When you compare the trainees that made it to the majority who did not, do you find any distinguishing traits? They are strong, independent, and contrary in the extreme. They are able to take positions others are unwilling to take. They are disciplined enough to take the right size positions. A greedy trader always blows out. I know some really inspired traders who never managed to keep the money they made. One trader at Commodities Corporation—I don’t want to mention his name—always struck me as a brilliant trader. The ideas he came up with were wonderful; the markets he picked were often the
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