WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF TRADING, A WONDERLAND OF ALICE

Monday, December 27, 2010

GRRRRRRR....IT'S MONDAY...

FROM AN EXPERIENCE

TRADERS RIGHT-ANGLE

*Risk is not the same as volatility. Assets can be volatile on the upside as well as the downside. Risk should instead be viewed as the permanent loss of purchasing power.

*A risk should not be evaluated based its frequency. Some risks only have to happen once to be catastrophic.

*Sophistication and knowledge are not a form of or substitute for risk management.

*Although following the crowd may feel comfortable, risks are just as catastrophic whether you suffer with company or suffer alone.

*Bullish consensus manufacturers the greatest risks because nobody is prepared and everyone runs for the exits at the same time. Strong optimistic consensus provides a sense that nothing can go wrong. This is why the greatest catastrophes seem to come out of the blue.

*Activity, research and analysis provides a false sense of control over the future. However devastating losses rarely due to a lack of brain power or analytical prowess.

10 HABITS OF SUCCESSFUL TRADERS

1. Follow the Rule of Three. The rule of three simply states that a trade will not be made unless you can carefully articulate three reasons for doing so. This eliminates trading from an indicator alone.

2. Keep Losses Small. It is vitally important to keep losses small as most all of large losses began as small ones, and large losses can put an end to your trading career.

3. Adjust Stops. When a trade is working move your stop loss up in order to lock in gains.

4. Keep Commissions Low. There is a cost to trading but there is no reason to overpay brokerage fees. A discount brokerage is just as good as a premium brand name one.

5. Amateurs at the Open, Pros at the Close. The best time to enter trades are after lunch when the professionals are looking to get in at a better price than one provided in the morning.

6. Know the General Market Trend. When trading individual stocks make sure you trade with the general market trend or condition, not against it.

7. Write Down Every Trade. Doing this will allow you to learn what is working and what is not. It will also help you determine what types of trades work best for your personality.

8. Never Average Down a Losing Position. It is a loser’s game when you add to a loser. You add to winning positions because they are winners and are proving themselves to be such.

9. Never Overtrade. Overtrading is a direct result of not following a well thought out plan, deciding it is best to trade off emotion instead. This will do nothing but cause frustration and a loss of money.

10. Give 10 Percent Away. Money works the fastest when it is divided. When we share we prime the economic pump of the universe.

Trading is a game of rules. We either make the decision to abide by them or we break them. We do the latter at our own peril.

TODAY'S TRADING STRATEGY

OF NIFTY FUTURES - DEC 27

Above 6010, no problem for BULLS.

If crossed 6049 non-stop hike upto 6070-78-86 is seen.

If trades below 6033 for 15-20 minutes,

see a slide upto 6016-10

Support @ 6010-Break down will press NF upto 5997-91

SHARE TIPS TODAY (DEC 27)

1) Sell BEL @ 1740

T1 – 1732

T2 – 1725

2) Sell BHEL @ 2282

T1 – 2274-60

T2 – 2253

3) Sell ASIANPAINT @ 2884

T1 – 2876-70

T2 – 2860-50

4) Sell GRASIM @ 2281.50

T1 – 2272

T2 – 2263-56

BANK NIFTY

Buy btwn 11596-628

T1 – 11678-704

T2 – 11719-29

T3 – 11761

Sell btwn 11493-62

T1 – 11413-387

T2 – 11371-61

T3 – 11329

IMPORTANT THINGS TO BE NOTED

1. NEVER EVER COVER THE POSTION TILL TARGET1

IS ACHIEVED (TAKE YOUR OWN DECISION AFTER T1)

2.NEVER EVER ENTER INTO A TRADE

BEFORE THE ABOVE MENTIONED LEVELS

or AFTER THE TARGETS WERE ATTAINED.

