Preface

The intention behind the material in this book is somewhat different to what one would find in a textbook or instructional material related to the markets, trading, or most things, for that matter. If you have ever had the experience of just knowing what someone else was about to do or say, be it your lover, your friend, even some apparent stranger to you, then you will already have an idea of what we are attempting to accomplish here. It is that so called connection between yourself and another entity, where you exist in a state of flow with one another, and things just happen, almost always, positive enjoyable things. That is, until, some event happens to spoil the fun: you receive an urgent message; your partner runs into a past lover who caused them trauma; or your lease is about to end next week and you still don't have a new place to live. Whatever it may be, something happens, positive or negative, in you or around you, that takes your attention away from the deep connection with the person you are with. Managing all of that well: your knowledge of the markets; your knowledge of yourself; and your ability to remain in the present to what's in front of you. In essence, this book wants to serve as a foundation on the human operating system, as much as it is about the markets. We must move toward mastery of both, as they relate to each other, in order to thrive with excellence and fulfill our potential.

The first goal of this content is to help you believe that this connection exists with you and the market, and that once you tap into it, once you begin to listen to the market, seek nothing from it, connect with it, you will continue to just "know" what comes next, and not just in one market, but in all markets that are liquid, and do so over and over again. The second goal is to provide you with an adequate platform of information in order to harness that connection. It will partly be superficial, you won't need to know all of it, and the most crucial pieces will involve creating a structure around the movement of the market through space and time, because, after all, that is all a market is, the measurement and observation of a value evolving across space and time. The third and final goal, and without which all the rest will be for nothing, is to develop a framework within and around yourself, to allow that connection to be maintained for extended periods. For your equanimity, focus and strength to be so elastic and self-determined, that whatever may be happening around you, however extreme or mundane, you keep that flow and just continue to know what to anticipate next, instead of projecting onto the market what you desire or fear to happen next. In essence, a deeply rooted connection within yourself.

The content is, as of this publication, entirely mine from a little over a decades worth of intense open-minded personal devotion to the art and science of trading liquid global markets. I would love for this to turn into a collaborative work, ambitiously, if John Arnold were to write a chapter on Natural Gas, Paul Jones a chapter on discipline, Henry Laufer a chapter on patterns, and whoever else has devoted themselves to mastery in an area related to the markets. The knowledge I share has come from reading countless books and white papers in a tiny studio apartment far away from the world of high finance, from working at the offices of a ruthless world class hedge fund and trading at a family-driven short term proprietary firm, and from experiences such as fasting on the shores of a Mediterranean island and meditating in the deep forest of a snowy Alpine winter. All of it, with the intention to understand and see the markets and trading (and life) from holistic eyes. From the eyes of the establishment, the eyes of someone deeply outside of it, and much in between. To explore is to learn with a fresh mind, it can be harsher, equally painful and exhilarating, and take a long time. To rely upon the established authority for knowledge can bring riches quickly, as long as you yourself are aligned with that knowledge and in the middle of the trend of the expression of that knowledge. Life and the markets are moving and changing structurally quite fast these days, and I don't believe I can offer you any sort of authority on what to know or do. Thus, this content is designed to act as an emergent foundation from which you can grow by means of your own exploration. Good luck and Enjoy.