# Strategic Capital Management



## Fuzzbuggy (3 September 2012)

Hey guys,

I'm quite new to futures trading, starting out small time and came across this particular company called Strategic Capital Management.

http://www.strategiccapitalmanagement.co.nz/trading-systems/spi-200-diversifyer-1/

I am interested in investing in that above trading system and having an adviser make transactions on my behalf while I learn on the fly. However, I am unsure as to the company or individual's credibility. I've emailed him - He seems like a nice guy, answered all my questions, but I am just a little hesitant as the minimum investment amount is $25k, alot of money to put aside...i'll need to make sure its a smart investment choice.

Has anyone heard of this company/owner (Andrew Gibbs) or dealt with them? Any response or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks.


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## skc (3 September 2012)

Fuzzbuggy said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> I'm quite new to futures trading, starting out small time and came across this particular company called Strategic Capital Management.




The returns are only hypothetical - yet they have clients from 2008. Which one is it?!



> The past performance results provided on this website illustrate the hypothetical returns our Strategies would have delivered if they were traded over the time frames stipulated.  However, unlike an actual performance record, hypothetical results have limitations as they do not represent actual trading.  As the trades signalled were not physically executed, the results may have under or over compensated for the impact, if any, of certain market factors, such as a lack of liquidity.  Simulated trading strategies more generally can be designed with the benefit of hindsight.




The site quoted Nick Radge as a supporter. Nick has a decent reputation as being no BS. Call Nick yourself and verify.

If I have to jump to conclusion I'd say avoid + you are a spammer... but I am going to remain open minded.


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## Fuzzbuggy (4 September 2012)

skc said:


> The returns are only hypothetical - yet they have clients from 2008. Which one is it?!
> 
> 
> 
> ...




He has a free login section that shows the actual vs simulated performance. Ok, I will try to get a hold of Nick Radge. Andrew Gibbs (owner) used to be a student of Larry Williams also and he is featured on his website too.

Now that I read my post back, yeah it does sound a bit like spam . I promise i'm not spamming or anything like that, I just want to make sure i'm not investing in something that may be dodgy and thought a forum like this would be a good place to decide. Thanks for your input though, really appreciate it.


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## tech/a (4 September 2012)

I actually know Andy and had Dinner with him when in Auckland.

Andy is a straight up guy---knows his stuff and definately *NOT* a spuiker.
There are few I would trust in this industry and Andy would be the *SECOND*
Nick Radge being the first.
Andy would probably post here if admin allowed him to discuss his involvement in this thread.
And someone pointed the thread out to him.


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## skc (4 September 2012)

tech/a said:


> I actually know Andy and had Dinner with him when in Auckland.
> 
> Andy is a straight up guy---knows his stuff and definately *NOT* a spuiker.
> There are few I would trust in this industry and Andy would be the *SECOND*
> ...




He needs to tidy up the way he presents information on his website imho.


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## tech/a (4 September 2012)

skc said:


> He needs to tidy up the way he presents information on his website imho.




Possibly so.
I know from my own experience with my website you could and should be constantly 
bending it and shaping it. The whole idea is to present what we think our demographic is looking for.
I find the best way is to send out questionaires.

Anyway I was simply commenting on the way I find Andrew.
Im sure there would be others who echo my view and some
who might not.--life I guess.


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## skc (4 September 2012)

tech/a said:


> Possibly so.
> I know from my own experience with my website you could and should be constantly
> bending it and shaping it. The whole idea is to present what we think our demographic is looking for.
> I find the best way is to send out questionaires.
> ...




When I say tidy up I didn't mean font side and colour. 

I meant how he has client from 2008 but then show hypothetical backtested results on the front page. That was a redflag for me - if he's legit he might consider fixing the apparent inconsistency.


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## Trembling Hand (4 September 2012)

skc said:


> When I say tidy up I didn't mean font side and colour.
> 
> I meant how he has client from 2008 but then show hypothetical backtested results on the front page. That was a redflag for me - if he's legit he might consider fixing the apparent inconsistency.




