Are there ever any "can" lose trading systems?

Flipped thru Futures Magazine, saw an amazing ad for "Can't lose trading system!" Which of course sets off alarm bells, but it said George Angell wrote the book and his profits (from the book) will all go to the American Cancer Society. So, I look up Mr. Angell (who wrote several good books on options) and TradeWins Publishing, the publisher - and found this: ' CFTC Finds that George Angell, TradeWins Publishing and its President, Stephen Schmidt, Fraudulently Marketed Commodity Trading System.' Oops.

Not sure I want to spend the (rather small) amount to buy this system after reading that decree. Neither Angell nor TradeWins admitted or denied the charges, but Angell paid $50K and TW $100K in March and April 2002 to make it go away. However, the CFTC orders "require them to comply with certain undertakings, including undertakings that prohibit them from making misrepresentations regarding profits and risks associated with trading futures or options." So theoretically the numbers he put in the full page ad are supposed to be better. Not the "theoretically" and the "supposed to be." Caveat emptor!

And BTW, why do I always look at the "emptor" part of " caveat emptor" warily?


Written by Andrew Ittner in misc on Fri 07 March 2003. Tags: trading