Meet the Analysts
Gary Dean
"Mel" Hickerson
Gary Dean, founder of MarketsPath, developed his "ForeTrend"™ strategy in the mid-1990s, initially at JBHanauer in New Jersey, where he helped manage over $80 million with one of their largest brokers, primarily in equity options. Jerome "Mel" Hickerson developed his quantitative model from experience working as a computer programmer for such corporations as McDonnell Douglas and American Express.
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About Us
Marketspath brings you Gary Dean's and Jerome “Mel” Hickerson’s technical analysis expertise in making successful day trades as well as 1-3 day swing directional trades in the Dow, S&P 500 & Nasdaq 100. Trade these alerts using e-mini futures, index options, Rydex Funds or ultra index ETFs!
Gary’s strategy is based on qualitative Elliott Wave & Fibonacci Cluster analysis and concentrates on 1-3 day swing trades, while Mel uses quantitative software-generated analysis of breadth and institutional buying to trigger his signals for day trading. Take advantage of one or both!
MarketsPath uses the ProShares Ultra Index ETFs to trade these trends, using the QLD/QID to trade the QQQQ swings, the SDS/SSO to trade the SPX swings (and UPRO/SPXU for S&P 500 day trades), and the DDM/DXD to trade the Dow.
MarketsPath members receive our trade alerts intraday via our Trade Journal , a Web page that automatically refreshes and signals an audio alert -- as well as an email alert -- when a trade or critical market analysis is posted. Our Chat Room provides additional live insight from a community of hundreds of traders. In addition, a Portfolio Scoreboard is maintained, with continuously updated pricing and stops and targets on open positions, as well as a complete listing and performance history of closed positions. Members also receive our audio-video Nightly Report, analyzing the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 index and ETF charts.
In addition to sentiment, Dean incorporates into his strategy institutional buy/sell volume, an indicator of where the "smart money" is going. Proprietary software measures the institutional block buy/sell volume on anywhere from a 1-minute to hourly to daily to weekly scale. If the market is heading up, for example, while institutional block selling is also on the rise, that's a red flag that the rally may be losing steam…and a trend change imminent. As Dean explains, "When you see what the institutions are doing, you have the confidence to buy when the herd is selling and sell when the herd is buying. By following the 'smart money,' you will always be on the side who has the capital to turn the markets!"
The third component of Dean's three-tiered ForeTrend"™ strategy is technical analysis, specifically Elliott Wave. Like investor sentiment and institutional volume, the 5-wave patterns of Elliott Wave analysis provide indicators of trend changes as well as help pinpoint entry and exit levels and gauge the difference between continuation bounces and trend reversals.
Once the trade signal is complete, Dean's strategy goes one step further. Rather than go all into a trade, he takes a layer-in approach, scaling in and out on the way up and on the way back. This approach allows for margins of inexactness in the market and also serves to take the emotion out of the trade. As Dean explains, "When you layer in and take these 1/4 or 1/2 block positions, you're fooling that voice in your head that begins to doubt the moment you enter a trade -- because part of you wants the price to go up so you can fill the rest of the trade and part of you knows it's still fine to only have a portion of a trade and have it move in your direction."
In short, to make money in today's market, you have to be thinking one step ahead of everyone else and be positioned to catch the big moves. That's the MarketsPath approach. Most percent gains happen in the first weeks of the trend change. Knowing when the market is about to have a trend change is the key to positioning yourself to catch the winners!
As a computer programmer working for such corporations as McDonnell Douglas and American Express, Mel began tinkering with the concept of using software models to reflect the complexities of the market. Trained to recognize data patterns and structures in the real world and model those patterns within software applications, Mel put those same skills to work developing software models that can accurately recognize predictive patterns within the data of the market flow.
Two models were developed. The first model forecasts the ebb and flow of the markets on a daily basis and is used for swing trading with a high degree of success. The second model -- the one used on this site -- is a quick reacting real-time application that scans the Level 2 data feed and watches for signals that indicate sudden intraday moves. Many characteristics of the market are similar every time a large move occurs, and the models trigger trading based on these characteristics with an uncanny success rate.
The swing trade model results in two or three trades a month with an average market exposure of 15 to 20 days per month. The system triggers after the close and the purchase or sell order is placed the following day at the open. It is an ideal strategy to use within an IRA account. The second model triggers intraday trades almost every session, often several times a session, and ends in cash at the end of every day.
Specifically, day trading model is based on four indicators -- breadth, divergence, institutional buying, and MEL trend (Model to Evaluate Leverage) -- and two signals.
Read more about the indicators and signals Mel uses.
See Mel's recent trades prior to launch of service on MarketsPath.
Mel believes that in order to make money in this market, you have to correctly identify the trend and be with the trend, using risk controls. You don't need all of the trend in order to be profitable. Like a great hitter in baseball, you wait for your pitch before swinging, and then make your swing count.
