William Delbert Gann, commonly known as WD Gann or Gann, used to implement Geometry and Astrology along with Mathematics of the ancient era to Predict the happenings in the financial market, which many traders and his disciples still follow.
WD Gann passed away in the year 1955, but his trading strategies are still used to make money from the stock market as they are very relevant and unique at the same time.
However, this man also faced utmost criticism for his rare trading strategies from doubters. But that doesn’t stop him from writing some of the bestselling books ever in stock and financial markets.
WD Gann was born on the 6th of June in the year 1878. It was in the Texas town known as ‘Lufkin‘.
Gann’s parents were strict believers in the Methodist church family culture, and thus, from a very tender age, he used to read the Bible, and by the age of 21, he almost hearted the whole Bible.
The Bible played a significant role in his life, as only from the Bible did he realise the concept of time cycles. WD Gann was a gifted mathematician who even used to excel in mathematics in schools.
He always had an Attraction to numbers and the Bible, and he understood the importance of the repetition of significant events.
WD Gann’s Early Days in the Stock Market
The year was 1902 when Gann first introduced the market of Numbers and intuition, that is, a financial market. He was 24 years old when he started trading in the commodity market.
He began trading cotton as he hailed from the land of cotton and saw his father all his life working in the cotton mill to earn a living.
But who knew then that these small trades in cotton in the financial market would make him one of the legends in trading over the next few years.
In 1906, he went to Oklahoma City and started Working as a broker under a firm where he used to deal in the Trading accounts of significant clients. Here, he realised that most of the people who fail in the stock market did so because they entered the same without any knowledge.
By the age of 27, within Three years of his first Commodity trade, WD Gann was a big name in the Southwest. Numerous people followed his prediction over cotton prices.
Becoming a Writer
In 1919, WD Gann started publishing his thoughts on a daily forecast of stock as well as a commodities market. It was used to get published in ‘The Supply and Demand Newsletter, ‘ in which Gann also wrote about yearly predictions of the markets.
After four years of the Successful Daily market letter, Gann started publishing another letter that he used to provide selective market recommendations. His writing career took off, and he wrote many famous books which many famous traders still follow.
One of his most important books is ‘Tunnel Through the Air’, which contains a few of his most significant ideas for forecasting the markets. Then, ‘45 Years In the Wall Street is a renowned Gann book that many still read.
Other books written by Gann are ‘Speculation: a Profitable Profession’, ‘Wall Street Stock Selector’, ‘The Truth of the Stock Tape’, ‘Stock Trend Detector’, ‘How to Make Profits Trading in Commodities’, ‘The Magic World’, ‘Face Facts America- Looking Ahead to 1950’.
WD Gann Time Cycle Theory
The most important contribution of WD Gann in trading is his concept of time cycles, which is commonly known as cycles. In chapter 1 of the Book of Ecclesiastes, verse 9, which Gann used to quote, often refers to the cycles in time, which means what comes in goes around, and nothing is new as every essential event has a historical reference point.
Gann also believed that Everything in the markets has some historical connections. He used his knowledge of Geometry, Ancient Mathematics, and Astrology to find out how the numbers repeat themselves.
Gann often stated that to be successful in the financial market; traders need to explore the Historical events in the market. He used to say that if he had all the Past historical data of the market, he could have predicted the future developments in the trading market as every vital Number/Event repeats itself over a fixed period.
One of the most critical time Cycles is the 60-year Cycle, according to him. He stated that after every 60 years, Significant events repeat themselves. This 60 years can be broken down into Three 20-year cycles, so at the end of the third 20-year cycle, repetition occurs.
He referred to the panic following in 1869 and exactly after 60 years in 1929, the most significant bull market of 1921 to 1929 ended, which created panic amongst the traders and general public once again.
When some critics say WD Gann used to make money out of luck and he didn’t make that much money out of trading, which he made by selling his Books and providing Trading courses, few, on the other hand, support his trading ideologies and still, many traders follow them as well.
But the concept of Time cycles is relevant in general as traders in any financial market follow the technical charts based on historical events in the market only.