My take on the guy is that he's great working with his mind (statistics etc. i couldn't come up with), but sucks with working with his feelings (fear and greed).
No, the difference is I take them with my own money and he was taking them with other people's money.
Not to beat up more on poor Mr. Niederhoffer, but in order to survive and thrive at trading, you have to respect market risk. If you don't, sooner or later, it will get you. He may be brilliant but I think Niederhoffer lacks this basic prerequisite.
I think he gets it now. He'll tell you that survival is key, and that he took too much risk in Thailand in an attempt to stay on top. (In 1996, he was the top-rated hedge fund manager in the world, for all periods.) http://dailyspeculations.com/Letter/framework.htm His own account of 1997: http://dailyspeculations.com/archieve/Riches to rags and back again.htm
I tell you what I think of Niederhoffer! He is a complete idiot now! Never and I mean never listen to what this guy has to say! Has anyone every read the column he and Laurel Kenner have on MSN/Cnbc.com. what a complete joke! Last June, this guy made a market call, and told his readers to buy some of the beatten down stocks like wcom, inkt, and others that lost big time! Also, never trust a man who had to meet a $120 million margin call! that was back in the Fall of 98'.
Clue me in - who/what in 'Market Wizards' was a fraud? Tom Baldwin? What specifically are you refering to? Thanks.
I read the Neiderhoffer book about a month ago....( Education of a Speculator ) I found 80 % of it to be boring. If you play Squash / Checkers etc., it would be interesting I suppose. The other 20 % of the book was a mix of interesting info / insights - and - some of the best quotes I've come across anywhere. His deep love for his Father, I found to be the most touching of anything in the book. Was it worth reading ........ Absolutely. I don't read a book for what I don't like - I read it to find "Just one Gem", and there were quite a few gems. For those who haven't read...."Pit Bull" by Marty Schwartz. it's a solid 95% enjoyable read. Once again - here's a city boy that just can't quite seem to find the "Balance" - but he sure has style while trying to find it. "Impressive Fun Book". In the fin, It does not matter how much talent, brains, money, sex, drugs n rock-n-roll , ya got. You are still free to be Very, Very un-wise, and un-happy.
C'mon Vishnu! Test what?!?! My whole point is that you CANT test H/S formations because you can't define H/S formations objectively. Vic apparently doesn't understand that. Its like saying buy when the weather is warm and sell when its cold. Warm? warm according to your definition of warm? according to my definition of warm? or the definition of a guy in Hawaii? Ireland? the Cook Islands? or how about the definiton of warm/cold of someone in the New Zealand? Get my drift??