PATs Trading or rather Mack’s Price Action Trading was one of the first styles that connected with the way I was looking to trade. Years ago I was looking for someone who traded the ES and who didn’t rely on indicators or who charged thousands of dollars to learn their system.
I had just gotten done with the Day Trading Academy and had sworn off trading rooms forever after that experience.
(Review here of the Day Trading Academy: https://evancarthey.com/the-ultimate-review-of-the-day-trading-academy-marcello-arrambide/ )
Mack’s Price Action Trading is all about using 2nd entries. The only indicator he has on his charts is the 21 ema. The key is to determine the trend and then look for the pullback to utilize his style of 2nd entries to get into the trade.
His style of trading definitely comes from what works for him but he shares that with his daily YouTube video reviews: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ3D2_YyX3BSalVUdZjkGRQ
The goal of this post is to see what has changed from when I first started watching his videos and participating in his forums until 2019.
PATs Trading Original Review
Here is the original review I wrote about PATs trading a couple of years ago. It is a quick read. I’ll go over it and update for 2019 if anything has changed about Mack’s style and what he charges to learn his style of trading.
Mack’s Price Action Trading System
In the previous post I mentioned PATs Price Action Day Trading system www.priceactiontradingsystem.com.
I remember I was out of town at a conference for work and I was back in my hotel room. I was looking around Youtube for price action trading videos and I came across Mack’s videos where he reviewed a daily ES chart with his trades marked. After watching a couple of his videos I knew his trading style was a system I was going to learn because it did not involve indicators and was purely on 2nd entries. I watched a ton of his videos and bought his e-book for $100.
When I got home I fired up Ninja Trader and started trying to emulate his trading style. To keep myself focused I started a journal on futures.io (formerly Big Mike’s Trading but he was sued by AMP). Search in the elite section for the user “evanbro” and my old journal should come up that chronicled my trading journey. I also kept a lot of entries on a blog as well so it was easier to copy over to the futures.io journal: http://mydaytradingjourney.blogspot.com/2013/02/price-action-trading.html.
Through this specific section of my journey I met some really cool people and one person in-particular who has been the most influential in helping me create my own trading style. If I hadn’t had tried Mack’s system and then started the journal I never would have met those people and I would not be at this point today.
Mack’s system is all about price action although I haven’t looked at it in awhile so I’m not sure if he has changed anything. When I was following it, the trading style was all about spotting 2nd entries and failed 2nd entries then trading at those points.
At that time in my trading career it was exactly what I needed because it provided structure and getting away from indicators which I knew I wanted to get rid of.
After about a year and a half of learning his trading style I knew there were parts of it I liked but others that did not work for me so it was time to move on. I had started the beginning process of developing my own style of trading and Mack’s system helped get me to that point.
Legit or Not?
If you are looking for price action trading without indicators then I do recommend checking out Mack’s trading style. You should be able to find him on Youtube if he is still doing the daily reviews and hasn’t put them behind the paid section of his website.
It was a a great experience for me and although I don’t trade using his style it definitely was extremely influential in helping me get to where I am now. If you are still searching for consistent profitability then try out as many different trading styles as you can and use the parts that resonate with you. You’ll know which parts those are because they will come naturally to you.
2019 Update for PATs Trading Review
In 2019 how much is different for PATs trading than what I wrote above? Over time trading rooms usually seem to change. Although, I don’t consider Mack to be operating a trading room. He doesn’t do live trades, but he does do daily reviews that I will go over below.
What Differences Are There from Years Ago to 2019?
As time goes by things change, it is natural. Some for the better and others for the worse. Hopefully with someone selling a trading service or product that it will be refined and improved over time. Here is what I have noticed from today compared to several years ago
- The videos are much more detailed – If you scroll back to around 2016 and compare the videos from then until today you will notice Mack uses circles as well as arrows to describe the trade setups. When I first started watching his videos he only provided arrows to show legitimate entries based upon his style of trading and they were pretty much only long or short trades. Now he provides more explanation and theory to certain trade setups.
- He uses an opening range indicator for NT7. This is something you can find for free if you search for it. When I used NinjaTrader for the ES, I used one as well. The way I used it was to see what the range was for the 1st 15 minutes of the open as well as to plot the overnight high and low.
- He has a news indicator that allows you to see if any news items are going to impact the current days trading. Again, you can find this indicator for free and can monitor it as well on www.forexfactory.com. I used to have it set up on Forex Factory to alert me if any news was coming up that I should be aware of.
- He points out the overnight lows and highs. This is something I am not sure he did much of in the past. But I am glad now that he does incorporate it because it is very important in my opinion for trading the ES.
- In his premium forum, he also provides mid-day updates for the ES. This is a service he did not use to provide.
The conclusion to PATs Trading 2019 Review
Mack still doesn’t provide proof of him being a profitable trader but this is one of the few instances where I give someone like that a pass. The main reason why is he is not asking for $2,997 for “Lifetime” access to his proprietary trading system. He only charges $100 for his eBook. He also has a premium section on his website that costs either $124.99 per year or a fee of $49.99 and then $19.99 per month. Overall in the grand scheme of things paying $125 for forum access is nothing. Especially if it helps you out.
So overall he isn’t asking for thousands of dollars without providing proof of profitability. To be honest you do not even really need to buy his eBook. If you watch enough of his videos it is pretty easy to discover his trade setups. He still does almost daily videos in the review of the ES based upon his trading style.
I tried out his forum the first year he started it but didn’t really get anything out of it. By this time I was moving on and searching for my trading style that works for me. But if you do get it he does post-mid-day updates for the trading day. He is also active in the premium part of the forums and will respond to your emails if you are a premium member.
Overall, from the interaction I have had with Mack he seems like a genuinely good dude. His trading style provided a foundation for me to build upon. I was looking for a trading style that didn’t rely on indicators and use price action. Also, one that didn’t cost thousands of dollars to learn.
But my trading style evolved the more I got into meditation. My progress has been mainly due to meditation. It truly can help make you a profitable trader. Before I started meditation I jumped from one system to another and never tried creating one for myself.
This was my biggest mistake and is, in my opinion, the biggest mistake of most traders. Fortunately, I am sharing what I have learned for free.
If you would like to see the exact steps I take in creating my own trading setups through meditation then check out this article I wrote: https://evancarthey.com/how-to-become-a-profitable-trader-using-meditation/
If you would like further reading to the meditation and psychological books that have had the most influence on my life then read this post: https://evancarthey.com/best-meditation-books-for-traders/
Finally, if you are just starting out in the world of trading then read my beginner’s guide. It has information I wish people had told me before I started putting my money on the line in the world of trading: https://evancarthey.com/a-beginners-guide-to-day-trading/
My goal is to assist you in becoming the most profitable trader you can become. I seek to destroy poverty and if I can help you in your trading career in any way please let me know.
Take care,
Evan
