The Art of the Trade: What I Learned (and Lost) Trading the Chicago Futures Markets

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.

Book in excellent condition!

Little information derived from reading this. It is extremely repetitive in its lesson. A complete waste of time.

Very entertaining book about his life in the brokerage business. Lots of good stories, ups and downs, round and round. The trading info is more on a theoretical, metaphysical, philosophical level with no really helpful or practical information. His 28 rules book, though predictable, is much more useful. Not much here, keep looking.

I found this book to be supremely helpful. It’s difficult to pin down precisely what the book says – – I think it requires several careful reads for it to “sink in.” But this is definitely one of the TOP books I’d ever suggest to a friend interested in trading.

This book has some really great things about it, and some really iffy things about it. If you do not know, then this is a reprint of the book “Dancing with Lions” written by the same author. I have never read that book, but I was drawn to read this book when I heard some people I know mention it, as well as after I read this guy’s other book: 28 rules that work (something like that). Here is the break down:

PROS:

-This book has it; it has the key to trading, and it is right in front of your face. If you pick this book up and throw it down in disgust, you missed something very important. One of the leading causes of trading woes is when people do not understand the true nature of the market. After reading this book, pick up some Mark Douglas, or Rem. of a Stock Operator, or any other book you know that is packed with trading wisdom. You will start to see points from this book in those. Once you understand truly the nature of the markets, then right action becomes self evident, and to not make money in the market, you have to TRY to not make it. Once understanding comes, you will flow with the market and all the riches you imagined can be yours. But do you understand its true nature yet?

-I liked the way this guy told stories, and although some of them were pretty outrageous, without speaking to their validity, they were entertaining. I also think his stories got the points across.

-Some really great lines in this book that point to deep truths about both the markets, and reality. “There are only two realities, yours, and the right one.” Also, when talking about the fact that when two people trade, they both believe totally opposite things, he says (I am paraphrasing): “That little thing that makes you believe your trade is right, that is why you lose.” These sayings have some really deep truths to them, but you have to truly understand reality, as well as the market for these truths to set you free. This book has these truths, and discusses them in a way that can give you an understanding if you are open to it.

CONS

-This book, while probably better edited than the earlier version (from what I have heard), still is filled with quite a few mistakes. Mostly harmless things, like forgetting to put a space or two after sentences, or some small spelling errors. Still, it is not up to this publisher’s standards and the errors in this book should be redone.

-This guy is a pretty sarcastic dude at times. It is actually a bit mind-boggling because at times, he seems very wise, and at others, he is like a closed off Neanderthal. A lot of his stories seem like bragging, but then he acknowledges this and this can be confusing about his intentions.

-It can seriously get annoying with how many times this author says “I wont go into that, but you know,” “I wont say the name of this, but you know,” or something to that effect. This happens once or twice, its not a big deal. But this guy does it quite a bit, and you start to wonder why he has to do this in the first place, what is he trying to hide? The cloak and dagger stuff he does is the exact opposite to the confident trader that he is trying to portray. Plus the book isn’t that long, what is another few pages describing things you mention? This can be all very confusing, and sometimes exasperating, almost like a wise man who every once and awhile turns into a child. But I do not know this guy, nor the circumstances under which he wrote the book, so whatever floats his boat is fine.

Conclusion:

I would say, no matter the downfalls of this book (like mentioning 100% winning traders; seriously? I mean even if you know one, why mention it, its entirely unbelievable), it does have wisdom in it, and it has the type of wisdom in it that you CAN come back to. At its price, it is a no-brain buy because I know for a fact, you can come back to this book and its message will fit what you are currently experiencing. Like all great wisdom, a lot of people will not see it on the first, or even the second run through. That is fine, just keep it on your book shelf and know its there, and one day, you may decide to pick it up and it will speak to you.

That great line “You will Know the Truth, and it will set you free” really is the essence of this book. If you are struggling trading, the truth is right in front of your face, and it has been waiting for a long time to set you free if you open yourself to it. I know I have had to get smacked with a loss bat numerous times to open my eyes. If you are at the point where you are totally exasperated with your performance, your are angry with yourself and your emotions, pick this book up and KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN.

This is the worst book I’ve read in a long time. It starts off well with some stories highlighting the level of corruption and incomptence in the industry he works in and it goes steadily downhill from there. From highlighting the incomptence and corruption in his industry he dedicates an entire chapter complaining about intrusive regulation. He spends a lot of time talking about finding god, his personal views of the social decay of the US and various other bit of nonsense that seem to have come into his oversized head over the course of a day. He spends very little time talking about successful trades he made or supporting his claims that he is consistently right more than 70% of time.

The ego of the author is clearly evident throughout this book, at one time claiming to have developed a more efficient way of space travel before NASA and developing the closest solution in 2000 years to some mathemathical problem, he did this after school over 5 days. I would suggest that these claims cast a level of suspicion over the various other claims he makes in the book (see above).

The book is 154 pages long and included in that is a personal view of the author by his ghost writer, the intention of this chapter is clearly to buff up the number of pages in the book. I’m not even sure why the book needed a ghost writer given how little substance was in it.

He spends alot of time talking about how for the various derivatives he trades in, it’s a zero sum game, in so far as one person wins at the expense of someone else. This book is clearly an extension of this. I bought it, paid the $20 or whatever it was, got absolutely nothing out of it, other than a sense of shame for having read it, and he took my $20. He wins, I lose. At the end of book there is suitable photo of his big dumb slimy head holding a 20 note. He almost seems to be saying “Ha you are just another dumb schmuck who doesn’t deserve his money, I win!!”

Trading is about making and keeping profits, period. Unfortunately, most traders lose. It’s not that they can’t make any money, it’s just they can’t hold onto it. They can’t hold onto it because of their preconceptions about trading. Those preconceptions become stronger than reality because the human ape is delusional and doesn’t really care about reality. Our preconceptions can also become almost a religion with people, hence the hostility when you pierce their bubble and tell them the truth.

This is a loser’s game, you are a loser, and you will remain a loser until you “get it” and change. In order to win, you have to physically and mentally do something different from all the other losers. I know it’s painful to hear that technical analysis is not predictive, that you’ve wasted an enormous amount of time and money, and that all the icons you look up to are full of bull, but there it is. These icons are telling you what you want to hear to get your money.

Losers crave what causes them to lose, so not a lot of books get published like this one, books that tell you the trader education community isn’t going to help you. In fact, it’s causing you to lose. Only you can help you by casting off your preconceptions and thinking for yourself. Most people are unable to do that, so I am not surprised some of the reviews were bad. People crave trading books that give them systems and indicators which will allegedly help them predict the future. But profitable trading has nothing to do with predicting the future. When I read those angry reviews, I have to laugh at the tacit admission they are losers who don’t get it, and picture them going right back to the books that cause them to lose.

Unlike a certain reviewer who panned the book and has read exactly 8 books on trading, I’ve paid my dues to have the standing to comment on a trading book. More important than the two hundred books on trading I’ve read, the thousands of pages of notes and writing I’ve produced, and the hundreds of hours of trader interviews and podcasts I’ve listened to, I’ve actually taken the time to think about trading over the last ten years. It’s the thinking that will give you progress, not the volume of what you experience, because most of that stuff is brimming with what doesn’t work. This book goes on my top shelf alongside the other trading books that actually say something helpful and contribute to the discussion. Rather than spitting bile back at the losers who don’t get it, I’ll offer a few titles to assist you in your journey to become a profitable trader.