LONG-TERM SECRETS TO SHORT-TERM TRADING

Whether you know it or not, you have been trading commodities all your life. Sure, you may have
never traded a contract of Pork Bellies, but you have almost certainly traded a possession like a car, house,
or antique for someone else’s money or possession. If you have never done that, for sure you have traded
time for money. You have traded your time as a teacher, lawyer, pipe fitter, or ditchdigger for someone
else’s money. So, you are halfway there. you just never knew it!
When we trade our time, we are actually trading our time plus our skills. That is why a brain surgeon
gets more per hour than a knee surgeon. That is also why an outstanding quarterback gets more than a
tackle and surgeon combined. He has a greater career risk. It is not that one skill is inherently more
valuable than the other, it is that one is more difficult to come by and carries higher risk. This characteristic
generates more dollars for the person selling his or her time and skills.
There is no intrinsic value to Michael Jordan’s dribbling and shooting skills, but the owner of the
Chicago Bulls saw an opportunity to make a great deal of money with those seemingly valueless skills by.
packing stadiums and getting television revenues. Thus, something of “no value” may have great value.
At a trading seminar, I once demonstrated this point by, placing a personal check of mine in a scaled
envelope and then added it to 14 similar envelopes in a clear plastic bag. The attendees each had the
opportunity to reach in and draw out an envelope. The person who drew the one with the $5,000 check
would be allowed to keep it… …