3.STOPLOSS LEVELS, REVERSE TRADING

& MORE INTRADAY TIPS IN MARKET HOURS

EXCLUSIVELY TO THE SUBSCRIBERS

Disclosure:

Solely I have all the rights to stop the free trials

provided in this space at any moment.

Pls subscribe as soon as possible,

join hands with us and enjoy.

(Please refer to ‘OUR POLICIES’ before you leave the site)

For further details,

Contact Admin (Analyst) @

(0)9788563656

BE A CYNIC

Don’t argue with the tape but look at the other side of every coin. I’ve long noticed that as a group Russian and British traders are better than average. Why? Because by nature they question widely accepted beliefs. New opinions translate to revaluations. Leave your dogma at the door and be open to the unexpected and seemingly illogical. Winning traders have a reason to be in the trade. Even if based on nothing more than a vague, ethereal feel, a good discretionary trader has a profile in his mind and the moment his thesis is no longer provable or valid he is out of the position.

KEYS TO DEAL WITH TRADING FEAR

How comfortable are you dealing with uncertainty?

As volatility and uncertainty increases, so does fear. When our emotions run high, then our decision making process suffers.

It seems like the harder we try, the worse things get.

We start reacting to things instead of being proactive. Then we feel overwhelmed.

Does this sound familiar?

One of the hardest things to deal with is uncertainly.

We have strategies for managing our risk in most aspects of our trading. However, we seldom talk about or have strategies for the most crucial element, our Personal Risk.

Have you noticed the panic that is going on in the markets? Do you know people who have been a contributor to it? Do you know them intimately?

How do you manage your Personal Risk?

1. Trade With a Clear Mind

Do not make emotional decisions. Realize that emotions are emotions. What differentiates the successful traders from others is how we recalibrate our reactions to our emotions.

I was watching an interview with a surfer. The interviewer asked him what he does when a big surf comes and he goes underwater. The surfer said it was simple. “If I panic, I only have 3-5 seconds of air to breathe. If I stay calm, I have 45-60 seconds of air.“

What does surfing have to do with trading? If you panic and operate from a place of fear, you could lose all of your capital. However, if you take a moment and think about your strategies, you can have much better results.

2. Look at Your Portfolio Objectively

Think about your portfolio as if you are looking at the portfolio of your best friend. How would you advise him/her?

3. Limit Your Input

There are a lot of conflicting points of view. If we want to listen to all of them, it becomes very confusing, and the confused mind does not make a decision.

Instead of listening to everybody, pick the top 3 people that you respect and listen to them. This way, you can remain focused and have much better trading results.

4. Be In Tune With the Markets

Trade the markets as they are and not as you want them to be.

If we are not in tune with the markets and don’t listen to them, we are going to be in a losing game.

After all, hope is a lousy hedge.

5. Be In a Supportive Environment

It is important to listen to the people that we respect and are successful.

There are traders whose spouse and/or friends have little or no risk tolerance. As a result, these traders allow the fear of their spouse and/or friends to become the boundaries of their success.

Who are you choosing to surround yourself with?

Remember, not the most talented or skilled person wins the game. The game is won by the ones who can manage their Personal Risk and have a Mental Edge.

MESSAGE TODAY

We ought not to look back, unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dear bought experience. To enveigh against things that are past and irremediable, is unpleasing; but to steer clear of the shelves and rocks we have struck upon, is the part of wisdom, equally as incumbent on political as other men, who have their own little bark, or that of others, to navigate through the intricate paths of life, or the trackless ocean, to the haven of security and rest.
-GEORGE WASHINGTON, letter to Major-General Armstrong, Mar. 26, 1781

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Thursday, December 02, 2010

RAVENOUS BULLS AWAIT THIS THURSDAY

FROM AN EXPERIENCE

1. They plan every single trade. EVERY SINGLE ONE.

Every trader I’ve talked with that makes money consistently

knows the following about every single trade they take before

they even begin entering a limit order into their trading platform:

a) the highest price they are willing to pay (if they are going long)

or the lowest price at which they are willing to sell (if they are

going short)
b) their profit target where they will exit if they are “right”
c) their stop loss where they will exit if they are “wrong”
d) the risk/reward ratio of the trade
e) the exact percentage of their account they are risking

Lots of traders do one or two of these things. Few do all of them.

