In my previous emails, I have talked about Aldo, my Treasurer and mentor.
He was one mentor, but there were others.
In my early years of Forex trading, I had to perform and deliver profits or would be fired from my position regardless of any personal relationship.
Aldo’s famous line “Friendship is friendship, but business is business!”
A very cold hard truth.
Aldo was a Fundamentalist, in charge of the trading floor, and could hold onto trades that were out of the money for months.
I was a short-term Technical Trader, and my job was to make profits to fund those long-term trades.
This reality impressed on me to seek out and learn from floor traders who were in business for themselves.
Where could I find them?
Several Wall Street hangout bars, the Bull and Bear being one on Park Avenue.
That’s where I met Roger White, an Oil Futures Trader.
After I developed a friendship with Roger, he proffered me many important pieces of information to help me become a better trader.
Here is the gist of one of many conversations that I have written down in my journal.
“Tom, why do you want to be successful in this business?”
“I want to be able to do one, keep my job and also be able to hit and go beyond profit targets for better bonuses, to save and buy a nice home” was my reply.
“That is a shallow reply, Tom. You have a great salary for a young man I agree. The sheer act of earning a living and attempting to save is a good habit.
Your wages are nothing but a means to do little more than make a living regardless of what your bonuses are. Year in and year out you will do that.
After you are done paying your taxes, golf fees, and all your other bills, in the end, you will have enough to pay the undertaker.
But you will never feel the thrill of making abundant profits for yourself!”
“Roger, how do you account for the hedge fund guys, all billionaires?”
His reply, “ Exactly my point, all work for themselves and have other traders beneath them that they extract profits from!
Your Treasurer has given you a unique opportunity to develop systems for yourself, it is a gift. Vast fortunes have been made by those who start out small”
“Would you be willing to talk about your market theories with me to help incorporate them into my systems?” I sheepishly asked.
“Of course, Your first aphorism from me, and maybe Aldo would like as well is ‘The burned child fears the fire and stays far away, the scorched trader keeps going back to the same methods and is scorched again.’”
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