"By rubbishing N's book by anywhichway means"? I just brought up some things which, in my opinion, point our flaws in his thinking. If you don't agree with my opinions or wish to support his theories, you are more than welcome to provide supporting arguments.
what the niederhoffer bashers are missing is the FACT that he has done what most of us only dream about. he lives a lifestyle that most aspire to--- and how did he accomplish this ?? by TRADING and analyzing the markets. we are fortunate that he tries to explain his thoughts and methods. best, surfer
surfer, I'm not sure if you are referring to me when you say 'bashers' but all I did was offer some thoughts which (in my opinion) counter what VN has written. If you disagree with my ideas, then please show me where I went wrong. I am not a dogmatic person and have nothing against VN. In fact, I would always look forward to learning from experienced and successful traders like you.
I believe that most of what he purportedly discusses in the new book is a smokescreen for what he's really doing. Why would he own equities when he made nearly 40% a year selling premium? If something works for that many years, you don't abandon it. Selling premium was NOT the problem. It was all the crap that led up to it with the Thai currency that got him in trouble. Does anyone believe that VN is out there buying commodities because they have underperformed equities on a 100 year chart? He has seemingly turned a small amount into a larger amount over the past 4 -5 years, has he not? Since the media has labeled premium selling extremely high risk, he may be trying to distance himself from the image by talking about other things. There is no way he has increased his account size by owning the equities listed on his site... not long anyway.
Babak, I enjoyed his first book as it opened my eyes to looking at the market with different eyes. What stands out to me that it seems to be a matter of life and death talking down the book. There are many books I don't particularly like. I just cannot see myself giving such a lot of energy to rubbishing it as some appear to do about VN's book. As far as the particular points you made about the article are concerned, I really think that the way you made your judgement looks (to me) a bit unfair. It is a bit like I talking about a breakout signal and then someone saying 'yes but look he hasn't at all taken into account the trend direction, the time to expiry of the contract, what the RSI signal is telling us etc etc. For the time being all of those things are irrelevant. I am merely talking about the details of the breakout signal, not given a full thirty rule trading plan. Can YOU see what I am talking about ? Cheers, freealway
yes, I can understand what you are saying. I don't think my critique was of that type (that you mention). My whole point was (to use your analogy) that you can't just use that one indicator because it would be faulty. In summary, everyone is free to make up their own minds. The only reason why I entered into it was because someone kept asking me to explain in more detail why I wouldn't recommend VN's book. I shall leave the thread here. Nuff said.
Hey VN lovers, I know another trader who made it big selling premia and doubling up when he was losing.... he was the #1 trader for years. oh boy how I admire him. I bought all his books. Unfortunately he was and is hugely misunderstood, obviously a bunch of ET pikers would never understand his greatness... no matter he blew up BIG. His name.... Nicholas William Leeson.
dude, that is a spurious analogy. nick leeson committed fraud and is a criminal. there is NOTHING similar .
Fact that he has done what most dream about? Wrong He lives a lifestyle that most aspire to? Wrong By trading and analyzing market [as opposed to gambling] Wrong We are fortunate that he tries to explain? Possibly, if one draws appropriate lessons from his experience. I for one don't 'dream' about blowing out over and over (already done that once too often.) But good luck to you!
"There are very few traders who can match his track record". I beg to differ. I would suggest there are a lot of traders who can go to zero or below. And at the end of the day, this is all that matters..........