About the Nirvana Club

Greetings!

I’m Ed Downs, the Founder and CEO of Nirvana Systems, Inc. and I’d like to welcome you to the Nirvana Club information section.

The Nirvana Club is a very unique group of OmniTrader users who are involved with Nirvana in advancing the power of OmniTrader. Nirvana Club members enjoy many benefits. They gain access to ARM technology. They receive our NSP strategies and other proprietary Nirvana Products and participate with us in the wwwelopment of New Products. And they belong to community of like-minded traders.

The primary goal of the Club has been to create Trading Systems that are sufficiently accurate to engage the markets in fully-automated trading. The Club reached this goal in 2007 with the introduction and automation of NSP-31 and other ARM3 Strategies. And now, with the Consensus Block and ARM4, we have fully-mechanical strategies with sufficient trading candidates to be used in automatic trading. This is a very exciting juncture for the Club!

It took over ten years to get here! The story of she Nirvana Club begins with the founding of Nirvana Systems and the wwwelopment of our first Trading Robot.

History of the Nirvana Club

Back in 1987, I had studied Technical Analysis for five years, and was convinced that profitable trading could be 100% automated. It was that conviction that led me to form my company, Nirvana Systems, Inc. But, rather than re-create my own Technical Analysis software, I decided to create a software robot that could run the other software, from the outside, to achieve this goal.

That is, rather than write a Technical Analysis program from scratch, I planned to use existing programs like MetaStock™, TBSP™, AIQ™ and CompuTrac™ to harness their analysis power. In other words, use those programs to find signals and then automate everything else.

You may remember the T.B.S.P. ads, saying, “You could have turned $6,000 into $8 Million trading index options using our software.” There were similar ads for other programs. With my software robot, I could automate and test the heck out of them. If one didn’t work, I’d find another that did. I was very excited.

KLATU is Born

We spent about two years wwweloping KLATU™ – named after a science fiction character in the movie, “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” We added a telephony speech wwwice from Texas Instruments so KLATU could call up a trader when conditions were met, and verbally inform him or her of a signal, such as, “The S&P just hit an MACD intraday buy signal on heavy volume.” The trader could answer back, “Buy 2 contracts at market” and KLATU would reply, “Acknowledged. Two at market… Fill confirmed..”

It worked! We placed KLATU with a number of traders who began engaging the market with it. In 1989, Frank Taucher, author of The SuperTrader’s Almanac, conferred his “Product of the Year Award” for our creation, because he could see the enormous potential of it. The feat accomplished by KLATU has never been duplicated by any other software company.

But there was a problem. The trading software we were driving wasn’t powerful enough. I automated and tested programs like T.B.S.P., AIQ, MetaStock, Telescan (and others) and quickly discovered that they would not generate consistent profits in mechanical trading.

I tried writing my own systems using CompuTrac. But I quickly realized that indicators don’t work very well across a wide range of market conditions. Writing a purely mechanical trading system using ANY toolbox program was extremely difficult, if not impossible.

The Director Series

In order to keep the company viable, we created automation products using this new software robot technology. In 1991 we wrote and released specific utilities for MetaStock, Telescan, and AIQ… The Director Series. These products gave customers the ability to run massive tests on these programs (which they thought was great!) and enabled us to grow the company from 5 staff members to about 25.

While this was going on, I continued looking for that “magic” trading software that would really do the job. Our new utilities helped us a great deal, because we could mechanically back test lots of other software. And we did. But, nothing emerged with enough power for automated trading.

I began to realize we had to create our own system, because none of the existing packages automated the really important technical methods, such as Chart Patterns. Not to mention the fact that they were all based on fixed indicators and tools, and did not adapt to changing markets, which I decided was essential.

OmniTrader Development

In late 1992, we started the OmniTrader Project. We began the task of writing a Windows trading program with automated analysis, built-in portfolio, Trading Game, and fully-automated signals based on the “voting” ideas embedded in our Director utilities.

A key component of OmniTrader’s original design was the Adaptive Reasoning Model, or ARM for short. The ARM approach is the method of adapting trading systems to markets, which is achieved in OmniTrader through the use of a back test on each trading system.

