Traders At Work

Shortly after most novice traders discover how trading works and begin to realize that they have the potential to make unlimited amounts of money in the financial markets, they start dreaming the near-impossible dream. They fantasize about buying that condo in Boca Raton for their parents or surprising their son with a brand-new car on his 16th birthday. They even begin to imagine themselves opening their own trading firm or milling about the pit of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, lobbying against other professional traders for the perfect entry into a once-in-a-lifetime trade. But then ... they watch the markets lurch in wildly unpredictable ways, lose their shirts in a few live trades, and then freeze in their tracks, wondering if they will ever be able to consistently trade in a manner that can even loosely be defined as “profitable.” To be sure, becoming a full-time, professional trader, working at a proprietary trading firm, or managing the trading activity of a hedge fund may sound like the perfect career, but it’s all too easy for beginner traders to overestimate their trading abilities, underestimate the movements of the markets, and find themselves in a financial hole of epic proportions after a few bad trades. So what does it really take to make a living in the markets? Tim Bourquin, co-founder of Traders Expo and the Forex Trading Expo and founder of TraderInterviews.com, and freelance writer and editor Nick Mango set out to answer that exact question in Traders at Work, a unique collection of over 20 interviews with some of the world’s most successful professional traders, from at-home hobbyists who have opened their own firms to those working at hedge funds, on proprietary trading desks, and in exchange pits. What mistakes did Anne-Marie Baiynd make early in her career? What does Michael Toma wish he had known about trading? What trading strategies work best for Linda Raschke? How does John Carter remain cool, calm, and collected when the markets are sending mixed signals? And how did Todd Gordon make the transition from part-time to full-time trader? Bourquin and Mango ask all of these questions and more in Traders at Work and in doing so reveal insider insights on what it takes to be a successful trader from those who are living that dream. Fascinating, compelling, and filled with never-before-told stories from the front lines of the trading arena, Traders at Work is required reading for anyone who has ever asked themselves if they have what it takes to trade for a living.

This decade has witnessed the most dynamic bull market in US stock history, a collapse in commodity prices, and dramatic failures in some of the world's leading hedge funds. How have some traders managed to significantly outperform a stock market that,until recently, moved virtually straight up? This book will feature interviews with those traders who achieved phenomenal success, from an Ohio farmer who has constantly made triple-digit returns, to a Turkish emigre who transformed a $16000 account into $6 million, to spectacularly successful professional hedge-fund managers such as Michael Lancer of the Lancer Group and Michael Masters of Capital Management. Today, the action is on the stock market. This book will be a must-have for that sector, as well as for the legions of individuals who eagerly bought Market Wizards.

Trading Rules that Work introduces you to twenty-eight essential rules that can be shaped to fit any trading approach—whether you’re dealing in stocks, commodities, or currencies. Engaging and informative, Trading Rules that Work outlines the deeper psychology behind each of these accepted trading rules and provides you with a better understanding of how to make those rules work for you.

An inside look at what it really takes to become a better trader A proprietary trading firm consists of a group of professionals who trade the capital of the firm. Their income and livelihood is generated solely from their ability to take profits consistently out of the markets. The world of prop trading is mentally and emotionally challenging, but offers substantial rewards to the select few who can master this craft called trading. In One Good Trade: Inside the Highly Competitive World of Proprietary Trading, author Mike Bellafiore shares the principles and techniques that have enabled him to navigate the most challenging of markets over the past twelve years. He explains how he has imparted those techniques to an elite desk of traders at the proprietary trading firm he co-founded. In doing so, he lifts the veil on the inner workings of his firm, shedding light on the challenges of prop trading and insight on why traders succeed or fail. An important contribution to trading literature, the book will help all traders by: Emphasizing the development of skills that are critical to success, such as the fundamentals of One Good Trade, Reading the Tape, and finding Stocks In Play Outlining the factors that really make the difference between a consistently profitable trader and one who underperforms Sharing entertaining, hysterical, and page turning stories of traders who have excelled or failed and why, many trained by the author, with an essential trading principle wrapped inside Becoming a better trader takes discipline, skill development, and statistically profitable trading strategies, and this book will show you how to develop all three.

