I have been reading a few articles about the Woodies CCI club and I want to put some perspective to it, even if it might not be another voice in the condemn Ken Wood chorus.
A few years back I have been in Woodies CCI club. I left, because at one time I was discouraged to post my ideas and discuss them as they seemed to distract new traders. Still I have to say I learned a lot in the WCCI club. Not the system, which did not work for me (and may not work for anyone), but I learned pattern reading, discipline, account management. I had already lost a small fortune, when I came to the club, so I was already humbled, knowing that you never ever follow someone else's call, that if you trade futures, you start trading 1 contract and work your way up to keep the risk acceptable.
Some Futures and Forex broker give you better than a 100:1 leverage. If you trade that kind of leverage as a beginner you are simply crazy. If you go to Vegas and someone tells you to put all your money on the number 13 because he has a sure system, that that's the number which will come next... Would you do it? I don't think so. But that's what some in the WCCI have been doing it seems. It works when it works.
Today I trade with an internal margin of about 10k$ per contract traded. Anything less exposes my account to risks which are just not healthy in the long run. I went bankrupt a few times when trading futures, but I never had someone else to blame for than myself.
I have no idea what Ken Wood is doing or not doing with money supposedly going to the MAW foundation. And I have no intention at all to defend him. And if he committed crimes he should be held accountable.
But to blame him or any other guru
- for your own lack of responsibility,
- for your own inability to manage your account,
- for your own inability to see that a system is not working,
- for your despair or addiction, which lets you continue trading real, when every other trader would take a break and trade demo for a while,
is not ok.
Trading is about taking responsibility for your own actions. If you are new to trading and want to learn it, you start demo first, then you trade small and then you work your way up. It takes time, but it's the only way I know.
Do you take over a company as CEO without any business experience at all and expect to be profitable? I don't think so. Usually you go to business school first, then you learn the trade and then you start as CEO. You still might fail, but your chances have become a lot better now. If you expect success immediately, most likely you are doomed. And that has nothing to do with Ken Wood or any other Guru.
