithms for the "EPIC", "SCORE" and "STARTER" futures trading systems. David Register is registered as a CTA (NFA 300426) and the home office for ExitPoints is located in Bertram, a small town some 40 miles NW of Austin, Texas. Earl Swan: I went to visit Dave in Gainesville Ga in 2003 and he showed me a new trading system he had developed for the individual trader utilizing a form of Artificial Intelligence. I was really interested on how this could be offered to the individual in the futures market at a reasonable price where they could expect a good return. With the Internet and the concept of a virtual office Dave and I were soon in business and have been ever since. John Gallwas: Last summer as I recall, when we interviewed David Register, the "STARTER System" had been one of the stellar performers but since then has experienced a significant drawdown, especially for those who entered the system after August 2014. What can you tell us about what ExitPoints has learned from this event and how has it affected the Company? Earl Swan: John, that that is a very fair question. We all know that the inherent risk in futures trading is to provide the opportunity to make extraordinary profits. We feel STARTER delivered just that exceptional performance through August. Although we were not surprised with the drawdown, we were surprised with it severity, and we lost capital right along with our clients. We not only lost equity we also lost clients and to some degree creditability and trust which we need to earn back. We also should educate our brokers and clients to consider the following options when we have another large run up in equity, (1) reduce the exposure (2) shift to a more diversified program like SCORE, or (3) to a different program like EPIC. John Gallwas: How do your STARTER, SCORE, and EPIC trading systems differ? Earl Swan: All three day-trading systems are similar as entry orders are placed each evening to take advantage of overnight generated signals. All trades are exited at the end of the day session so no positions are held overnight Since this is a volatility breakout system, which uses the "Hobo Approach" to trading, all trades are entered using either a buy or sell stop orders that are entered each night before the markets opens for overnight trading. The SCORE system trades twenty sectors and is the most diversified and least volatile. Starter trades eleven sectors is more volatile and is intended to be a stepping stone for the Score System as its name implies. Score and Starters orders are exactly the same. The EPIC system trades fewer markets with different indicators and uses a smaller volatility measure for determining breakouts and entries. This results in the EPIC system more active and trades more frequently than STARTER or SCORE. John Gallwas: Have any modifications been made to any of the three trading systems? Earl Swan: Dave is always reviewing and testing the systems as new data becomes available and will make minor routine "tweaks" to the systems. In fact, he just recently made two changes STARTER and CORE which he believes will improve future performance. We have a proprietary warehouse of data going back over fourteen years where we back test using our current signals. Since we are not a trend following system we find, as new data is added each trading day, this to be an invaluable analytical tool. John Gallwas: What can you do to help improve the risk/reward ratio for traders using ExitPoints systems? Earl Swan: Over the years that I have had the experience in dealing with all kinds of speculative programs, and the common denominator to improving trader's prospects is for that trader to have a good understanding of the program. As a result we at ExitPoints want to expand our educational programs and I invite anyone interested in system trading using ExitPoints or any other system developer, to please call us at 203-457-7121.
This interview is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be
a solicitation of any kind. Trade only with risk capital. The risk of
trading can be substantial and each investor and/or trader must consider
whether trading systems are a suitable investment.
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Developers Interviewed:
October, 2016
Thomas Stridsman (Alfa Axiom Fund, of Alfakraft AB, a Swedish fund management company.)
Published at Striker Securities, Inc.
Contact Striker
940 N. Industrial Drive Elmhurst, IL 60126, U.S.A. (800)669-8838 / (312)987-0043 www.Striker.com |