tradersams blog

So another fairly quiet week last week.  If you review my portfolio value you can see the positions I track on the blog have subsided a little in value, but not very significantly.  Only change was opening a position in Aquila Resources (AQA) again.  I’ve had one stop loss triggered which I will put into play today (Monday) and a this is a very late post for an end of week wrap-up I can already see the positions filling in the pre-market option… the share I am exiting looks like it will gap down on open – I’m sure this’ll be an ouch!

ATAA

So on the weekend, I joined 260 odd other traders for the Australian Technical Analysts Association 2009 National Conference.  This was my second ever trading event, the other being a 2 hour visit to an expo.  Following my previous visit I was all concerned about how I would react to all the noises I would hear.

So put it simply, and to avoid having to read the following – it was an excellent and exciting event – Great!

And for those still reading…

I must say the following: Thank you very much to the speakers at the conference: Dr. Howard Bandy, Louise Bedford, Jake Bernstein, Daryl Guppy, Dave Landry, Bill McLaren, John Netto, Nick Radge and Frank Watkins (alphabetical order of course).  I got something useful out of each of you – whether it be humour, suggestions on keeping myself in check, and recognition that many people blow up their accounts doing this!

In reading what I have originally written below, accept the fact that I have removed the sentence ‘I found him/her very interesting’ from all of them – coz its true

Dave Landry: Made me laugh, and showed how simple it can be.  He had a view of himself that I thought fit well with my Australian view on the world – exemplified by his slide showing the feedback on Amazon about one of his books.  And I must add – the photo he uses of himself – it needs updating!

Dr Howard Bandy: A professor who presented us with some formulas and concepts around system testing.  Roll forward testing and the difference between in sample  / out of sample tests.  At first I was daunted – but I have seen I can simply add this to my back testing model with some simple tweaks – excellent!  Oh yeah – and he has put me onto AmiBroker – expect to see my charts get a new look n feel when I get my arms around this excellent package!

Jake Bernstein: “I’m old and I know longer care what anyone thinks” – and I do hope I am not misrepresenting him by saying this.  The man showed how easy things can be.  His dry presentation manner and actual demonstrable methods were good to see if for no other reason than their pure simplicity – whether I will use his ideas is a separate question – I’d have to go to my box of tools and program them in to see what I get! Oh yeah – another one who could do with updating his photo

Louise Bedford: A good jump in presentations to see  some interesting psychology – you can see where her interests are and the passion she has.

John Netto:  Now this guy was interesting.  He talked fast – in fact on the first day he was asked to slow down, and I think he concerned a few of the attendees on his first session with his fast talking, big position taking view of the world.  But that all seemed to mellow – he did a second presentation that really drew people in, and by the time the panel discussion finished on the last day – I think he has some fans.  Fully happy to talk about anything, at fast n slow speeds – the guy has something to say.  Of course some of his plays are not things that low cashed traders can pull off, but it did open the eyes to what may be done in the future.  Most interesting comment “I don’t drink coffee” – I spose you had to be there!

Frank Watkins:  Came across from Perth to walk us through a very simple system he uses – and the recurring theme I got from him was that ‘this should be fun’, and if it isn’t – do something else.  I really enjoyed his talk, and had the pleasure of a brief chat with him during the event.  Maybe I just gelled with his view of the world, but his system is one I can see looking into, to see if it fits with my ‘style’.  On paper it looks like a fit, when I do it.. who knows.

Darryl Guppy:  Well, seen him before.  He has something to say, and an engaging way of saying it.  Good as always to see his view of what works and what seems to have stopped working.

Bill McLaren:  Ok – I struggled with this one a bit.  When he started, he has an older fashioned way of presenting.  He used overheads (transparencies) rather than an overhead projector.  I lost 15 minutes coming to grips with the slightly out of focus slides and writing style.  Then I got over it.  His presentation then took me on a journey where he showed price repetition over time I had not seen quite so clearly before.  He talks Gann and other stuff I don’t really get into – but you could see very clearly that not only was he passionate, but he finds great profit in his style.  Someone to see if you are not into Gann etc so you can get a feel for why others are.  Lets face it, if you know a whole lot of people might do something on a particular day, you may profit from that!

Nick Radge: So – Now I have met the man!  I posted on a web bulletin board when I first looked at shares somewhere around 10-12 years ago, and Nick posted back, at which time we had a bit of a ‘bulletin board’ discussion, which I printed at the time and have kept in my filing cabinet somewhere.  Now I can picture the person behind that exchange so many years ago.  And I must say he was a great way to wrap up the conference.  He had the last spot before the panel discussion, and his passion and forcefulness of view (?) showed through.  He challenged people with questions like ‘how much have you spent on expensive courses’, ‘how many books have you read’… getting to the point about, well, how many do you have to read to get it?  Nick let on in the panel discussion why he was so passionate at the moment (thats my interpretation anyway) and it hit me, as a member of the audience, fairly hard.  In fact it supported the view that I came to a while ago.  TRADING IS NOT THAT HARD.  But I don’t want it to be my life, I want it to pay for my holidays.  My day job is partially a social outlet, a way of getting along with the world.

Again – thank you all.  So in the words of Nick,

Its not that hard

Get over it – Get on with it