I heard that one guy mentioned in Schwager's Market Wizards was broken and jailed (after being interviewed by Schwager). Does anyone know who?
Some of the threads here remind of the saying "Its not so much important that I succeed that it is my friends fail." Why does it really matter?
Perhaps the question posted here is of interest because this trader feels there is value in understanding the nature and causes of success cum failure in the life of a trader.
Purhaps, but only the trader in question would know what that was. And, assuming what he heard was true I doubt that person is on ET and willing to share his failure with the rest of us. I would not doubt the story is true though, the first Market Wizards book was written about 15 years ago and had interviews with something like 20 people. In any group that large you will have people who continue to be successful and others who do not. Speaking for myself only when I have had a period when Ive been very successful and people start to tell me I'm God's gift to the world, I inevitably fuck up by starting to to think they are right. I could easily see that happening to someone who gets the kind of PR that those in Market Wizards got. Brandon
The actual phrase is: It is not as important that I succeed, as it is that my friends fail. It is an ugly and horrid way of going through live. But I fear that it is becoming more and more common - in all of us.
I will find out if I can give you sources, but I believe one went broke and then also got in trouble for tax evasion by the IRS. Also, everyone is a "Market Wizard" when you have an amazingly powerful bull market. Anyone who realizes the extent of this bear market can also become a multi-millionare "Market Wizard." It never stops to amaze me how many people were willing to buy the DOW in huge amounts when it was 12,000 -- yet, nobody wants to buy the dow when it is 7,500. So long as the masses think like that, the smaller proportion of people who think outside the box will be successful. "Get greedy when others are fearful and get fearful when others are greedy." -- Buffet.
It is interesting to see the changes that are occuring in the people that are now trading. From my point of view, a few years ago we had a lot of people coming in and they all wanted to get rich quick, but they wanted to learn to do it themselves. Now, we have a bunch of people who just want to get their money back, and they want to be led by the hand and have it done for them. Most are trading with scared money and are very flighty. So, were as in the past if I had a down week it was no big deal, now if I have a losing day we have people pissed off and freaking out about it. It is probably a natural progression as the market thins out the heard. The big trend move up into early 2000 and then the huge trend move down into 2001 was a loan that the market gave out, and now it is coming back to collect with a baseball bat on many people. Brandon
The reason that many will not buy the dow at 7500 is because it is obvious how the M&A's, IPOs, dot coms, and accounting procedures are all smoke and mirrors and Dow 6300 seems more likely. Maby the sheep have learned their leason for now. ... NA, they will always be sheep......... nevertheless........Many Market Wizzards have failed and came back only to Fail again. This is part of the Zero sum game. erh
... I can generally say with ultimate equivocation that I can generally see what the general majority will or will not do.... generally. aphie, yours is a dead accurate GENERAL statement. As you will soon find out, once your trading adventure begins, that general statements tend to describe average outcomes. The problem with average outcomes when referring to trading is that by definition they suck. And so while giants (guffaw guffaw!!) in the field like Bernstein, Elder, Schwager etc. etc. make a living with ridiculously general statements like yours above... it does nothing for those who seek the trading truth. The truth beyond platitudes, that is. Regards, Generally, Dr. Zhivodka