KDA spent years buying and selling shares on tips and hunches alongside a rules-based portfolio. This case study shows how switching fully to a mechanical system helped him trade with a verified edge, achieve profitability, and trade with far less stress.
Background
KDA started buying shares at the age of fourteen. His career was spent in industries far removed from finance, including glass, real estate development, steel, and coal, but he always kept an interest in the markets.
For many years he bought and sold shares on and off, without a structured process or clear rules, often acting on tips and opinions. He ran two portfolios side by side: a systematic portfolio that followed a set of rules, and a discretionary mining portfolio that relied on tips, hunches, and speculation. Over time, the difference in results between the two became obvious — a pattern also seen in how Allan B. achieved profitability with a backtested trading system.
Before SWS
The old pattern: Mining stocks bought on tips caused repeated losses, and the delisting of AVZ was one of the biggest hits, costing him a lot of money in a short period of time. Anger would show up after a loss and fear would show up when prices dipped, and both disrupted his trading rhythm and pushed him into fear-based trading. With no rules to guide him, every decision felt like a guess.
The desired shift: A fully mechanical system that removed emotion from the decision altogether and gave him a genuine trading edge, so following signals, not guessing, decided what happened next.
The Turning Point
Everything changed when KDA adopted the Share Wealth Systems Investor system in 2017 and committed to it fully. He came to believe the mental shift mattered just as much as the system itself: discipline and perseverance became part of his routine, and he understood that a trading edge only matters if it is applied with consistency.
He often compares his experience with two friends. One is a fundamental investor who refuses to change and holds stocks forever, believing they will eventually come good, stuck in old habits and unable to accept a new system. The other has no discipline, buys shares, panics when they fall a little, and sells, and is now stuck in the same AVZ situation with no plan and no confidence. Watching both situations reinforced KDA’s belief that discipline and mindset matter just as much as the system itself.
The SWS Process He Adopted
KDA chose Share Wealth Systems because he wanted a process that removed emotion and gave him a trading edge. He says following the system is dead easy: if a signal appears, he takes action, and if there is no signal, he does nothing.
A 100% mechanical system
Signals removed fear-based trading and took the emotional negotiation out of entries and exits.
A probability-based model
Supported by long-term testing, giving him a verified system to trade instead of relying on guesswork.
A simple routine
A clear structure that told him exactly what to do, stopping the emotional noise that caused mistakes in the past.
Ongoing support
Regular catch-up sessions and training programs he can open anytime to sharpen his skills and stay focused.
Outcomes
The change in performance was clear. KDA’s systematic portfolio outperformed every other portfolio he managed, and trading with a verified system produced stronger, more stable results than his old tip-driven approach.
Reported outcome: KDA credits the mechanical system with helping him achieve profitability with far less stress. He also gained a sense of control: emotional reactions faded because the rules did the work, and he no longer made decisions from fear or frustration.
Gary’s Commentary
Rules do the work emotion can’t.
KDA’s story is a good example of what happens when you stop letting tips and emotion make your decisions for you. He ran two portfolios side by side, one systematic and one speculative, and let the results speak for themselves. Once he committed fully to the rules, the anger and fear that used to disrupt his trading rhythm had far less room to operate. That is the real value of a mechanical system: it does not remove the market’s ups and downs, but it removes the guesswork about what to do next.
— Gary Stone, founder of Share Wealth Systems
Frequently Asked Questions
What was KDA's trading background before adopting a mechanical system?
KDA had bought and sold shares since age fourteen, running a discretionary mining portfolio based on tips and hunches alongside a separate rules-based portfolio.
What system did KDA adopt in 2017?
KDA adopted the Share Wealth Systems Investor system, a 100% mechanical, probability-based approach that removed emotional decision-making from entries and exits.
What results did KDA see after committing to the mechanical system?
KDA's systematic portfolio outperformed every other portfolio he managed, and he reported achieving profitability with far less stress than his previous tip-driven approach.
Is KDA's experience typical of every SWS member?
No. KDA's case study describes his individual experience. Individual results vary, and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
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About Gary Stone
Gary Stone is the founder of Share Wealth Systems and creator of the SPA3 trading methodology, with over 30 years of market experience and 8,000+ hours of R&D.
Share Wealth Systems holds Australian Financial Services Licence AFSL 250900.