Mr. Gnome, Reading that you follow the Central Banks and such; Is there any reason why you don't trade FX? Seems like it would be a fertile ground for profits, given the liquidity and the tendency for sustained trends? Second, kind of the same thing can be said for the domestic interest rate instruments - Bond futures and etc. If you have an opinion on inflation, if you are right half of the time, if you make at least 2x when you are right vs. when you are not - why not partake? I am assuming you don't only because you haven't mentioned that you are involved in either. If you do trade these instruments already, never mind ...
I'm not all that interested in revealing personal information to THOUSANDS of viewers. My intention for this thread was to be about "trading concepts". If you're wondering whether I'm BS'n... Well, I won 3 divisions of the US Investing Championships in '94... and had the #1 rated advisory service in MoniResearch Newsletter for a few years before being kicked out of all the mutual funds.... all verifiable if you care to. If that doesn't float your boat, please disregard all I've said.
Reading your posts, seems like you had fun making the money. Thanks for sharing. A few people on this board like you, are wealthy traders who know more than some others writing books on trading. I think that is because you'd rather trade than write books. Point being, this has been extremely informative. My hat goes off to you.....
I never traded FX... and have heard many stories about its "bucket shop-ness"... so never looked into it.
Oh, I COULD write a book... but in all honesty, it would be more like a "pamphlet"... you know, "Chaper 1" stuff... the things everyone was in a hurry to get past so they could get on to the good stuff... tsk, tsk.
I really enjoy hearing people like you make it. I have a great deal of respect for you for carving your way through the world in such a fashion. My mom was essentially kicked out of my father's trailor after the slightest mention of a divorce. He transferred everything into his mother's name and my mom got nothing out of the divorce. She was forced to live in her car for 6 months and take showers at Rest Stops on the interstate. After meeting my stepdad (whom i think is the greatest guy who has walked this earth) she has moved her way up as deli manager and now makes about $80,000/yr as deli manager. She has about $1mln in her 401k and company stock. You would never know it by the way she acts, she would do anything for anyone. Thank you for your contributions to this board. Good luck and good trading in 2008.