Category: Feedback

The top 10 rankings (PDF) for The Straits Times for December 9, 2007.

Stocks, Futures, Options Magazine has named “The Complete TurtleTrader” as one of their top 10 recommendations among the best-selling trading, investing and personal finance books of 2007:

Non-fiction:

1. (1) English As It Is Broken by The Straits Times
2. (3) The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
3. (2) The Age Of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan
4. (4) Marley And Me: Life And Love With The World’s Worst Dog
5. (5) The Complete TurtleTrader by Michael W. Covel
6. (6) Think Big And Kick Ass by Donald Trump and Bill Zanker
7. (7) I Can Make You Rich by Paul McKenna
8. (8) Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light by Mother Teresa
9. (9) Feng Shui For Apartment Buyers by Joey Yap
10. (10) The Secret Revealed by James L. Garlow and Rick Marschall

I posted a note about a bestselling mention for “The Complete TurtleTrader” in the Singapore Straits Times about a week ago. It has now moved up one notch! Of course humility is key here as these rankings never last. As a side note I find it interesting that my book is not yet in the stores in the UK (I checked last week), but clearly it must be available in Singapore. The latest rankings:

Straits Times Bestsellers List
As of 28th October 2007

Non-Fiction
1. English As It is Broken by The Straits Times
2. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne Greenspan
3. The Age Of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan
4. The Complete TurtleTrader by Michael W. Covel
5. I Can Make You Rich by Paul McKenna
6. Marley And Me by John Grogan
7. In My Time by Mr Miyagi
8. Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light by Mother Teresa and Brian Kolodiejchuk
9. The Innocent Man by John Grisham
10. Handbook For Stock Investors by Goh Kheng Chuan

I know it’s a small sample size subject to change, but still its better than not being listed! My new book was on the Singapore Straits Times Bestsellers List (Nonfiction) for Sunday October 22:

1. (1) English As It Is Broken by The Straits Times
2. (2) The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
3. (3) Marley And Me by John Grogan
4. (5) The Age Of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan
5. (-) The Complete TurtleTrader by Michael W. Covel
6. (-) I Can Make You Rich by Paul McKenna
7. (4) Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light by Mother Teresa
8. (6) In My Time by Mr Miyagi
9. (7) The Innocent Man by John Grisham
10. (-) Handbook For Stock Investors by Goh Kheng Chuan

A story from an old bold trader:

Hi Michael-I guess in this business there’s a story a day if you don’t live in a cave. Yesterday I had a visitor who wanted to come by and get my input on his trading. As you might imagine his trading has gone very poorly since his “advisors” have been quite negative on the US stock market and he continues to fight the existing trend which as of today at 2:00PM CST remains UP! He had heard through a mutual friend that I traded the S&P 500 Futures so perhaps I could give him some insight on what the market was GOING to do in the future. I quickly told him I had no clue whatsoever what the market was going to do and I learned long ago my opinions run from “wrong” to “really wrong”. I went on to tell him my trading decisions revolved around what the market is doing now as well as what it has been doing recently i.e. “what’s the trend?” Now I must confess as I have admitted to numerous times before I am not a long-term trend follower in the purest sense BUT I do trade with the trend be it up down or whatever. I have addressed that with you before. Anyway yesterday morning my plan for the day was to observe the S&P early in the day and watch for possible set-ups given my personal rules of engagement. Yes I approach trading on some level as a military exercise. I explained to my visitor that the S&P daily degree was still in an uptrend and my method always traded with the trend but I employ the shorter time frames to place my bets. This fits my personality as well as my tolerance for pain if you will. Sometimes I can tell you within 60 seconds if I have a good trade. Long Term Trend Followers can do the same thing but for them the confirmation of a good trade might take a few days but those who read this know what I mean. Sometimes you just know! On the alleged S&P mini crash of early yesterday-CNBC’s definition not mine a set up presented itself in the Hourly Time Frame that gave me a go. I went to my trading platform and left clicked twice and I was in. My visitor suddenly got that “deer in the headlight look” and asked me what I had just done. I said I just bought five contracts of the S&P 500. I then very quickly entered my protective stop and looked at my visitor and said, “Now where were we?” He kind of babbled something about DAY TRADING was a losing cause which I totally agree with for MOST traders but not ALL traders. I asked him if he had a written plan and if so was one of his goals to follow his plan in his trading. He told me he gave up on written rules because he had so many rules they were confusing him. I have been there and done that. I asked him how much he risked on each bet as a % of his trading equity as well as how much of his universe of investable assets he had committed to trading. This time his eyes began to glaze over and I feared he might faint. After maybe 45 minutes the market had spurted to the upside and I calmly and without saying a word sold my position with a decent profit of say a 2-1 risk vs. reward. The second reason I sold was the FED was meeting and my PLAN was to be out of the financial related markets prior to 1:00PM period no matter what I THOUGHT might happen. My new friend said, “How you do that?” I said I had a plan formulated that as luck would have it worked this time with a witness. They don’t all work that way but if 50% of ’em do I have a good life! He then asked me about my rules and my “system”. I told him I did not have time yesterday but if he would come over Saturday I would go through what I do. He seemed very excited but then I had to throw in the caveat to my offer. I explained to him the pain and suffering I had gone through both mentally and financially to get where I have been the last couple of years. Some call it “Up Down Up Down”. I told him what I did was ME and not HIM. I told him if he needed some help finding his ME I could refer him to some people who helped me three short years ago. This man has a law degree from Harvard along with a Masters degree in Tax Law. He is truly brilliant and he can’t trade a lick. You see intelligence has its downside in investing. The young student you quoted has a professor that emphasizes my point. Although politically incorrect I wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Very Happy and Safe New Year! Semper FI!, XXX

Thanks.

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How can you move forward immediately to Trend Following profits? My books and my Flagship Course and Systems are trusted options by clients in 70+ countries.

Also jump in:

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• Frequently Asked Questions
• Performance
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Trend Following is for beginners, students and pros in all countries. This is not day trading 5-minute bars, prediction or analyzing fundamentals–it’s Trend Following.

I just returned from a trip to Vienna, Austria. The CEO of Superfund, afforded me the opportunity to speak about trend following at his firm’s 10-year anniversary. The anniversary gala was held at Imperial Hofburg Palace and was keynoted by the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. If I have the chance to provide trend following education to 800 people, Hofburg Palace or anywhere else, I will take it every time. Superfund deserves credit for letting me speak on the subject of trend following – unscripted.

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How can you move forward immediately to Trend Following profits? My books and my Flagship Course and Systems are trusted options by clients in 70+ countries.

Also jump in:

• Trend Following Podcast Guests
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Performance
• Research
• Markets to Trade
• Crisis Times
• Trading Technology
• About Us

Trend Following is for beginners, students and pros in all countries. This is not day trading 5-minute bars, prediction or analyzing fundamentals–it’s Trend Following.