Proprietary Trading Systems for Stocks, Futures, Currencies, ETFs, LEAPS & Commodities Trading Insights that Government, Media and Wall Street Don't Want You to Know
I want your video feedback and reviews. Turn on your camcorder, your video Skype or iChat or whatever video source you want and put your video statement on “tape” so to speak and email it along. What am I looking for? Feedback, reviews, praise, thoughts, success stories or even fiery criticism where you rip me to shreds…all about:
“I had the pleasure of watching the Salem Abraham DVD yesterday. First, I have to thank Michael for putting this together. I think some people (including me) think of these great traders as having something no one else has, something that allows them to be as successful as they are. Maybe they grew up with the proverbial silver spoon in their mouths, and/or blessed with a certain type of intelligence and ability that can’t be learned or attained. After reading Michael’s two books we know they are just like anybody else. The one thing that separates them from the rest of the investing public is passion for what they do and the desire to make it work. Several things in this DVD will leave a lasting impression on me. First, when Abraham talked about some of the lessons his grandfather taught him; specifically, “Don’t look for good deals, look for great deals.” And he followed that up with “…a person only needs a few great deals to make a lot of money.” This summed up what trend following is all about. Look to hit the home run, not singles and doubles. Second, Michael asked him to suppose his son decided to play the lottery and roulette in Vegas all summer long. How would you address this? Abraham spoke about calculating the odds of whatever you do. If the odds are not on your side, don’t do it. Third, one learns after listening to Abraham that risk management is at the forefront of all of his trading decisions. You can have a system that wins 99% of the time, but if you bet the ranch every time, you will go broke. But the best lesson that I learned was in listening to him talk about his days at Notre Dame and on to working for the family business. His thoughts like “What am I going to do to make a living” were thoughts I’m sure everyone goes through. Thanks again Michael.
Todd M.
An quotation from an old pro trend follower (excerpt by Mike Martin):
“Why do people think they’re smarter than the market long-term? What gives them that confidence? I guess people feel dumb if they can’t predict what the market is going to do in the short term. They’re too proud to admit they don’t know what to do when they’re wrong. They don’t have the capacity to understand the digits that are scrolling by on the bottom of the television. I don’t. It’s too much noise. That’s why we rely on our system.”
Mike, I wanted to thank you again for taking the time and effort to put together the trading course. The material is fantastic. It lays out the ground work for YOU (meaning Me) to make your own decisions regarding investing. You take out all the people and companies that can cloud your judgment.
I just finished watching Broke. It was the last item of the course for me. I am glad I saved it for last because it cemented the ideals behind the theory of trend trading. When you interview all the people that have had a rough go because of their own decisions, but yet still want to place blame on something else, made me realize that I now can be different. Different in thinking, different in doing, different in acting, and by different I mean not in a bad way.
Thank you for opening my eyes to a different than the herd style of investing. The theory makes perfect sense to me. I have started to incorporate it into my investing. My big problem will be trying to deal with being wrong 60% of the time. It has been drilled into my head that you have to have a 70% winning percentage if you want to make money. I now realize that this is scalping and not what I want to do. I want to ride the wave of the trend until it is done.
When I always looked at charts and see a big long trend in a direction. I always asked myself how can I get in that trend and ride to the end. I now know the way to do it. And I can’t wait to take responsibility for my own investments without having to listen or think about what others say or do. I will have a plan in place and I will run with it.
Thanks again. This is the best Christmas present I ever gave to myself.
Michael, Thank you for sending me your film on DVD. I thought it was an excellent film for beginning and veteran speculators. It’s a great reminder of what makes or breaks traders in our business. I found Jim Rogers statement about mutual funds very interesting. I am aware of his thoughts about the US in general, but he really laid into Wall Street. Many of my veteran clients are also not fond of Wall Street or even buying stocks in general. I dislike mutual funds but am still a believer of a self-directed stock portfolio. When new traders enter or research the futures arena, I generally give them the “train wreck” story of what can happen trading derivatives. But in reality only trading can instill this sense of humility and discipline traders develop over time as the trains come off the tracks on occasion. Not one successful futures trader interviewed appeared the least bit “cocky” like you might expect with Wall Street folks. Your movie complements my “train wreck” story. I am excited about the prospects of an increased appetite in commodities. There will be many road blocks along the way as institutional investors find the best way to diversify into our field whether through veteran funds of CTAs or through ETFs, etc. Either way, the demand is there. I will recommend your movie to my clients and prospects. I think it is ideal for individuals learning how become “traders or speculators” (I do not think it is particularly appropriate for everyday mom and pop long-term investors as it is biased towards a handful of successful futures traders with little positive portrayals of equity managers). Thanks again.
