MTrader Founder Ken Wolff
I
have spent most of my adult life working for myself. Having owned
several businesses, I have grown to love the freedom and sense
of personal satisfaction that self-employment affords. Over the
years however, as it has become increasingly difficult in this
economy to hold a small business above water, I found myself searching
for other avenues of income requiring a relatively small investment,
low over-head, and providing steady yields. I needed a way to
provide for my family while retaining my freedom and independence.
My interest in the Stock Market began over thirty years ago while
working as a Systems Analyst for a large computer manufacturer.
I began actively trading stocks though about ten years ago when
I invested $6000 in a Canadian oil company. The company was drilling
in Nigeria, where I knew there were successful oil fields nearby,
and I thought they had a good chance of hitting. They did hit
and I sold for a total return of $10,000 profit in two days. I
was instantly hooked on trading stocks.
I wanted to make a living at stock trading, but only had a small
amount of money ($6,000) in my portfolio to begin with, so I knew
I could only invest when it appeared to be a sure thing. I had
to keep my losses at a minimum and my profits at a maximum. I
needed fantastic percentage returns to be able to trade full-time.
I read all the books and articles I could get my hands on about
stocks, the market, and trading. Everyday I watched, studied,
and charted how stocks moved. Gradually I found patterns and began
developing investment methods that consistently provided profits,
allowing me to sell my business and become a full-time stock trader.
I was thrilled to find others that were also daytrading the stock
market in AOL chatrooms. I thought what a great idea it was to
combine forces to help each other concentrate on quick breaking
news plays and other potential momentum stocks. However, I quickly
found that very few had any real discipline or solid methods of
daytrading. Instead many continually guessed or tried to apply
long term investment techniques to daytrading, which does not
mix well. I also found that the new members of the daytrading
community were being preyed upon by the more experienced traders.
Experienced scalpers would buy low volume stocks with mediocre
news, then come into several chats and hype the stock as much
as possible, getting gullible traders to create some momentum
so they could exit with quick profits.
As I began to point out why these stocks were risky and not worthy
of attention, and shared how I expected a stock to move, giving
specific trading targets, my popularity grew. I then decided to
get my own room together, and teach daytrading to a few. I thought
we could then band together and help each other look for predictable
trades with method and discipline. I decided to charge my first
students $1K each to compensate for my time and efforts, which
I thought would take about a month to accomplish. It actually
took two months and I found it was a stressful ordeal putting
my neck on the line daily, telling them when to buy and sell.
We did extremely well, with many increasing their portfolios by
80% while they were learning, but after two months I decided it
was time to return to my trading.
In our newly-formed chatroom everyone was encouraged to share
as they considered their trades. What I quickly found however,
was that without my direct leadership the traders would not trade.
Many were simply too meek to act without the nudge of a leader,
or they would quickly fall back to their old bad habits. So I
was faced with a decision. Teach or Trade. I could not do both.
The amount of focus that is required when I am actively trading
distracted me from giving students the attention they deserved.
I missed the freedom of trading for a few hours and then leaving
to go golfing or work around my home and garden. But I also enjoyed
teaching and I felt a real camaraderie with my chatroom that I
had sweat over to create. So with the help from some students,
I decided to begin a teaching career.
Through the years that teaching career has been incredibly fulfilling
on so many levels. It is an amazing priviledge to be able to help
so many people develop careers that allow them to stay at home
with their families. The satisfaction I feel at sharing in their
successes and new-found independence is indescribable. I consider
it a triumph for the struggling middle-class families of America.
My sincere hope is that by sharing these methods with you, you
will also find the sense of freedom, accomplishment, and security
that financial independence can bring.
