It is best to read the pages in the following sequence:

About the Author
Invest or Speculate
Fundamentals v Technical
Trendline Analysis
SCHM bands
Moving Averages
Other Averages
Net-change Oscillators
Other Oscillators
Day Trading
Wave Theories
Volume Action
Risk-free Speculation
Option Basics
Option Strategies 1
Option Strategies 2

Other Resources

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


  Helmut Schmidhofer

    To be a banker would bore me.

    To be an industrialist would stress me.

    I have been a professional engineer and a futures broker,
     however...

    SPECULATOR - that's what I am!


A speculator is a person who is willing to take huge risks to make huge gains. There are many markets in which this philosophy can be practised, but two stand out:

1. commodity futures trading; and

2. foreign exchange trading (forex).

Why do they stand out? Because the LEVERAGE is unprecedented compared with any other market.

What is leverage? Getting the biggest return for the least commitment. Deposits so small that you either win many times the deposit, or go bust!

So how do you WIN? By realizing there are millions of opponents who also try to win.

Some of your opponents are highly paid professionals who MUST make money for their employers. They know every trick in the book, and more. Unbelievably, you can beat them easily.

Look into the history of Barings Bank, the Queen's banker. Founded in 1762, it got wiped out in 1995 by its professional, Nick Leeson, who traded up a loss of £827 million ($1.4 billion). That loss was yours to win because speculation is a zero game - whatever someone loses, someone else has to win, less a bit of commission or spread taken by the middlemen.

Or more recently, on 20 January 2008, Jerome Kerviel was hauled before his bosses at Societe Generale SA to explain his trading positions, which caused losses of €4.8 billion ($7.9 billion), by placing more than €50 billion ($82.2 billion) in unauthorised futures trades.

But these are isolated cases. Generally, professionals simply try to square their order book, locking in arbitrage profits. They don't care what you, their opponent, is doing. More than that, they appreciate your trade because without it they may not be able to square their book.

Should you become a speculator? Take stock of yourself and your assets. If you are easily scared, don't. If you have risk capital and enjoy the thrill of winning, do.

I have speculated in real estate and traded in futures from bank bills to pork bellies. How is this for gearing - the face value of a bank bill is $500,000, which you could buy or sell with a deposit of $500!

My advice - know what most know and anticipate your opponents' moves. Then - know what few know, and follow the signals! Simple? Yes and no. Simple if you are willing to learn what "most know". Simple if you are willing to follow your hunch when the crowd is doing the opposite!

This site will try to teach you what most traders know. It will also teach you how to read signals based on a little-known method of predicting price movements, called SCHM for Spaced Centred Harmonic Means.

The method is effective in all markets that are subject to cyclical price movements. It is profitable with stocks and shares, bills and bonds, deliverable and non-deliverable futures, and currencies.

The method is untested in CFDs (Contracts for Difference) but I suspect it will be equally as effective.

Proceed to invest or speculate