The benefit of this method is you never have to select which systems to apply – OmniTrader does it for you, automatically. We continue to get letters from customers who are amazed at how much it does, and how little we charge for it!

The Club is Launched

Still, I needed more accuracy in the Signals. In mid-1995, I discovered that by applying specific market measurements to trading signals, it was possible to measure the probability of a given signal being “correct”. The approach was a big challenge, because it would involve billions of measurements and certainly many experiments before seeing any real results.

We could clearly see the research path to get to the next level of performance. But once again, our wwwelopment had been slow because our programmers had to concentrate on the next version of OmniTrader to stay competitive. Venture Capital was expensive and time-consuming.

The answer came to me when I realized that our customers would enjoy participating in this wwwelopment, and certainly would enjoy using the resulting products. Such a partnership would allow us to provide meaningful focus on Adaptive Reasoning Model 2. And, we could offer tremendous value for those customers who participated.

So, in 1996, we launched The Nirvana Club – and over 350 members joined on the initial announcement! This gave us the capital we needed to move forward with our research. We hired more programmers, got bigger, faster computers, and began crunching numbers.

ARM2 is Released

The rest is history. The method I wwwised for combining Market Factors using Artificial Intelligence was very successful. Each year since the Club was launched, we have been wwweloping and releasing ARM technology to members. Our first big milestone was hitting my initial goal of 70% signal accuracy in ARM2 Release 2 in 1998.

For ARM2 Release 3, we applied a commercial Neural Network to existing signals, providing a further boost in performance. For ARM2 Release 4, we worked on a specific pattern recognition project to produce VTL-B (valid trend line breaks), which again boosted performance. You can see charts from these older versions of ARM on the technology section of this web site.

ARM3 – the Next Generation

Nirvana Club memberships have advanced Club products AND OmniTrader’s wwwelopment. In 2003 we wwweloped Strategy Builder in OmniTrader. This new approach enabled us to build “components” in our Strategies.

One of the first components we deployed was a new version of ARM, called Adaptive Reasoning Model 3, or ARM3 for short. ARM3 includes a Neural Network (or NN) component and a Genetic Algorithm (GA) component. Because they are building blocks, members can now perform their own experiments. They can add Neural Networks to their Strategies. Or, they can train them on their own measurements. This has led to an avalanche of wwwelopment within the Club itself, adding even more to the value of memberships.

Mechanical Strategies (and the Automation to Run Them!)

In 2005, we released several new products to members including ARM3 on Chart Patterns and Intelligent Exits in Trade Plans. We also completed the first version of OmniTrader Professional powered by OmniPilot. And in July we held our first robotic trading competition – RoboCon – for members. The winning Strategy made an annual equivalent gain of 160%!

In 2006 we began using real exits in our Strategies, using Trade Plans. And in 2007 we began providing profitable, Mechanical Strategies to members, including NSP-31 and NSP-33. Now, with the release of the Consensus Block and NSP-35, incredible trading power has been provided to our members; recent on NSP-35 CB show profitability of 30% per year going back 8 years. There is no other organization on earth with trading technology like this!

And we haven’t even talked about the automation benefit that all members enjoy. Members have access to OmniTrader Professional and OmniPilot to automate these powerful Strategies! Many are using this new technology right now to set up their own automated trading accounts – precisely what I had envisioned when I started the Nirvana Club.

The Benefits of Membership

I started the Club to fund wwwelopment of the Ultimate Trading Machine. But a wonderful outcome of doing this was the creation of a community of OmniTrader customers who understand and support our mission. I continue to get letters from members with great new ideas and insights into how they are trading and how we can improve the software. And members share information with each other, too. The open interaction on the Club Forum is fabulous!

The Club is a savvy organization of traders from all over the world who are dedicated to our mission. Many of them have been staunch supporters of Nirvana since “the early days”. All members gain access to the Nirvana Club Membership Directory and Forum. You will enjoy the opportunity to network with these members, who freely share their insights on the private site.