In simple terms they know exactly what they want to pay,

how much money they anticipate making (or losing) and a very

clear idea on the probability of the trade working out.

Although you might think that every great trader uses hard

stops that are pre-programmed in, many don’t . However,

they are highly disciplined and when their stop loss number

comes up they are out. Most traders don’t have that type of

hard-core discipline and so a hard stop loss is still their best option.

2. They stopped trying to pick tops and bottoms years ago

Nearly all of the classes, courses and webinars you’ll find on the

Internet talk about using support and resistance of some type

to find where a market is turning and how to get in before or while

it does.

The funny thing is that only a very few successful traders I have

ever talked to trade that way. Simply put, 95% of the traders

out there that make money are buying higher highs and selling

lower lows. They do the exact opposite of nearly everyone

out there because they found out long ago that picking tops

and bottoms is a sucker’s bet. One trader described it to me

by saying that it’s much easier to just participate in what a

market is already doing than trying to guess when that

behavior will change. Flip-flop your strategy to agree with

what the market is doing rather than guessing on when it

will change its mind, and you’ll be in a much better position

to make money trading.

3. They are patient with winners – and ridiculously

impatient with losers.

Most traders have a great deal of patience with their losers

but get nervous about locking in gains and sell them to

quickly – the exact opposite of what wealthy traders do.

Wealthy traders realize that they may actually have more

losing trades than winning trades so they quickly get out when

they are wrong. It is the only way to ensure that they can give

their winners the attention they deserve.

They coddle their winners and kick their losers to the

curb without a second thought.

4. They trade one market. ONE

I’ve talked with great traders who can trade futures, forex and

stocks at the same time. They are a gifted tiny minority.

The vast majority of successful traders concentrate on one

market and become so comfortable with it that they

begin to “know” the behavior of that market just watching

price and volume. Test yourself – if you aren’t able to get rid

of all your charts and simply look at price and volume to trade,

you’re probably not concentrating enough on one market in

order to know its moods. What we’re really talking about here,

of course, is not the mood of the market itself but the moods

of the market participants!

Focus on trading one market exceptionally well rather

than try to trade whatever’s hot – that’s how wealthy traders do it.

5. Their benchmark for success is anything but money

Money changes everything. It sure does. We’re all in this to

make money. The trouble is, when traders use the amount

of money they make to judge their own success, something

happens to them – to all of us, really – that clouds our

decision-making ability.

Wealthy traders have realized this and instead focus on other

things to determine if they’ve had a successful day. Whether

it be how well they were able to execute on their trading

plan (see rule #1), or their overall ability to predict

short-term movements in whatever they are trading, they

know that if they do those things correctly, the money will follow.

Yes of course the money is important. Any trader who says

otherwise is a fool. Why else would we put ourselves through

this daily ride. But there is something about making it a

secondary focus that allows the best traders to make

better decisions. The growing trading account simply becomes

a nice result – a side benefit if you will – of making good

decisions and reading the market well.

Dennis Gartman is famous for boiling down great trading to

one thing: “Do more of what is working and less of what isn’t.”

Sure makes a lot of sense to me

(to be contd)

TODAY’S TRADING STRATEGY

OF NIFTY FUTURES – DEC 2

No problem for Bulls above 5976

They would take Nifty to 6018-35 for sure.

and a maximum hike today upto 6049-54 is seen

on day chart if traded with good volume

What if not cuts yesterdays high (5991)

& trades below 5976?

