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In 1983, Steve Jobs Hosted Apple's Version Of 'The Dating Game' And Bill Gates Was A Contestant

  
Education, Video
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The year was 1983, and 28-year-old Steve Jobs was hosting an Apple event for his employees.

Jobs invited three software guys: Frank Gibbons of Software Publishing Co., Mitch Kapor of Lotus, and none other than Bill Gates of Microsoft.

All of the men are in their geek-chic uniform of khakis and polo shirts (the hoodies of yesteryear), to answer questions about their company’s relationship with Apple, all in the style of “The Dating Game”.

In the video below, you’ll hear only Gates’ answers, but those, of course, are the most interesting. The two seem almost chummy, and the crowd is completely entertained.

Jobs and Gates didn’t meet onstage again for almost 25 years after this event.

You’ll see that Bill Gates is really trying win that “date” in this game, but who does Jobs pick in the end? Watch and find out.

Wisdom Thoughts for Traders

  
  Education
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If your not sure and don’t have an edge, cash IS a strategy.

If you are on a cold streak, reduce size by 70% and tighten stops for a week.

Stocks aren’t people, they cant be trusted, an algorithm doesn’t care that you think you know the story or the chart.

Don’t be “all in” in any name, you will blow up your account.

It’s totally cool to change your mind right after a trade, the market changes by the minute, so should you.

Pick one strategy and stick to it. This may take time if you are a beginner.

You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet, so take losses but keep them very small.

I haven’t taken someone else s idea in a long time, you have just as good a chance of being right or wrong as some other putz.

Don’t have 15 technical indicators on your screen, that’s and EKG not a chart. Less is more.

Don’t trade pissed off, it will crush your P&L

Guess who wins when you “revenge” trade?

Take partial profits on the way up and raise your stops.

When you have three losing trades in a row, take a walk around the block. You may get an epiphany, at the very least it’s therapeutic.

Realize early that the market will always be smarter than you.

Friedman, Fortune Tellers (Book Review )

  
  Education
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I just finished reading Walter A. Friedman’s Fortune Tellers: The Story of America’s First Economic Forecasters (Princeton University Press, 2014), which I highly recommend. Readers will probably be familiar with some of the main characters, but in a depersonalized form—for instance, Babson action/reaction lines and Moody’s Investors Service. Other characters, such as Herbert Hoover and Irving Fisher, are rescued from the one-sided simplifications of history—failed president during the Great Depression, false prophet who claimed just prior to the 1929 crash that the stock market had reached “a permanently high plateau.”

Friedman accomplishes two main tasks in this book. First, he brings his characters to life, recounting their personal, intellectual, and entrepreneurial successes and travails, their pet social and political ideas (more…)

Trend Following -Important points for Traders

  
Analysis, Education
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  • Trend following historically has a relatively low win percentage, across all asset classes. The positive expectancy from using such a system comes from the size of the winners far exceeding any losses incurred;
  • Trend followers never try to predict tops or bottoms in markets – they buy on strength and sell on weakness;
  • Strict risk managment and position size minimises the losses as far as possible when a losing streak hits;
  • Probably 80% of your trades each year will cancel each other out – consisting of small winners, small losers (restricted to 1R of your capital) and break-even trades;
  • The remaining 20% of your trades will probably account for 100% of your profits, but you never know which ones will generate the profits when you open the position;
  • To achieve this you HAVE to let the profits run until you receive an exit signal;
  • Stops are updated as often as your system rules determine;
  • And you have to adhere to your stops at all times;
  • Nobody knows when a trend will reverse, however when it does, you automatically give back a portion of your profits before your (trailing) stops are hit;
  • If a trend breakout reverses or fails just after entering a position, you will incur losses;
  • Significant increases in volatility can cause losses due to whipsawing or trading ‘noise’;
  • The best market conditions for trend followers are trending, stable markets;
  • The worst market conditions for trend followers are non-trending, volatile markets;
  • There are numerous trend following methods out there, but although the entry/exit parameters may vary, trend followers as a rule will make (or lose) money in the same markets at the same times;
  • If you don’t understand any of the above points, or are not prepared to accept these facts, then you do not have the mindset to follow a trend following method.
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