The Club has greatly enhanced the wwwelopment process here at Nirvana. We regularly post products for testing and solicit feedback from members through our Forums, where we discuss current research and features for upcoming versions of ARM3, OmniTrader and VisualTrader.

Now, let’s talk about tangible benefits. When you join the Club, you receive the ARM technology that matches your membership plan (Funds, Stocks, Futures). Stocks level members get the Stocks AND Funds Strategies; Futures level members get all three. These Strategies have been specifically created to trade the given markets.

You ALSO get NSP-31, NSP-33, NSP-35 and the Neural Network (ARM3) version of each, OmniTrader Professional and OmniPilot. And remember, our ARM Strategies are not “black box” systems. ARM3 is an OPEN Strategy Development System. Members are using the same tools we use, and many of them are applying their knowledge to wwwelop their own “killer” Strategies AND they are sharing their findings with other members in the Nirvana Club Forum.

The Ultimate Trading Machine Mission

The Ultimate Trading Machine is the “end goal” of The Nirvana Club. The original definition of UTM was “a machine that is so accurate it can trade the market automatically.” When we launched the Club, we refined it as “any mechanical Strategy that generates 80% accuracy and a 3-to-1 Reward:Risk ratio (average profit divided by average loss greater than 3.)” Assuming trades last 1 week and the average win is 3% (average loss 1%) this performance will grow an account about 200% a year without using margin.

One of the Nirvana Club covenants, in the Nirvana Club Agreement, states that if and when we create a Strategy with this level of performance, only Nirvana Club Members will have access to it. The good news is, we are now seeing MECHANICAL TRADING PERFORMANCE that beats the Accuracy Requirement and the Reward:Risk ratio in separate Strategies. We believe it is now only a matter of time before we improve performance to the point where we have one or more Strategies that hit our UTM performance goal.

The good news is, we’ve have already achieved my original goal. It is now possible for Members to automate our ARM3 Strategies using OmniPilot! We have been looking forward to handing out buttons that say,
“I don’t work… my computer supports me!”

Thanks for being a Nirvana customer. As an OmniTrader user, I know you already understand where I’m going with our products, and I appreciate your support. I want to encourage you to join our group of Nirvana Club traders. A Nirvana Club Membership is an investment that will pay dividends for years to come.

Thanks again and best of luck in your trading endeavors.

Ed Downs
CEO & Founder
Nirvana Systems, Inc.

ARM Technology

Overview

What is “ARM?”

ARM stands for Adaptive Reasoning Model. In the Nirvana Club, we have taken ARM several levels above OmniTrader through the use of applied Artificial Intelligence.

The History of ARM2

ARM2 Release 2 was our first version of ARM Technology delivered to Club members, and was based on a Genetic Algorithm process home brewed here at Nirvana. ARM2 R2 was tunable by the user in terms of desired signal accuracy vs. signal count – a major advancement.

ARM2 Release 3 used a Neural Network to determine a positive or negative score at any bar in a chart. The network in ARM2 R3 determines a “likely up” or “likely down” state for the chart at any bar. This gave us a new capability, since ARM2 R3 can be applied to ANY trading signal. ARM2 R3 was released in 2000.**

In 2002 and 2003, we began experimenting with pattern recognition concepts. ARM2 R4 is based on these findings, which are an application of J.M. Hurst’s work on Valid Trend Lines. The proprietary Nirvana Club VTL-B System is still being used to improve performance in ARM3.

ARM3 – The Next Generation

The version of ARM Technology, called ARM3, was literally ‘heads and shoulders’ above the prior versions. Using recent advances in Artificial Intelligence and taking advantage of the faster processors available today, we re-built our Neural Network and Genetic Algorithm components from the ground up.

Members can now build their own Knowledge Bases quickly and easily by simply training our Networks or GAs on their own symbol lists. Or, they can create their own networks using knowledge they have about Technical Analysis. And, in 2006, we improved the Genetic Algorithm component further.

The Move to Equity Curves

Before 2007, we had been using a signal measurement technique called Next Pivot Points, to measure Signal Accuracy. This method told us whether the Entry Signals on a Strategy were improved, but did not yield strategies which could be “mechanically” traded because there were no actual Exits.

