This course is a broad overview and discussion of the salient subject areas that one will need to navigate to fully understand the commodity space.
Students will be introduced to what makes each of the commodity sectors tick from an international economic standpoint.
This course sets the record straight about what is a predictive indicator and what is a lagging indicator in the commodity markets.
This course investigates why certain traders become great and why others blow up. Be prepared to journal extensively and learn about your strengths and weaknesses.
I have an idea. Send me any question you have about trading. It could be about your career, a specific trade, how to get into the business…whatever is on your mind. I’m going have them answered in an upcoming podcast…
Please indicate if you would prefer to remain anonymous. If you don’t give me any instructions, the default value will be to NOT divulge any personal information. You must give me written permission.
email editor at martinkronicle dot com
More will be revealed (except your personal information).
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Helmut Weymar (Hell-MOOT WHY-mar) had the great fortune of having two legendary economists help him during his years at MIT. One was Paul Cootner, the second was the late Nobel laureate Paul Samuelson. You’ll recognize several of the other speakers.
Weymar, the founder of Commodities Corporation, was asked to speak at a memorial service for his mentor at MIT. There are no “bylines” in the video as the speakers were announced at the very beginning of the ceremony. You can fast-forward to Weymar’s comments, which begin at the 73:50 mark. He’s in the green bow tie.
Among his remarks about Samuelson is his original objection to Frank Vannerson’s TCS for trading commodities with CC cash.
Everyone needs a mentor. Many of the best traders in the world have mentioned that their careers were influence by someone early on.
Paul Tudor Jones
Ed Seykota
Bruce Kovner
Helmut Weymar
Victor Sperandeo
Weymar is featured prominently in Sebastian Mallaby’s great new book More Money Than God in the chapter, Paul Samuelson’s Secret.
Continue Reading...Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Mike Bellafiore and Steve Spencer are the founders of SMB Trading. Bella and Spencer, along with their colleagues Adam, Roy, ZMush (Z$, Mush, Mushy, Z), JThoma, GMan, are prop traders and have one of the best training programs in the country.
I spoke with Mike about his new book One Good Trade: Inside the Highly Competitive World of Proprietary Trading (Wiley Trading)
They also maintain a blog at SMB Training that I recommend.
You can follow SMB Capital on Twitter.
Chris Gillick, a current friend and former colleague of mine at Trader Monthly, helped Bella write this book. Gillick also wrote an article on SMB for the October 2008 edition of the magazine called Three Rules: Motion Detectors which can be found under the Press tab on their blog.
Continue Reading...Reading for me is a contact sport. I get review copies of books from publishers for free. I generally keep those books. Most become book reviews and podcasts. Afterward, the books are too marred and dog-eared to do anything with. Sometimes I lend them out, but they are generally not readable by anyone else but me.
Here is the list, in no particular order, with links to the podcasts or video.
10 Laws of Enduring Success by Maria Bartiromo
The Invisible Hands by Steven Drobny
Think Twice by Michael Mauboussin
More Money Than God by Sebastian Mallaby
Trust Agents by Chris Brogan
4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
Financing The Future by Glenn Yago & Franklin Allen
Fiat Money Inflation in France by Andrew Dickson White
Ivy Portfolio by Mebane Faber
Buy, Don’t Hold by Leslie Masonson
The Quants by Scott Patterson
One Good Trade by Mike Bellafiore
Twilight in the Desert by Matthew Simmons
Rise & Fall of Bear Stearns by Ace Greenberg
What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell
Fearful Rise of Markets by John Authers
Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin
Oil: Money Politics and Power in the 21st Century by Tom Bower
Goodbye Gordon Gekko by Anthony Scaramucci
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
The Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum
The Bourne Ultimatum by Robert Ludlum
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson
How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer (re-read)
Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern
Against The Gods by Peter Bernstein (re-read)
Out of Water by Samyuktha Varma and Colin Chartres
Fiction that I”m going to read (once I get some free time):
A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Shinning City: A Novel by Seth Greenland
Most of the fiction is on my Kindle. I love my Kindle. All of the other books are hardcover.
Here is the full list of MartinKronicle podcasts, which includes Jim Rogers, Victor Sperandeo, Tony Saliba, Linda Bradford Raschke, Barry Ritholtz, Charles Goyette, and Daniel Ammann.
Here is a list of books I loved in 2009.
Continue Reading...Share A reader asked to interview me about 6 months ago. I didn’t see the benefit at the time, but I get enough questions that I thought I might give it a go. The interviewer is a reader of MartinKronicle and he did a great job for someone with no experience. His name is Gavin [...]
Bellafiore offers us a rare look inside a prop trading firm and its exclusive training program.
On one hand we need large urban centers to begin aggressively conserving water, while on the other hand hundreds of millions of people in India and China who are just getting running water for the first time in centuries.
The President, House, and Senate collectively could not come up with a National Energy Policy if their offices depended on it.
Share Here’s the scene. You’re in the interior of a large, and loud institutional brokerage firm. It’s utter mayhem and organized chaos, with paper flying and Institutional salespeople shouting over one another and at each other. One of the Administrative Assistants picks up a call and shouts… “Call for you Buddy. Pickup line 2…” “Bud [...]
Both the terms “stock operator” and “speculator” are outdated. There is so much more that goes on to prepare when you are a professional prop trader.
September 01 2010
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August 27 2010
You are responsible for your own decisions. No sense of entitlement. No one owes you anything. Own your own shit.
August 22 2010
Everyone needs a mentor.
August 16 2010
Treasuries are for trading, not owning. In order to combat hyperinflation, own precious metals.
August 03 2010
