Kathy Lien and Boris Schlossberg are supposed to be two gurus. A couple of days ago, I bought two books about forex that they have written(didnt know that though, and i dont feel as inclined to read them anymore) These two are gurus and many call them pro traders. However, today i stumbled upon this(their signal service performance) http://www.forexproject.com/Kathy_Lien_Boris_Schlossberg_Trades/ With their experience and skills, they shouldnt have one losing month,and absolutely not 2, or one would assume that anyway(considering how many trades they make each month, which should smooth out any irregularities)
Well, I don't think you are going to find any trading "gurus" writing online commentary at FXCM. I understand Kathy Lien graduated from NYU with a BS in Finance, then spent 3 (three) years as an Associate at what was then JP Morgan, Cross Markets and FX Trading desk, trading a bit of everything. Then she turned to being a prolific writer, commentator, conference speaker and seminar presenter. The making of a guru? you tell me. Boris Schlossberg's background is less clear, but he is self-described as "an independent trader since 1999, trading a variety of instruments including stocks, options, futures, and currencies." We all remember that year, don't we... "let's party like it's 1999." He is equally prolific at... well, you know. Guru? you tell me. Having said said, I would not let their live track record -- yeah, less than impressive so far, especially considering the low frequency, daily and above time frame of their signals -- make you dismiss their books out of hand. Almost by definition, what percentage of trading book authors derive more than half of their income from trading, rather than writing / talking / teaching? They both communicate clearly, and I was able to find something of interest in both. For example, Ch. 8 of Lien "Technical Trading Strategies" and MM stuff in Schlossberg (also excerpted in Currency Trader in May and June of 2006).
i once worked for a guru, many years ago, who wrote a book, gave seminars, sold subscriptions, etc... Most of you would have heard of her. Of course she wasn't trading any of it. The capper was when she told me she left her job as a trader at an oil company because she was making so much money and thus making her boss look bad.
If you think there are people who can trade and NEVER lose, you have an unrealistic view of trading. That is an unprofessional assumption no matter who s making the monthly calls. EDIT: I think Boris and Kathy ar eboth good writers and if you are learning FOREX you can certainly learn a lot from their two books and articles. As for following their trading signals, daily signals means they are forced to make a trading recommendation even if they would not take a position on their own on that day so you get bad with good. The key is to learn from them and make your own calls. No one gives away great entries and certainly not for free if they were to do it lol.
I think its fair to say that most large financial institutions have people of a similar stature ( ie technical analysts) who could write a book about technical aspects of markets and how their particular company trades. The key differentiator is that 90%+ ( my guess) couldn't trade for toffee. That's why they are TA's. We all know that pulling the trigger and managing trades requires something over and above the ability to "see " trades. That's why I wouldn't even be interested in some of the gurus who call live trades. Calling them and trading them are not the same thing unless you have real money on the line. Funnily enough Schloss...... was on CNBC this morning just after I first read this and yes his call was 100% right.... the dollar could go down if x happens and up if y happens. That's my opinion anyway ( which isn't worth a hill o beans by the way).
Igor Toshchakov is supposed to be one of the few remarkable sucesses since george soros. He is managing a large amount of money for many institutions and is managing a hedge fund as well, if im not mistaking. At his website, his historical performance is between 40%-60% for his fund(though the minimum deposit is 500 000 dollar =) And he has written http://www.amazon.com/Beat-Odds-For..._bbs_sr_1/002-7107378-7048868?ie=UTF8&s=books where he writes his ideas and strategy. I bought it too,but havnt read it yet.
dafts, are you joking? "Beat the Odds in Forex Trading provides traders with tremendous value by disseminating the trading methods and philosophy of one of the most remarkable Forex success stories since Soros." --Alexander De Khtyar, President, Forex International Investments, Inc. Bawhahahaaha, is that where you got your Soros quote from? President of an FX bucket shop? And Igor runs a trading school, when he is not managing billions. "gurus" will never, ever go out of business, there are plenty of suckers out there.
And bullshit, there are success stories out there in the last decade that make George Soros look like an ET poster.