Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader

A top trader takes you through the markets and revels how he succeededIn Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader, Peter Brandt provides a play-by-play diary of his 2009 trading, offering an inside look at the difficult process and what it takes to excel at such a demanding endeavor.A long-time trader, Brandt clearly explains his thinking as he searches for the right opportunities and executes trades for 21 weeks. And by utilizing a diary format, he reveals exactly what it's like to trade, communicating the uncertainty that surrounds every trade and the discipline required to make tough decisions in the face of losing money. Along the way, Brandt touches upon his philosophy on speculation, market analysis, trade identification and selection, risk management, and much more. Fully discloses the methods and rules the author has used to trade so successfully for so many years Each trade include charts, an analysis of the trade, and a play-by-play account of how the trade unfolds Brandt examines all his trades and keeps a running account of his profits and lossesUnlike most trading books, which tell people how to trade, this reliable guide will reveal the reality of this discipline and provide you with a firm understanding of what it takes to make it work.

PETER L. BRANDT has been a full time professional commodity and foreign exchange trader for over thirty years. He has worked as a broker to large industrial clients, traded for his own account, and was one of the early pioneers in the commodity hedge fund arena. Along the way, Brandt published a highly regarded newsletter called The Factor, and also collaborated with Bruce Babcock Jr. to publish the highly acclaimed book, Trading Commodity Futures with Classical Chart Patterns. Primarily devoted to trading proprietary capital in commodity and forex markets, Brandt has achieved a lofty average annual rate of return of 68 percent during his career. The author can be reached at plb.factor@gmail.com

Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Foundations of Successful Trading	p. 1
Introduction	p. 3
The Invention of a Commodity Trader	p. 3
Why I Wrote This Book	p. 7
This Book's Audience	p. 9
The Book's Road Map	p. 14
The History and Theory of Classical Charting Principles	p. 19
My Perspective of the Principles	p. 20
Three Limitations of the Principles	p. 21
Summary	p. 22
Characteristics of a Successful Trading Plan	p. 23
Building a Trading Plan	p. 25
Trader Personality and Temperament	p. 25
Adequate Capitalization	p. 29
Overall Risk Management	p. 30
Points to Remember	p. 32
Identifying the Trades and the Trading Vocabulary	p. 33
Trade Identification	p. 35
Vocabulary of the Factor Trading Plan	p. 35
Points to Remember	p. 54
Ideal Chart Patterns	p. 55
Reversal H&S Pattern in Copper	p. 56
Reversal Rising Wedge in AUD/USD	p. 56
Continuation Wedge and Reversal Failure Top in Soybean Oil	p. 57
Reversal Triangle Bottom in Sugar	p. 58
Continuation and Pyramid Patterns in USD/CAD	p. 58
Reversal Top in Silver	p. 59
Continuation H&S Pattern in the Russell 1000 Index	p. 60
Continuation Rectangle in Kansas City Wheat	p. 61
Continuation Rectangle and Pyramid Triangle in Crude Oil	p. 61
Continuation H&S Top in the Dow Utilities	p. 63
Continuation Triangle, Reversal M Top, and Flag in the EUR/USD	p. 63
H&S Reversal Top and Three Continuation Patterns in the GBP/JPY	p. 65
A Reversal Symmetrical Triangle in the AUD/JPY	p. 66
Two Continuation Patterns in GBP/CHF	p. 67
A Triangle and Running Wedge in Sugar	p. 67
An H&S Bottom in Apple Computer	p. 68
A Major Continuation H&S and Symmetrical Triangle in Gold	p. 68
A Series of Bullish Patterns in Copper	p. 70
A Failed Ascending Triangle in the USD/CAD Crossrate	p. 71
A 12-Week Rectangle in the Dow Jones Transport Index	p. 72
A Rare Horn in Brent Sea Oil	p. 72
An H&S Bottom Launches the 2009 Bull Market in the S&Ps	p. 73
Summary	p. 74
Points to Remember	p. 74
How the Factor Trading Plan Works	p. 75
Trade Identification	p. 75
Trade Entry	p. 84
Trade Risk Management	p. 85
Trade Order Management	p. 86
Points to Remember	p. 89
Three Case Studies Using the Factor Trading Plan	p. 91
A Remarkable Technical Event in the Dow Jones	p. 92
A Year Trading Gold	p. 94
A Year Trading Sugar	p. 104
Points to Remember	p. 113
Characteristics of a Successful Trader	p. 115
Intimate Knowledge of Trading Signals	p. 116
Discipline and Patience	p. 117
Analysis of Self and of the Trading Plan	p. 117
It Takes a Leap of Faith	p. 120
Points to Remember	p. 121
A Five-Month Trading Diary: Let the Journey Begin	p. 123
Month One: December 2009	p. 127
Trading Record	p. 129
Summary	p. 143
Month Two: January 2010	p. 145
Identifying Trading Opportunities	p. 146
Amending the Plan	p. 151
Trading Record	p. 152
Summary	p. 170
Month Three: February 2010	p. 171
Sticking to the Plan in Choppy Markets	p. 171
Trading Record	p. 173
Summary	p. 187
Month Four: March 2010	p. 189
Trading Record	p. 190
Summary	p. 201
Month Five: April 2010	p. 203
Relying on Classical Charting Principles	p. 204
Trading Record	p. 205
Outlook for the Future	p. 210
Summary	p. 214
The Wrap-Up	p. 215
Analysis of Trading Performance	p. 217
How the Trading Plan Performed	p. 221
How the Plan (and the Trader) Evolved	p. 227
Summary: Best Practices Going Forward	p. 228
The Best Dressed List	p. 231
A Seven-Month Double Bottom in AUD/USD	p. 231
A 14-Month Coil and Nine-Month Descending Triangle in EUR/CHF	p. 233
A Six-Month Wedge in EUR/USD	p. 234
A 16-Week Horn in GBP/USD	p. 235
A Four-Month H&S in Bottom NZD/USD	p. 236
A Six-Month Ascending Triangle Failure in USD/CAD	p. 237
An Eight-Month H&S Bottom in the S&Ps	p. 238
A 14-Month Symmetrical Triangle in Sugar	p. 239
A Seven-Month Triangle in Gold	p. 240
A Series of Continuation Patterns in Copper	p. 242
An H&S Bottom in Crude Oil	p. 243
Summary	p. 243
Postscript	p. 245
Factor Trading Plan Signals	p. 249
Quick Reference to Charts	p. 257
Recommended Resources	p. 269
Author's Note	p. 271
Index	p. 275
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

FREE SHIPPING

Amazon no longer offers textbook rentals. We do!

Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader Lessons from 21 Weeks of Real Trading

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials