Mexico City is the largest urban agglomeration in the Americas, but I was interested in talking to just one of the city's residents.
Roberto Hernandez went from working in the finance department of an oil company to becoming a full-time trader and teacher.
He says the transition was rocky: "I lost more money trading than what an Ivy League School M.B.A. would have cost me. I paid a high tuition for my 'trading education.'"
A turning point in Hernandez's trading career was when a friend recommended a book on technical analysis. He devoured the text, including a chapter devoted to Elliott wave analysis. Eventually Hernandez became a frequent visitor to elliottwave.com, and a subscriber to EWI publications.
That's also where he discovered the Dick Diamond Trading Seminar. He attended and "followed the rules" he learned from Diamond. The result?
His trading skills improved dramatically. He transformed himself into a successful trader. (He shows his trading account statement during the seminar)
Here's the Q&A I had with Roberto:
------------
Q: When you first started trading, why did your approach then cause you to lose so much money?
Hernandez: I based my trading purely on fundamentals. I studied balance sheets and listened to conference calls. It didn't work. And it didn't help that I started trading in 1999 at the peak of the bubble. I was familiar only with trading on the long side, not going short.
Overall, I just didn't know enough about trading markets. I had one of those nice Bloomberg terminals on my desk, but that didn't make up for my lack of knowledge about the best trading techniques.
Q: Since you've raised the subject, what are the best trading techniques?
Hernandez: It takes Dick Diamond and me four days to explain all of the techniques and rules. Generally, I believe a technical approach is the way to go -- like using oscillators. That's what turned things around for me. And it started with reading a technical analysis book by John Murphy. Plus, I had to get rid of all of the garbage I had stored up about trading.
Q: What if the short term-trend moves in one direction, while the longer-term trend moves in another? How do you trade in that kind of environment?
Hernandez: As you know, stocks can rally powerfully in a downtrend, and have corrections in an uptrend. A trader simply has to get in and out of trades in shorter time frames. But one thing I've learned: A trader who is flexible can do well in any market environment. The key is to follow all of the rules to the letter, no matter how the market is trending. Trading opportunities come faster during a bear market because the emotion driving market prices is fear. A trader just has to be ready.
Q: Can your trading approach apply to financial markets beyond stocks?
Hernandez: Definitely. In fact, I've personally been trading highly liquid futures and forex lately. The euro has been a beautiful trade.
Q: Why should a trader attend the Dick Diamond Trading Seminar?
Hernandez: What we teach "closes the gap" between being an analyst and a successful trader. Dick Diamond and I provide students with the correct tools, and everything necessary to start trading.
Trading is not for everybody. But for those who really want to trade, they can be successful. As we hear back from former students, we learn that those who are the most successful are those who apply the techniques and rules exactly as we teach them.
------------