The Art Of The Trade: What I Learned (And Lost) Trading The Chicago Futures Markets 9780470138991

An eye–opening account of the commodity brokerage industry and how to survive and thrive within it

The Art of the Trade is a searing portrait of the futures and options brokerage industry as seen through the eyes of someone who has participated within this arena for over 20 years. On one level, it′s a brutally honest, no–punches–pulled rebuke of how the brokerage industry deceives the general public with the idea that they can make big money trading. On another level, The Art of the Trade is an intensely personal story of the triumphs and failures of author Jason Alan Jankovsky as he battles the markets, the brokerage industry, and his own penchant for self–destruction.

Jason Alan Jankovsky is a twenty–plus year veteran of leveraged transaction trading. Trading extensively in futures, options, and FOREX since 1986, first as a customer and then as a registered broker, he is self–taught and self–educated. Working in almost all facets of the business, he has authored several trading systems, trained other successful traders and has been published in many industry periodicals; his numerous articles on global cash FOREX have appeared in TraderSavvy, The Perspective, SFO Magazine, and other industry publications. He is the author of Trading Rules that Work: The 28 Essential Lessons Every Trader Must Master (Wiley), an Amazon top–100 bestseller in the category of futures. He has focused on the psychology of trading as the key component to a successful trading methodology and teaches a six–week course on trading psychology every quarter to traders around the world. Jankovsky appears regularly as a guest speaker at many public and private trading forums and has been invited to speak at round–table discussions offered by the Orlando Money Show and others. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Jankovsky is an avid sailor and private pilot.

Read Me First. Foreword. Introduction. Chapter 1: The Early Years. Chapter 2: The Day I Bought the Low. Chapter 3: Technical Analysis. Chapter 4: Adversity. Chapter 5: The Meaning of Life. Chapter 6: The Trading Police. Chapter 7: The Last Word. Chapter 8: In Conclusion. Appendix A: For Traders Only. Appendix B: Insight into the Person of " Trader X" More from the Author. Postscript. Notes. Index.

Praise for The Art of the Trade

"Mr. Jankovsky's The Art of the Trade is a fascinating account of trading futures and options from his perspective as a professional in the business. The harsh realities of the brokerage business he describes are sobering, if not frightening, to retail traders. Though some of his points are controversial, Jankovsky's emphasis on the necessity of self-study in obtaining consistent trading profits and his conclusion that so many people fail in the markets because they refuse to discover what market reality is and adapt to it make this book an important contribution to trading literature."
—BILL KRAFT, author, Trade Your Way to Wealth: Earn Big Profits with No-Risk, Low-Risk, and Measured-Risk Strategies

"This book is a must-read for anyone interested in learning to trade or those who have never quite been able to make trading profitable. It is not often that you get an author who bears his soul to his strength and weaknesses, and his conclusion that you should never believe in anything but yourself is worth the price of the book. It is learning to know 'how to think' as opposed to 'what to think.' "
—LARRY PESAVENTO, author, Trade What You See: How to Profit from Pattern Recognition

"Having traded for over twenty years, I've seen dozens of books about trading techniques and methods. But this is the first time I've encountered a book that goes into the unchartered territory of a trader's soul. Jankovsky delves into places that others haven't ventured, and this book's mixture of philosophy, theology, and real-life trading experiences provides a jolt of fresh perspective. This is unlike any other trading book that's ever been published."
—TIM KNIGHT, author, Chart Your Way to Profits: The Online Trader's Guide to Technical Analysis; founder, Prophet.net; and Senior Vice President, thinkorswim Group

"Jason tells it like it is: he packs a real punch in telling you the true story of what it's like to be on the other side of the phone, from the broker's perspective. What you'll read might shock you, it will surely entertain you, and most of all — it will teach you things about the market that you can't learn anywhere else. One of the best books I've read about the market in the last ten years."
—Rob Booker, independent trader and host of TraderRadio.net

"I have read hundreds of trading books, and The Art of the Trade is the first book that kept my interest from beginning to end. I have been weary to endorse books in the past. Not only do I endorse this book, I am also giving it to all of my friends."
—GREG G. SWEET, President, Lotusbrokerage.com and Forexte.com