Commodity Traders Club NewsÔ"The Commodity Futures Trading Knowledge Network" Click here to go to--> web.trading Website Home Page |
More on How to be a Successful Trader
I have lots of losses from previous learning, educational and getting your guts kicked in years to make up. You see, I was just like everyone else, until the last couple of years. The only difference, I was able to find a simple methodology and the key to make it work - inner psychological control of my dysfunctional behavior. (Read Mark Douglas' book, I mentioned specific chapters in my last article - very important).
I feel that after all I've written that many people missed the boat about what I was trying to say. Dave Green tells me many CTCN readers wish to know how I trade, where to enter, exit, place stops, how to know whether to go long or short, etc.
I have shown two friends how I trade. They know it so well, that they call me up and tell me what they thought I did for the day and they're just about right. However, one cannot pull the trigger and he loses on the one or two trades he takes every week. I trade 3-6 times/day. The other friend is an older man who makes great money when he trades, but hates the fast pace and sitting at the monitor all day, so he doesn't trade much. He is fairly well off and doesn't need the money.
My point is, it's not the method, it's how you handle your emotions when trading. Knowing yourself and your likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses will help you develop a way of trading you'll enjoy. Trust, execute flawlessly as possible and then enable you to pay yourself as much money as you're able to handle in the market, and this in time will grow also.
Again, my method is very structured and mechanical. It is not 100% mechanical. Sometimes I pass up trades because my experience and gut feelings about the markets' behavior makes me cautious. Sometimes I'll wait 5 or 10 minutes before acting on a signal. Sometimes I enter immediately without hesitation. Sometimes I get out before my method tells me to. Sometimes I bring my stop to break-even quicker than I normally do.
The point is, every day is different. Even though I basically trade exactly the same way each day, the manner in which I execute the trades is a function of my experience, confidence and psychological training. This is the art of trading, and makes the difference between losing and winning.
Neither I nor anyone can teach this. This is acquired by oneself through experience, practice, pain, suffering and heartache. We learn the most from our failures, this is so true. This is why I will not work with anyone, because I can't teach this. This is my problem with so many educators. Trading looks easy on back charts.
I will try to give some tidbits of advice on where to start looking or what I feel is the best and most simple way of trading. I have included charts at the end of this article.
One thing I use on occasion throughout the trading week is the Ross Hook (if unfamiliar, buy the book). The Vanilla Hook is all you need. Trade in strong trends in the beginning of moves or breakouts, risk little, take medium size profits. You can make a living just doing this. See 5-minute chart of examples of a hook.
Also I use pullbacks of between 35-62% retracements in a trend swing that gives a reversal bar back in the direction of a trend and that makes a pivot (low, high). I use this the most and it works great. However, it is the art of trading that will make all this very profitable when you master yourself and reading market behavior.
Personally, I would take one market and master it. Don't trade 20 markets like a banana-head. I like the S&P500 and I take a couple trades a week in the Swiss Franc. All on 5-minute charts (same method, same everything).
My average trade lasts 30-60 minutes, sometimes more, sometimes less. I take my profits quickly and try not to get married to trades. Learn to be imperfect at times and plan for this. This might make some of you feel better. I usually never risk more than $300 on an S&P trade. Well I did two (not one) really stupid trades last week. My ego got involved and I knew or thought I was right on a couple of trades. The first one, I sat thru a $750 drawdown to make $300 which sounds great, but it set me up on the next trade.
Chart in Print Copy
I did the same thing and lost $1,500 in 30-minutes on the S&P. I reversed my position and started going with the trend. Put my stops back in and ended up making $1,100 for the day. Had I not made these mistakes, I would have made $3,000 plus for the day. On a 1-lot (that's what I trade mostly) I'm fixing to increase to 2-3 lots shortly. So you see, I still make mistakes and continue learning each day.
I've included charts (see pg 2) to show examples and give ideas to develop your own methods and personalize them. Sorry - there's no canned 100% system that will make you a great trader! The Keltner Channel is something I use as a visual aid in market direction and strength. I don't know much about it. It helps me visually, so I use it. A friend told me about it. I looked at it and liked it. Enclosed is my TradeStation formula. You can figure it out, if you wish. Again it's a tool, not a Holy Grail.
