Jimmy Rogers quotes form a good framework for me (these are not quotes, only rough paraphrases based on my immed. recollection): Buying options is a sure way to the poorhouse. Sell 'em. I make the most money sitting on my hands doing nothing. I'm not a trader. I'm an investor. Buy Value, Sell Hysteria. I wait until I find money just lying around in the corner. Then I go over and pick it up. Retracements? Please don't explain 'cause I don't want to know. TA will only mess up my head. Japan is heading into the shitter. I guarantee it! Jimmy may not always be right, but he da man!
Brother dgabriel, Any sense of sarcasm or ambiguity in my opening remarks was unintended... they are genuine remarks based on a genuine appreciation of the books, and I will confess to flicking through various bits of Schwager's books fairly often... I will concede, however, that the use of the word "profound" could be regarded, in some quarters, as slightly over the top... Perhaps you would care to elaborate upon what you perceive the implications of such a discussion are? Candle
Yeah! I like to see him do a "WHERE ARE THEY NOW" kind of book! Because have you guys seen the REVISED new edition to Stock Market Wizard? A lot of the traders there suffered big time. And the book was written in 2001 I think. I think by now who knows how many are still doing well. So, the breakdown is as follow: 1) Some loss more than the market(doh!) 2) Some loss as much as the market. 3) Some avoid losses by putting their clients funds in money market earning paltry 3-4% while charging 20% incentive fees. haha. But at least their clients did not lose 25-30% that the market lost. But still not very impressive 4) Very few made steady gains but still very small 5) Quite a few complain that their special technical patterns/strategies don't work anymore 6) I think there maybe a small handful or less that actually continue to do somewhat OK... But that was 2001. Don't know where they are now? I think if he did the follow-up on the ORIGINAL Market Wizards the stats are probably equally grim. The market game is hard to beat over the long long run. You gotta quit when you are ahead(by millions hehe). Unless you are as good as Buffet who has a 30yrs track record! oh well
...at last count, half of those interviewed in the Market Wizard's series have had reversals of fortune. Some of those reversals have been pretty staggering. I wonder if anyone has tabulated them? It would have to be someone who knows enough to be able to confirm how complete the reversal has been. My former boss knows a few of them, and knows of many of them. I doubt I could pin him down to go over the whole list. I wish I had kept a tally, because in conversations with him, he'd often mention who was out of trading altogether, who had lost it all, who had walked away with their fortunes, or who was trading still. André
My favorite trader from the forthcoming blockbuster, Market Wizards III, would have to be... the one ... the only !!! MR. MARKET !!! (a close second is the ET poster (I forget his name) who posts the threads on "trade times" -- you know the guy that will say, "ok trade times for Thursday are 10:27, 12:48, and 2:23!") dog
It is very possible that some of the Market Wizards are not having a great time trading right now... it is also very possible that some of them are having a better time trading than at the time of their interview with Schwager... However, irrespective of their current status, the interviews themselves provide plenty of food for thought, and I am pretty confident that for those of us who have read the books, we each have 1 or 2 favorites who have, at least in some small measure, had an impact on our way of conceptualizing trading or have had an impact on our motivation...
William Eckhardt's interview is a model of lucidity and perception when it comes to understanding why traders win or lose. And yes, Ed Seykoya for his superb and very helpful philosophical overview of the subject.
I think they all are good interviews except for the guy who never had a losing week. I think it was Mark Weinstein. If I remember right Jack asked how many losing weeks he had in the past 5 years and he replied "none, but I have had some losing days" Let me just say what a bunch of BS. Then he goes on to say that he only remembers a couple of losing days in 5 years or something like that. RIGHT!!! I read an article that Gary B Smith was talking about at realmoney.com and someone asked him about Weinstein. Gary said that it was impossible and had emailed him to ask how he had done since the book was written and how many losing weeks that he had. Remarkably he still hasn't had any losing weeks! Then Gary emailed him again to say in a nice way that he didn't believe him. But Mark is still sticking to his story. If this was true he would be up there with Gates and Buffett on the Forbes list. Does anyone believe this guy? Eric