“Market Wizards” - Ed Seykota
For me, the standout interview in the book was with Seykota. Reading this interview alone is enough to set the trader on the right path. Throughout the interview Sekyota gives various jewels of trading advice. I have interspersed this piece with numerous quotes from Seykota. I suggest reading each quote and letting it sink in before reading further. You may gain considerable insight by doing so.
“Win or lose, everybody gets what they want out of the market. Some people seem to like to lose, so they win by losing money” Before we go into Seykota in a bit more detail, let’s just qualify his performance as a trader and money manager. Seykota does not make his records public, but according to what is available Seykota has averaged in excess of 60% per year net of fees since 1974! This, on a returns basis, puts him ahead of anyone else over the same time period and by quite a long way. His model account reportedly turned $5,000 into approximately $15,000,000 in 12 years for a return of approximately 250,000%! This return has been adjusted for capital withdrawals so in theory it is considerably higher! Jack Schwager, the author of Market Wizards, states, “I know of no trader who has matched this track record over the same length of time.”
“The trend is your friend until the end when it bends”
July 2012 | www.financial-spread-betting.com | 45