Sure, you have the axioms of sound trading to guide you: cut your losses, let your profits run. It can only help you to follow those principles.

Victor Niederhoffer is a hero amongst some, a villain amongst others. His life in trading resembles that of a “person selling flooding insurance in New Orleans, and gets away with it for 50 years, until one day the levies burst”.

At WhichWayToday we use large stops, on the surface. We place a trade in the FTSE 100 today with a 120 points stop. Some would say, and some do, the stop is way too large. And it is. But it works for us, and it works like this:

We place a trade with a very large stop. We assume right from the get-go that the position is going to be a loser, until proven otherwise. It works for us. Phantom of the Pit taught us that. We work hard on immediately trying to reduce our risk down to a much smaller monetary amount.

And unlike Victor Niederhoffer we are not trading so big that the markets conspire against us, yet.

So when you come to our site and you see that we risk 120 points to make 20, you may think: amateurs. And maybe you are right. Or maybe you are just thinking like everyone else.

If I can make 20 points 90% of the time, and lose 120 points 10% of the time, I have a winning strategy.

If I can win 20 points 80% of time, lose 120 points 10% of the time and breakeven 10% of the time, I have a winning strategy.

Is this for everyone? Only you can answer that.

Last year we had a decent year, if you call doubling your account a decent year. This year we are starting in the right direction. Our model portfolio is up 5%. In 3 weeks. Our goal is to make 3-4% each a month. There are 2 traders in WhichWayToday, and although we sometimes take positions that are in conflict with each other, we tend to see the market the same way.

Morale of the story: whether I flip a coin, contact Mystic Meg, or use my secret FiboQuadrant indicator, I am bound to draw criticism from some and applause from others. That is the nature of the game.

For me, though, there is only one thing that counts: will I be profitable over the long-run? I will have to wait for the long-run to come around before I can answer that, but 12 months into WhichWayToday and 49 winning weeks later, I think it is fair to say that we are not in the 90% category, which crash and burn in the first 6 months. So raise a glass to large stops, and lets others do what they want to do.

 How do you do that?

 http://www.whichwaytoday.com/promotion.htm

 We look forward to seeing you in the live trading room

 Kind regards

 Tom Hougaard

I think you get my point.

This afternoon, as I was relaxing after trading, I was reading a book on the eye (iridology) and its supposed ability to detect illness in humans. It was also claimed that it is a map of our soul, and having had a scan of my eyes, it was detected that my journey involved opening up and sharing the love.

It sounded like a good lesson. Show some love, Tom. Don’t focus all your energy on trading. Don’t be so one-dimensional. Open yourself up to others, and show them you love them.

Meanwhile, down on the street level, I could hear a kid scream at the top of its lungs. I didn’t think much of it. It is afternoon time, and kids and parents make their way home from school.

Then I heard a very loud male shout “no!” I thought to myself what kind of a man would need to raise his voice to such a level in order to get the attention and respect from a child? And although I was curious, I was too damn tired to care, and I kept on reading.

The Flower in area 45 symbolises a man who is unable to…”NO!” I got no further on that sentence when I once again heard the man from the street shout at the top of his lungs.

This time I rose from the bed with the words “what the fuck is going on down there”. I saw a man, wearing dark sun glasses, carrying two school bags, and with one child in his hand, and another child 10 feet behind him.

The child lagging behind was dragging his coat along the pavement, and I instinctively thought to myself that his sunglass wearing father/carer is not going to like that. The man turned around, and briskly walked back to the boy, and smacked him in the face.

I stood paralysed and watched the man walk back to the first child, while listening to the other boy, who must have been aged 10 or so, cry his heart out. Moments later, the father came back and grabbed the boy by the arm and walked down the street.

I could hear them shout at each other, even as they disappeared out of my sight. I stood silently for a moment and thought about what kind of love the child was receiving at home. I wonder if he wakes up in the morning, full of joy and happy to be alive. I wonder what brought the father to hit a defenceless boy, in the middle of the street in London. What kind of love did he receive when he grew up?

It made me think. Lame as it sounds, love can change the world. My old boss, a playboy like none other, changed his life from one day to the next, when he became a father. Instead of showing me pictures of conquests, he showed me pictures of his youngest son in various drooling poses. My friend tells me that kids are the best leveller in the world. When you are up, they will bring you down to earth, and when you are down in the sewer, they will hail you on firm ground.

That is what love did for these two hard-boiled trading pros. So why am I writing this? You can be a good trader, and show love. You can be an excellent trader and show love. But who are you, if you stand in the street and hit a child? Maybe area 39 in my eye is coming to life, and I am no longer solely focused on myself anymore. It is long overdue!!!

The new WhichWayToday website is finally finished.

Now we are testing all is working.