Want to become a truly great trader – either for yourself or for a proprietary trading firm? This book will help you get there. This unique approach is the closest thing to signing up for a “trader boot camp” yourself! You’ll learn by watching new traders walk through actual trades, explain what they’ve tried to do, and try to survive brutally tough expert critiques. One trade at a time, The Playbook reveals how professional traders must think in order to succeed “under fire,” how they assess their own performance, and how they work relentlessly to improve. Using concrete, actionable setups drawn from his extensive trading and training experience, Bellafiore walks through an extraordinary array of trades, showing readers how to maximize profits and avoid disastrous hidden pitfalls. He covers support plays, bull-and-bear flags, opening drives, important intraday levels, bounce and fade trades, pullbacks, scalps, technical opportunities, consolidation, relative strength, market trades, and more. He also presents indispensable insights on psychology and trader development, based on his work with hundreds of traders on a major commodity exchange and an elite prop firm’s trading desk. Packed with color, personality, and realism, this is an exciting guide to real-world trading.

While complex strategies and systems may work for some traders, understanding price action is all you really need to succeed in this arena. Price action analysis is an effective approach to trading today's markets—whether you're involved in stocks, futures, or options. It allows you to focus on the process of trading without being overwhelmed by a complicated collection of trading techniques. And while this method may appear elementary, it can significantly enhance returns as well as minimize downside risk. One way to apply price action analysis to your trading endeavors is with chart patterns. Nobody understands this better than author Al Brooks, a technical analyst for Futures magazine and an independent trader for more than twenty years. Brooks discovered ten years ago that reading price charts without indicators proved to be the most simple, reliable, and profitable way for him to trade. Mastering that discipline is what made him consistently successful in trading. Now, with Reading Price Charts Bar by Bar, Brooks shares his extensive experience on how to read price action. At the end of the day, anyone can look at a chart, whether it is a candle chart for E-mini S&P 500 futures trading or a bar chart for stock trading, and see very clear entry and exit points. But doing this in real time is much more difficult. Reading Price Charts Bar by Bar will help you become proficient in the practice of reading price action—through the use of trendlines and trend channel lines, prior highs and lows, breakouts and failed breakouts, and other tools—and show you how this approach can improve the overall risk-reward ratio of your trades. Written with the serious trader in mind, this reliable resource addresses the essential elements of this discipline, including the importance of understanding every bar on a price chart, why particular patterns are reliable setups for trades, and how to locate entry and exit points as markets are trading in real time. Brooks focuses on five-minute candle charts to illustrate basic principles, but discusses daily and weekly charts as well. Along the way, he also explores intraday swing trades on several stocks and details option purchases based on daily charts—revealing how using price action alone can be the basis for this type of trading. There's no easy way to trade, but if you learn to read price charts, find reliable patterns, and get a feel for the market and time frame that suits your situation, you can make money. While price action trading doesn't require sophisticated software or an abundance of indicators, this straightforward approach can still put you in a better position to profit in almost any market. Reading Price Charts Bar by Bar will show you how.

Douglas uncovers the underlying reasons for lack of consistency and helps traders overcome the ingrained mental habits that cost them money. He takes on the myths of the market and exposes them one by one teaching traders to look beyond random outcomes, to understand the true realities of risk, and to be comfortable with the "probabilities" of market movement that governs all market speculation.

Fascinating insights into the hedge fund traders who consistently outperform the markets, in their own words From bestselling author, investment expert, and Wall Street theoretician Jack Schwager comes a behind-the-scenes look at the world of hedge funds, from fifteen traders who've consistently beaten the markets. Exploring what makes a great trader a great trader, Hedge Fund Market Wizards breaks new ground, giving readers rare insight into the trading philosophy and successful methods employed by some of the most profitable individuals in the hedge fund business. Presents exclusive interviews with fifteen of the most successful hedge fund traders and what they've learned over the course of their careers Includes interviews with Jamie Mai, Joel Greenblatt, Michael Platt, Ray Dalio, Colm O’Shea, Ed Thorp, and many more Explains forty key lessons for traders Joins Stock Market Wizards, New Market Wizards, and Market Wizards as the fourth installment of investment guru Jack Schwager's acclaimed bestselling series of interviews with stock market experts A candid assessment of each trader's successes and failures, in their own words, the book shows readers what they can learn from each, and also outlines forty essential lessons—from finding a trading method that fits an investor's personality to learning to appreciate the value of diversification—that investment professionals everywhere can apply in their own careers. Bringing together the wisdom of the true masters of the markets, Hedge Fund Market Wizards is a collection of timeless insights into what it takes to trade in the hedge fund world.