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Timing-Lab Services
General Questions
Timing-Lab Services
How much does your service cost?
Subscriptions are available on a monthly or semi-annual basis. You don't need to pay high fees or take high risks to get a big return - check our rates . Both plans come with an unconditional 30-day money back guarantee for first time subscribers. If not satisfied for any reason during the first 30 days, Timing-Lab will be glad to issue a full refund - please read our Refund/Cancellation policy. If you wish to subscribe to our service, using our Subscribe Section you will define a User ID and Password which gives you immediate access to our current signal. Unless you cancel the service, your subscription plan will automatically renew at the end of the subscription period, and you will be billed accordingly.
What do I get as part of the service?
As a subscriber, you will receive e-mail alerts when new trading signals are issued. You will receive monthly updates about the recent performance of our trading signals as well. In addition, you will get valuable help from a mechanical, unemotional system to keep you on the right side of the market.
How do I cancel and discontinue the service?
You can cancel your subscription at any time. Send a cancellation request to sales@timing-lab.com from your primary e-mail address. Your subscription will be discontinued immediately upon receipt of your e-mail.
How do I change my account information?
Simply update your "My profile" section within the members only area.
How do you generate your timing signals?
The Timing-Lab Model is a market timing investment approach based primarily on the price and volume of the Nasdaq-100 index and on a number of proprietary technical market indicators, which enable investors to profit in both up or down markets. The Model was developed for long-term investors and it only generates a few trades per year. The computer generated signals are to be applied to investment vehicles that track broad market index instruments such as the Nasdaq-100, the Russel 2000, the S&P 500, the S&P 400, the FTSE 100, the DAX, the Bovespa and the Nikkei-225.
The model runs every end of the Nasdaq stock exchange trading day and issues a Buy signal if the major trend is up; otherwise, it issues a Sell signal if the trend is down. A Cash signal is issued if the Nasdaq-100 index moves against our entry point position by more than 8% (end-of-day market value) in order to keep eventual losses to a reasonable value. The Model is unemotional and very profitable (check our Results Section).
How do I get notified about signal changes?
If a new signal is issued, it will be posted on this Web site by 09:00 pm Eastern Standard Time the same day. In addition, an e-mail notification is sent to all active subscribers.
Is your performance verified by an independent third party?
Yes, our trading signals and performance have been verified and tracked by TimerTrac.com since October 25, 2005. For complete accountability it is very important that the track records are subjected to such an independent verification for a period not inferior to two years. To access our data records on TimerTrac click the following link (a signal time delay is applied):
As a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), a money management service or trading organization, can I use the Timing-Lab signal for my clients?
A professional subscription is required to use the Timing-Lab system and signal to direct the investment of your client's assets. The benefits of using a broad market timing service range from investing your client's assets in a very diversified portfolio to a continuing record of long-term market-beating performance.
Do you offer Auto-trading?
Yes, if you do not have time to trade, open an account with our partner and define the instruments and amount to trade. When we issue a new signal alert, your broker will automatically place the trade for you. There are no money management fees! All you pay is an on line discount broker's commission and the Timing-Lab low cost subscription. www.speedtrader.com offers FREE Nasdaq Level II quotes, dynamic intra-day charting, fast confirmations, low commissions
and personalized customer service.
General Questions
What is Market Timing? Does it work?
Markets, in general, behave in long-term price trends. Market Timing is a technique to detect the underlying major market trend and profit from it. Individual securities are harder to time because they are subject to much unexpected new information about the company and the industry they belong to. The broad market, on the other hand, can be successfully and consistently timed (check our Results Section).
Most investors make decisions based on emotions and without discipline. They naturally fail to time the markets. We believe that the key to successful market timing is to use a mechanical system that removes emotions from the decision-making process. The Timing-Lab Model used as a tool for market timing would avoid significant losses during bear markets, but could also profit a lot during severe market drops.
What to trade?
