Elder - Study guide for the New trading for a living: psychology, discipline, trading tools and systems, risk control, trade management

T HE N EW T RADING FOR A L LIVING

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Cover design: Paul DiNovo

Copyright 2014 by by Dr. Alexander Elder. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

ISBN 978-1-118-46745-9 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-118-98470-3 (ebk)

ISBN 978-1-118-98471-0 (ebk)

To the memory of Lou Taylor
a wise man, a savvy trader, and a true friend.

T rading for a Living was published in 1993 and became an international best seller. It remains at the top of many reading lists, as friends recommend it to friends and trading firms give it to their new hires. All these years, I resisted revising my book because I trusted and liked its internal logic. I traded, traveled, wrote other books, and taught a few classes. Now, 21 years later, I agreed to update my most popular book so that you can benefit from the new technologies as well as the lessons I've learned.

My late great friend Lou Taylor, to whom this book is dedicated, used to joke: If I get half a percent smarter each year, I'll be a genius by the time I die. Revising my very first book felt like reliving my youth with the benefit of experience.

In planning this update, I thought of a building complex in Vienna, Austria called the Gasometer. At its core are multistory storage tanks, erected by Austrian bricklayers in 1927. When modern technology made huge gas cylinders obsolete, architects converted them into modern apartments. They punched wide openings in brick walls, creating panoramic views, installed floors and elevators, and added glass-enclosed penthouses. I used to stay in one of them and wanted my new book to follow that model of blending old craftsmanship with new technology.

Before you begin reading this book, ask yourself: what's the single most important step you can take to become a successful trader?

Psychology is important. Since I was actively practicing psychiatry while writing the original Trading for a Living, its psychology part stood the test of time and I changed it very little in this new edition.

Market analysis is very importantbut remember that when we look at a chart, we deal with only five pieces of datathe open, the high, the low, the close and volume. Piling up masses of indicators and patterns on top of those five values only increases confusion. Less is often more. If you've read Trading for a Living, you'll see that I've reduced the number of technical chapters and moved some of them into a downloadable addendum. On the other hand, I added several new chapters that focus on new tools, notably the Impulse system. I also added a section on stops, profit targets and other practical details.

Money management is extremely important because financial markets are hotbeds of risk. That was the weakest part of the original book, and I completely rewrote it. One of many tools you'll discover will be the Iron Triangle of risk control.

Psychology, trading tactics, and money management are the three pillars of success, but there is the fourth factor that ties them together. That factorwhich integrates all othersis record-keeping.

Keeping good records will enable you to learn from your experiences. It'll help you break out of the vicious circle of small gains and big losses, running like a squirrel in a barrel, sweating and stressed but never getting anywhere. Keeping good records will make you your own teacher and a better trader. I'll show you several types of records you need to keep and will share several of my trade diaries.

If you're a new reader, welcome to the journey. If you've already read Trading for a Living, I hope you'll find this new book two decades smarter than the first.

Dr. Alexander Elder
New YorkVermont, 2014

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.

Many aspire to it but few succeed. An amateur looks at a quote screen and sees millions of dollars sparkle in front of his face. He reaches for the moneyand loses. He reaches againand loses more. Traders lose because the game is hard, or out of ignorance, or from lack of discipline. If any of these ail you, I wrote this book for you.

In the summer of 1976, I drove from New York to California. I took along a few books on psychiatry (I was a first-year psychiatric resident), several histories, and put a paperback copy of Engel's