Results

Our live trade log is available here – this is a Google spreadsheet that will be automatically updated after each completed campaign. Here are the current results starting 1/1/2014 through 1/28/2016:

Trading CrazyIvan

If you decide to trade CrazyIvan then you are probably not the type of trader that expects to double one’s principal in three months. Rather CrazyIvan should play a part of your combined trading activities – if you are sweating a 10% draw down then you simply are attributing too much capital. But over the long term it’s no different than other successful systems out there. Not convinced? Let me prove it to you:

The video starts at the 38 minute mark but I recommend that you really watch all of it. Nick Radge makes some very excellent point and I consider this video a must see for anyone even thinking about trading automated systems or joining a fund. Look at what happened with CrazyIvan in its first three months (with bad filters I may add but it is officially on the map) and then compare it with what occurred right after Bill Dunn got started back in the 1970s:

Did he throw in the towel? No he did not – and neither did he in 1982, in 1986, 2001, etc. But look at that overall growth curve – and it’s producing a bit over half of what CrazyIvan is expected to. Also, never underestimate the power of compounding – of course it works both ways. It’s wonderful to double your account in six months but the sad reality of most retail traders is that they wind up losing over half of it during the rest of the year. There you are – back to square one. Running a trading blog for over five years (3000 posts and counting) has offered me a front row seat to the trials and tribulations of the average retail trader.

Bottom Line

CrazyIvan is not a system you sign up and try for three or six months. It takes discipline to endure the grind and you may just enter at the onset of a drawdown. Hence it should be part of your portfolio accompanied by other trading activities – i.e. discretionary trading or other automated systems. Long term I expect it to do equal or even exceed what other systems of its kind have been doing. If you seek the holy grail – i.e. doubling your money in three months – then CrazyIvan is surely not for you. However if you are looking for a long term system that churns out 25R – 35R per year on average per symbol then you may consider signing up.

System trading is a bit like gym memberships. You don’t throw in the towel if you don’t look like a Greek God within three or six months. Progress is accumulative and it takes more effort and discipline than you probably expected 😉