If happened watch a slide upto 5946-33

If that too breached, more slide upto 5918

is seen on cards

Strong (day) support @ 5918

BANK NIFTY

Buy btwn 12411-42

T1 – 12493-519

T2 – 12534-44

T3 – 12576

Sell btwn 12307-276

T1 – 12224-199

T2 – 12183-172

T3 – 12142

SHARE TIPS TODAY (DEC 2)

1) Sell HEROHONDA @ 1922.25

T1 – 1910.50

T2 – 1902.50

2) Sell BAJAJ-AUTO @ 1569

T1 – 1563

T2 – 1558

3) Sell SESAGOA @ 299.25

T1 – 297.70

T2 – 296.40

IMPORTANT THINGS TO BE NOTED

1. NEVER EVER COVER THE POSTION TILL TARGET1

IS ACHIEVED (TAKE YOUR OWN DECISION AFTER T1)

2.NEVER EVER ENTER INTO A TRADE

BEFORE THE ABOVE MENTIONED LEVELS

or AFTER THE TARGETS WERE ATTAINED.

3.STOPLOSS LEVELS, REVERSE TRADING

& MORE INTRADAY TIPS IN MARKET HOURS

EXCLUSIVELY TO THE SUBSCRIBERS

Disclosure:

Solely I have all the rights to stop the free trials

provided in this space at any moment.

Pls subscribe as soon as possible,

join hands with us and enjoy.

AN ASTRAL VIEW OF MARKET TODAY

Stock Market Prediction for 2nd December 2010

Transiting Moon will be passing through Virgo Zodiac sign. Transiting Moon will be in applying aspect with Transiting Jupiter, but Moon would be void of course after 10.00, it means Moon would not make any aspect with any planet in this sign, which would create some problem for Indian stock market. However, Indian stock market may show stability. Market may go up between 9.39 and 10.04. Market trend may change after 10.10. Market may gradually go up. Market would go up during last trading session.

Disclaimer

On repeated requests of the readers this

astral prediction is started.

Traders are advised to attain some technical knowledge

before they get into trades anyway

-EDITOR

(Please refer to ‘OUR POLICIES’ before you leave the site)

For further details,

Contact Admin (Analyst) @

(0)9788563656

BEST PRACTICES FOR TRADERS

1) Preparation to start the day and week: Having a clearly formulated strategy to guide trading decisions;

2) Keeping score: Using a trading journal to structure learning, document progress, and sustain positive motivation;

3) Managing risk and maximizing opportunity: Trading with more risk/size when trading well and clearly seeing opportunity and pulling back risk when drawing down, trading poorly, and perceiving little opportunity;

4) Taking breaks: Stepping back from markets periodically to gain fresh perspective, reformulate views, and tweak strategies;

5) Treating trading as a business: Limiting overhead, having a clearly defined plan to move toward profitability, focusing on distinctive areas of strengths and opportunity.

So much of what makes traders great is what they do between market sessions, how they do it, and how much of it they do.

TRADING DECISION

There is a huge difference between a wish and a decision. A wish is a negative and puts the trader in a frozen state waiting for something to happen (generally associated with trying to get even on losing trades). That is negatively charged energy.
Decisions, on the other hand, are positively charged energy. It makes the trader take action. Taking action is taking responsibility. You alone are responsible for your current mental state or condition. Decisions can be both good and bad of course.
The sooner the trader realized the bad decision, the sooner they can act to correct it.
The first step in the decision-making process is to realize that what you are doing is not working. Remember that falling down is a positive motions is you bounce right back. Make a list of the positive and negative things that will happen when you take action on the decision.
Don’t expect instant gratification if you make the decision. Decision-making is a process that begins with the first step but these steps are the foundation for a stronger behavioral structure. This structure will give you the confidence in your trading.
Confidence plays a key role in successful trading. Having the confidence necessary for successful trading can help the trader in difficult trading environments.
Whereas one trader lacking confidence and good decision-making skills may be frozen and unable to act, the trader who has taken the time to build this foundation will be prepared to take the appropriate actions.

