I Who Am I and What Qualifies Me to Write This Book? My experience in the stock and futures markets spans three decades. My first trade in stocks was made in the summer of 1968 in Wright-Hargreaves, a small Canadian gold mining stock. From there I "graduated" into the futures markets (which in those days was called the commodities market). I began trading shell egg futures in the summer of 1968 under the guidance and direction of a Chicago broker. At that time, I was pursuing my education and work in the mental health field. Because I had not been educated in either finance or economics, I had no idea that my eventual profession would be the field of trading and investing. As the years passed, I developed numerous trading strategies and analytical methods in futures and in stocks. In 1982 I wrote my first book, The Investor's Quotient (Wiley and Sons). Since then I have authored over 35 books on the stock and futures markets, several of which have been translated into foreign languages. My articles have been published in a variety of trade publications. I have appeared on numerous television and radio shows in the United States and Canada , including the original Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser. I have been a speaker at numerous trading and investing seminars throughout the world and have held over 500 of my own educational trading seminars. I maintain two investment and trading Web sites—trade-futures .com and 2chimps.com—and several more market-related Web sites are now under development. I publish a number of investment newsletters that are read by active traders and investors all over the world. In addition, I have developed numerous innovative analytical tools for trading and market analysis with a focus on timing, trends, seasonality, and market patterns. I Why Trade Futures? One of the first "housekeeping" items that must be addressed is the question, why trade futures? Although I answer this question in considerable detail later, a brief comment seems indicated now. The several reasons, in general, for trading the futures markets are these (but not necessarily in order of preference): • To accumulate profits for short-term and long-term trends • To protect your business or investments from adverse price • To take advantage of inflationary and disinflationary eco • To hedge stock portfolios by using stock index futures This preliminary overview is intended for those who have never traded futures. For those who have never traded stocks, some of the reasons for doing so may be obvious. Nonetheless, I provide a brief overview of those reasons now, to be followed by more detailed reasons later on. I Why Invest in Stocks? Stock investing has long been the favored approach to making profits in the financial markets. The basic reasons for trading and/or investing in stocks have traditionally been these: • To participate in long-term moves consistent with economic • To generate long-term profits in pension and retirement • To capitalize on short-term market swings • To protect savings from the negative effects of inflation and • To participate in new growth industries and technology with The other reasons for trading and investing in stocks are examined in detail later on. As you can see, the reasons for participating in stocks and futures are not too dissimilar. The differences between these two vehicles are, however, significant, particularly in relation to a time frame— that is, the length of time a position is held—and margin requirements. The SSF market attempts to marry these two vehicles into one instrument that seeks to maximize the benefits of each in a grand and long overdue union. Although the idea of trading futures on individual stocks has been with us for many years, the regulatory climate did not permit such trading in the United States until the implementation of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA). SSF trading in U.S. markets was prompted by the introduction of Universal Stock Futures at the LIFFE exchange in London . Now that the market is available, it behooves all serious investors and traders to become educated in the vehicle that promises to forever change the investment landscape. Let us now begin our journey into the SSF market. forex investments ~ forex hedging |