CMR Interviews: Peter Brandt On Mastering Long-Term Trading Success

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This content is for members only

2023 Markets and Best Dressed List Review – January 2024

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Overview 
  • Video recorded live on January 3, 2024
  • Review of 2023 01:11
  • Best Dressed List 19:05
  • Lessoned Learned 01:01:59
  • Q&A 26:15
Live questions from Members  
  1. You released a 1989 MTA Journal article, "Classical Charting Principle". In it, you outlined two trading approaches you had used back then. I'm wondering about the 1st approach, "Every Pattern Trading". You no longer trade it that way. Can you share what the reason is? Is it a change in market behavior, or is it simply you're tired of trading so many signals? 01:06:21
  2. In many creative fields, professional performance slides after the late 40s and declines rapidly after the mid-60s. From your performance, it doesn't seem that way at all. Do you consider yourself an outlier? Or is trading actually age-unrelated? 01:09:06
  3. How does Peter select the contract month for trading, such as choosing the May contract over the April one for the recent Soybean short? 01:12:13How do you decide which rollover method to use when charting continuous metal futures (gold, silver, copper)? The nearby contract is not a useful proxy for spot because of contango, and the charts posted on Twitter and Weekly reports have at times used Trade Navigator 055, 057 and 065. Could you explain your reasoning for choosing between those rollover methods when trading metals?
  4. How do you keep from repeating the same mistakes? I frequently loosen my stops? EG gold today; where were were/are you stops for gold today if you don't mind my asking. 01:15:05
  5. Regarding Avg Gains and Avg Losses on your Metrics page, at what threshold do you bucket breakeven trades into winners or losers? 01:17:41
  6. If we don't trade futures, what ETF would you trade for Japan? 01:18:38
  7. Can you please comment on entering an intra-day breakout as opposed to waiting for the close (as it relates to false breakouts)? 01:19:09
  8. Is there any possibility of Peter explaining ATR confirmation? 01:22:06
  9. Why did you stay in the Robusta trade rather than exiting completely at the target? 01:23:06
  10. How is Factor trading structured? What do you look for in an accountant who knows trading companies? What brokers are used to trade some of the more obscure futures, like those on the London and ICE exchanges? Is this all through IBKR? 01:23:52
  11. Do you have an opinion on AI being able to either compete with or enhance your process? 01:25:49
  12. How do you handle action like in the ZB pattern, with early breakout, which then retests deeply within the pattern, before working again? 01:27:04
  13. Is a pattern retest valid for a first entry, even though it may be a stop-out for an initial breakout position? ie, How will you manage the stop on the Soybeans trade if it retests? 01:28:07
  14. Can you explain why you use 8 MA? 01:29:31
  15. Can you review how you set different ATR Can you review how you set different ATR levels? 01:30:38
  16. Could you talk about trading addiction, and if a trader who has been addicted, could trade normally after working on it? 01:31:07
  17. When you re-enter a position that you were stopped out, do you still enter with a 100% position? 01:34:13
  18. Could you comment on resolving disfunction in following rules, esp related to sizing/risk? 01:34:51
  19. I thought I saw Peter's comment in Chart Wizards that classical charting patterns no longer work. 01:39:52
Mentioned in this webinar:  Read More

Factor Public Webinar November 2023 – Market Review and Q&A

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Recorded live November 27, 2023 Overview 
  • Peter's background and how he trades 00:17
  • Charts on the radar screen 11:45
  • Q&A 26:15
Live questions from Members  
  1. You have a long-standing stance that Bitcoin has a 50% chance of continuing to increase in value and a 50% chance of going to zero...based on that, in what instance (or instances) would you see Bitcoin going to zero, and if that were the case, how fast could such an event happen? (i.e. zero overnight or would it take more time)? 26:15
  2. Which of your four pillars is the most critical and why? 28:03
  3. Are you still only trading weekly charts, or will you trade daily chart patterns as well? 29:40
  4. Any opinion on stock FLR? 30:51
  5. Any idea why did Edwards & Magee become more popular than Schabacker? 32:20
  6. Has this been one of your toughest years performance-wise? 33:50
  7. Are you looking at Forex pairs as closely as Futures contracts when you are charting and looking for potential positions? 35:57
  8. Do you trade altcoins too? Are you taking chart requests for altcoins? 37:44
  9. How do you decide where to set your stop when you enter a new position? 38:44
  10. In the FLR chart, do such patterns mean retesting the recent lows successfully by making a new Higher High again and again to break out? 43:33
  11. Using technical methods, what are good books for day/swing trading? 45:02
  12. Do you follow only Robusta or KC futures as well? 46:00
  13. In order of your top 3 or 4 preferences, what are your favorite patterns? 47:41
  14. Do you take the continuation pattern or the pattern of the contract month? 51:37
Link to Peter's recommended reading list on Amazon  Read More