I personally recommend only intraday trading. I hate trading daily charts and overnight trades. Benefits of intraday trading are as follows:
More profit - especially if you trade size
‚ Less risk
ƒ More control with money-management
„ No overnight exposure - you sleep at night and weekends. Remember coffee, lumber, cotton, and currencies, lately. How would you like to wake up with these against you or locked limit for 2-5 days in a row against you? One bad one like this can ruin 6-12 months of hard work. No Thank You! I don't care what anyone says, it's not for me.
… Quick reinforcement - you get a winner or two in the morning and you feel great. You don't have to wait 3 to 7 days to book a profit - just 1/2 to 1 hour.
† If you lose, you can make it up within a few hours and you are back in the black quicker, making you feel good.I know some people will write and dispute this, and that's OK. It's my opinion formed after doing all the other stuff from experience. Dailys didn't work for me. Too slow, too boring, too much exposure and too many markets to keep an eye on.
Again, trade with trend, enter on retracements, use small stops and take profits as best as you can. Better off taking a profit too quick than staying in a trade too long. You'll learn the right feel for this as real-time (not paper) trading experience grows. You will only begin to learn about trading and yourself with real-time, real (actual) trades. You must trade to learn. Set aside some money you expect to lose as tuition. You'll probably graduate with honors and do it quicker. Don't get hung-up on paper trading.
I hope this information helps. I wish I could do more. Unfortunately, this is a journey we all have to make alone. For those who succeed, the rewards are truly satisfying.
P.S. I enter two ticks above or below the signal bar. Risk $200-300 maximum in S&P 500. Swiss Franc (currencies) 7-10 tics maximum risk. These are only guidelines, you must adapt for yourself.
On Keltner Channels - The stronger the angle or slope, the stronger the trend. In a trend, I like for prices to retrace back around the mid-Keltner before I look to enter - on a signal back in the direction of the trend. However, in really strong steeply trending markets, I will not wait for price to hit mid-Keltner Channel, because it will never get there. You'll see this thru experience.
Software and Data Preference Polls: Not Gauge of Quality
Bob Pelletier of CSIIt's that time of year again. Stocks & Commodities Magazine ran its annual "Reader's Choice" contest and the winners are trumpeting their accolades all over the investment rags. This brings up the annual controversy over user preference and just what "Reader's Choice Winner" really means.
For those of you who don't read S&C, let me explain the competition. The subscribers of S&C were sent ballots listing advertisers and potential advertisers of the magazine. They were asked to select their one choice in a number of categories.
Let me be clear on this: They did not compare the competing products or services as good, bad, worst, etc. . . . Nor were they asked to rate individual aspects of the contestants, such as quality, service, etc. The winner in each category was, quite simply, the one with the most votes.
The fact is, the so-called "Reader's Choice Award" in each category of software or data has absolutely nothing to do with the quality and performance of the product. Most readers may have known of only one product in each category. Regardless of the superiority of the other products about which nothing was known, the product familiar to the reader got the vote.
While this type of balloting shows the product most frequently used by S&C readers, it does not say on what basis (or under whose influence) the choice was made. None of us can know the private list of candidates each reader was familiar with when casting a vote. In this flawed study, a non-vote due to unfamiliarity with a product carried the same weight as a non-vote due to a bad experience.
The editors at S&C are the first to point out that quality has no bearing on the outcome, but this message is lost in the media circus created by the winners. MetaStock used their win to promote their software when compared to a competitor. Likewise, another winner showed their multiple awards in a recent magazine promotion.
Using S&C's "Reader's Choice Award" as evidence of progress in one's own accomplishments brings to mind George Santayama's quote, "Those who speak most of progress measure it by quantity and not by quality." There are more product longevity and satisfaction in quality than any other attribute of performance. Unfortunately, S&C left quality out of their questionnaire.
It is interesting to note how very laudable the study seems to the winners and how very biased it appears to the dozen or more losers in each category. As a "Finalist" in the data service category, we find ourselves in the crowd shouting "foul." When CSI lost out to competing data services, we felt compelled to advise S&C of the flaws in their study. Neither of the two letters we submitted to the editor, making several valid claims of bias, were accepted for printing.
Day Trading Insight - George Moldenhauer
It seems like there has been an incredible interest in day trading in recent issues. Frankly, I fail to see the attraction. As a full-time trader/advisor, I realize that day trading is time consuming and mentally taxing. I must think that for most of you, you have better things to do with your day.
I run into people that are constantly in awe of the fact that I'm living the life they dream about... as an off floor trader. I work out of my home and make a comfortable living. But that doesn't mean that it is easy. People think that trading stock index and bond futures is easy and it "beats working." If you want to be good at what you do, it takes a lot of hard work. I get out of bed before my neighbors do. I start my day before they have their first cup of coffee and often I'm working when they get home from work.
