Losses? Who Has Losses?
An old pro trader sent in a funny story about his days at Commodities Corporation:
“Back in the early 90’s Commodities Corporation (CC) brought a few Japanese traders in for some in-house “training”. Of course the ultimate and true goal was to capture some big Japanese money. I was still in their good graces and [CC] asked me to have lunch with a couple of these gentleman. They were new to the program and I hoped to give them some insight into how I handled the process of trading. I told them they had to come up with a method or system that fitted who they were. Then I told them I thought it was great to find a mentor and I was available anytime they had questions or issues and that is still me today. I then began to discuss how important risk management was and that I was willing at that time to risk only 1% per bet in dealing with public money. I am more aggressive today but that was then. I told them that losses were part of the process in finding winners. I will never forget as long as I shall live the youngest trader looked me square in the eye and with a very puzzled look asked “You have losses?” I knew right then these birds had a very long way to go and I often wonder what happened to them.”