Our Market Timing Model reflects the trend of the broad market, not a particular sector or security. There are two types of index tracking investments; Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Mutual Funds. ETFs can be bought long, sold short, on margin, and can be traded at the market open on the day following a signal change. For example, QQQQ's (matches the Nasdaq-100 index), IWM's (matches the Russell 2000 index) and SPY's (matches the S&P 500 index) are very liquid instruments, which is a basic condition for market timing application. A brand new ETF series called ProShares ( www.proshares.com ), the first with leverage capability, enlarges the menu of instruments to implement the Timing-Lab strategies.
Mutual funds, on the other hand, are usually traded at the market close. However, since mutual funds can be found to match, double, inverse, and double inverse performance objectives for most indices, they can be used to implement the Timing-Lab strategies and are viable alternatives for qualified retirement accounts. Both ProFunds and Rydex offer fund families that are suitable for this objective. Take a look at a sample of index tracking ETF's and Mutual Funds. To reduce the risk of your portfolio, we recommend that you diversify investing in more than one ETF and/or Mutual Fund.
Should we use a market or limit order to buy or short ETFs?
We prefer market orders when trading very liquid securities. However, you can use limit orders or even buy or sell at the close of the trading session. Over time the performance impact of the one day delay should be fairly minor. Moreover, to reduce the execution risk (the chance of getting an adverse price compared with the underlying index) you can break down your orders averaging the entry/exit price.
If your selected investment vehicle is a mutual fund, you will probably get closing prices anyway since most mutual fund families only calculate the Net Asset Value (NAV) at the end of each trading day.
How do you calculate returns?
We calculate all the returns for our signals based on the opening prices of the market the day following a signal change (trade date). All returns are compound returns that assume 100 percent reinvestment of profits. That means, for example, that if 3 trades are made with 12 percent return each, the compound return is 40 percent (1.12^3-1).
I am a new subscriber. How should I act upon your current signal?
This situation has to be managed also by current subscribers that want to invest new money. You have some options. For example, if a Buy signal has been in effect for some time;
a) you can act on it at once by just buying your selected ETFs and/or mutual funds and become fully invested right away; or
b) a more conservative approach is to apply the dollar cost averaging strategy by starting by buying around 20%-30% of the total amount you plan to invest immediately, and add 25% to the position per week until you reach a certain level, or until we issue a new signal; or
c) finally, the most conservative procedure would be simply to wait until the next signal.
Your current signal is losing money. Should I close the position and wait for the next signal?
No! The best course of action is to simply follow the signal. All the trades of the model have to be followed. Second guessing the model will probably lower investor performance. If in doubt, have a look at our Results Section.
Your current signal is very profitable. Should I hold it or take some profits?
We never know in advance how much each trade will return or how close we are to the next signal change, although it is one option that all of us are always tempted to consider. If you decide on that, be prepared to eventually buy/sell back your position at a higher/lower price, and beware that a few trades make the bulk of the system's profit.
What is investing on margin?
It is an investment with a combination of cash and a loan, using the portfolio to collateralize the loan. Normally, you can double the size of the investment and, consequently, the gains and losses.
What does sell short mean?
Selling short is the selling of a security that the seller does not own, or any sale that is completed by the delivery of a security borrowed by the seller. Short sellers will profit when they are able to buy the stock at a lower amount than the price at which they sold short.
How much money should I invest?
The Timing-Lab service can be used with any amount of money for securities trading. However, the brokerage houses and the mutual fund groups such as ProFunds and Rydex may have their own minimum capital requirements to open a position. Of course, there is no price for the learning process and the peace-of-mind that come in addition.
Do the signal returns reported reflect commissions, taxes or other expenses?
The trade returns that are reported on this Site do not reflect commissions, margin costs, taxes or other expenses. Take into consideration that a long-term investment approach using liquid instruments generates less brokers' commissions and total slippage costs when compared to short-term investments. So, its publicized results are closer to actual investor results.
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