Instructor Dan O’Brien
Dan O’Brien is a Target Trading Academy co-founder and instructor with over 15 years of experience as a Trader, Developer and Instructor.
Dan specializes in Algorithmic Trading. Over the last 15 years, Dan has developed an algorithmic trading formula that is designed to maximize profitability and minimize risk based on major market movements. For over 15 years, he has worked to effectively “tweak” his formula, and has proven its worth by teaching hundreds of students.
Dan has designed several highly technical order strategies that read each tick and volume update in real-time, with the purpose of joining the “big players” as they move the market, not afterward. Some of these order strategies read what he refers to as "failed auctions," specific size (HFT orders) on the bid or at the offer, mode & mean placement, volume specifics, and more. With these tools, he is not only teaching students how to trade but actually giving them the means to accomplish their goals.
Dan is a true student of the game, and is regularly looking to improve his techniques. By 2010, he had been using algorithms for some time, yet still felt there was more to be learned. He wanted to increase his overall approach to the markets; whether they were currencies, stock futures, or energies so that his prior order entry strategies could be used to their maximum benefits. He devoted time to researching High-Frequency Trading (HFT) techniques, and more importantly, how he could take advantage of them. He did not want to be a market-moving HFT trader, but rather measure their activities and capitalize from their actions.
After thousands of hours of research, Dan identified key reference points and strategies to capitalize on them. He then incorporated several aspects into a new algorithm in order to capture several different types of HFT programs. Today, our students enjoy the benefits of recursive Bayesian estimation algorithms, NASA-level signal processing algorithms, regime-switching algorithms, “Machine Learning” and much more thanks to Dan and his research.
Using his unique Algorithmic Trading strategy, Dan developed CARNAC Technologies.*
CARNAC Technologies
If you’ve done any trading in the past, you know that guessing is not the answer. In order to give high probability chances, trading instructor and professional trader Dan O’Brien developed the CARNAC system based on his Algorithmic Trading strategy.
CARNAC uses several very sophisticated algorithms that scan a great deal, from price action to “reading the tape” in real-time to tracking HFT trades. The result is a comprehensive, layered system of cross-checking algorithms that drill down a higher likelihood of a successful trade - the edge that you may need in today’s market.
Some key points:
CARNAC is not a “black box” system; the trader is part of the decision-making process.
The program uses three sophisticated algorithms: “Machine Learning”, “Regime-Switching,” and “HFT Indicators” algorithms. Each algorithm overlays the others, giving a comprehensive “green light” through automated mathematics when all three algorithms are lined up.
Machine Learning algorithms take in large amounts of data and make predictions, which in this case is where the price will be in the future.
Regime-Switching algorithms tell traders which state the market is in; from a futures trading perspective, is the market trending or in mean reversion?
An HFT Indicator algorithm will read the volume associated with each trade as well as the speed that they are placed. HFT trading firms make up a very large share of the daily trading, so this is a must.
While all of these algorithms are independently reading the bar chart’s information, the overall CARNAC system is also “reading the tape” in real time.
Dan is also now beginning to “unbox” the three different algorithms, and make them available as individual overlay indicators for your charts. The HFT Indicator is now available by itself on Sierra Charts - click here for more information!
Well over 10 years of advancements and thousands of hours have gone into the development of CARNAC Technologies. These algorithms are truly unique, and the software is available at no other firm; they were developed and designed by Dan O’Brien and are only at Target Trading Academy.
