One of my best friends, a venture capitalist, told me once: "Pascal, you are the only person I know who is creating companies in which profit is secondary". Indeed, for me, money has always been a consequence of new ideas, not a goal by itself. Because of that, I now have a great advantage when I trade: I have no sentimental attachment to the money that I am investing.

I came to real trading after I read Alex Elder's books. I found it interesting that the behavior of traders could somehow be modeled. You can indeed guess how a trend will evolve based on an analysis of indicators that show the past. I am a software engineer with a degree in applied mathematics. Hence, together with risk control, modeling was what attracted me to trading. I can even say today that success in trading is the proof that the mathematical model works. My goal now is to continue to improve my model. Success is a consequence of religiously applying that model.

Click here for my biography that Alexander Elder published in his last book, Entries & Exits: Visits to 16 Trading Rooms (Wiley).

Why hasen't anybody come up with these concepts before?

I came up with these new concepts because of my experience in writing software and in applied mathematics, but most importantly, because I needed them for my own trading. I also recognize that I was lucky that decimalization happened just at the time of my research. Without decimalization, I would not have been able to imagine the Effective Volume concept, because it is the decimalization that generates very small price changes that can be linked to volume changes.

Also, if the need to develop new tools had been recognized by a financial institution, they would have had to get researchers with different experience: software, math, and trading. These professionals would have had to work together, exchange ideas, write papers, test them, and so on, all the while reporting to their bosses. This would have been quite a task force! And you do not build a task force to tackle problems that are not even recognized.

Who should use these concepts?

I will be honest: If you are a beginner, have no organization, do not know much about balance sheets, or do not even trade following a certain method, then the concepts, tools, and methods presented here will be of little use to you.

However, if you are already a seasoned trader, then you will not only get an edge using these tools, but you will gain incredible insight into what is going on in the market. You will develop a much better feeling about the positions of other traders.

If you want to send me your comments or questions, please email me at the following address: info(AT)willain(DOT)com. I will be happy to respond to you.

Happy trading! But never forget: You may trade for a living, but you should not live for trading. Making money is not what life is about.