Okay, time to get serious.

What one reads and hears is not always the way things really are, especially today. The same with this email. Cynicism is required. Test it for yourself.

Obscured, perhaps hidden, within Gann's commodity course, (a 9 chapter set of class notes that he charged $5000 for, 1920's dollars, personal tuition included, that today is sold for US$1500), was one of his systems to calculate important dates. It is sort of given to readers, for free now, at the back of his stock book, the one we cover in class, where he says watch these dates for important changes in trend. (1929 annual stock forecast, page 24.)

Leading on from here; what Gann would do, was use the chart, find the major change in trend date, (the really stand out top or bottom), name this change of trend day as a zero date, and start a degree count from it, with the day in question as the count zero. He then had a set of dates to watch every year.

The strange thing is, from his time on, they have kept on working. The dates I watch, and Gann would have as well, are attached.

(These attachments not available for non subscribers.)

There are three dates a month to watch, in a normal year. Following is a bit about how to interpret them, and their significance. Please note, I am not suggesting I understand them either; and consider myself a novice also with their application. Watch them and see what you find for yourself.

At the top of the file, the reference, or zero count date. You can work time forwards or backwards off these dates to ascertain the most likely dates for past or future major tops and bottoms. A major top or low in the future will only ever occur on the dates you have here; I don't know how to work out which one exactly each year will be THE top or bottom, I'm still working on that one, but Gann knew. (See for example his 1929 annual stock market forecast, July p34 and Sept p36 months in particular and on p 26. You could compare p26 to Galbraith's book 'the 1929 crash' to see just how prescient Gann was. I would indeed love to read some of his others, but where to start looking?)

You will find, going forward, the most dramatic days in the market, those times when the market makes front-page news, will likely be on the dates you have in front of you. Depending on the trend, and emotion of the day, it is this knowledge that helps give you the confidence to do the opposite to the crowd on the day. Especially if price is at an important point, e.g. mid point, repeat run, for your stock or index, on the day in question. The higher the emotion, the more likely is the trend change.

There are exceptions of course, mostly the 28th of the month; always a rogue amongst us to keep us honest. We have a further variable this year, off Sept 11th 2001, but using eclipse dates as zero dates usually explain them. The more important dates however continue to be those given here. Gann also considered the seasonal dates important, and he gives those on page 24 of his forecast. Extreme prices reached on any of these seasonal dates gives a big change of trend - Sept 24 last year for example, 180 degrees, like exactly, from March the same year. Handy to know.

A word of caution:
It took me years to understand even just a little of how these dates work, and why - even longer to learn how to even begin to trade them successfully. It was here that my psychology cropped up most; stop shorting higher tops for instance. More profits, and less stress is with the trend.

An illustration:
I have included the Dow chart up to mid April. You can see how many of the dates fit in. The better trades are at mid points, extreme run repeats or emotional extremes. Now I cannot rest until I can see a bit more clearly, in advance, which future dates will be the tops, which the lows, then we are really in business!

Further illustration:
You will see the dates 3/5 and 6/5; 6/5 being bolded. This is because the 90 degree count off 3/2 came out on a weekend, Sunday. Markets are not open on a weekend, so the trend change falls Monday 6th or Friday 3rd, Sunday is closer to Monday, hence bolded.

Additionally, you will find also, extreme weather conditions, if there are to be any for the month, will occur on these dates, the maximum emotion of the change being on this date; hailstorms, really cold, really hot etc. Where the date is on a weekend, it is usually very emotional around the world. Now I know the world is always emotional every day somewhere, it is the real extremes I am talking about. For example, here in France it has been snowing. It is unheard of to snow in France, in May, down to this low altitude level. But today is (what I call) a Gann date. I take more care than usual on these dates on the roads. If road rage is at an extreme, it will be a Gann date. Sorry to say also, that when planes fallout of the sky involving the worst crashes and loss of life, it is mostly on these dates also; so there is something you can put to the test. Nigeria this weekend, the Italian tower was the 19/4, china crash 15/4. There was a time for a while there when I would not fly on these dates, but Gann shows the future is based on past action, so when times up, it's up, and that's it.

The difference with we humans, we have a free will, therefor if the moment of choice is truly put under observation, we can actually determine a different future, not based on repeating the past Which is why it is critical to think positive, and associate with positive people; we may never know the future but at least be on the right trend) However I digress, so;

We shall follow the dates, and see what we find.