Advanced Trading Workshop

Our People

At the ATW, we believe that good mentoring is crucial to learning and developing the skills and discipline necessary to become a successful, consistently profitable trader. We are committed to creating that mentoring relationship with every ATW client, every day, in our training courses and live trade rooms. Our lead mentors have combined full-time trading experience of over thirty-five years.

All of our support staff listed below are ATW course graduates. We think that highlights the quality of the traders who come to the ATW, the strength of the relationships that we build and the depth of the education that we deliver.

Lead Mentors

Jerry Simmons

I began designing, programming and trading systems in 1975 and traded part-time for the next ten years while working as a systems programmer and in data communications sales. In 1985, I realized a career goal by becoming a full-time professional trader so I could devote all of my time, effort and energy to trading.

I started mentoring traders in 1995, and initially worked with close associates in the trading community. Over time, the circle of contacts began to grow and evolved into the Advanced Trading Workshop (ATW). In 1999, Andy Carlsen was one of the traders who I taught in a weekend workshop. From the beginning, it was obvious Andy had a driving commitment and passion to be a successful trader. He quickly went through not only the basic training but also each of the advanced level courses. After going our separate ways for a few years, we formed a partnership in 2005 to take advantage of many obvious synergistic benefits.

I received my B.S. with a double major in Math and Computer Science from the University of Southern Mississippi, so I have always been knowledgable about technological solutions. Over the years, I have been involved with the design and development of neural networks, genetic algorithms, heuristic programming, artificial intelligence and applications incorporating fuzzy logic and chaos theory. While each of these disciplines offers specific benefits for trading, it has been my experience that old school technical analysis provides a greater edge for achieving long-term, consistent success.

Andy and I are dedicated to providing the absolute best training and support in the industry. Our goal is to help each trader become successful and ultimately exceed his or her highest expectations.

Andy Carlsen

I have been passionate about the markets for as long as I can remember. When I was 6 or 7, I asked my dad what a stock was, and he explained it to me in terms of the lemonade stand I was thinking about setting up in the front yard. I was hooked! Early in high school I was picking stocks from the Wall Street Journal and following them. By the time I was 17, I had opened up an IRA account and bought some mutual funds with money I earned mowing lawns. I received a B.S. with honors in Business Administration from Houghton College. After graduation, I became a successful sales manager. However, I very quickly succumbed to the trading bug and have been a full-time ever since.

In 1999, I was fortunate enough to be trained by Jerry Simmons, one-on-one in his home. In 2003, I began to mentor and train other traders. In 2004, I was contacted by a new trading software company, TradeGuider, whose CEO had been a client of mine a few years earlier. He asked me to run their internet trading room, which I did for about 9 months. Afterwards, I ran my own trading room and mentorship service until, at the end of 2005, Jerry and I decided to join forces.

I believe trading is the best business option available today because of incredibly low overhead, no requirement for employees, time freedom (you trade when you want to trade) and unlimited earning potential! Come join us on this adventure-of-a-lifetime. It is a glorious ride!

Support Team

Jay Greenberg

Jay is our Executive Vice President and is responsible for marketing, product development, the website, strategic planning and operations. Jay pays special attention to assuring that your voices get heard and your needs get satisfied. He has some complimentary special trading interests – position sizing, trading psychology and Market Profile – and teaches classes on those subjects.

Jay is a third generation trader, but he also has had a long, very successful executive career in marketing, sales, computer software and hardware development, semiconductors and as a consultant to top executives of global 1000 companies. Most recently, he was Senior Vice President of Marketing at Synopsys – a $1 billion semiconductor design software company. Before that, he was Vice President of Marketing and a Vice President of Sales responsible for a $500 million territory at Taiwan Semiconductor – a $7 billion company and the world’s largest semiconductor foundry. Like Jerry, Jay began his career as a systems programmer, and he remains an active programmer today. Jay is an honors graduate of Raymond College at the University of the Pacific and did two years of Ph.D. work at Vanderbilt University as an NDEA fellow.

Alex Fast: Alex has three roles at the ATW. First, he is an important contributor in ATW Masters Room, adding comments about ATW concepts, systems and tools. The feedback we have received since Alex took on this role in the Spring of 2009 has been overwhelmingly positive! Second, Alex creates and programs additional trading tools, indicators and strategies for the ATW. And third, Alex moderates the Graduate-Hosted Real Time Trade Room.

Eric Good (4Max): Eric began his trading journey in 2004 with stocks and options and, in 2007, moved to the futures market. Since then, he has found his home at the ATW. Eric moderates the main room where he breaks down the unfolding markets.

Paul Kilty: Paul began trading futures in 1991. He energetically and passionately embarked on a quest to learn the markets and their behaviors, and that quest continues today. He has extensive experience as a professional full-time trader specializing in 30-Year Treasury Bond and 10-Year Treasury Note futures, foreign currencies (both futures and FOREX), and Stock Index futures (S&P, NASDAQ, Russell 2000 and Dow). Recently, he has added crude oil to his repetoire. Paul is one of the Masters Course graduates who trades in the Graduate-Hosted Real Time Trade Room.

Mel Hardman: Mel helps the ATW with video recording and editing. The ATW would not be the same today without Mel.

Cliff Thompson: Cliff is a graduate of the Masters Course and a full time trader specializing in the German DAX. However, he also trades 30 year bonds, gold, E-Mini Russel, crude oil, the Euro and natural gas. Prior to day trading, Cliff was a self-employed computer consultant and project manager for 31 years. Cliff’s primary trading platform is NinjaTrader 7.0, and one of his responsibilities at the ATW is getting new ATW clients set up on NinjaTrader. Additionally, Cliff is developing trading software in collaberation with the ATW.

John Walczak: John has been investing since the mid-1970s and has nearly 40 years of stock and option trading experience. He started trading futures and commodities in 2005 and joined the ATW Masters Course in late 2007.

John’s current setup development focus has been on crude oil, the Russell and some currencies. He developed many of his foundation setups by taking the knowledge he gained in the Masters Course and then added his own twists. John is one of the hosts in the Graduate-Hosted RTTR and plans to trade there using one basic setup with three sub-setups.