The Market Matrix Story

Introduction

The Market Matrix approach to timing your entries and exits in the financial markets is a fascinating story which has its beginning nearly 24 years ago. Much of the story is told in the book "The Delta Phenomenon", upon which the Market Matrix timing method is built upon.

It started with a gentleman named Jim Sloman who began exploring alternative ways of analyzing the financial markets. He made a startling discovery about the nature of trends in the financial markets, and most importantly, when the trends would come to an end.

In October 1983 Jim Sloman contacted Welles Wilder, an already famous trader and technical analyst, with the idea of selling the methodology. According to the Welles Wilder himself, it took Jim Sloman no more than 10 minutes to convince him that this was one of the most important discoveries ever made about the financial markets. The story in its entirety can be found in "The Delta Phenomenon Book", which can be purchased here. Welles Wilder later wrote the book and gave it the subtitle "The Hidden Order in all Markets".

A Personal Story

Some 7 years later Steve Copan, who at that point already had learned about the works of Welles Wilder and the Delta Society, was running a thriving computer business. However, in the latter stages of the recession in 1993-4 Steve Copan's hardware company lost a major contract and as a result of it had to close for business.

Over the course of the next 6 years Steve Copan kept himself and his family alive by day-trading indices and currencies. He relied on the Delta Phenomenon for trading guidance but throughout the late 90's kept wondering if this was all there was to Delta, constantly questioning why markets did what they did.

Slowly and gradually Steve built up a library of evidence which concluded that while The Delta Phenomenon was virtually unrivalled in its accuracy of predicting turning points in the market, it was possible to improve the timing of trade entries. The secret was found in the natural laws of science. You can read an interview with Steve Copan in Traders Mag here.

The Profitable Trader from Bedford

I first heard about Steve Copan back in 2003. There were rumours in the market place that a gentleman from Bedford was making good money out of the markets using Delta, but more importantly that his win-to-loss ratio was nothing short of outstanding. I had been and still am to this day deeply immersed in the study of the financial markets, as well as trading them, so naturally I tried to contact Mr Copan. I managed to track him down and slowly began establishing a dialogue with him regarding Delta and time cycles in financial trading.

Over the course of the next few months I would speak to Steve sporadically. Every time we did speak, he would tell me where the Dow and the SP500 was headed and occasionally where some of the key currencies would go to. You often hear traders talk amongst each other, voicing their opinion on the direction of the market. However, Steve was different. It was unambiguous statements of both the time of the turn and the price as well. Initially I was sceptical but with time I realized he was right far more often than he was wrong. As a matter of fact he was virtualy always right.

As I was not able to “reverse engineer” his method I asked him to teach me. He told me that he wouldn’t mind teaching me the method that he called “The Market Matrix”, but he would not do it for free. He had put many years into the development of the Matrix and felt the fee I was to pay should reflect its value and profit potential. Steve wanted £35,000. He was that confident it would be worth my while that he did not want to negotiate the price.

At the time I felt certain that the Market Matrix would work but I was not prepared to pay £35,000 out of my own pocket to learn how to use the Matrix. I therefore persuaded 9 other full-time traders to join me for a day of training.

The Matrix Seminar

Steve Copan, myself and a group of 9 other traders met near his home in Bedford. We spent a Saturday together going over the Delta Theory and the use of the Market Matrix. It was an incredibly enlightening day, which shattered a few myths about the financial markets. I also learned on the day that Steve is a Delta director in the UK and has been trading currencies, stocks and indices using the Market Matrix for many years.

The Market Matrix method is surprisingly easy to understand and everyone attending the seminar felt that was truly a unique and powerful tool, and potentially very profitable. About a week after the seminar and many phone calls from the attendees, it became clear to Steve that although he had been very specific in his training on the day, that invariably students on the day would forget things or omit certain aspects. Being taught for 12 hours intensively means that you would forget a few things.

Two other traders therefore suggested to Steve that he should put the entire seminar on a disc so anyone who ever wanted to learn the Market Matrix would have the benefit of reviewing the method over and over.

Steve saw the sense in committing his trading method to a CD and spent the next 4 months putting everything on 3 discs, which are now available for those interested in the timing method known as the Market Matrix. It is enjoyable to watch and easy to understand with chart after chart illustrating the method, and with the narrator explaining the method step by step.

What is the Market Matrix?

The question for anyone who has read this far is of course: what is the Market Matrix and what can you hope to achieve by investing in and learning the Market Matrix Method?

Steve Copan himself writes: “The Market Matrix is powerful tool used to predict future stock market prices, currencies, interest rates and any other traded instrument in the world." It is based on advanced time cycle analysis and has its foundation in Delta. However, unlike Delta Phenomenon the Market Matrix is far more accurate than Delta ever was.

If you ask me what the Market Matrix is, I would say that it takes the uncertainty out of Delta to provide the most accurate method for analyzing the markets I have ever seen. The ambiguity of Delta is that turning points can be two or three days out, and at times can “invert”. Using the Market Matrix you are provided with a tool that will pinpoint the turns with extreme precision while giving you specific rules on how to trade them

Prediction was out by 0.1 of a full SP500 point

The Market Matrix is an awesome piece of work. The CDs were finished in the first days of November 2004. On the final CD Steve Copan looks forward to the months ahead in the SP500, and he shows the viewer how he arrives at the 3rd of January 2005 as the high in the SP500 cash index at a price of 1118. It is a true testament to the brilliance of the Market Matrix, and it is done a full 2 months ahead of the actual day. The actual high was 1117.90 in the cash market. In other words the calculation is made more than 2 months before the turn and yet Steve Copan, using the Matrix tool, pinpoints the high to within 0.1 of an SP500 point and nails the day perfectly.

