And Away We Go...

Hi, my name is Jay Kaeppel and I am humbled and delighted to be joining Sentimentrader.com. Like you, I have been a fan, a follower, and a subscriber for a long time. When the opportunity to join the team arose, I jumped at the chance. 

My purpose here is pretty straightforward. The primary objectives are to:

• Offer as much insight as I can muster on the topics of trading systems/strategies, seasonality, options trading and investing and trading in general;
• Help subscribers to get the most out of the vast array of information presented by and available at SentimenTrader
• Help subscribers to develop and focus their own ability to “think like a trader”  

While we do not and will offer specific investment advice nor trading recommendations, I believe that teaching people how they can be more effective and efficient as traders themselves is far more useful than any random “tip” on the next “hot trade.” 

This service enjoys a wide spectrum in terms of users – from beginners to veteran institutional traders. As such, there is certainly no such thing as one best way to approach investing or trading, so I will be moving in a variety of directions. Sometimes the things I write about may be geared to those who are new or relatively new to trading; other times we will get “down in the weeds” to talk more in-depth about specific advanced concepts.

The ultimate goal of any investor or trader is to find the approach that allows them the opportunity to maximize their own tradeoff between reward and risk - and whether or not that approach works for someone else is not relevant. For most individuals, this process involves first taking in as much information as possible, then eliminating various ideas as you go and narrowing them down to those that work for you. From there it is to your benefit to:

1. Focus on your strategy (or strategies) and ignore the noise, while also…
2. Continuing to consider new ideas that might enhance their current methodology…
3. Without getting bogged down by the aforementioned noise

A delicate balancing act indeed, which explains why not everyone achieves great long-term success. 

So, in a nutshell, my objective is to help you become the best trader/investor you can be by:

• Informing and reminding you of the need for – and what is involved in developing and maintaining - a solid trading framework 
• Helping you to focus on information that is relevant and useful to your own approach
• Helping you to expand your horizons by introducing new ideas that you might not ever come up with on your own

The only thing I ask of you is to approach each piece with an open mind. Deciding which kernel of new information to allow into your “investor/trader realm” is one of the great challenges we all face. Some ideas can seem foreign or almost ludicrous at first blush. But the important thing is to filter each new idea carefully through your own mind before deciding whether it stays or goes, rather than lightly dismissing new ideas out of hand. Because you never know for sure what tidbit of information will be the one to take your investing/trading to the next level. One of my favorite sayings is, “Opportunity is where you find it.” 

I intend to offer you the best of my years of experience as a programmer/trading system developer, commodity trading advisor, trading seminar developer/ instructor, futures, stock, options and ETF trader, and financial author to help you take your experience here to the next level.

And away we go…