Is there something wrong with this chart? How can the Net profit be less than Gross profit - Gross loss? 2006 to 2010 looks weird?


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## tech/a (4 September 2012)

Trembling Hand said:


> Is there something wrong with this chart? How can the Net profit be less than Gross profit - Gross loss? 2006 to 2010 looks weird?
> 
> View attachment 48828




Tax?

My referal commision?


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## Trembling Hand (4 September 2012)

tech/a said:


> Tax?




Really? Nah surely not. Whos tax? Company, soletrader, super? Just looks wrong possible Gross profit doesn't include brokerage but still big diff.


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## Fuzzbuggy (4 September 2012)

tech/a said:


> Tax?




Actually, I asked about the same chart and he explained that the gross profit bar starts at the top of the net profit bar and that he is considering changing it since I was the second person who raised this.

So I did email Nick Radge, asked for confirmation of reference and yes he vouches for Andrew also.

I guess this is all I can do for now. I've done the appropriate reference checks and emailed Andrew. Now I have to decide whether my investment within his trading system will be viable.

I certainly hope I have not caused any issues or concerns, I was merely being cautious. I am very happy with the quick response and resolution to my question from everyone though, so thank you all.


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## skc (4 September 2012)

Fuzzbuggy said:


> Actually, I asked about the same chart and he explained that the gross profit bar starts at the top of the net profit bar and that he is considering changing it since I was the second person who raised this.
> 
> So I did email Nick Radge, asked for confirmation of reference and yes he vouches for Andrew also.
> 
> ...




Well... I am surprised but I did say I am keeping an open mind.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.


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## ron185 (26 January 2013)

So fuzzbuggy. Did you end up investing with strategic capital management?


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## zipzap (3 April 2013)

Hi Guys, I'm Andrew from SCM, a couple of people have drawn my attention to this thread, I must say I am not sure who the person above is or even if they have opened an account, what I can say is we are a legitimate firm licensed by the Financial Markets Authority in NZ, undergo 2 compliance audits and one financials audit per year and all of our clients hold and fund their account through Interactive Brokers so we do not handle client funds in any way. It is a very safe setup, the risk to clients is counterparty risk with Interactive Brokers, and of course the other risk could be poor performance from us managing the account.

I can't really say to much on this forum as its against forum rules:

Tech/a, thanks for the feedback above, also to the other who added their comments, appreciate the suggestions. In terms of our performance, on a positive note ALL clients who have had an account with us for over 12 months are ahead, many by well over 100% in a 2-3 years. On the negative side, during our worst performance period we've had some 30%-35% drawdowns and clients have closed accounts and we had to retire some systems, however those that stuck with us made that back and as mentioned most have gone well ahead, we've made many clients returns in the hundreds of thousands, which in %tage terms is over 100% or more.. In terms of reporting our performance in the website we provide a reconciliation summary for system results v actual fills and our hypothetical returns pages and real time returns pages match very closely, in fact actual returns are slightly better in most instances.

If the person above did open an account, over the time period specified they would be ahead, interested to hear the feedback as well.

Cheers
Andrew


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## sinner (3 April 2013)

I am not a SCM customer but found their blog many moons ago when they used to post some of the concepts they use. I found the website at the time to be absolutely brimming with "under the hood" trading techniques which I had not previously considered.

IIRC their general methodology is to find an EOD index futs signal with decent edge, then apply a (rather tight) ORB to the signal for trade entry and risk management. No stop is applied to entry, but they move the ORB style stop on the next open after entry (as an improvement to the Larry Williams "exit on first profitable open" exit). I remember seeing about five or six different EOD signals which would trigger an ORB buy or sell at the next open. Mostly simple mean reversion stuff like down closes, gap fades and RSI5 were the examples provided.

It's a very ingenious way to ensure you only enter the EOD signal on the best conditions, and providing very clean/clearly defined risk zones to manage risk on a per trade basis.


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