Nick Leeson

I was reading about him last week, apparently he's doing a psychology degree in middlesex and after dinner speaches.

isn't he fighting cancer as well?
 
Apparantly he's beating cancer for now.
after dinner speaking was going for around £365 per person a couple of years ago.
 
he never did any "trading" - he did "losing money" - and i suspect that he has zero interest in losing money nowadays - even if it is someone else's money

but he could trade for himself if he wanted - but he would have to learn about trading first of course
 
He was on BBC Look North a couple of months ago, advertising a seminar(s) he was going to be doing at a Leeds University about how to read charts. I think he said something along the lines of - in these days of low interest rates people would benefit from knowing how to make good returns from investing in stocks and shares - presumably via TA. I think he said he was working for the London Securities Institute? or something like that.
He was trying to move forward from all his problems and was working in the area where he has knowledge and experience.
 
I've not read his book yet but the film makes no suggestions that he was using any TA, it's as if he was trading blind in effect. Surley this was not the case.
 
yep - he has exactly the right credentials and experience to become a trainer!
 
The book is much better than the film. I can't remember exactly what happened but he was arbitrage trading at first and was doing OK. He had a loss that he didn't want his boss to know about so he set up a secret account and tried to trade his way out of it. It worked once but when the same thing happened again, he wasn't so lucky. Then it all went a bit pair shaped!

Another example of someone who was unable to stick to their system.
 
I read on the internet that most traders dont make it, is this a greed thing or just plain ignorance.
 
his job and what he was qualified as was a book-keeper

but he got himself into a spot where he was in charge of the arbing and he came up with the "brilliant" idea that if he only basically took one side of the arb and held the trade - he would make loads and loads of bucks - instead of little amounts - duh! - i think thats called gambling - not trading

and then to cover up losses he just took in premium from writing options - but of course he wrote the options that did not expire at zero - adding to problem

there was a lot more to the cover up that was ever exposed - he was not on his own - but at the end of the day - it was his bosses at fault for letting him be in a postion like that with no controls

the first and small losses should have shown up and got him the sack or a reprimand - and then he would have learned from his mistakes - like everydone does in trading and he might have been a big succesful trader now
 
peedee

most who try to trade dont make it - because they forget that ease of getting into trading - does not make it mean that it is easy to do

its one of the hardest professions in the world, by far - think of it as being harder than brain surgery or whatever

but because you cant get a one day course in brain surgery, or turn up at hospital and do a quick operation, or get a book on "how to be a brain surgeon in a day!" - most people who try to become traders just dont get that it is a massive skill which only the very few are ever gonna succeed at, and that all this "trade in a day" ******** are just promoted by people who tried to trade, couldnt, are are now looking to make a buck out of the gullible/keen

but if i wrote a how to learn to be a trader book called

" Spend 10 years, 24/7, feel pain and heart ache, torture yourself and those around you, go bankrupt a few times over, and then maybe, just maybe there is a small small chance you might make it as a trader!"

i wonder how many books i would sell! and if there was a whole load of books like this - how many would think about becoming traders!
 
But that's the cold reality stevet, do you think there is a difference between making a positive trade (one that works out), and making a trade to get the most profit.
 
Think I already have that book Stevet.
+ the tee shirt. Extra large size, so I could pull it up over my eyes in the early years of trading.
 
Peedee

I would say most people fail at most things, it is not something that just happens the trading profession.

it seems, as with most things, that unless it is a driving ambition people fail & quit when they shouldn't, make mistakes & dont learn from them, & u will always hear the bad stories.

technically, trading is not difficult.......it is convincing your mind of this fact , that is difficult.

Jay
 
Finlayson, i would have to agree with that. Personally i think the fundamentals of trading are uncomplicated, its up to the indidual to complicate things.
 
peedee

" do you think there is a difference between making a positive trade (one that works out), and making a trade to get the most profit."

not too sure what you mean - i am primarilly focused on not losing when i make a trade,

and then when the profit of that trade reaches a point that i feel i can exit the trade without any chance of making a loss, then i start to look at the profit issues
 
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