MESSAGE TODAY

Experience is never limited, and it is never complete; it is an immense sensibility, a kind of huge spider-web of the finest silken threads suspended in the chamber of consciousness, and catching every air-borne particle in its tissue.
-HENRY JAMES, The Art of Fiction

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LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR VALUABLE

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Wednesday, December 01, 2010

VACILLATING WEDNESDAY

Days of the week, Flores, Flowers, Beautiful Flowers, Animated Graphics, Animated Gifs, Animated Gif Wednesday, Keefers

FROM AN EXPERIENCE

Losing discipline is not a trading problem; it is the common result of a number of trading-related problems. Here are the most common sources of loss of discipline, culled from my work with traders:

10) Environmental distractions and boredom cause a lack of focus;

9) Fatigue and mental overload create a loss of concentration;

Overconfidence follows a string of successes;

7) Unwillingness to accept losses, leading to alterations of trade plans after the trade has gone into the red;

6) Loss of confidence in one’s trading plan/strategy because it has not been adequately tested and battle-tested;

5) Personality traits that lead to impulsivity and low frustration tolerance in stressful situations;

4) Situational performance pressures, such as trading slumps and increased personal expenses, that change how traders trade (putting P/L ahead of making good trades);

3) Trading positions that are excessive for the account size, created exaggerated P/L swings and emotional reactions;

2) Not having a clearly defined trading plan/strategy in the first place;

1) Trading a time frame, style, or market that does not match your talents, skills, risk tolerance, and personality.

****

BEING "SCATTERED"

This is a diagram I drew to represent a very definite negative state associated with trading which I have called “being scattered”… I know many of you will know what this means. This could relate to various things in life, but lets just relate it to trading.

The big red dot of course represents a negative emotion, either from something like a large drawdown, frustration that you are not making progress, getting stopped out yet again, feeling as though you’ll never master this skill etc. The little blue dots are what happens to your ability to focus as a result. It just blows your thoughts to dust.
I find that when I enter this state, I start making lots of little crazy trades or I start tinkering with things, like indicators and EA’s or surfing the net and reading a million articles etc. I now tend to do that in my demo account in the name of experimentation but actually it is just negative undisciplined behavior. You just basically totally lose it. You come apart in your head.
Now the point is that this is the worst worst time to be trading – you need to get yourself out of it ASAP. The problem is I’ve observed you can be stuck in this state for days and not even realize.
The way I now get myself out of it is to do a massive conscious refocus. You have to STOP and start over.
Get clear on you goals. Do you want to be a professional or just mess about for ever wasting time and money? (These are the types of questions I say to myself).
AND I find it’s important at these times to scale back – scale back in you margin, focus on practicing ONE THING at a time. Or even just leave it for a while.
I’ll tell you honestly what a big source of this is for me, the idea that it will possibly take me years to master this skill just throws a spanner in my works. Occasionally, perhaps after a trading loss, I’ll just get thrown into the scattered state – my head is buzzing with conflicting trading idea, like a swarm of flies. It’s all in a million disconnected pieces, I can remember it all but put non of it together. I’m confuuuuused!!!

WIKILEAKS REVEALS PLANS FOR NORTH KOREAN COLLAPSE

BEIJING — Leaked U.S. diplomatic cables show China’s frustration with communist ally North Korea and speculate Beijing would accept a future Korean peninsula unified under South Korean rule, according to the documents released by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.