But dedicated individuals can make a living trading. And it doesn't necessarily take big money to be successful. In fact, as an experiment, I have (since the first of the year) been trading a very small account. In this account, I have been trading T-Bonds and TNotes and more recently Stock Index Futures. Most of the trades in this account have been day-trades (some have been held in the night session and only recently have I held Eurodollar positions overnight). I have done this to prove a point... that an average person of ordinary means can make it trading futures. In fact, I seem to remember reading that Richard Dennis was down to less than $1,000 before he turned the corner.
While I am only 3-months into my little project, I have yet to have a losing month. I'm constantly pulling profits out of the account and the account is profitable. The approach is simple. Each night after the close of Bonds and NYSE, I make a few simple calculations that will give me a directional reading for the next day. These calculations are simple to do and can be done by hand or on an inexpensive hand-held calculator. From that point, I have a good idea about how the markets will close for the next session. With that information, I know my trading approach for the next session.
The system works with notes, bonds and stock index futures. The best part about this approach is that you can have a trading plan for tomorrow, today . . . before you hear the news (or as I like to call it noise) from the markets overseas. With this information in-hand, I know exactly how I am going to approach the markets tomorrow. With my game plan in-hand, I can approach the market with a great deal of confidence . . . an important element to your successful trading.
I have seen several contributions recently from members that talk about their success. There is one common element that they talk about... discipline. My experience is that discipline comes from confidence. If you're confident, you have a winning approach, then it's easy to be disciplined. But if you don't have a winning approach, all the discipline in the world still won't make you any money, period. It's easy to have discipline when you know that the probability of a positive outcome is on your side.
Michael Jordan doesn't hit all of his shots. If he were on my team, and we were down by a point with only seconds on the clock, I would have the discipline to get him the ball . . . wouldn't you? Trading success is like that. Know the odds, trade the odds and over time you will make money.
Not Seeing the Forest for the Trees? - David Hutton from Australia
It's interesting as traders that we find ourselves on all mailing lists. We receive promises of riches beyond our wildest dreams that are just around the corner, if we are just prepared to shell out another $199 for the . . . "Greatest Discovery this Century!"
Don't get me wrong, I am the first to admit there are some good ideas out there, and you probably do to. I have a library of trading books, and some trading systems. After all, who was it that said, purchasing someone else's brain was the cheapest investment.
But by far, the most valuable knowledge that is available to you as a trader is what you learn about yourself over many years of trading. To be successful, these questions need to be answered:
Are you a subjective or an objective (system based trader), or do you fall somewhere in between (if you are very careful?)
‚ What time frame are you comfortable trading? It's no good buying or designing a trading methodology that takes trades for periods of two weeks to a month, if you are worried about your profits every day. It's no use saying you are going to day- trade, if sitting in front of a screen all day is going to give you a nervous breakdown.
ƒ How do you handle drawdown? What are you doing looking at systems where profits are large, but there are drawdowns of $15-$20,000 in any annual period? If you can't handle drawdowns of this magnitude (and there's nothing wrong with that) then don't go with these methodologies.
„ Simplicity - If a methodology is not easily understood and clearly written, you're in trouble. Remember the average human can only take in a maximum of seven pieces of information at any one time. So if your screen is showing two time frame bar charts, two moving averages on each, channels, and a couple of indicators thrown in for good measure... and you are trying to trade, then you are kidding yourself. Your brain has told you to take a hike and just won't make any decisions, how could it?
A good test to see if a system is suited to your personality/psychology, is if you have the discipline to stick with it. Even if you've spent months designing what you think is the perfect system, you find yourself looking for excuses not to take trades or picking holes in it, chances are that besides other problems you may have, one of the major ones is the methodology not being suited to you. Take another look, and be on the lookout for this behavior.
If you are purchasing systems, make sure it has the ability to backtest and walk forward the methodology to become comfortable with the results. You want to make these systems your own. You need to know what the drawdown patterns are. What the percentage of profitable trades are. How it performs in good and bad periods and how long it stays in trades.
Why on earth would anyone buy a black box on a promise? At the first sign of trouble, you will stop using the system because there's nothing to enable you to have confidence in its ongoing performance.
Many thanks to Dave Green for an excellent publication. It's great to have such a wide forum for views, ideas and inspiration available to traders. One common theme that I have noticed from the articles being written. I wonder if you have to? Those traders that are doing well have a relatively simple and clear explanation for their trading methodology, while others that seem to be struggling are lacking a clear direction and methodology.
