...only to find out that most these people made money in different markets and quit trading or would never be able to make money in the markets nowadays. It's like claiming that pit traders would be only ones that you should listen to when it comes to trading... It is very hard to extract money from the markets, but a good book is not about "teaching" you how to trade but instead explaining some important aspects of trading that will be a base with witch you will go on to find your own method.
Williams, although in his 70's, still trades. Met him @ TradeStation here in SFla back a few months ago - a freebie event. No sales pitch. Nothing to buy. I have no connection to him. Experience transcends. Many others have it too. Buzzy Schwartz is another real trader/author. But there are plenty of academic books still used by Universities that were written decades ago. Works for Doctors and Lawyers and Architects and .... How to trade has very little to do with understanding Matrix's and Market Profile's and certainly not HFT or high powered quant math unless one's aim is to get a trading "job". And everything to do with understanding the continuous price action auction dance - through screen time.
maybe he trades, maybe he doesn't. What are his current results? Nobody knows. To be sure, I have nothing wrong to say about L.Williams. my point was simply that a good book is one that contains correct and relevant info and preferably helps you find your own (profitable) way to trade. It is irrelevant who wrote it.
It is irrelevant when it was written. But who wrote it matters completely. Not who in particular but whether or not they themselves did what they are trying to show others how to do. We'll have to agree to disagree on this.
%% A problem with SIF; they are real liquid + were designed for trading. WHY is that a problem?? Well the liquid part is not a problem- that is good LOL; not designed for good trends, designed for trading.
Try checking out 'Diary of a Commodity Trader - Peter Brandt'. He has over 4 decades of trading with stellar results - the book takes you through his trades, the psychology, risk mgmt, etc. This was Amazons best selling financial book for some time. This notion that discretionary traders are inferior is pure B.S.! Most of the market wizards both the original and newer ones are discretionary. Systematic is rooted in discretionary rules, you first have to learn discretionary trading not to mention programming before going systematic anyway. The problem with systematic trading is that very few can ever follow it through the inevitable draw downs. Some say the sweet spot in systematic is to run a number of different strategies to smooth out the draw downs.
Thanks. I will keep a lookout for the book. Hopefully, there are similarities between trading commodities and stock indices and knowledge from one can be applied to the other.
Interesting charts. Looks like neither systematic nor discretionary traders made much money in the last 10 years?