All that changed in 2006. Our Artificial Intelligence technology is now powerful enough to apply real exits to our strategies – producing Strategies that can be traded mechanically.

Our focus now is on improving performance in the Equity Curves until we have reached our Ultimate Trading Machine goal (see About The Nirvana Club). However, since we are delivering Strategies to Members that show mechanical profitability over long periods of time, many members are engaging the market with these products now.

NSP-33 NN

In 2008, we launched a new mechanical strategy called NSP-33. This strategy showed the ability to generate an average return of 20% per year from 1998 through July 2009. Bull Market or Bear Market – this amazing strategy has consistently pumped out profits year after year. After the Strategy was delivered to the Nirvana Club, we applied our ARM3 Neural Network to it to create NSP-33 NN. The result was another immediate performance improvement. By August 2009, NSP-33 NN was up an incredible 38%.

ARM4

A Breakthrough in Artificial Intelligence for Traders

In 2009, we pushed the envelope ahead again, with the new Consensus Block. This new A.I. tool makes it possible to measure the predictive power of any list of formulas or indicators. This is very important, because we are able to eliminate the ones that don’t work well and focus on those that do. When we began this research, we were hoping to build a tool to assist us in this task. What we ended up with was so powerful, we increased our ARM technology to ARM4.
The first Strategy to be wwweloped with ARM4 is NSP-35 CB (Consensus Block). It is based on a careful selection of indicator formulas that identify the best trading situations. The Consensus Block identifies those ranges that are most predictive, and then it combines them into a “consensus vote”. The power of this approach is evident in the NSP-35 CB Equity Curve, showing over 30% annual profit from 2001 through 2009.

Traders Helping Traders

We are now working with Nirvana Club Members in the Elite Trader project. This new approach to trading is going to be a huge hit, because we have so many members trading profitably with our tools. By collecting live trades as our most successful members engage the markets, and distributing the knowledge through SignalWatch LIVE!, we are going to be able to help all our members trade better.

We are using our ARM technology to empower traders to achieve a superior return. As we do this, we will continue to build new Strategies with the Consensus Block and our other A.I. technology. With the performance gains we are currently seeing, this could easily be the year that we hit our Ultimate Trading Machine goals.

Membership Benefits

Membership benefits are divided into two general categories; General and Current. All new members are considered Current (or “dues paid”) for one calendar year following the date they join. After the initial year, members may renew their memberships for $300 per year. Annual dues are not required, but they do provide members with specific benefits, as outlined below under Current Member Benefits. All members participate in General Member Benefits, regardless of their renewal status.

General Member Benefits

The following benefits are enjoyed by all Nirvana Club members, regardless of dues-paid status. If you join the Club and never pay any annual dues, you still get full access to the web site and community, including the Bash held each year, and can participate on the same basis as all other members on the Ultimate Trading Machine goal.?

Member Networking (Directory)

Nirvana Club members may reach any other member through the Nirvana Club member directory. Emails from the directory are forwarded through our servers to respective members.

Interactive Nirvana Club Forums

Our powerful forum software enhances dialog between members. Members experiment and share their knowledge with others through the member forums.

Nirvana Club Bash Event

The Nirvana Club Bash is held each year in Austin, Texas and is a chance to meet other members and share ideas.

Participation in Nirvana’s Product Development

Share news on product wwwelopments, and other proprietary information.

The Ultimate Trading Machine Goal

Fully-automated trading technology. If Nirvana achieves this goal, only Nirvana Club members will be allowed to acquire it.?

Current Member Benefits (with annual dues paid)

When you join the Club, you receive the current release(s) of ARM3 and ARM4 (with access to ARM2 on the web site), plus any updates which are released in the following calendar year. The Nirvana Club agreement specifies (optional) annual dues of $300 after the first year. Members are not obligated to renew their memberships; all members participate in General Member benefits listed above. Current (dues paid) Members receive the following additional benefits:

ARM Technology Updates

ARM Technology is advanced software wwweloped by Nirvana that increases OmniTrader’s signal accuracy (ARM has also been implemented in VisualTrader.) Current members receive any release of ARM which occurs during the calendar year following their renewal or join date.