From my own experience, I believe that while many traders would like to trade off the screen with some subjectivity, most need strict rules to trade by. This would include in its crudest form, a trade sheet which provides for ticking boxes when trade criteria are met (as some of mine are), with order levels and stops to be placed, to computer generated orders printed out by programs such as SystemWriter (also as some of mine are). My methodologies tend to be relatively short-term (1-3 days), typically have extremely low drawdowns by most system standards, and have a relatively high percentage of profitable trades. Longer term trades stem from short-term low risk entries, and would typically run for 3 to 10 days. Hopefully this has been of some assistance to those of you still struggling to find your trading identity.
How I Make Money by Using Scale Trading Techniques - S. F. From Europe
The reason for my writing is that I have become a convert to the idea of Scale Trading. Therefore I write in defense of Robert Wiest and his system, which was slated by one of your (somewhat ill-advised) readers/contributors.
I presume Robert Wiest is not a reader of your letter. Editor's Note: He is not a CTCN Member. However, I will send him a copy of this article and perhaps he will join. If he is, tell him he can write his own defense. I feel obliged to write something about his system, if only to put the record straight, and perhaps help one or two of your readers who can use these methods.
To state the system "only goes long when the price is perceived to be at historically low levels, and then holds it forever until profitable" is a gross over-simplification, since a decision to start a scale also takes into account much fundamental information.
In the example given in the Feb. issue of CTCN, where sugar fell from 6¢ to 3¢. I presume this move was in line with the fundamentals: I.e., there was gross oversupply. Scale trading would not have been started in this case. If the price of a physical commodity (scale traders are advised not to trade currencies or stock index futures) is near its historic lows and the fundamentals of supply and demand are quite bullish.
I can assure you and your readers that this form of trading is very low-risk. The law of supply and demand has governed prices for centuries, and will continue to do so as long as humans wish to trade and interact with one another.
Your previous contributor gave sugar as an example, and added that more extreme examples were available. I guess there are, but it is not likely he will be able to find anything anywhere near a $30,000 drawdown in a physical commodity from a point where it was ever suitable for scaling.
All trading has some risks. If it didn't, everyone would do it. Scale trading seeks to reduce risk. I agree wholeheartedly with Robert Wiest in his assertion that scale trading offers fair profit potential for low risk. Nobody is going to make 100% per year by these methods, and I presume that this is what stops most people trying it. I can also vouch for Mr. Wiest's assertion that one also needs much discipline, and above all, patience to trade this way.
A lot of patience, but anyone who sticks rigidly to the scale trading system will, in my view, never fail (or at least very rarely fail) to return a small percentage profit each year. Based on my historical testing, 20-40% seems a very reasonable average estimate.
Sure, you'll have drawdowns and paper losses. I have had them, and I have them now. They're part of the system. But overall, I'm profitable, and I sleep at night. If you started your system correctly, the drawdowns will never break you. The losses really will turn to profits later, and not usually years later.
Take corn as a present example. I'm not a farmer, so have no idea what it really costs to produce a bushel of corn. However, as I understand it, and this is also probably over-simplification, the U.S. Government has to step in to help farmers if the price drops below $1.94 F.O.B. the farm. I therefore presume that this is somewhere near their cost, assuming a good harvest with good weather throughout the season. Now, the low of the last ten years is about $1.45, although it has only been below $2.00 after four successive huge crops. Therefore, given the current stock levels, 1995 corn at anywhere below $2.50 looks very attractive to me for scaling.
If you read Robert Wiest's book, you'll see that scales can always be tailored to your own account size and profit goals. I scaled corn late last year and cashed a profit of $200 (less commission) every time the price moved up 4¢, safe in the knowledge that I wouldn't be in trouble until the price dropped to $1.50. At that point, I would have owned about 15 contracts. Sure, the price might have continued to fall from $1,50, which would have been very serious for me, although not catastrophic. But how likely do you think that is? If the price of corn is 30-40 cents below their cost of production, how much corn will farmers plant next year? Not a lot.
I would probably have been rolling a lot of contracts over from this year's to next year's crop, but eventually I would have made my $170 on each contract, plus $170 on each oscillation of 4¢ taken on the way back up. Of course, compared to $1,200 a day, $170 every now and then is not much. But they add up, especially when there are not large minus figures appearing on the statement from time to time as well. And I trade other things too, which also give the odd few hundred dollars from time to time, also without large minus sums.
