The Inner Voice Of Trading

Like many traders, I became very interested in trading professionally after I read Jack D. Schwager’s book Market Wizards, a collection of interviews that he’d conducted with many successful traders and money managers at the time, such as Jim Rogers, Paul Tudor Jones, and Michael Marcus. Luckily for me, I was able to get to know and study with many of the traders interviewed. A few of them, such as Ed Seykota, became mentors and friends who had a profound impact on my psychological outlook while trading.

A lot of traders love the Seykota chapter in Market Wizards and can quote what might be his most famous line: “Win or lose, everyone gets what they want from the market.” To this day, that line hits failing and mediocre traders right in their most vulnerable spot: If a trader is losing consistently, it is by design—it is the trader’s goal. For Seykota and his students, intentions equal results.