Feedback in today:

“Michael and staff, hello my name is [name] and I have been following your teachings for quite some time and have read “Trend Following” (new edition) and am now reading “The Complete TurtleTrader.” A little about myself Michael: I play professional basketball and played college basketball at the highest level and really have loved the idea of trading and investing for quite some time. With you Michael and the information that you have written about and spoken about IT JUST MAKES SENSE … especially when it comes to discipline, a strategy, and keeping things simple. I wanted to possibly get in touch with you or someone from your staff because I am very interested about taking the course and also taking the next step in establishing a successful trading business. Thank you, [name].”

Thanks for reaching out and thanks for the nice words. Feel free to drop an email or call and we will answer any questions you might have.

A “reader” sent me a 20mb file last night. Turns out it was a scanned copy of Toby Crabel’s book “Day Trading With Short Term Price Patterns and Opening Range Breakout.”

Crabel was kind enough to personally give me a copy, but I was surprised that this random guy would actually send me the whole copy of Crabel’s book thinking that I would go ahead and post it.

This “reader” is a jackass.

Feedback in:

“Hi Michael, I found it a nice surprise to see that you added me on Facebook since I recently came across your books and also viewed your film. I am a tremendous fan of your views on finance, trading, and government intervention in the markets. I am also a system trader at SAC Capital, and see first hand all the time the herd mentality that exists (along with institutional garbage thinking, etc). I probably do not share a lot of the views of my peers because of my computer background and the fact I studied history…If you are currently or ever up in the New York City area, I would love to meet with you to swap information and views over dinner or even a weekend lunch. Regards, [name]“

Feedback in:

Michael, I have the typical “frustrated” trader biography. I was introduced to trading by a scalper. I took a 2 week study course and then used a 6-week practice account, which was very profitable. The trading company that trained me never once taught me about risk-management and the appropriate use of stop-losses. I had one trade go against me for 50% of my account. I was very unprepared for the live market, and risk-management. Not being educated in the use of stop-losses was a recipe for disaster. Since then I have tried every combination of short and long-term trading to turn a profit. However I am still consistently on the losing side of the trade. I just finished The Complete TurtleTrader, and Trend Following. Your books were the most gratifying source of trading education I have ever encountered. I loved your honesty, simplicity and clarity in describing the process of Trend-Following. I am interested in learning more. What other books do you recommend? Besides asking Salem Abraham to be my mentor (a dream) how do I complete the educational process of learning how to trade profitably, by following the trends? Thanks, Ben P.

I agree. Abraham would be a great mentor. So would many of my other influences in the industry, but the internet has made it much harder to reach out and make contact with the Abraham’s of the world. You might say, “that makes no sense Mike, it makes it easier!” Sure, you can easily find people now and email or call, but the internet has made it harder to reach some people. Why? Because everyone is trying to reach the top people to try and get the same thing — a mentor! How would you handle the crush if you were a Market Wizard and everyone wanted a piece of you? And especially now that everyone in every country is trying at the same time?

I have been thinking about this issue for some time as I am a poster boy so to speak for getting behind the curtain, for sitting down with top traders. And there is a method to my madness. There are ways to learn the right way and to learn from top traders, but sometimes it doesn’t go in a straight line.

My solutions are two fold. My home courses can help those who don’t have the connections to learn from top traders and my seminars/consulting can help those who still might want even more hands on training along with the tips/tricks you will need to meet top minds in the industry.

If you are serious about learning precise trading techniques that over time can give you the chance to make the big money, drop me an email or make the quick call and I will answer any questions you might have.

More to come!

NOTE: Comments are closed for this post.

Feedback in today:

Dear Michael, I have been meaning to write to you for quite a long time now, as we have been fans of your books and blog for many, many years. This is a letter to let you know that we have been successful systematic trend followers for more than a decade, and therefore more living proof of your philosophy. We have been surprised many times over the years to see that there is even a debate still going on about the effectiveness and logic of trend following. We are also spreading the gospel here in Europe when doing presentations to potential clients. Similarly to you, we have been amazed by the ignorance of even those within the professional fund management industry regarding the simple trading philosophy of trend-following and letting your profits run and cutting your losses short. To be fair, we have sometimes been encouraged when coming across those few individuals who absolutely get it. In those situations it feels akin to encountering a Henry Rearden or Ellis Wyatt character from Atlas Shrugged. You may be interested to have a look at our website. There is quite a bit of good information there, but one section in particular may be of special interest to you. It is the Trader Interview section, especially the question about the most important influences on our trading philosophy and strategy. I hope we have your blessing for this reference and link! Michael, we have also recently published an article about a highly accurate trend indicator which we invented and developed over many years. It is called The Vortex Indicator and was published in this months‚ Stocks & Commodities. We are sharing it freely with the rest of the financial industry as it makes up only a part of our successful trading system. Even though we do not believe that there are magic tools for trading, this indicator is especially suitable for trend-following. I have attached for you a single page information sheet with links. We also have a dedicated mini-site for the Vortex Indicator. We would greatly appreciate it and be honoured if you could share this information with your blog readers. Thank you for the excellent blog. Kind regards, Etienne Botes

Feedback in:

As a long-time professional in the futures industry, I was greatly impressed by both of your books and the wealth of information on your site. Job well done! I have recommended your materials to our clients. In August of 2008, we published a white paper to send to our clients. At the time, markets seemed to be breaking out to new all-time highs every week. We are a commodity brokerage firm and we noticed that many of our traders/clients, drunk on a lethal combination of adrenaline and large paper profits, were leveraging up to their eyeballs and disregarding the risks they were assuming. It was very much like the tech stock bubble of the late 90s! So we decided to write a little article on risk management (Read PDF). It proved timely as it coincided with the reversal of the commodity bubble, although the principles of risk management are universal truths that apply regardless of market conditions. I hope you enjoy a copy of our ‘white paper’. The bottom line is this: always take you trades based on the probable, but manage the risk based on the possible!
Regards,
Jason Pearce
Managing Director
Pearce Financial, LLC

Feedback in today:

“Michael, I received the Larry Hite video. I wanted to say thanks. I very much appreciated the copy. I have scheduled more time to watch it multiple times to allow more of what was said to be absorbed. Interesting conversation I had with my brother-in-law last night. I work in the renewable energy world (large wind turbines). He wanted to talk about which energy companies are good to invest money. Actually, he denied that he was looking for a stock tip but that is what it was. I asked him a question, ‘when will you know it’s time to sell?’ He looked confused and then tried to tell me it’s all about the ratios!!! We visited about his all important ratios for a time and then I asked him one more question, ‘How has studying ratios worked out for you the last several years?’ I asked him if he would read a book that could possibly change his thought process on investing. I am referring to one of your books. Maybe he will be understand and maybe he won’t. As they say, ‘you can lead a camel to water…Thanks, Jon”