The Coolest Guy in the RoomQ: So you were realistic enough to understand that this was
going to be difficult and you had to just stay in the game?
A: Today I tell brand new traders that you are not going to make
money in first year. I’ve only seen one trader do that who traded
futures. But he had a huge amount of experience trading markets
prior to moving to futures.
Q: When you first started trading, what was your basic strategy?
A: The same thing as today, although I would love to be a better
swing trader I know now and—it took me a couple years to figure
this out—that I was a great scalper. I like to play a lot of contracts,
sell a lot of shares, for very small profits over and over again.
Q: You would basically fade extremes right from the beginning?
A: Yes, and if you had first seen me trade, I was no different then
than I am now.
Q: So you’ve really stayed very consistent right from the get go.
You remained in sync with your core personality?
A: Yes.
Q : The first year you lost $50,000, why do you think that
was? Was it a matter of just learning how to have better timing?
Better risk control? What were you doing wrong then that you’ve
improved since?
A: I think it’s a matter of seeing an entire year’s worth of markets
where you to go through earnings season. You need to go through
slow times. You need to see a holiday season. You need to see