Cleve Gombar is the perfect example of a trader who is comfortable with change. He wears casual clothes, sports long hair and exudes Midwestern calm and cheer. Until recently (2006) he worked as a construction site supervisor for large developments through his own construction business. “I used to work so very physically hard, many times 10 and 12 hour days 6 days a week. Now, however, I have been able to reach a very lofty goal of joining those traders who actually live off of the income from their trades.”

He’s paid his trading dues; he began trading stocks in the 80’s after doing research for the first one and a half to two years. He graphed his charts by hand. In the late 80’s he switched to commodities when he saw better potential there because of increased volatility and accepted the increased risk. In the 90s he added futures. He traded grains 6 months to 1 year ahead.

“I have been trading commodities for at least 20 years, sometimes with continuous losing streaks that have left me over $100,000 in the RED, broke, and re-evaluating. . . sometimes trading $3000 to get gains of $35,000 in a few days,” according to Gombar. “I no longer lose money the same irrational way I used to . . . now I trade a set of rules, so losing money is built-in as a risk to be taken to get the gains. The NeuroShell DayTrader Pro software has allowed me to become comfortably profitable. I really no longer can imagine trading without the NeuroShell DayTrader Pro. ”

“Your program is so easy for me to use, you have excellent tutorials and because of that, I started experimenting with making my own trading system, which eventually became several different types of trading systems...of which I was then able to trade different styles throughout the year, and with different futures contracts. I really am an average person that entered the trading scene, but by fooling around with your software, and gleaning lots of information from your FREE help...you have pointed me in a learning direction I would not have taken. I began reading various articles and references mentioned on your site, which naturally lead me to other interesting articles elsewhere, and immediately I was doing hands-on experimentation. Your software magically found connections between indicators and data that I still marvel at,” said Gombar.

“Because of this software, I’ve changed all of my systems from two years ago. It’s because the software can find and exploit nuances that I cannot immediately discern. I’m not looking back over my shoulder, I’m learning and moving on,” according to Gombar. Today he trades gold using 15 minute bars in the early morning (he’s in a central time zone). He starts to trade between 5 and 9:30 am central time in the U.S. and is generally done by 10 or 11 a.m. He’ll often trade three contacts at a time, and up to 3 times in a day based on pullbacks, day-trend, etc. . He’ll get out after making somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 on each contract.

He went after trading as a means of making more money so he could free up time to spend with his family and pursue other interests. “You have to decide what enjoyment in life that you want. You have to find your own niche. Work is the “clay” to get it done. I looked at the lottery and trading, among other things, and decided that trading was the way for me to go because trading had better statistics than buying lottery tickets.”

Gombar believes in intuition but backs his trading up with models. “We all can use intuition but we tend to shut it down. Sometimes we look at intuition failures rather than successes. Intuition gives good and bad information and we have to discern what is right. That is why action, then receiving and evaluating feedback-results is vitally important in my life. It gives me my unfaltering belief in where my next footstep should fall.”

Gombar felt he got ripped off by floor traders, a lesson he was glad he learned early on. “Make sure the traders are looking out for you and you look out for you. As you make more trades, you need a system and discipline.” In the 90s he learned through the “ouch factor”. It was really expensive to make mistakes.” He did some electronic trading in 1994 and switched completely in 1997. Then he was trading the S&P and other e-minis.

He bought the NeuroShell Trader in September 2004. He was trying to eliminate the influence of fundamentals on his trades. He had studied the effect of announcements in the market, and avoids trading during those days or weeks.

Now he sets up swing trades that can last three or four days because of his exit system, optimized with the NeuroShell DayTrader Pro software. Holding more than an overnight can happen about ten times a year or so. Usually he is in and out within one to two days or within hours. He’s a fan of Bollinger Bands. “There are many different things to do with those.”

His philosophy is to only take a piece of the action. When he sees a trade, he doesn’t jump right in as a true swing trader would do. He waits until his indicators tell him to jump in. For example, if there is indicated a high probability of a $500 move, he enters $100 late and takes $200. One of his gold models looks at price in relation to Pivot Point Channels that are included in the Trader, along with the Keltner Channels from Advanced Indicator Set 1 and the Super Smoother indicator from the John Ehlers’ MESA8 add-on. He also likes the Laguerre RSI from the Ehler’s Cybernetic Analysis add-on. Trade entries are based on an indicator in which Gombar combined Bollinger Bands with the MESA 8 Super Smoother indicator.

“Don’t fall in love with any trade – the market doesn’t care about us. If you make money, say thanks. If you don’t, don’t beat yourself up. Sometimes you just don’t trade. It’s like trying to get fish to bite. “