Carter - Mastering the trade proven techniques for profiting from intraday and swing trading setups

Copyright 2019 by John F. Carter. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-26-012160-5
MHID: 1-26-012160-7

The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: ISBN: 978-1-26-012159-9, MHID: 1-26-012159-3.

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To everyone out there who is giving trading for a living a shot.

And heres to courage. Have the courage to take a loss so that you will have a chance at keeping some of your profits.

Writing and trading have a lot in common in that they are essentially solitary professions that are made much more enjoyable by having people who are willing to lend a helping hand. A lot has changed since the First Edition of Mastering the Trade was released in January 2006 and the Second Edition was released in 2012. And yet, a lot has stayed the same. Weve had flash crashes, credit bubbles, the great deleveraging process, the real estate crash, the real estate boom, and cryptocurrency mania. Throughout this process, Ive enjoyed sharing this journey with the team at Simpler Trading, along with my wife, Maria, and my children, James, Avery, and Dylan. Its an adventure I wouldnt trade for anything.

In early 2003, I was attending an online trading conference to educate active traders on a new class of products called security futures. After having been in the managed money business for more than 20 years I joined OneChicago because I believed that these products would enhance equity trading in the cash, futures, and options markets. Having avoided these conferences for many years, I was surprised when I had the pleasure of listening to someone who was incredibly articulate and thoughtful. I said to myself, He really gets it.

John Carter was not speaking about security futures; rather, he was presenting his intellectual framework and approach to trading. It was a method to which I could relate strongly, so I introduced myself. We spoke at length on many subjects, including the idea that his methodology could be applied to security futures and that successful trading is one long journey, not a destination. John became an early supporter of and trader on OneChicago, another indication of his innovativeness. We have continued to exchange ideas, and therefore, I was honored when John asked me to review Mastering the Trade.

I judge a book on trading according to one simple criterion: Have I learned something new? Mastering the Trade not only introduces new concepts; it is insightful and easy to read. This is indeed a rare combination in the trading literature. In addition, John stresses that there is neither a single approach nor a single answer to successful trading. In fact, he emphasizes that before one can be a profitable trader, one must fully understand ones own personality. Every decision, from the holding period of a trade to the amount of ones capital to risk per trade, reflects the traders inherent preference curves. In fact,