At the moment, I am scaling soybean meal, soybeans, oats, and heating oil, whilst carefully watching corn and wheat. There are also opportunities in the meat markets. If the July soymeal price drops to 140.00, I shall have to stop accumulating contracts, but I feel that this is highly unlikely. If it drops to 120.00, I'll have given your subscribers a good laugh, but I'll still be in the game. My scale will not be closed until the price hits 185.00. Every time the price moves up $4.00, I make $400 less my commissions. So far, I've cashed several profits, and I only started this scale in December. My oats scales have given me profits, as have soybeans. So far, only heating oil has given me any serious problems, but I shall not be in trouble unless the price drops to 36.00. I'll be out at 51.50. Which heating oil price do you think is the most likely in the next few months? People might well-read this in twelve months' time when the price is at 20.00, and think "I wonder what became of him?", but I doubt it. And meantime, every time the price moves up a bit, I bring in a few more dollars to cushion the blow of any disaster looming down the road.
I have no doubt that you have several readers like this Anonymous Trader character. He is clearly a smart chap, and I offer him my congratulations. Good luck to him. We all know that 90% of traders lose over time. I have no reason to suspect that this percentage is different amongst your readers.
So for every Anonymous Trader, there are presumably nine losers. (If you survey your readers, they will probably deny this fact, but I think I'm right. Also, I think I'm right in saying that about 90% of people also consider themselves better than average drivers. As this is statistically impossible, I always prefer to rely on statistics coming from information given by bodies like the trading exchanges rather than from privately conducted surveys).
I suspect most of these nine losers-to-be will never try scale trading, because they would much rather be like Anonymous Trader (making his $1,200 per day) than me making 20-40% per year. Most people would, myself included. I've already realized this is an unlikely goal for me, as I lack either the ability or the perseverance (or both) of Anonymous Trader. I shall stick to my own methods. Regrettably, nine out of ten losers will also find out that they lack something, but presumably via the hard way.Incidentally, if he can't teach friends to do it, what makes you or your readers think he can teach them? Finally, as mentioned earlier, all trading has risks. Any one position trading index futures, bonds or currencies are always vulnerable to gap openings, and it might only need one to wipe them out entirely. Did you know that on Black Monday people got margin calls to produce $200,000 cash, per S&P contract, in one hour? Did you know the bid/offer spread at times that day was up to 100 points (not ticks)? I wasn't there, but have read both statistics in two places. Now to me, that is high risk! Just one day in my lifetime would have wiped out any trader who happened to have gone home long that weekend.
Am I taking risks with my scales? Sure. But what risks? If corn really goes 20% below cost, to say $1.50. How many readers seriously think it will drop much further? I think it is wholly inconceivable it could drop much further. Currencies can trend one way, more or less indefinitely, in a straight line if they like, but crops can't. Eventually farmers will stop planting, and unless demand simultaneously disappears (which has never happened yet), the price can only then go one way: back up, and probably up with a bang.
Dave, you are clearly a nice bloke. I wish you would read Robert Wiest's book before commenting further on the pros and/or cons of scale trading. If you have already read it, then I'll accept that your opinion about few traders being able or willing to use this methodology with success may be correct: hopefully I'm one of the few. Furthermore, since I dislike being made to look silly, I hope I remain one of the profitable few for the indefinite future.
I certainly have a confidence trading now, which I never had previously. You will not like what he has to say about trend following systems. I don't agree with a lot of what he says about chart-reading. I feel it's hard to argue with a law as powerful as supply and demand, and if nothing else, you might enjoy the book just for giving you a different perspective.
I'm sorry I've waffled so much. Scale trading gives me lots of free time to write page after page! (I've cashed four winners this week, but did go three weeks in January without making one trade). Thanks again for your work.
Shopping for Real-Time Data - Michael Maldonado
I've also taken up day-trading the S&P 500 recently. I'm sure most of the CTCN readers realize that the S&P 500 is one of the most liquid and very popular contracts to trade. Considering the daily volume involved and the ease in which real-time data can be obtained, it's no surprise that there are thousands of others trading in this manner.
I'd like to share my recent experience on the purchase of real-time data. My choice was easy to make. I hope to save other CTCN members some of the research time and headaches involved.
After receiving information from all available vendors; only two companies were really cost effective for small traders working through home computers. I came to the conclusion that Signal and BMI were the only realistic choices available. Both companies are very similar with the features they provide; but use very different sales techniques.
