I must have one of those faces that looks a little bit like a lot of people because folks are always asking me if I am this person or that person. I’ve been hearing this most all of my adult life. As I always say (not originally, mind you), if you live long enough, you will see just about everything. Well, I have a new experience to share with you today …
The Internet truly has changed everything. I know this better than most because I started an Internet service company way, way back in the early nineties. Our goal was to get people advertising on the Internet. Back then, few knew the term World Wide Web (WWW), and even fewer knew what it would become. Long story short, after three years I shut my fledgling company down because I was spending all of my time and money explaining the WWW and what it could for companies, as opposed to actually making from the Internet. In short, I was just about five years ahead of the curve. Oops, my bad! In any case, let me tie the above two dissimilar thoughts together with this question I received.
I was wondering are you Ed Seykota, the market wizard? If you are, I would like to say I like one of your sayings “the market gives you what you want.” I wonder, should this be “the market gives you what you deserve?”
First, I am not Ed Seykota. Interestingly my face did not evoke this question—it is my writing, and that is a first for me. Kinda cool, but still a first.
Second, the market does not give you “what you want” nor “what you deserve.” In fact, it gives you nothing. It is a benign entity without consideration for you or anyone else. What you get from the market is what you earn, period.
Third, Ed Seykota is a commodities trader who, back in 1970, pioneered “systems” trading by using early punch card computers to test ideas on trading the markets. Simply, Mr. Seykota applied computerized techniques to trading back when people didn’t get it. They didn’t understand what computerized trading would become.
Seykota, the Internet, and being ahead of the technological curve all come together at this fine point—Seykota has his finger on the pulsing future of trading. Much like “open source” programming, the future of trading lies with us, the traders, who know the ins and outs of trading. We, collectively, will design future applications, and Seykota’s website is the first I have seen that deals with this concept. You might want to check out the Trading Systems Project, http://www.seykota.com/tribe/ … You might actually have something to contribute.
The Trading Systems Project (TSP) is an opportunity for readers to participate in the design, verification, testing, and implementation of an actual trading system from the ground up. To participate in the Trading Systems Project, just follow along with the evolution of the project and volunteer when you feel you have something to contribute or can crosscheck the results.
Trade in the day; invest in your life …
