Customer Reviews

Dancing With Lions: One man's odyssey through the Chicago Markets, Trading, and Self-Discovery

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The writer basically shows his experience how trading is no piece of cake, and many are fooled into thinking it is. Most traders don't need to read a book like this after they have been trading for a few months.

He also "exposes" the brokerage industry as an industry filled with coke addicts and innept jobs. Supposedly these people would snort coke while on the lines with customers. Well, excuse me I have not had a job as a broker, but I find it hard to believe it is filled with coke addicts any more than, say, accountants.

All throughout the book while reading the revelations that trading is not easily mastered you must contend with a giant ego, and statements like, "when I was a loser, I had no idea what I was doing. Now, I am a winner, and I do the right things."

He also takes a story out of Charles Le Beau's book, an incident that happened in the sixties. I have no idea if he met the same person an identical individual or he is making that up too.

Okay, this book is not worth the $155 price tag for the new copy but it is worth paying $20-50 for a used copy because Trader X offers up some thought provoking insight about the markets, trading and life in general.

I couldn't put it down once I started reading it. Other reviewers seem to be little negative about the book and they make some good points but I still think it's a worthwhile purchase due to it's unique content...or at least a unique presentation of the content.

***

I wanted to update this review because this book has been re-released as The Art of the Trade by Jason Jankovsky (trader X). I've read both now and they are essentially the same book. I still think that this is a very thought provoking book and I highly recommend it to anyone who trades or is interested in trading. Some may not "get it" as in, get the message that the author is giving, but it is gold for those that do. Now that you can pick up a brand new copy for $30 or so, every trader (both new and experienced) should own it.

This book does what it promises - it describes how one man stopped and realized how different it feels to have positive vs. negative P/L given the same market action. This is not a bombshell, but is quite readable and entertaining.

"Feel the other side of your trade" is how this book could be summarized. Then there's a lot of ranting about brokerage business and a bit of self-aggrandizement - which takes away one star in my opinion. Oh, and he knows two "100% win" traders... :-)

Also, it seems that mysterious "Trader X" is really not-so-mysterious J.A. Jankovsky - you can read his book or listen to him on CBOT website.

So let's sink another drink
'Cause it'll give me time to think
If I had the chance
I'd ask the world to dance
And I'll be dancing with myself

This is the guy on the other end. I have been a futures broker, investor, and I authored the book "Futures For Small Speculators". I have done all of this over the past 13 years and in that time I have seen some crazy events.

Unfortunately, I can attest to the fact that when I started out there were brokers that were drug addicts. But they were few or far between. I never saw anyone doing lines while speaking with a client. There were also other unscrupulous behavior. But I only saw this when I inadvertently fell into a "boiler room".

None of this behavior that Trader X discusses can be found in legitimate companies. It makes me wonder what kind of person was he for staying in that type of environment. I left the second week I was there when I saw brokers in the hallways shooting craps. How much more of a hint do you need to take that a particular place is not for you.

Trader X suffered from bad judgement and it reflected in his trading as well as in his decision to write this book anonymously. This is a very interesting treatise on trading. Only you can find the relevance for yourself.

Reading this book is extremely worthwhile for the same reason Mark Douglas's books are; i.e. they relate more to being a more powerful and disciplined human being and then applying that to your chosen endeavor of trading, rather than rehashed things about cutting your losses and technical indicators. Succinctly put, it is about understanding things in terms of conflict, and knowing yourself and how you reach decisions in order to resolve those conflicts in the way where you become the winner....instead of reacting unconsciously.

The author looks at market action in a way I've never seen described anywhere else, and to me is very original though it is most applicable to futures markets than equity markets (though I'm starting to pay closer attention to open interest in options now).

The cover is very telling. You are the mirror. When you look at the market is reflects off you. You are the market. Ponder these points:

I am nothing; yet I am everything.
I see nothing; yet I see everything.
I win with what is inside me; I lose with what is inside me.
I am the market; I always win.

This book contains kernels of truth. Ask yourself if you want to see the kernels of truth. Are you prepared to be a mirror?

The concepts in this book will challenge current trader thought, and almost all books written about trading. If you really want to be a successful trader for the long haul, then this material will start that journey. You will appreciate it.