The memos posted online by media organizations indicate the enormous import American and South Korean diplomats place on China’s attitude toward the future survival of the isolated and impoverished hard-line communist regime in Pyongyang.
The release of the documents follows new tensions in the region with North Korea unleashing a fiery artillery barrage on a South Korean island that killed four people a week ago. The regime also warned that joint U.S.-South Korean naval drills this week had pushed the peninsula to the “brink of war.”
China “would be comfortable with a reunified Korea controlled by Seoul and anchored to the US in a ‘benign alliance’ as long as Korea was not hostile towards China,” then-South Korean vice-foreign minister, Chun Yung-woo, is quoted as telling U.S. ambassador to South Korea Kathleen Stephens in February.
Chinese officials are also quoted as using mocking language in reference to North Korea, pointing to tensions between the two neighbors in contrast to official statements underscoring strong historical ties.
Then-Deputy Foreign Minister He Yafei is quoted as telling a U.S. official in April 2009 that Pyongyang was acting like a “spoiled child” by staging a missile test in an attempt to achieve its demand of bilateral talks with Washington.
China is also preparing to handle any outbreaks of unrest along its border with North Korea that could follow a collapse of the regime. Chinese officials say they could deal with up to 300,000 refugees but might have to seal the border to maintain order, the memos said, citing an unidentified representative of an international aid group.
The diplomatic cables warned, however, that China would not accept the presence of U.S. troops north of the demilitarized zone that currently forms the border between the two Koreas.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton asserted Monday that WikiLeaks acted illegally in posting the material. Officials around the world have said the disclosure jeopardizes national security, diplomats, intelligence assets and relationships between foreign governments.
Britain’s the Guardian newspaper and The New York Times were among five international media organizations to receive the documents in advance.

China has largely rebuffed calls to use its influence to force Pyongyang to moderate its behavior, while opposing harsh economic sanctions or international censure. Beijing has responded to the latest crises by repeating calls for a return to long-stalled, six-nation denuclearization talks that the North has rejected.

TODAY’S TRADING STRATEGY

OF NIFTY FUTURES – DEC 1

WATCH 5904 TODAY

If trades above 5893 for 15-20 minutes and cuts 5904

decisively a hike upto 5920-40-57 is seen on cards.

Or otherwise if cuts 5880 & trades below the level

see a slide upto 5865 and if this breaks with

good volume more slide upto 5847-37

Since a very volatile session is expected today,

traders have to be extra cautious.

BANK NIFTY

Buy btwn 12073-12102

T1 – 12148-71

T2 – 12186-95

T3 – 12224

Sell btwn 11978-49

T1 – 11902-879

T2 – 11864-55

T3 – 11826

SHARE TIPS TODAY (DEC 1)

1) Sell DEN @ 178.25

T1 – 176.25

T2 – 174.25

T3 – 172.25-170.10

2) Sell HANUNG @ 298.85

T1 – 296.60

T2 – 294.75

3) Sell ESCORTS @ 189.9

T1 – 188.50

T2 – 187.75

4) Sell ICICIBANK @ 1141

T1 – 1132

T2 – 1124

IMPORTANT THINGS TO BE NOTED

1. NEVER EVER COVER THE POSTION

TILL TARGET1 IS ACHIEVED

(TAKE YOUR OWN DECISION AFTER T1)

2.NEVER EVER ENTER INTO A TRADE

BEFORE THE ABOVE MENTIONED LEVELS

or AFTER THE TARGETS WERE ATTAINED.

3.STOPLOSS LEVELS, REVERSE TRADING

& MORE INTRADAY TIPS IN MARKET HOURS

EXCLUSIVELY TO THE SUBSCRIBERS

Disclosure:

Solely I have all the rights to stop the free trials

provided in this space at any moment.

Pls subscribe as soon as possible,

join hands with us and enjoy.

AN ASTRAL VIEW OF MARKET TODAY

Stock Market Prediction for 1st December 2010

Transiting Moon will be passing through Virgo Zodiac sign. Transiting Moon will be in applying aspect with Transiting Saturn. Moon is placed in cardinal sign, which is good for the market. Market may do good business during first trading session. Market may go up between 10.05 and 10.30. Market trend may change after 11.43. Market may gradually go up. Market would go up during last trading session.

Disclaimer

On repeated requests of the readers this astral prediction is started.

