You may have heard about the recent independent audit of trader Peter Brandt's annual IRS tax statements for 18 years of trading: It verified his average annual return of +41.6 percent.
What is also true is that Peter's record is the result of the "best practices" he developed in his trading career.
Peter includes several lessons and trading best practices in his new book, Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader: Lessons from 21 Weeks of Real Trading. Among those best practices is "the best advice I have ever been given," which he describes on p. 229:
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"A wise old sage at the Chicago Board of Trade offered me the best advice I have ever been given. This highly successful chart trader said, 'Trade to the far right of the chart page.'
"In other words, the best decisions in chart trading are those that are delayed...delayed...delayed...delayed! Do not anticipate what a chart might become. Make a chart prove itself. Do not lead a breakout. Do not determine what a chart will do; instead, make the chart do it.
"Whether a trade will be a profit or loss should not be a chartist's concern. Rather, waiting for a chart's 'appointed time' should be the focus of a chart trader.
Sage advice, indeed!"
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Peter Brandt is now teaching what he knows about trading. His first ever "traders' boot camp" sold out in 3 weeks. He'll conduct another one in Orlando (details below).
I spoke with Peter and asked him what makes his trading seminar different. Here's his answer:
"I think there are four major differences between this boot camp and most other conferences, seminars, workshops, retreats, whatever you want to call them.
The first is that I have traded for a living. It has been my job. I believe in transparency. I have had my proprietary trading record, based on tax returns and brokerage statements, looked at by an auditing firm. Believe me when I say I did not report trading profits to the IRS and pay the taxes on the profits in order to phoney up a trading record.
The second is that I plan to be blunt honest with folks. Trading is tough work. It is the hardest job I can imagine. Trading is not for everyone. I want to be honest about what is involved in the life of a trader (in fact, a trader really does not have a life). I will consider the boot camp a success if I hear about people who gave up the idea of trading for a living.
The third is that my focus will be on the three things that matter most to successful trading -- risk management, human (emotional) management and the business process of trading. My experience is that 80% of novice traders spend 80% of their time, energy and money on books and seminars and the like that focus on trade selection. In my opinion, trade selection is a secondary issue. It is not that it is unimportant, but rather other components have a bigger role in determining long-term profitability.
The fourth relates to the fact that no two successful traders have the same approach. Every professional trader I know figured out a unique approach through their own trial and error. It is impossible to copy another traders approach and be profitable because sooner or later the approach will have a serious drawdown -- and if the approach does not reflect who I am I will drop it during the drawdown and walk away a loser.
Part of the boot camp presents attendees with the questions they need to answer for themselves to begin developing their own trading plan. I want to send people forth with a good start on their trading plan version 1.1. By the way, I am on version 4.3 of my plan -- things change, but a trader needs a starting point."
Important details about Peter Brandt's next limited-seating trader's boot camp are below:
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"How to Trade for a Living: Lessons in long-term success from a professional trader" is the title of the boot camp, and it's limited to 20 students.