Factor Member Webinar September 2022 – Drawdowns

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Recorded live September 13, 2022

This webinar is specific to the Drawdown document issued on August 29, 2022, "The Dreaded “D” Word, August 2022"

Live questions from Members  

  1. Factor's underwater curve changed dramatically around 2014. Is this due to measuring DD using closed trade NAV, or due to aggressive risk management? 13:50
  2. What's your most remembered drawdown period? 16:01
  3. How much of the drawdown period is self-inflicted as in we make the period worse ourselves rather than sticking to the trading plan we all should have? 18:01
  4. What is an "acceptable" drawdown for those who have retirement accounts and do not have the ability to do shorter-term trades, hence, needing to hold longer? Whether that be an index fund, BTC, etc. 20:18
  5. I started paper trading eight months ago and have had equity vol but no progression; still at around break even. Very difficult to know if this is a natural DD or just not a working system! 23:22 (A Brief Introduction to Probability Theory and the Random Distribution of Results: Understanding the Concept of Sequencing in a Trading Operation) 
  6. What practical steps do you take to deal with mental torment? 25:57
  7. My data over two years shows that if I take every trade my total performance would be 6 X greater with fewer drawdowns. Common reasons for not pulling the trigger are: Pattern extended from MA's, Support/resistance close, pattern looks loose, not text book pattern, looking for more compression before breakout. However, looking back, they have more going for it than not. Do you have any advice here? 29:07
  8. You mentioned "be able to take many small losses", does limiting risk to 1% but not moving stops aggressively satisfy this? 31:38
  9. The first line in your how to have success in trading is having Defineable and Comprehensive trade. Is this a written document that you continually update? If so, is it fairly detailed and includes all of your trading weapons? I would love to see an outline if this is something that exists. 34:23 (BOOK: Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke) 
  10. How do you decide when to move stops and to where? 38:05 (A protocol for Entering Trades Using ATR Stop Levels) 
  11. What was the pivot to introducing varied bet size? My struggle is when to increase bet size, and if the next is a big winner then I'm missing out. 42:08
  12. Do you think it makes sense to start cutting trade size if you see lots of tradable patterns to limit the risk in having more signals than normal? 44:44
  13. Experience is the best answer to many trading questions ... Knowing your "edge" & knowing how to calculate that - Before! - placing a bet ... discovering this changed my life ... Thank you, Peter, for this discussion! 48:20
  14. You scale out of trades and less frequently add another traunch. Could you elaborate on when and how to take a second bite? 49:06
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Factor Member Webinar August 2022

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Factor Member Webinar - Market Review and Q&A with Peter Brandt - Recorded live August 29, 2022 Market Review with Peter  Live questions from Members  
  1. Can you talk about deciding what patterns to trade? I find myself unable to decide which patterns I should pass up and which I should trade. If I only trade "pretty" patterns, I miss the winners. But if I trade everything, my losers stack up quickly. Any advice on what to look for in this journey of discovering my sweet spot? Is trading every horizontal pattern longer than 2 weeks a fool's errand? 26:33
  2. You have previously said you need a "measured risk" to take a trade. But won't every pattern give you a "measured risk" using LDR? 29:11
  3. Will you add to a position if it gives you a buy signal and you can move your stop up on the existing position to allow for a larger position with no additional risk? If not, why not? 30:04
  4. As a price action trader, do you follow any Wyckoff observations on volume when evaluating a chart pattern? 31:16
  5. For those who have 401k's through their workplace that are equities only (ETF's, S&P 500, etc), do you have any recommendations for investing in equities...i.e. buy and hold, trend following, moving averages, etc? 32:56
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Factor Member Webinar July 2022

