fm JWBT016-Busby October 10, 2008 21:17 Printer: Yet to come
xii FOREWORDWhen he says he can show you how to make your trading day in twenty
minutes, he means it, and I have seen him do it.
It is all about education. We are not born traders. Understanding the
basics all the way to the psychology of trading is a learned ability. Tom is
a master trainer.Trade to Winwill help you build the discipline and skills
that make the trading game understandable, and his strategies will prepare
you to make money.
To win you need to stay in the game. Chapter 17 sets you up to stay for
the long haul. Risk management is the most important lesson a trader can
learn. Quickly identifying when trades are bad and cutting your losses fast,
using stop/loss orders, and knowing before you place a trade the amount
of money that can be lost—all of these strategies help manage risks. Not
all of your trades will be winners. The key to successful risk management
is knowing quickly which trades are losers and letting them go.
My favorite chapter is “Psychology and Discipline: The Winner’s Edge.”
This is where the rubber meets the road. You can’t win if you won’t let
yourself win. That’s right, most traders don’t believe they are good enough
to win; the markets are too tough. Tom sets the tone for you to think like a
winner, and be a winner from the start. The markets are here for us to make
money, not just the professionals, but for us, all of us, and that means you!
Discipline is the backbone and muscle required to win. Tom Busby
is the most relaxed, confident trader I have ever met. His confidence is a
product of his discipline. He has developed this discipline over a lifetime
of trading. Much of his discipline was gained as a by product of getting
beaten up by the markets. If you read his teachings and put his lessons into
practice, you may be able to avoid the hard blows that the markets can
deliver. As a trader myself, I wrote my rules out and kept them next to my
screen and reviewed them every day to keep me disciplined.
In a recent interview, I was asked if I would give just one piece of
advice to a trader starting out. I replied, “I would tell him to read and heed
Tom Busby’sTrade to Win.”
NEDW. BENNETT
CEO, optionsXpress, Inc.
Executive Vice Chairman, optionsXpress Holdings, Inc.
September 2008