Unholy Grails is designed for investors requiring a hard-wired yet robust strategy that has been statistically and robustly proven on past data before directly committing funds to the market. It is for investors wanting to move away from ‘Buy & Hold’ and a refuge from sustained bear market events. The goal is to offer an alternative to traditional investment methods; many would argue the 2008 stock market decline, when global markets and capital managed by fund managers dropped up to 50%, demonstrated exactly why a robust and historically proven alternative is desperately needed.

Introduction:

Conversely this book is not for advanced systems traders looking for sophisticated quantitative methods and statistical theorem, nor is it for investors wanting to encompass fundamental ratios or forecasting techniques; there are enough Buffett books on the market to keep several generations busy.

There is very little that is new in the world of trading and investing. When it comes to developing investment strategies of any type we tend to borrow bits and pieces, ideas and rituals from those we come into contact with. In some cases it may simply be a small part of a strategy, such as an entry mechanism read about in a book or on the net, adapted to suit our own personality. In some situations, such as John Rowland’s TechTrader, it’s a complete strategy that has been in the public arena for a number of years and successfully implemented by numerous retail investors. The world is full of strategies that get bandied about freely in the press, on investing and trading forums and in various magazines and books. But do they really work? This book is not about recreating the wheel. It’s about taking some of the commonly referred to strategies and putting them to the test so we can better understand what they can and, perhaps more importantly, what they can’t do.

Some of these strategies are dubbed ‘back of envelope’ because they are simple to understand and use. Others are a little more complex and require some basic off-the-shelf software to operate. However, either way, the goal is to limit the cost of implementation in both time and money spent. You do not need a financial planner or stockbroker to beat the market. You need fresh ideas that offer proof-of-concept. Not only are these ideas being presented for thoughtful consideration, they have been robustly tested using historical data to ensure they stand a chance of working into the future.

That said, any amount of testing, hypotheses and conclusions are not exact science. Indeed the stock market is not an exact science. It’s a game of probabilities in an ever-evolving world of human emotion. Within the realms of what is offered here one must be cognizant that past results are not indicative of future performance and that some of these ideas, indeed possibly all of these strategies, may not be appropriate for your own circumstances. It is highly recommended that if you intend to follow through with any of the methods presented that you complete a full assessment of the risks and merits of doing so or seek the advice of a qualified person to advise you.