Don’t be that guy

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John Forman - The Essentials of Trading author

I want to make a statement about comment posting.

First of all, I always encourage readers to comment on any post I write. The discussion part of blogging is potentially the most rewarding aspect of it - at least for me. It lets me know I’m writing stuff of interest to my readers and helps me to be more clear with what I’m trying to put out there. A good discussion also allows the presentation of altering points of view, which is always important since we all look at things a bit differently at times.

So by all means leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Now, having said that, a quick word on spamming.

If you have a link to include which clearly contributes to the discussion, then certainly include it. I welcome that sort of thing, and even encourage it. Don’t put in a comment if all you’re going to do is link to your own site and provide absolutely nothing of value, though. My spam filter catches most of those and I will delete any others that look to be nothing more than click fishing expeditions.

And yes, I do check the links if I’m at all suspicious.

I’m probably wasting my breath here (metaphorically speaking), as much of the comment spam I see is of an automated nature and almost all of that is caught by the spam filter. I just needed to vent a little after yet another individual posted a comment which was nothing more than “I agree, so come look at my site.”

Venting complete!

Saying farewell to a trading forum

Yesterday I posted the following announcement on the BabyPips forum. I’ve been a member since very near the beginning of the site, but have decided to at least take a break from it for a while.

With this, my 1000th post (I guess that makes me an FX-Men Honorary Member, but I think I was already on reputation points a long time ago - before the system went dormant), I announce my departure from BabyPips. It might not be a permanent one, but it will definitely be for a good while.

Back in the day I was working on behalf of the site management to help answer new trader questions. At that time there were almost no experienced folks active in the forum, so it was just a bunch of newbies asking questions that few could answer. That situation has definitely changed. Now there are a lot more folks capable of providing answers - or at least pointing the newbies to the school.

These days I find myself increasingly less involved in the discussions.

That’s partly a function of the experienced folks being able to answer questions, partly a function of less time to hang out here, and partly a lack of interest in many of the discussions which have been developing recently.

I’ve tried, since my arrival here, to keep my own personal involvement in the forum as strictly educational as possible. Hopefully, that proved beneficial to at least some members.

I’ve left out the last little sign-off bit, but you get the point. The nice thing is that several members left some very kind words in response.

Posted by: johnnykanoo
John We are gonna miss you and I bid you farewell. I have found your posts to be extremly valuable and informative and Im glad youll pop your head in once and a while and say hi. Take care always.
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Posted by: tymen1
*Dear Rhodytrader (John Forman) :*

You are probably gone now, and, therefore, will not read this or any following posts.

*I want to thank you personally for your great contribution to this forum.*

It is sad to see you go, but I am sure you are going on to bigger and better things.

You have helped me immensely, both directly by answering some of my posts and indirectly, by posting answers to various questions and then I subsequently read your answers and learn from them.

Your contributions have always been of the highest integrity and of the highest quality.
You have sought to maintain accuracy in information on this forum, therefore keeping us from error.
You have been a most welcome contributor on this forum.

Thank you again, and I wish you all the best in wherever you go or whatever you persue!! :) :)
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Posted by: Tess
I think Tymen about sums it up aptly right there.
Good job John. There are a whole lot of newcomers to this business still intact & afloat due in no small part to your guidance & straight talking.

You stand for everything that is genuine & honest in this business. I hope the sun continues to shine on your little piece of the world
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Posted by: triphop
Rhody, I’d like to add my thanks too.

I read many, many posts on here before I even signed up, and they kept me from getting my account burnt or blown in those early days. You were one of the few people that I actively looked for, because I knew that anyone who’d been in the game as long as you have would have a lot of wisdom.

And I was right, and you kindly shared that with everyone here.

Cheers for everything and don’t totally disappear, right?!
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Posted by: tonymand
My thanks to you also John for the many contributions you have made that have significantly influenced my understanding

It’s good to know that I’ve been able to positively impact so many folks. That’s what I love about being involved in education and what will keep me active in it for years to come.

July’s favorite blog posts, and a milestone reached

The summer months are often one where things slow down, but that wasn’t necessarily the case this in July this year. Maybe that’s a bit based on folks remembering what happened last year at this time.

In any case, here are the posts which blog readers enjoyed the most.

