A TOP-RANKED HEDGE FUND MANAGER FACEPLANTS BEFORE A LIVE STUDIO AUDIENCE
I've always felt a need to put my trades on display. I worked on an institutional trading desk for Bank of America in the late 90's where I would talk shop 24/7 with anybody who wanted to talk trading.
Then I left Bank of America in 1998 and started a blog before it was even a word. There I shared opinions, trades, methods and lessons for a number of years. Gathered a substantial following, which led to the formation of a hedge fund.
Even during my hedge fund days I kept things very transparent. I wanted my investors to know every step I would take. I disseminated information about positions, analysis and opinions on an almost daily basis. My clients seemed to appreciate it. They loved me. I grew very close to a few of them. We had a mutual respect for each other. Everyone was making money. It felt good.
I had just finished an enormous up year in 2003. It was January of 2004. I was already up 40% through the first 15 days of January. I was the #1 macro hedge fund in the country. I beat Peter Thiel (original Facebook investor, Paypal founder, hedge fund manager) who was #2. I got a call from a client thanking me for all the work I've done and how excellent things had been for all the partners. He asked, "I see by your emails that all of our trades have been going well. Do you mind me asking how much we are up so far in January?" I said, "We're up 40%". He nearly fell out of his chair. I thought the phone was about explode. That was the top of my hedge fund. I would never see those levels again.
The next two years were tough. Tough is an understatement. I cried. A lot. I kept things transparent throughout my two down years. I had one client in particular who would dig into me after every trade I announced. Invariably she would be right as she caught me during the worst stretch of my career. She let me know that she was right. She also let me know a lot of other things.
I was away from the markets from 2006-2009. I pursued other businesses. Learned a lot about myself. Got rid of a lot of material possessions. Some by force. 2006-2009 were probably some of the most formative of my life.
In 2009 I started trading again. Have been doing well in the first two years I have been back. It just wasn't as fun keeping my victories and defeats to myself. After a winning trade I would literally be writing paragraphs in my head about what I did right and what I did wrong. After losing trades I would be writing paragraphs in my head telling of all the lessons I learned.
I couldn't take it anymore. In late 2010 I started Zenpenny. I'm transparent again.
This article was originally supposed to be about how I want to be a hero in silver and catch the top so all of you guys will love me even more. It somehow turned into this. I'll write the silver article soon.
