Secrets of champion traders

This time I would like to present a summary of the book "18 Trading Champions Share their Secrets"which was published in FWN (Financial World News) back in 1996. The book describes 18 success stories of the most famous traders of the 20th century, such as Thomas Demark, Linda Bradford Ruschke, Larry Williams and others. We will try to highlight the main points by which the best of the best reached the top in trading, as well as give their advice to beginners.

We don't aim to publish specific strategies in this article, but perhaps this material will help to make an introduction to the world of stock trading easier and avoid some mistakes. Although the interviews were published in 1996, it can be argued that the principles on which success is built have no statute of limitations and are always relevant.

George Angell

"Every day I go to work without any opinion made up in advance...the market tells me myself where it is going...opinions are what bring you down."

Advice for beginner traders: "Have adequate funding. You have to have risk capital that you can afford to lose. Don't think about the money, think about the market, and the money will take care of itself.

Jake Bernstein

The basic tenets are: "Start with enough capital, diversify, make trades on increasingly large swings, and manage risk.

Tom Berowick

Berowick is an exceptionally "technical" trader. According to him, he even "makes a conscious effort not to know anything about fundamental analysis". "All of these basics are perfectly summed up in the current market price," explains Berowick. - Technical analysis is applied social psychology. It's just crowd behavior - hope, fear and greed."

"For me. good deal - it's when you've earned twice as much as you've risked.

Berowick advises novice traders to "develop a trading style that is compatible with your psychology. Your trading style should match your personality. According to Berovik, "A beginning trader should focus on learning technical analysis and trading, not on losses or dollar gains. Don't make big losses so you don't get out of the game. Don't get overly excited about successful trades and don't get discouraged about unsuccessful ones...you shouldn't feel like a hero after one successful trade or an idiot after a failed one. Just stay in the market and keep trading." "The whole problem is to find your trading method and follow it," Berowick summed up the interview.

Walter Bressert

An active trader for many years, Bressert relies on cycles and oscillators in his intraday futures trading. The use of cycles and oscillators allowed Bressert to develop mechanical version of trading and remove the emotional element from trading. "The market is all about emotion. It's pushing all your levers of fear and greed, sniffing out all your weaknesses. I have to control the emotional part. I've made sure that my temperament doesn't allow me to be the star trading. I found a way to overcome this by using mechanical patterns of entry and exit.

Bressert concludes with the following advice for novice traders: "Learn, learn, learn so you know what works and what doesn't before you invest. 90% people in the commodities market are losing money. It's because they didn't do their homework well."

Tom Demark

Regarding the basis of his research activities, Demark says that "it is on 100% choice time for operations". In fact, good discipline, knowing your (personal) limits and good money management are much more important than a system or indicator," says Demark.

Demark's advice to novice traders: "Read more. Experiment more. Don't take up trading without doing your homework. Make sure your technique is objective - it should be a completely defined process."

George Fontenelles

He notes, however, that it is important that "whatever methodology you use, it must fit your personality. And finally, "learn how to limit your risk... If you can stay in this game long enough, you learn how to succeed.

Lee Gettiss

For Gettyss, it all comes down to risk: "The only thing a trader can control is risk". "I know how much risk I'm willing to take, but I have no idea how much the market will allow me to get my money back."

"My main focus is risk control. That's what all the top traders do," he says. As advice to novice traders, Gettiss cautions: "Don't get your unrealistic hopes up. People ask me what's the best way to run trading. That's a question that can't be answered. I can't tell who fits what. According to Gettyss, everyone has to find a trading method that suits their personality traits.

Cynthia Case

Trader and consultant Cynthia Kase relies on set of technical indicatorswhich she independently developed for her trading signals. Case makes decisions solely on these technical indicators and does not rely on fundamental analysis at all.

As advice to aspiring futures traders, she likes to joke: "The only way to learn trading - is to engage in it."

Regarding the sole trader, Case says, "I wouldn't advise anybody to start trading without $50,000 to throw away and enough money set aside to last them two years of their life. Make sure money is not an issue for you. If you can't make a dime after two years of work, then trading is not for you.

Recipes from Cynthia Case: "The three most important things are the following: first, you can't listen to other people's advice all the time, and second, there is no easy way. Chalices of holy The Grail there isn't one. Hard work and persistence is what makes a good Trader. And finally, the third thing: it must be enjoyable.

In the next issue of ForTrader.org we will continue to tell you about outstanding traders and their tips for beginners.