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Factor Member Webinar and Q&A with Peter Brandt - Recorded live July 8, 2022 Opening discussion/presentation by Peter  Live questions from Members  
  1. How likely do you think the Bitcoin bottom is in? Do you think we are missing a bottoming pattern? 2:23
  2. Do you change your position size going into major events? How about adding to the position if the news goes in your favor? What events are most important? 7:30 
  3. Can you recommend sources of online commentaries and analysis on the fundamentals of agricultural commodities, esp. grains (supply, demand, plantings, etc.)? 10:43
  4. Have you ever met a successful day trader in your career? By day trader, I mean someone who gets in the market at open and is flat by closing. 14:49
  5. How will you manage EUR-USD with today's doji reversal? 16:58
  6. Could you please discuss the seeming paradox of aggressively mitigating risk on a per position basis, while also staying steady even through drawdowns on an account value basis? 20:31
  7. Does palladium look like it broke out today? 27:23
  8. Can I get a quick comment on the weekly breakouts in USD/PLN and USD/ZAR? 28:43
  9. If you have a loser much bigger than your avg loser, would you close a parallel winning position in parallel, which can compensate the loser? Even if this winning trade runs good. I think in terms of preserving NAV as key metric. 31:11 
  10. Has your portfolio backtested your approach? Thinking more in terms of correlation risk on a portfolio and position sizing optimization rather than entry/exit etc. 32:25
  11. I am wondering if there are any good books or educational materials regarding the ag markets and cyclical tendencies on which contracts to focus on? New crop vs. old crop and knowledge may keep a futures trader out of trouble. 37:09 (Book Link: A Complete Guide to the Futures Market Technical Analysis, Trading Systems, Fundamental Analysis, Options, Spreads, and Trading Principles by Jack Schwager)
  12. I find I get chopped up with stops (both entry and exit) on the back months for futures. My background is trading a CTA where we trade on close of each market and do so manually as I manage to add positive slip by doing so. But we always trade front month. Do you have any advice on how to trade the less liquid months? 39:27
  13. Could you please walk through the diamond setup in European carbon credits? 42:48
  14. Please address the topic of taking signals from smaller continuation patterns from within a 'strong trend' that has already lasted a good length (historically) and could be tired? 45:04
  15. Do you see any signs of bottoming in biotech? Xbi? 48:00
  16. Can you review your methodology of placing stops for an initial BO entry and then how to move them up on a trailing basis? 49:23
  17. What currency brokerages do you recommend? 52:48
  18. What is your take on having diverse trading systems as recommended by Mark Andrew Ritchie in his Trading Bible? 54:46 (Book Link: My Trading Bible by Mark Ritchie)
  19. When setting an exit stop on a long position, do you subtract the same percentage of ATR from a key chart point as you do with your entry stops, or do you use a different percentage of ATR? 56:25 
  20. Latest thoughts on AUDUSD? 56:57
  21. Can you comment on what you're looking for before entering a short on Soybeans, Soybean Meal, and Canadian Dollars? 59:12
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Real Vision interview – Peter Brandt interviews Jurrien Timmer, Chart Your Way Through Choppy Waters

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This content is for members only

Real Vision interview – My Life in 4 Trades (Podcast)

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This content is for members only

Factor Weekly Chart Scroll, Futures and Forex Markets – January 27, 2022

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Factor Weekly Chart Scroll, Futures and Forex Markets - January 27, 2022
  • Chart scroll with Peter (1 hr 13 mins)
  • Live member Q&A
Live questions from Members  
  1. The Ultra T Notes contracts - Tell us why you trade the "Ultra" T Note contracts vs. the alternative T Note Contract - Symbol /TN on my TD Platform. 1:13:29
  2. I am working on taking quicker losses and reducing the number of trades that hit my full stop loss. Do you have any suggestions or methods to exit a trade early when you think it is not going in your favor? 1:14:52
  3. I find the short side is more volatile than the long. Can you please share your thoughts on how you adjust sizing? Also, what do you look for in setups that are different from the long side? 1:16:33
  4. I started preparing my buy list on the weekend, and I keep watching those lists throughout the week. However, I missed out on so many setups that emerged on the day which didn't exist during weekend preparation. How do you deal with that? 1:17:30
  5. I see you enter trades on support - breakout retest, moving average test, etc. Can you please elaborate on how you manage the risk on these? Any different from breakout trades? 1:21:09
  6. I am a new subscriber and relatively new to trading. I just wanted to ask if Peter would cover precious metals and his thinking behind Silver and the chart itself. 1:23:35
  7. Any advice for new members regarding navigating the markets/general advice for novice futures traders? 1:25:43
  8. Do you ever use support and resistance levels without a chart pattern to enter or exit a trade. If you do, when? 1:27:37
  9. Do you have any advice for someone nearing retirement age and contemplating entering the financial markets for the first time? 1:29:46
  10. How likely do you see Bitcoin dropping to 12,900 --target from the double top -- as you posted on the Factor Member twitter? 1:31:22
  11. FAQ - Do you ever see yourself hanging it up? Is trading what you’re going to do the rest of your life? 1:36:30
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