Upon comparison, I found BMI to be a better value than Signal for your dollar. BMI is a much smaller company, and is better suited for the commodity trader. A satellite dish is the recommended receiver of the data stream. BMI shipped a satellite dish via UPS directly to my front door. There was no charge for the dish, and I also received an installation video and all tools needed for assembly.
Both companies have start-up fees, but BMI offered to supply my second month of data at no charge, which more than covered those fees. They also will supply all commodities in a 20-minute delayed format at no extra charge. Most S&P traders need to view the S&P 500 contract tick by tick, but are still interested in what the other markets are doing. The ability to view the other markets at no extra charge is a definite plus! They also have one of the least expensive real-time charting programs on the market. They offer a service that fills in any gaps you may have in your five minute charts automatically every evening. Signal offers none of these features.
The most unbelievable aspect of my purchase was the attitude of the sales people involved. BMI's sale representative was anxious to do business with me. He filled my every request. He used a "no pressure" sales technique, negotiated on their monthly fees, and was a pleasure to deal with.
On the other hand; Signal's representative was the opposite. His attitude was that he believed Signal was the only vendor in town! He continually reminded me that his "sale price" was about to expire. The only way he would negotiate their fees is if I Faxed him a copy of BMI's best offer, or if I paid for a year's worth of data in advance. Of course, I informed him that I would take my business elsewhere.
I'm sure not all of Signal's representatives conduct business in this manner. Otherwise, they wouldn't be the largest vendor in the industry. In the five months that I've been subscribing to BMI's service, I've had no problems with data reception even though we've had an incredible winter this year in California! I'm also using TradeStation to handle my charting needs. I'm very impressed with both products and recommend them to CTCN members.
The representative that I dealt with at BMI was Adam Lawlor at 800-255-7374 ext 4421.
"The Making of a Trader"©-Installment #1
Dyslexia - Blessing or Curse - Joe RossI guess I'll have to bow to popular opinion and write some articles for you under my own name. I want you to know that I caught a little hell from readers of my own teaching letter who resented the fact that I published that last article on "First Notice Day" before they had a chance to read it. They said if I'm going to do things like that, they would drop their subscriptions to Traders Notebook and just read what I have to say in CTCN. So I guess I'll have to write things here that I don't write there. If you and your readers don't mind, I'd like to do something in CTCN that I've never had time to do elsewhere. Here's the background for my request:
Thanks to the prayers of family, friends, my students around the world, and those readers of CTCN who also helped. I lived to celebrate my 60th birthday on April 7. The malignancy is gone and I'm on the road to a full recovery.
In June of this year, I will have been involved with the markets for 38 years. Thirty-five of them as an active trader and seven years as an author, teacher, tutor, seminar giver and educator. Dave, I'm still learning. Believe me when I say I learn more from my students than you could ever imagine. I've learned a great many lessons in this life and it amazes me that I was able to trade profitably for so many years and not blowout somewhere along the way.
Here's my request: With your permission and the permission of your readers, I'd like to tell about those years with particular emphasis on the lessons learned along the way. I cannot promise to include something in every issue, but I will do my best to make the articles instructive. Also consider that this material is copyrighted and much (if not all of it) will appear in a book called "The Making of a Trader"©. If it's okay with you, what follows is the first installment. The final book version will contain a great deal more.
You may wonder what it's like to go through life with a severe case of Dyslexia. My earliest encounters with this physical challenge began at school. In those days the term Dyslexia probably hadn't been invented yet. My teachers thought I had an attitude problem. They told my mother I was smart enough to do the work, but I was lazy and careless.
The problem was particularly strong with regard to numbers. Because I sporadically reverse them. I could not and still cannot add a column of numbers. Even a calculator does not help, because I reverse some of the numbers as I enter them. In my books, I'm forced to have numerous people edit everything numerical. On the Series-3 Exam, I failed every single problem that involved calculation or numbers. I am unable to pass that test. In Trading Optures and Futions, without exception, every calculation was in error and had to be rewritten. At least I'm consistent. When I write, the problem is controllable. Most of my life, I have been able to read only 25 words a minute. However, after taking a speed reading course, I am now able to "dyslex" at the phenomenal rate of 100 words a minute. I've learned to overcome adversity.
Editor's Note: The remainder of Installment One, which deals with Joe's childhood and younger days, along with Joe's other contributions will be printed either in our next issues, or as a Special Report, depending on member feedback.
Misc. Thoughts of a Long Time Experienced Trad