Traders are advised to attain some technical knowledge

before they get into trades anyway

-EDITOR

(Please refer to ‘OUR POLICIES’ before you leave the site)

For further details,

Contact Admin (Analyst) @

(0)9788563656

IS VENTING EMOTION GOOD FOR TRADING?

Does venting emotion help a trader regain focus or does it exacerbate emotional and physical arousal and interfere with concentration and decision making? Research actually suggests that venting emotion after a traumatic event can lead to worse psychological outcomes.
The key seems to be whether the venting allows for a reprocessing of the stressful events. If the venting leads to new ways to interpret what has happened–new perspectives–it can be helpful. If there is no such transformation of the stressful event, venting can simply amplify stress responses and reinforce them. Venting in a social manner to gain control can constitute good coping. But losing emotional control simply reinforces a sense of lost control.

How do your coping efforts work for you?

Take a look at how well you trade after a position has gone against you. Do you trade better after a drawdown or worse?

How about after you have a few winning trades, days, or weeks in a row? Do you trade better or worse? Breaking down your performance as a function of recent performance will tell you a great deal about how effective you are in coping with risk and reward.
The other excellent indicator of whether your coping is working for you is your emotional experience during trading. If you find that anxiety, overconfidence, frustration, and stress are pushing you into poor decisions, you know that you’re not coping well with the uncertainties of markets.
Finally, it is helpful to identify the sequences of coping behaviors that you utilize when you’re making good decisions and the sequences when you’re trading poorly. Knowing how your individual coping responses come together to form coping strategies can help you cultivate your coping strengths.
Tracking how you deal with challenges when you are at your most effective enables you to create a mental model of that coping that you can call upon during periods of high stress. We cannot avoid the stresses of trading, but those do not have to generate distress and biased decisions.

A REVIEW - POPES & BANKERS

Over the last weekend I finished reading Popes and Bankers: A Cultural History of Credit and Debt, from Aristotle to AIG by Jack Cashill and enjoyed it a great deal. It’s not a perfect book, but it has a lot going for it: the amount of information contained in it is simply amazing for a relatively thin, easy-to-read paperback and it is written from an ethical perspective that I believe most members of this list will find agreeable. I certainly could disagree with very little of the moral and ethical commentary contained therein.

The book is really a collection of loosely tied essays and historical notes on the origins and use of credit and money. Surprisingly, more than anything is is also a kind of a history of Jewish people in Europe and, to a lesser degree, in the US. It is also a cautionary tale about “prodigals” turning on the “usurers” through history demonstrating that little is new under the sun in the financial area other than the technical innovations. The specific distinct areas of the book are too numerous to mention, but even after having a lifelong interest in the origins of money and credit I learned a great deal about the contributions of the Greeks and Romans, the Medicis, Luther and Calvin, as well as Marx and Aristotle and the almost endless parade of German and American Jews.

For those who have read more than one description of the various early European manias and the creation of the Fed, those in the book can be safely skipped, but it was worth it for me to pick up some details I wasn’t aware of before.

On the negative side, while interesting there were too many citations from Michael Lewis with respect to the modern American portion of the material. These made for a somewhat amateurish quality of those chapters, and of course reminded me of our host’s lack of respect for the man. Overall though it was a very satisfying book so I highly recommend it.

BERNARD BARUCH - TRADING QUOTES

A speculator is a man who observes the future, and acts before it occurs.
If a speculator is correct half of the time, he is hitting a good average. Even being right 3 or 4 times out of 10 should yield a person a fortune if he has the sense to cut his losses quickly on the ventures where he is wrong.
During my eighty-seven years I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or the ability to think.
Age is only a number, a cipher for the records. A man can’t retire his experience. He must use it. Experience achieves more with less energy and time.
Do not blame anybody for your mistakes and failures.
Every man has a right to his opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts.
I made my money by selling too soon.
I never lost money by turning a profit.
Most of the successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more listening than talking.
Never pay the slightest attention to what a company president ever says about his stock.
Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies I have witnessed in private and public life have been the consequence of action without thought.