Trade Stocks and Commodities with the Insiders: Secrets of the COT Report

Introduction

Warning: Futures trading, stock trading, currency trading, options trading, etc., involve high risk and you can lose a lot of money.

What a way to start an introduction to a book!

Those scary words are just one of the current disclaimers the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed be prominently displayed by anyone offering an investment course to the public. Who can argue with that statement? Certainly not I.

However, two points are missing here. The first is obvious: if someone is losing money in the market, by the very definition, someone else is making money. Every dollar lost is a dollar won by someone else, hopefully you or me. There is another side of the coin the FTC does not want you to see: the potential for gargantuan profits. Where else have millions been made, in less time, with less work and less dollars up front?

What your mom or dad told you is correct. Without risk there is not much to be gained; risk and reward go hand in hand with each other. If there were no risk involved we could not have the potential for gain. To get rewards, we need risks. Duh!

When the markets first intrigued you, did you think it was possible to lose money? I sure thought it was, so the gummint men are just restating what we already know. Or are they just suppressive people at heart?

The second point I have is even more egregious. How come I have to state the obvious in an ad I choose to run, while in today’s Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) the exchanges-backed “Options ...