The Professional Commodity Trader (Look Over My Shoulder)

by Stanley Kroll

Book Overview

Reprint of 1973 classic in which legendary futures trader Stanley Kroll describes his trading adventures and discusses philosophy. It is a first person look-over-my-shoulder account of his trading... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060124687
• ISBN13: 9780060124687
• Release Date: January 1974
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 178 Pages
• Weight: 1.09 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Nitty gritty

I've been looking for a book like this for years. I don't know why it is not mentioned in any other publications. This is nitty gritty, nuts and bolts, down to earth trading. A good read, entertaining and useful. Not only is an account of the author's trading but it's very practical as well. I read this book because I thought it would be an entertaining and interesting account of trading in the commodity pits. I didn't think I would get any trading ideas out of it, but I was wrong. I actually got some new ideas. Nothing earth shattering, but some fresh ideas nonetheless. I don't know what the other reviewers are looking for when they say there's nothing practical in this book. In my opinion, the simpler you keep your trading, the better. Just like Stanley Kroll says. In my experience, if someone has been trading futures, day in and day out, for a long time, there's really no "magical" answer that you can expect to find in any book. We can all learn a little from someone else who survived in the business.

trading legend in action

Kroll colorfully describes a series of trading campaigns that really bring the challenge of commodity specualtion to life. I found the accounts of his conversations with investors interesting in how they llustrated the average trader's dilemma and explained why, in the end, the majority of market players have always surrendered their funds to the disciplined minority. The suggestion to trade with the major trend and against the minor trend is a primary example of the discipline that seperates the winners from the losers.

Excellent. This one is a sleeper.

This one must be in demand because I got it several years ago for around 10 bucks, now its $20. Not an "Introduction to Commodities Trading" by any means, but if you have been trading for awhile you will appreciate this book a lot. You will relate to his experiences, success and failure, and will realize nothing much has really changed! We have the same joys and frustrations, emotional highs and lows, insight and bewilderment, successes and failures, we are geniuses one day and idiots the next, and so on. This book contains all the best trading wisdom you will find in all the best trading books, albeit, his language is slightly different. He quotes Reminiscences of a Stock Operator quite a bit and reinforces the advice contained in that book with his own experience. Kroll was basically a Trend Follower, but this is easier said than done. He even says on page 21 that identifying the trend is only half the job (I would say it is far less than half the job) because you can still get killed if you get in on the trend at the wrong time. Isn't it easy to look at a 5 year old chart and see a clear trend? But it's a little harder to look at a current chart and buy at the right spot, then hang on to a position during those "minor" retracements. This book was published in 1974, but "Reminiscences" is much older than that and no one seriously questions the soundness of that book. Keep in mind, Professional Commodity Trader was written primarily from the standpoint of a traditional commodity trader (corn, cattle, coffee, gold, and some currencies, etc. but not the numerous financial and stock index futures we have today). Here is a quote from the book: "The secret of success: knowledge of the markets and of particular commodities, an understanding of both the fundamental and technical aspects of each market, fast reflexes and a good sense of timing, a bit of luck, and a great deal of patience and courage. Add lots of experience, a few `burns', and a goodly number of `killings', and you're on your way." Does anyone who has been trading awhile question the truth of that statement? Ch. 16 "Tiptoe into my office and be a fly on the wall" is excellent. It could have been written last week. He really takes you to the inside of the process here and gives you some insight into market activity, how it really works and how the mass of public commodities speculators get hurt. The whole book makes you feel like you are on the inside of the deal, but even more so in this chapter. In this chapter he gives a good example of a statement he makes in chapter 7: "Riding a winning commodity position is a lot like riding a bucking bronco. Once you manage to get aboard, you know what you have to do-hang on and stay hung on; not get bumped or knocked off till the end of the ride. And you know that if you can just manage to stay in the saddle, you're a winner. Sounds simple? Well, that's the essence of successful trading." That may sound like he is advocating staying in lo

Superb! Best for the veteran traders

You seldom find in the universe of trading books that a trader will use more passages to cover stories about his failure than success. This is just a rare breed. Perhaps Kroll was confident enough to do so with the backup of his outstanding trading record, and his determination to write a superb trading book.To me, this is a modern day Reminiscences Of a Stock Operator ROSO. Of course, Kroll and his book are not as "great" as Livermore and ROSO. However, the tone/style of the books are not so distant, and so are their values. In fact, Kroll had voiced out his admiration for Livermore. In short, cut loss short, keep profit run, plan your game well, focus on the major trend and buy on its minor retracement, keep absolutely calm and relaxed, see lights across the board and not just of what you trade, trade opposite to the news on mass media, mind the single/double day reversal, the sardine story (some commodities are for trading and not for eating), not to be worried about the beginning of a big trend coz it always lasts longer than most people expect, go along with the technical when it clearly shows something at variance with the psychology of the market, and much more wise words are present in this book. As a value added service, I would like to quote one passage here for your reference. "There's a great tendency to get carried away by the prevailing market psychology at that time and not doing any liquidating. But you've got to resist that tendency. When the market attains that major price objective, where you had projected closing out, say, half the position, do it. If you dont, you will probably regret it later." In a word, a must read. p.s. The only bad thing of this book is the exceptionally poor front cover design.

Get this one if you can. Outstanding concept and theory.

A very excellent book on trading the futures markets. The author shares his personal experiences in the futures markets and shows how to use them in your trading. If you are looking for a solid foundation to invest in futures, this is it.