I would not be interested in trading if it wasn't for a few people who inspired me and showed me what is possible when you put your mind to it.
This is a tribute to these people and I hope that I will have the opportunity to meet them one day, if I have not already.
Jack Schwager
This is the guy who started it all for me. He is the author of the Market Wizards books and his interviews with these top traders inspired me to become a trader one day.
I first read Market Wizards
I started buying every book I could get my hands on about trading.
Needless to say, Mr. Schwager also contributed to the precipitous decline in my grade point average.
I was majoring in Biology at the time and reading these books made me realize that 1) I couldn't do Biology or Medicine for a living and 2) that there was so much more out there than what they teach you in school.
I am forever grateful for his books and the inspiration they have given me.
I have read a few of his other books including:
Ed Seykota
Ed Seykota turned $5,000 into $15 million in 12 years in his model account.
Ed also developed the first completely automated commercial trading system for managing client accounts in the futures markets back in the day when computers where programmed with punch cards.
He is a self taught trader, but was heavily influenced by Richard Donchian's writings.
His style is strictly trend following, which lends itself well to automation.
Mr. Seykota went on to mentor other great traders such as Michael Marcus, Bruce Kovner and David Druz. He was featured in the original Market Wizards
What inspired me most about Mr. Seykota was not the fact that he made so much money or the fact that he created a fancy computer program, but that he is a true student of human behavior.
He believes in developing yourself not only as a trader, but using trading as a path to self discovery and improving your life and the lives of those around you.
Check out his website: Trading Tribe
Dr. Alexander Elder
In my opinion, Dr. Elder's book Trading for a Living
Yes, I know that you are thinking, even better than A Tale of Two Cities
Here is how it goes:
“You can be free. You can live and work anywhere in the world. You can be independent from routine and not answer to anybody.”
“This is the life of a successful trader. “
There is a lot of good information in this book, especially on the psychology of trading, but the most important part of his book is where he reveals exactly how he trades.
Dave Smith
I actually worked at his hedge fund, Coast Asset Management, as a Trading Assistant on his desk and had the privilege of watching him trade.
According to Trader Monthly (April/May 2006), Dave sold part of Coast for $127 million, but still retains a majority ownership.
What I respected about Dave was that he is a no bullshit kind of guy with a lot of integrity and a great sense of humor.
Dave is not a home run hitter, he believes in being consistent and the profits will come. He applies his market neutral arbitrage strategy to the fixed income and futures markets to make consistent profits regardless of the prevailing market conditions.
To quote him from a 1994 Financial Trader article:
“To use a sports metaphor, I have a singles-hitting strategy. Once in a while the outfielder will fall down and the ball will get by him. Then you can leg out a triple.”
He also just flat out loves to trade and is interested in anything related to trading or game theory.
I learned a lot from him and the other traders at Coast.
Chris Lori
Having finally decided on forex as my market of choice, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the most consistent way to trade.
I turned to several educators in the industry and I did learn some important concepts, but I was still losing consistently.
I wasn't able to put a lot of things together until I watched Chris' course.
This isn't to say that his course will work for everyone, but his style made absolute sense to me and there was a vast improvement in my trading the day after I finished the course.