Theme of the Market Matrix CDs

The general theme of the 3 CDs is to teach the viewer how to calculate turning points in the financial markets, whichever market that may be. It could be in stocks, commodities, currencies or indices. The method makes use of Welles Wilders Delta points as the foundation. The Market Matrix is however all about one thing and one thing only: TIME. It is designed to teach the user how you use time as the most important tool in your trading decisions. Calculating price targets actually comes second to time. This is not a new theme. Gann made the same assumption. I have lost count the amount of times Steve Copan has said to me "Time is the most important tool".

The foundation that is used in the Matrix is Fibonacci numbers, extensions of Fibonacci, and ratios of Fibonacci. It is used in conjunction with Delta turning points and the aim of course is to pinpoint turns in the markets. The Matrix can be used for intra-day trading, swing trading and longer term position trading. In my experience the hardest bit to master is the intra-day trading, while trading over a couple of days is more straight forward.

The CDs goes through the use of Delta very elaborately, the use of Elliott Wave in relation to Delta Phenomenon and The Market Matrix and the use of Fibonacci numbers. A lot of time is spent on teaching how the Delta points tie in with waves and Fibonacci counts/numbers. The last CD of the 3 CDs deals exclusively with time (and price as well) and the "how to " step-by-step.

Do you need a Math degree to understand the Market Matrix?

It does not require a science degree to understand the concept, but it does help tremendously to use a decent charting package such as E-signal or Dynamic Trader. It also requires patience and practice. It requires you to take the time needed to analyse the market using the method, and above all it takes a profound interest in the market.

I have used this method on the shows I do for Bloomberg and CNBC and CNN. This has enabled me to make some spectacular calls in many markets. Some of the more recent ones was the turn in the SP500 on the 17th November 2006. It also enabled me to call the turn in the Pound against the US dollar on the Christmas show on Bloomberg when the £/$ was trading at $1.9450. I said a reversal was due and I expected it to be significant. 23 trading days later the US dollar was trading more than 900 points in my favour. I have made many calls which has nailed the highs and lows of a particular market.

Generally the tool enables me to get in on the moves, as they are about to happen. More importantly it gives me confidence to get out of a position, which I sometimes find even harder. The Matrix clearly states target points and time points. I have found that aspect particular useful as in the past I have had a tendency to give away too much profits on my trailing stops. Steve Copans 4-7™ Delta Technique has been particularly useful in this aspect.

The Market Matrix makes use of symmetry and sequence analysis. It shows how market highs and market lows are connected in any market into a sequence, which is ruled by a growth sequence which rules just about anything living. It also shows that by using the Market Matrix together with the Delta method (if you purchase the Market Matrix you will be given the Delta book as well) you can eliminate the error of margin of Delta. Click here to see price of Market Matrix.

Review by a Delta Director

One of the Delta Directors in the US who has used the Delta system for the last 20 years had this to say about the Market Matrix, after he had seen the 6 hours CD-Rom:

“ I have completed an initial review of all three volumes of the Market Matrix. Outstanding. I have traded commodities for more than 24 years and this puts it all together. The Delta Phenomenon is now the basis for the market’s movement however Steve Copan’s work with Fibonacci takes Delta to an ultimate level. I could hardly get through the first through the first listening, as the information is overwhelming. It takes a lot of work to setting everything up however I have no doubt it is well worth the effort” Jerry Baum – Delta Director

Jerry Baum pretty much sums up how I felt after the original seminar. The obvious question is how long will it take to master? I don’t know. I used a good week going over the material again and again after the original seminar before I felt comfortable with it. That was using my own notes. The beautiful think about the CD-Rom is that I can at least review the sections again and again, watching the charts on the screen and listening to explanations.

Is the Market Matrix for you?

The next question is if this is for you? Again, I don’t know. Many people are trading the markets but they don’t want to pay for good education. I meet traders, who trade huge positions in the Dow and Nasdaq, but they get their prices off the Bloomberg or CNBC TV scrolling ticker, or they use some of the free chart packages on the web. If you belong to this category, then I would not bother reading any further. You need good equipment to make full use of the Matrix. These days it is fairly cheap to get fully equipped. One thing I do know is that this method is probably one of the best methods you will ever encounter for timing the markets.

The Market Matrix is particular suited for those who like to trade the bigger swings in the markets and options traders. I use the Matrix for my currency trades, and I find it invaluable. The Matrix gets me on the 2-3 day swings. It gives me the confidence to put on trades when the time is most opportune. Over the last year I have used the method on indices, currencies, some US stocks that I trade, and the US T-bond market.

The Delta cycles will tell me that a turn is coming, and the Matrix will tell me when and often at what price. The Market Matrix in itself is a complete method and you don’t need a separate Delta book as the whole Delta method is explained precisely on the CD-Rom. However, Steve has found time frames and rules that the Delta Society does not know about. This is also included in the CD-ROM. I found this particularly useful for my intra-day trading.

The discs are narrated by Steve Copan and are filled with practical examples of its use. It comes with a complete step-by-step guide on how to calculate the turns in the future. It is a 6-hour CD-Rom, which takes you through the use of the Matrix in any market or stock, or commodity that you trade or invest in.

Click here to see price of the Matrix set.