If anyone notice the discontinuity of this old thread, there are a lot of posts deleted by the moderator due to the copyright issue. I did bad... They are just highlights of the book...
Wish I could I pull up the interview but unfortunately I can't. Anything else you can post on Marty is much appreciated. Pit Bull's a very entertaining read, lots of lessons to be learned from it. I too am a big fan of Marty. However, it's unfortunate (for us) that he's such a private guy. I would be very interested to hear his comments on the overall market, especially in light of the last 4 days of trading. I have no idea if he is active still or not. But feel free to start a new thread - hopefully I can add something useful to the conversation. Do you trade the S&P's zoo?
seems this thread has kinda died a death which is a shame as its been a fascinating read for me. Having just finished 'Pit Bull' (cover to cover in a couple of hours) I was completely absorbed by it. I read lots and lots of trading books covering all sorts of subjects but this book was a breath of fresh air. A real account of a real trader. People shouldn't read it if they wanna learn to scalp the S&P - although his 'tools' cover classic scalping tools - Tick, Trin, put/call etc - but he doesn't spell out a real strategy, which is not what the book was about. I'm also currently reading 'The way of the Turtles' by Curtis Faith which has so far proved dissapointing. In my opinion the title is misleading. I was expecting to read about the Turtles and see 'exhibits' like trading plans, monthly P&L written on fag packets and contract notes of great trades. But the guy is essentially using it to publish his approach to trading. He should have called the book 'Curtis Faiths guide to Trading' - But then I wonder if it would have sold as well?
Found an article with Franky Joe and Schwartz circa. 84 The New York Times February 18, 1984, Saturday, Late City Final Edition INVESTING FOR FUN, AND PROFIT BYLINE: By LEONARD SLOANE SECTION: Section 1; Page 29, Column 3; Financial Desk LENGTH: 886 words Norman Zadeh and Marshall Wright are trying to establish a pair of Super Bowls for securities and commodities traders - and make some money for themselves as well. Each man, Mr. Zadeh in California and Mr. Wright in Chicago, is now running a four-month-long tournament to declare a trading champion. Mr. Zadeh's tournament is for stocks, options or futures; Mr. Wright's is for futures alone. The reward for coming out on top is not only bragging rights, but perhaps also a modicum of national recognition. In Mr. Wright's ''championship,'' not so incidentally, there is also a total prize pool of $73,000. 'I Got Quite Irritated' ''I got quite irritated by people who tell me how much money they made, after the market had closed,'' said Mr. Zadeh, a mathematician in Marina del Rey, Calif., who established an organization called the Financial Traders Association to operate his contest. ''I thought it would be wonderful to have a real-money contest, so that all these people could document their claims.'' Mr. Wright, president of Marshall Wright Financial Inc., an 18-month-old commodity brokerage firm in Chicago, said: ''I have been bombarded with solicitations for 'proven systems' and 'profitable managers' through the years. Then you look at their track records and find that they are based on different market periods and highly unverifiable results.'' Mr. Zadeh's United States Trading Championship - which has completed two four-month contests and on Feb. 1 started a third - has winners in four categories: stocks, options, stocks and options, and futures. Mr. Wright's World Cup Championship of Futures Trading - which began its first four-month run on Feb. 15 - is restricted to exchange-traded futures, but includes the cash prize. Open to Anyone Both contests are open to anyone: professionals and amateurs alike. But, as might be expected, each of the contest promoters thinks his system for determining the top trader is better than the other's. Mr. Zadeh believes Mr. Wright and his colleagues ''are essentially running a restricted contest where you must trade through their firm.'' Mr. Wright, whose champions will be determined by the largest dollar gain, thinks that the United States Trading Championship procedure of judging winners on the basis of the participants' percentage increase is flawed. ''Obviously it's difficult to judge somebody's performance when one person has a $300,000 portfolio and another person has a $5,000 portfolio,'' he said. ''The larger the trading account, the easier it is to do well because you can spread yourself out over different markets.'' Frankie Joe, a professional who won the award as the top all-around trader at the end of 1983 in the United States Trading Championship, said: ''My formula is to keep it simple. When you're wrong, admit you're wrong and take small losses.'' Mr. Joe, a 42-year-old who is a former order clerk on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, took first place in the stock and options classification during the period between Aug. 1 and Dec. 1, 1983, with a gain of 70.6 percent. Quite Bearish At present, Mr. Joe is quite bearish. His account shows that he owns various ''puts'' on the stocks of Commodore, Coleco and International Business Machines. And he is also ''short'' 150 New York Stock Exchange March index contracts. An investor who buys puts or goes short makes money when a market goes down. ''The market to me is just a game,'' Mr. Joe said. ''I'd play for marbles if they kept score.'' The person who made the most money in 1983 in trades reported to the United States Trading Championship - a whopping $1.4 million - was Martin Schwartz, whose futures account rose 175.3 percent. Mr. Schwartz, a 38-year-old former securities analyst who owns a seat on the American Stock Exchange, said, ''I can tell you how I became a winner - I learned how to lose.'' Mr. Zadeh, a former college professor, started the United States Trading Championship last year as a business, with potential profits stemming from entry fees that range from $150 for the stock division and $195 for the other three divisions. Entrants must submit copies of their monthly trading statements for a particular account. Fail-Safe Procedure In addition, those in contention for the top prizes - plaques and trophies - must also telephone their trades to the contest office within five minutes after confirmation as a fail-safe procedure to prevent cheating. The names and results of the leading entries will continue to be advertised monthly in Barron's magazine. Mr. Wright, on the other hand, hopes that his championship - and the planned awards dinner and trophies at its conclusion - will not only bring publicity to his company, but also additional brokerage commissions. For to be eligible for the contest, all trading must be conducted through segregated accounts at Wright Financial, which will charge $45 for in-and-out trades and $65 for spreads, or simultaneous long-and- short trades of commodity contracts. These rates are about half of his firm's regular charges, Mr. Wright said. The entry fee for Mr. Wright's contest is $1,000, with the total amount collected distributed to the winners. The grand prize recipient will get $43,800, plus trading profits.