The Little Book of Trading: Trend Following Strategy for Big Winnings

Chapter Eight

Study Hard and Get an A +

Justin Vandergrift

THERE IS ONLY ONE FACTOR THAT YOU CAN CONTROL WHEN you start trading: how much you are willing to lose. You cannot control how much you will make. You cannot project that desire no matter your good intentions or happy thoughts. You can only stop, for sure, a losing trade. That is in your power. The great traders understand that you must know how much you can lose at all times. That is the essence of risk management. It is the essence of Justin Vandergrift's progression to becoming a successful trend following trader. His story and lessons are yet another inspirational and confidence building example that you can take to your own trading. Study up and succeed.

Trading calls some at an early age. Imagine you are 10 years old and your great uncle begins teaching you about stocks. At about 15, your dad shows you futures trading (he is trading the sugar market). Immediate fascination grabs your mind.

You thought sugar was something you bought in five-pound bags at the grocery store, not a market that could be traded for profit? Who wakes up and thinks that you can buy and sell something like sugar to make money, even if you have no need for the sugar? I know I didn't years ago.

Vandergrift spent his teen years drawing market charts ...