Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader, by Peter L. Brandt shares “Lessons from 21 weeks of Real Trading.”
So I guess the question is, do you think you can learn from the trading diary of a professional trader? Well, before making a decision, keep reading this book review to get a detailed summary of Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader.
And by the way…
In case you hadn’t heard of Peter Brandt, he’s been trading actively since about 1981.So with over 3 decades of experience in the markets, it’s hard to imagine that you wouldn’t be able to learn from his shares experiences in this book.
But enough with the preamble, let’s get down to business.
Summary of Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader:
Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader is a great book. But it isn’t just a diary. The book goes above and beyond just a simple trading journal. So what should you expect?
For starters, Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader begins by introducing Peter Brandt and how he got into trading. Then, it talks about his approach to the markets. He spends a lot of time introducing his classical charting approach and who his influences are. Even if you aren’t a commodity trader, these insights are still of valuable and entirely transferable to other markets.
From there…
Peter goes on to share his specific entry criteria, stop loss and trailing stop system. I actually couldn’t believe the level of detail that the book shares regarding Brandt’s trading system. Even more impressive was how he openly discusses how he manages open trades and when he takes profits or stops out.
Finally, as promised:
The last 5 chapters of Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader share trade-by-trade exploits that take place from December 2008 – April 2009. It’s a wonderfully relevant and recent example of how contemporary commodity traders can profit in the market.
Of course, the author then ties a bow on everything with a post-script summary and retrospective analysis on his transparent trading journal. It’s a great learning opportunity.
ButI haven’t even talking about the best part yet.
Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader – The Best Part:
Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader isn’t just a trade journal or the discussion of a trading system. The author spends a lot of time sharing his best practice, especially as it pertains to trading psychology. He spends a lot of effort trying to communicate that the hardest part about trading is the upstream swim against human psychology. Trading successfully isn’t intuitive.
But one of the best takeaways I got from this was that trade entry is the least important aspect of a trading system. Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader makes the point that even though most trading systems and traders are worried about finding the perfect entry; in fact, that should be the last of their worries.
Trading success has much more to do with money management and emotional management than finding the perfect stock pick. Make sense? It’s a critical point and I think the book is oath reading solely for this reason.
Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader – One Wish:
if I had one wish for Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader, it’s that the trading period covered was a little bit longer. I appreciate this may not have been feasible or realistic since the book needed to get to print. But 5 months feels like a very short window into the life of someone who has been trading for decades.
Nonetheless, I guess I can’t fault this book too much if my biggest complaint is that I wish there were more of it, right?
With that in mind, let’s wrap up this book review.
Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader – The Final Word:
Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader is a great trading book. And it will definitely be enjoyed by any traders who are looking to peel back the curtain and see the inner workings of a successful professional trader. It’s a perspective you aren’t likely to find anywhere else.
And for that reason alone (plus all the others above), I recommend you buy Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader on Amazon if you’re a trader looking to get ahead in the markets.
Of course, if you still want more information, you’re welcome to watch the video book review below for even more detail.