Interview  |  JAN 1997

Mark Douglas And The Disciplined Trader by Thom Hartle

Interview: Mark Douglas And The Disciplined Trader by Thom Hartle The best teacher is experience, and from his experiences as a trader and a broker, Mark Douglas, consultant with his own firm, Trading Behavior Dynamics, and author of The Disciplined Trader: Developing Winning Attitudes, has experienced the gamut of trading emotions. From observing his and other people's emotional states, Douglas has developed strategies to help traders do what most professionals will tell you is the hardest part of trading - using your head. Stocks & Commodities Editor Thom Hartle spoke with Douglas via telephone on October 17, 1996, about fear, self-trust, the difference between a belief system and a trading system and gaining that ever-important edge. Q: Mark, when did you first start trading? A: I started trading futures in 1978. I was managing a commercial causality insurance agency at the time, but I was bored with it. Then one day, I got a cold call from a commodities broker. I decided to give it a try, and I started trading gold futures. From that point on, I really got caught up in the process, the same way most everyone does.

by Thom Hartle