" I grew up in a conservative middle-class family, the second of five children, but became a bad boy at about 12. I had conflicts with my parents, failed for two consecutive years in school, started smoking (fortunately, there were no drugs in those days), and shoplifted. After about three years of that, I said to myself "that's not the way to be, my life is for me, I have to make something of myself". I began to study and haven't stopped since. I love math and studied software engineering, but after graduating did not feel like going to work in a big company. I traveled to Japan, and decided to apply for a scholarship to earn my masters' degree there. I had six months of intensive Japanese instruction, then studied for two years for my masters' in applied mathematics, while also taking finance and business classes at another Tokyo university. My dissertation dealt with portfolio risk analysis.

I owed a year of military service in Belgium and tried to escape by writing to government ministers who had the right to offer an assistant's position instead of serving in the army. I was looking for something to do with finance and Japan, but no one replied to me. After I completed my service Philips Electronics in Amsterdam offered me a job, and there was a bank that invited me to be a trader in Tokyo, but I knew several traders and they were all stressed out. Then one of the politicians to whom I had written a year earlier called and offered me a job. I went to work as a consultant for the minister of technology and traveled between Belgium and Japan for several years.

I was advising Belgian high-tech companies on exporting to Japan, and after a while realized that I could do that as a private consultant. I wrote a business plan, got funding from Japanese friends, and created a company that still exists today. In consulting you can only sell your time, which is limited. This is why we moved into real business, importing electronic components from Korea and selling Belgian beer to Japan. That's when I met my wife, Michiko. We decided to get married three days after we met; we knew we were right for each other. We got married two years later, but the decision was totally clear on the third day. I recognize things when they're right; I feel when something is happening that the time is now and I have to take a chance because it will not happen again. I did that when I went to Japan and again when I went to work for that minister. When the chance is there, you have to grab it.

I created my second company in Paris where we imported access control components from Korea for a French customer. We developed our own access control systems, subcontracting manufacturing but doing the assembly in-house; it is a high-margin business. I have partners in all my companies because I like to share responsibilities and work with people. You have to trust people, and while sometimes it does not work it usually works because the trust comes back.

In 1997 during the Internet boom I created a software company to offer database access through a web interface. After the Internet bubble blew up we shifted to offering automatic customer care by phone (a dialog between a user and a machine that call centers started to use). There are very few such companies in Europe and we are becoming recognized. We are small but respected, and big companies buy from us. I used to be the CEO but looked for a replacement because daily business was interfering with my overall focus. Also, I was becoming involved in the markets at that time. I am still a director, working part-time.

I started out as an investor and not a trader. I had some extra money, and in 1998 I threw $25,000 into the market on tips from friends. I lost 50% in two months, but was told to have the faith and stay long. After a while the position recovered, but I knew I had been lucky and had to do my own research. During the Internet boom I picked up a few high-techs that went flying but after a while I felt I had to sell. A few months later the Internet stocks crashed and I knew I had been lucky again. As a mathematician I knew you cannot always be lucky and decided to get a professional manager for my portfolio. I asked a friend in the US to manage my money, but he said that would be a bad idea. If you have the ability to make your own decisions, better use them. It'll take longer but you'll be a bigger winner. In 2001 or 2002 he told me to get two or three books, the first of which was Trading for a Living. I worked on it until I 'graduated' from the Study Guide and then bought Come into My Trading Room. I programmed everything from that book into Excel and started trading. I made 60% in 6 months, but then had a bad month, lost 6% and stopped, following the 6% Rule.

What I did not like about trading was that it took a lot of time. Making many small trades and keeping records was taking time out of my family life. Also, with that method I could not predict big drops, could not see accidents coming. I stopped trading and did research for a year and a half. Luckily, I could think in a programming language, which got me to the point where I developed my own trading system. "

Copyright Alexander Elder