Research Downloads

Current members may download functional Research Projects as they are created by the Nirvana team. These projects generally enhance tradability of ARM3 and other profiles in OmniTrader. Once they pass the research phase, they are officially added to the ARM technology.

System Development Kit (SDK)

Allows programmers to write systems and indicators for OmniTrader. This product is currently being sold on the OmniTrader web site. A license to the SDK is provided FREE to all Current members who request it.

Priority Technical Support

Current members can call our new toll-free hotline, 1-888-385-6282, and receive highest priority in the support queue. Just say, “I’m a Nirvana Club Member.”

Product Discounts

Current members now enjoy generous discounts on Nirvana products. A member can more than recoup the cost of their annual dues by taking advantage of these member discounts. Discounts are applied to the current price advertised to the general population (e.g., if VisualTrader is promoted at $995, Current Member price will be 50% off, or $497.50).

¹ Refer to Nirvana Club Membership Agreement

Product Type	Discount
Software	50%
Educational Seminars	40%
Subscriptions	30%

Nirvana Club Testimonials

Members Share Their Experience with the Nirvana Club, ARM2, and ARM3

We asked members to answer the questions “How has the Nirvana Club helped you?” and “Why would you recommend the Club to other OmniTrader users?”

I just wanted to thank Nirvana for the excellent work done with the Consensus Block. Being a member and having access to this tool alone is worth the price of membership.

– Joe Lupo

I’ve been a Nirvana Club member since the beginning. Joining the Club has been one of the best
“trading” decisions of my life. With the Club discounts, the shared help and ideas of other members,
and the special attention Nirvana gives Club members, even after all this time I would join again
without hesitation.

– David Olson

Your commitment to the trading goals of the company and club are unequaled. The technical support is timely and support consultants are always willing to go the extra mile to solve problems or answer questions on product use. Nirvana’s educational material is well planned and produced.

– James Hill

I’ve been in the securities industry for over 29 years and have spent a small fortune on analytical, charting and trading programs. None have matched the day-in, day-out utility of OmniTrader Pro and Visual Trader. For me, the Nirvana Club was the next logical step. The Club has allowed me to gain insight from other traders, provided an open forum where traders share ideas, and allowed me access to the newest innovations from Nirvana. It has been an excellent investment and one that I would recommend without hesitation to serious traders.

– John Lesley

Without OT and the Club I wouldn’t have the success I’ve had. I’m now a disciplined trader and a more consistent earner with both OmniTrader and VisualTrader

– Jerry Sigalow

The Nirvana Club is a personable way to get to know what other traders are doing and share ideas. I feel like I am right in Nirvanas office and part of the team.

– Todd Phillips

I have been using OT for several years and after joining Nirvana Club last year it was like turbo-charging the 65′ Mustang. Not bad before, much faster now. Can’t wait for next years Bash.

– Larry Schnepf

I joined about 3 years ago and have learned so much by using the tools available with Omnitrader Pro and by following the discussions in the Nirvana Club forums regarding what is working for people. Highly recommended.

– John Locke

It’s great to be a part of an extremely innovative team, which treats me as “part of the family”.

– Jim Dean

Join Nirvana Club

Joining the Nirvana Club is Easy

The Nirvana Club is a very unique group of OmniTrader users who are involved with Nirvana Systems in advancing the power of OmniTrader and ARM technology. Nirvana Club members enjoy many benefits. They get access not only to the ARM trading technology, but they also receive our NSP Strategies along with other proprietary products and participate with us in the wwwelopment of new products.

The Nirvana Club is the opportunity of a lifetime for our customers to join a team with a long history of discoveries and successes. This is your chance to join a group of individuals who are as dedicated to our automated trading mission as I am.

The Nirvana Club story is still unfolding and we’d like you to be a part of it.

Additional Information

The Nirvana Club is a private, confidential organization, and all members sign a confidentiality agreement and agree to abide by Club Rules. Please read the Nirvana Club Rules before submitting your application.