Interview with Jack D Schwager

General
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Dear Traders/Investors,

If you are a regular trader or an investor, chances are you’d have heard about the legendary Jack.D.Schwager and his series of books called Market Wizard. I must have read these books at least a dozen times, and each time I did, I’d always gain new trading insights, which would have a significant impact on my trading style.

A bulk of my trading success can easily be attributed to Jack D Schwager and the insights he provided through his books.

Jack still continues to educate traders across the world. As a part of the trader education initiative, Jack and his team at Fundseeder conduct this massive online trader summit, where they invite the world’s best traders and investors to share their insights. I’m extremely proud of the fact that Zerodha, is helping Jack and his team to promote this event in India. You can find all the details about the trader summit here.

Please note, although this is a free event, you need to register to ensure you save your spot.

Now here is the best part - as a part of this event, Jack has agreed to a special interview with @nithin. So everybody who signs up for the event will get the link for this exclusive interview. We want to extend this opportunity to you all, so that you too can get to ask questions to Jack.

So go ahead and post your questions here, questions that make the most sense will be selected and Nithin will post the question to Jack, on your behalf.

Here are few guidelines though -

  1. Make sure you think through and structure your questions well, no generic questions like - How to make 25% every month?
  2. No product/process related questions like - Why no BO on MCX?
  3. Not questions like - what do you think is the target price on Dabur or where is the next resistance on Nifty.

To get the ball rolling, here are 3 questions from me -

  1. Is a good trader born with trading skill or is it something that can be acquired over time?
  2. In a world of HFTs, how relevant are low latency trading strategies?
  3. Would you be interested in writing an India focused ‘Market Wizards’? If yes, who is the first person you’d like to interview?
    Jack Schwager
    Jack Schwager940×500 156 KB
25 Likes
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While there is significant algo-trading in today’s market, what will be the future of it say a decade or two from now? Will Artificial Intelligence develop to an extent where it would impossible/extremely difficult for retail traders/smaller fund houses to be consistently profitable?

1 Like
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It feels surreal that I will be getting to interview Jack Schwager. I must have read Market Wizards like atleast 20 times. I think the best way to learn is by figuring what the best in the business do. Market Wizards is by far the best book any aspiring trader can read. I hope all of us can come up with some good questions to ask.

16 Likes
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My questions

What according to you is the single most important psychological characteristics a trader needs to have to stay profitable in the long run?
What would be your advice to a consistent loss making trader give up, take a long break or continue?

3 Likes
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Very nice write-up @Karthik :ok_hand::pray:

This has taken Zerodha to the next level as a broker house!

My question.

Can trading ever beat investing in a long-run in wealth creation? If not why do people take up the trading, sweat and fight every day than just go choose some companies to invest in and see their money grow (through compounding effect) over years without lifting a finger?

11 Likes
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My Question will be…

How trading industry has evolved from his first trade in financial markets to till today? Does profitable trading skills become more rare and hard to attain?
What are the most essential skills you must master to become successful trader? and which skills had taken most of his efforts to achieve mastery?

1 Like
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Is it good idea to trade with Margins?

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My Q
Have you ever seen any FULL TIME TRADER have trading for more than 5 years but still not able to get consistent profits? If yes then how do i know that I am one of them, before its too late? Does traders behavior or P/L statement reflects his/her future ?

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What would you suggest should be the methodology to develop a trading system? and typical how long does it take for a trading system to mature. Its never perfect, but typically what time does it take?

1 Like
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My question is -

When selecting stocks based on fundamentals and you see that almost all stocks are over priced (with high P/E ratio etc). How should we be selecting stocks based on fundamentals in current market situation where everything is overpriced?

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Do you think advance technology like algo-trading can replace professional traders or investors?

you are so lucky!!!
Even his written answer in qoura is so effective and well explained…

Please share your interview experience with this wizards to zerodha clients via youtube.

I am waiting for this…

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LOVE your books!! Here goes:

What are three personality traits a systems trader should have?

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Some Interesting Questions:

Just in case Only 1 Question from 1 person, I have included Alternate Pen Names.

QUESTION 1 Asked by : Benedict Cumberbatch

It is generally accepted that a large proportion of daytrader’s around the globe, loose their shirt day trading.

In your personal opinion ,

What percentage of these total loosing trades are attributed to long and short positions ?

If this majority direction of loosing positions are reversed from now on, will the proportion of winning traders increase globally ?

QUESTION 2 Asked by : Budapest Snugglesnatch

Is the RATIO of TECHNICAL ANALYSIS to DISCIPLINE to MONEY MANAGEMENT required for a Winning Trade in 1989 ( when you written the Market Wizards) same as required in 2018 ?

OR, do you think the Proportion of these 3 Ingredients has changed in the LAST 30 Years to be a Winner today ?

QUESTION 3 Asked by : Beetlejuice Ampersand

Considering the complexity of new Financial Instruments nowadays.

Among these Three , A daytrader, An Individual Investor, A Fund Manager.

Who stands a better chance of generating the best “compound annual growth rate” for capital deployed ?

Why ?

QUESTION 4 Asked by : Benadryl Claritin

What percentage of these 3 individual factors would your attribute to the Current Success of the Funds under your management ?

Economic & Geo-Political Forecast , Pure Technical Analysis, Insights from The Circle of Trust.

1 Like
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The Question seems philosophical but the answer is straightforward.
Consider a scenario -
A basket has been kept in the middle and everone is asked to throw a paper ball in it. Then the data is gathered. This experiment is conducted everywhere. After all the data is gathered, few conclusions will surely be drawn.
1. that 95% of the throwers failed to put the ball in the basket.
2. Each one of them has aimed at the basket.
So conclusion - about 95% of the people who aim for the basket failed miserably in the task

Inference - “When you aim at the basket, most probably you fail in putting the ball in it”

So now the question is “Will one aiming somewhere else than the basket will succeed 95%?”
here lies the answer Sir!

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When novice traders get into the market they generally underestimate the risk associated with it and focus only on how to make 2x or 3x of their account. How important is the consideration to risk and what metrics do you suggest to quantify it?

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My question will be
Technical analysis being a viable analytical approach & also evolving so quickly that , becomes incomplete today “but Not Obsolete tomorrow” in that sense how to analyze or how to find “Market Turnings” during a good economic/ feel good condition , but not during bad economic condition…

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Whether millionaires can be made from inter-day trading.or it’s possible.