xxx xxx
Global Execution Services
MF Global
Private Client Group
141 West Jackson Blvd.
Suite 1800A
Chicago, IL 60604
http://www.mfglobalfutures.com
Thank you for the review, but I do disagree 100% on one issue. The film is for everyone. If people don’t learn how the best do it they will in the long run be left with average returns.
Recovery this and growth that — I don’t get it. If you borrow a ton of money to make economic growth happen…how can you leave the debt owed out of the discussion? It’s like a guy with a $5M house bragging about his wealth, but failing to mention that he owes $10M.
This article is a great example of what happens when governments take over free markets. An excerpt:
Home sales up 7.4 percent in November as federal aid spurs sales. Home resales surged last month to the highest level in nearly three years, reflecting an extraordinary level of federal support that has pulled the housing market back from the worst downturn since the Great Depression.
But later in the article we get this:
Unemployment is high and employers are going to be slow to rehire because economic growth is weaker than expected. The economy grew at a pace of 2.2 percent in the third quarter, which was lower than the initial 2.8 percent reading, the government said Tuesday. What’s more, mortgage defaults are still setting records, and lenders are regularly rejecting applications from borrowers who don’t have good credit or enough money for a down payment.
How could anyone make a bet on housing with THESE fundamentals?
I like much of what these guys do on Tech Ticker (i.e. the Libertarian economic angles), but some of the guests are pathetically awful. Often it becomes exactly what I rip in my film.
My friend Jim Rohrbach sent me an article he recently authored:
I talk to a lot of people about investing. Many of them are afraid to invest. I don’t think they recognize their fears, but the longer they talk the more I recognize the fears that are not obvious to them. I had a few of those conversations this week. One was from an existing subscriber and one was from a potential subscriber who has called me on several occasions. At the end on each of the calls from the potential subscriber he tells me that he understands the importance of my service, and that he is going to subscribe. But, he never does. The other conversation is with a current subscriber who did not get in the market even though he knows that the RIX has been on Buy Signals for almost all of the time since the March 9 lows.
What are the common threads in these conversations? Well the same ideas apply to most investors who can’t pull the trigger on up trends and down trends. When the markets hit their lows in early March, all we heard was that the markets were going much lower and we were going into a depression like the one that happened in the 1930′s. So that creates the fear that “if I get in now the market will go down, so I will wait so I don’t lose money”. It doesn’t matter to these people that the trend of the market turns up. They are afraid of losing money, so they stay on the sidelines.
Another fear happens when the trend of the market starts down. Many investor want to keep their recent profits. They are sure that the markets will go back to their recent highs so they stay too long because they are convinced that “if I sell now the market will turn around and go back up”. So they stay and stay until their losses get so big that they make the decision to ride it out. In bear markets, fortunes are lost waiting for the market to go back up.
Another fear occurs when the market continues up. Those who did not get in are afraid to get in because they are sure that if they get in, the market will turn down and they will lose money. So they wait for a pullback, that may not come. If the big pullback does come, these same people will become afraid again and will not get in even though they are given a second chance. Fear controls their decisions, so they can’t make a move. They eventually join the “Buy and Hold Crowd” and ride out all market up and down moves. They become “Sitting Bulls”.
If investors base their investment decisions on emotions and fears, they will probably be unsuccessful. When investors decide in advance where they think the market, or their investment vehicle, is going to go they will tend to look for indicators to support that decision. They have a strong need to be correct even while their financial world is collapsing.
A Turtle who bombed big time over the 20 years since Dennis disbanded the Turtle program now is pumping the idea that trading is once again genetic and not about systems — all the while pretending to be a tremendous trading success. At first blush this all appears to be a lengthy rationalization for documented failures. Stay tuned. I will obviously have more to say in response.
Note: In a general sense I am amazed at Wall Street. Does anyone out there do any due diligence or does it just make people feel good to act surprised when a Madoff or Stanford appear on the scene?