1. How do I see Market Profile charts on Tradestation?
2. Reviews of Trading Books
3. Responding to a review of The Essentials of Trading from a book reader
4. Your Favorite June Blog Entries
5. Tips and suggestions on going after trading jobs
6. A Really Interesting Stock Analysis and Trading Tool
7. Emotions in Trading, Prop Trading Firms Scams?
8. Do you have trading questions? I have answers - probably
9. When the market rallies that fast, beware
10. Individual traders who call a bottom are generally wrong

It’s also worth noting that thanks to a fairly steady growth the number of RSS feed subscribers for this blog reach up over the 500 level for the first time just this week. I’m of course quite happy to know that more and more people find what I’m writing here useful and informative.

If you’re not one of those RSS subscribers already, you definitely should add the blog to your favorite blog reader like Google, Bloglines, or My Yahoo! The button at the top of the page will help you do that.

Here’s to a good month of August!

When being an on-air expert ends up being a flop

Well, the BBC interview last night was a mixed experience. While my time on air was fine, the producers droppeed the ball.

It started off with them not calling me for the pre-interview before-hand by the time they said they would. That created a situation where they were trying to call me while I was in transit, which of course means I didn’t get the calls (three of them to different voicemail accounts) and ended up having to call them (in the U.K.) well after the agreed upon time to get that thing done.

Then, despite the fact that I was specifically asked for title and affiliation information before going on the air, they didn’t use it. I was introduced as Equity Analyst John Forman, or something like that. Unless someone knew who I was ahead of time, they wouldn’t have had a clue listening to the program. Considering this was set up through my employer, the fact that the company wasn’t even mentioned made it a completely useless exercise for the firm.

Personally, it was positive experience for me to be on the program. Those sorts of media things are almost always good practice. I just can’t imagine it did much to expand my profile, though, since all I ended up being was a name and a voice talking about Wachovia and the banking sector.

Oh well. There will be other opportunities in the future, for sure.

Actually, to that end, if you’re ever looking for someone to speak about trading or investing to your group, be on a webcast or conference call, do an interview, or whatever, feel free to contact me. I can talk on a great many different subjects.

Talking Stocks on the BBC tonight!

Here’s a first. I’m going to be doing a phone interview on BBC 5 this evening to talk about Wachovia (WB), which released their second quarter figures today.  It’s scheduled for 8:20 pm Eastern and will be part of the Up All Night program.  You can listen live through the BBC website.

This was something arranged through my employer. I’m going to be an expert commentator on WB. Of course I’m primarily a technician in my work, so I had to bone up on the specifics. If the call I did with a producer is indicative of what the show will be like, though, I should sound reasonably educated.

Reviews of Trading Books

Since starting this blog I have written up a number of book reviews and I’m sure I’ll be writing more in the future as I read new ones. Here is the list as it currently stands.

If there’s a book you would like me to review, by all means let me know. If I can do so I will.

Alternately, if you would like to offer up a review of a trading book you’ve read, pass it along. I’ll give it a look and if it’s a good quality write-up I’ll post it with your byline.

A breakdown of The Essentials of Trading

Following up on my review response from the other day, here’s the breakdown of the main parts of  The Essentials of Trading for anyone intested.

The first part of the book is an explanation of the very basics of trade execution, prices, following your open positions and stuff like that. If you’ve ever traded before (as we now know Katherine has done) then that part will be something you likely can skip over.

After the discussion of how and why prices move, the book gets into the Trading Plan area. That’s something important to all traders. It covers all the major decision making parts including markets, instruments, timeframes, analytic methods, risk management, and the like. It’s my experience that this is the area where the vast majority of new traders - and even somewhat experienced ones - fall short.

The third section builds on the previous one in that it goes through the system developement, testing, and evaluation processes. Basically, it helps you take the decision you made in the previous section and work them through into a solid, well constructed methodology for entering and exiting trades. It’s also a section which will show you how to test and evaluate systems you might come across from other people.

The book’s last chapter is a wrap up which provides some additional advice on things not already discussed and a bit of reinforcement on important stuff that has been. One of the appendices actually lays out a fully developed stock trading system - one I have used myself for years.

Let me state this as plainly and clearly as I possibly can. If you are not ready and willing to put some work into your trading education and building the foundation for trading success, don’t even bother to pick up my book. If you want a quick fix, go somewhere else and no doubt come away disappointed because there are none. Becoming a good trader is a developmental process, not a magic wand one. It takes learning and experience, both of which are major focuses of The Essentials of Trading.

Think of this book as a launching pad.

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