First – this is the only account I have entered in the Robbins Trading Contest. As I had explained earlier, the reason I entered this contest is to have something published by someone other than me showing my returns. I have no interest whatsoever with Robbins, but they are now pursing me for obvious reasons. These results are independently audited at the end of each year to determine the final standings. I fail to see a conflict of interest. I have over a million dollars in my trading accounts at other firms, and a much lessor amount at Robbins. This is the only contest of this type that exists, so this is where you have to go to be a player.
Second, in general I risk 5 or 10% of my account balance on each trade, in this particular account it is 10%. This account has never been in the red this year because it started off with several wins in a row. It did have one streak of 3 consecutive losses a couple of months ago. At that point it dropped down from a 62% return YTD to 17%. Now it has had 5 straight wins following those 3 losses taking it back to 45%.
Other entrants I believe have much higher risk settings than I do which is why they have such big returns. One guy went from 90% to behind me in the last month, so clearly he was risking large amounts.
I have dipped my toe into the managed money world, and anyone who has dealt with the NFA in this forum would understand why I am trying to run a business that does not deal with them. They delayed me for over 6 months over 3 words on my website. I was paying a staff of people during this time. It wound up costing me so much money that I went a different route for the time being. I could have sued them as they are not technically a government agency, but I just decided to stay clear of them for the time being.
I will eventually run a hedge fund, but there is substantial expense in setting one up. Further, the govt is about to go witch hunting them and probably rightfully so. I want to stay clear of that shakeout for the time being. I can make enough money trading on my own to live the way I want, but was convinced by a broker friend of mine to go public. He knew my results and thought I could attract alot of money once they became public. This whole thread and other comments over the last few months are exactly why I did not want to ever deal with the general public.
Someone essentially calls me out to show proof, I do it like nobody else in this blog has ever done. Has anyone else ever shown anything remotely similar to this proving what they claim? Then I get comments like a few that have been made here about website hits etc.. I appreciate the spirit of your comments and I hope that I have addressed your questions.
I have been a private trader for awhile and am just going public, my results have been good over time. Some years have been much better than this one, some worse. I have had a few very big years percentage wise and a few that were barely ahead. Just as in any trade, I do get better and more consistent as time goes on. I also have other accounts that trade S&P systems which are not for the public at this point. They are very volatile and not for everyone’s taste in my opinion.
The bond trading system I offer in my service to the public is what is featured in the contest with the previously stated risk parameters.
PW – it is the way comments are phrased in here and in life in general that dictates the response you get. For example, to use a specific prior instance regarding the year ending in 7 mid year correction. I do not recall the exact way the critique was phrased but it was some sort of reference to back to the future I think. You can refer to it as some type of futuristic whatever the phrasing was or you could say, “I am not familiar with that, what exactly is that cycle? It sure sounds unusual?”
This would have gotten a clear concise nice response from me, but when it is belittled with me having learned it from one of the greatest traders who has ever lived, it creates a negative reaction. Doesn’t that make sense? I am not here to teach bedside manner. It is so easy to hide behind some screen name and be completely anonymous. I choose to deal in a very straight forward manner with people. It is how I think someone should conduct themselves, but to each his own. I do not need to hide behind a false name.
Anx – to address your comments about emotion. Actually most successful traders are very emotional and passionate about what they do. I am an ex hockey player, wrestler, and martial arts guy, so yes there is some fire in me. I am glad I have it. Just read a few interviews with Tom Baldwin or Paul Tudor Jones. Tom Baldwin threw a pencil across the bond trading pit and it stuck in the head of another trader when they were arguing over on OUT TRADE. Please do not comment on the OUT TRADE, it is an industry term that refers to settling of trades at days end in the pits. He wrote a check on the spot for the $125,000 fine and through it on the floor, said fuck you to the exchange official, and walked away. Baldwin is generally considered the greatest bond trader who has ever lived. Bill gross cannot shine his shoes. Gross may have made more money than Baldin from fees but not near it from trading. He is an emotional guy but funnels that emotion properly.
You are correct that being emotional in trading would be a negative. I am a systems trader, who follows exact rules with no deviation which removes all emotion out of trading. It is the best approach to this business in my opinion. The passion comes in with the research aspect of things.
With all of this having been stated, I wish all of you in here well. I have just had enough of all of this and I wish I had never even mentioned that I was a trader to begin with in here. I think this blog has turned into alot of personal attacking on people, and as a result is not the great forum it used to be. Many online trading chat rooms have suffered the same fate. At some point you need a moderator to keep things from getting out of hand.
I will be a the meetup day gathering but probably will not participate in here any more. I am thankful to have met the people I have met through this blog. There are some really great folks in here.
