Your first goal in trading is to become a break-even trader.

The only woman who is always mentioned on a par with the legends of stock trading Marcus, Williams, and Soros is Vivian Blumenthal. She has been on the market for over 35 years, and several generations of traders have grown up on her books.

 

According to the popular legend about Vivian  (which, however, cannot be confirmed by official sources), her employer's office was located near the building of the Pacific Stock Exchange, where Blumenthal visited the trading floor in her free time. There, her interest and enthusiasm were noted by a mysterious investor who entrusted her with $ 25,000 in management. Trading options, Vivian suffered a fiasco. According to the same legend, she returned the money to the investor from her personal reserves. And then I found another investor who believed in her. But here nothing is known about the consequences.

Nevertheless, already in 1981, Vivian manages to become a trader on the trading floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange (in slang - "pit"), and three years later - Philadelphia. So she worked for 6 years, gaining experience, honing her skills, and becoming a fairly successful trader.

From pit magic to technology

In 1986, due to injury, she switched to remote trading from her home office using the Quotron electronic terminal, a simple electronic device that broadcast stock quotes to the nearest minute. For almost a year, Vivian successfully traded with this data from home. It was then that the first computerized trading systems began to appear, and Vivian decided to try progressive methods of work. Communication with technology led to a three-month drawdown, but Blumenthal managed.

The electronic terminal for remote transmission of quotations Quotron appeared in the 60s of the XX century. Electronics coped with this task faster than the telegraph, which was used to transmit stock information until the 1970s (the so-called ticker tape). By the mid-1980s, Quotron held 60% of the financial information market. In 1986 the company was acquired by Citicorp. Quotron was immediately abandoned by the largest client - a competitor of Citi bank Merrill Lynch. Instead, Merrill invested in a promising startup, Bloomberg. Subsequently, Quotron could not stand the technological race, began to quickly lose ground, and Citicorp got rid of it in 1994.

Bonza from trading

In 1992, Vivian was licensed as a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) and founded her own company, but currently, the company has been disbanded). At this time, recognition, fame, and popularity come to her. Throughout the 90s, she has been managing various funds, writing books on trading, actively speaking, and teaching.

In the 90s, Vivian  Blumenthal devoted much time to social and publicizing work.

 

In 2002, Vivian  Blumenthal launched her own hedge fund, which was later included in the top twenty. To manage the fund, she receives a special manager license - CPO (Commodity Pool Operator). At the end of 2014, the work of the fund was stopped.

 

Vivian  Blumenthal officially ceased her activities as a trading advisor and manager in 2015. She does not conduct any active work, except for private trading on her own account. Vivian lives in Primm, Nevada, she is married and has an adult son, who is an investor too.

Technique and technique again

Vivian  Blumenthal's trading strategy involves a set of strict rules about entering the market, exiting, and placing stops based on statistical data. And if during her first trading attempts while still in college, Vivian tried to rely on fundamental analysis, then later she became an unconditional user of technical analysis methods, highlighting patterns and indicators.

 

Vivian's working indicators are:

            Oscillator 3-10, which she has been using since 1981 (if you do not find this oscillator, you can use simple moving averages for periods 3, 10, and 16 in the MACD).

 

            ADX is 14-period.

 

            Bollinger lines.

 

            ROC.

 

            Simple moving average 10-period and 5-period.

Vivian mainly trades intraday, making several trades with an average length of about 10 minutes in 2-3 markets. Although for some sites he prefers medium-term strategies. So, for NASDAQ futures, it can stand in transactions for up to two weeks. Like many traders with experience in the trading floor, she prefers to focus not on specific trades, but on their sequence. Her favorite instrument is the S&P 500 futures, and she also frequently trades currencies, metals, commodity contracts, and European bonds. It monitors the market on 30-, 60- and 120-minute charts.

 

Vivian  Blumenthal is a supporter of strict discipline and constant self-study. She encourages all traders to keep a working journal and record transactions, and then, after the markets close, be sure to analyze them.

 

For beginners, Vivian advises, first of all, to learn to trade breakeven and try to minimize risks in each transaction, never neglect stop orders, not be tormented by doubts about where the market will go but follow it and fix profits in time. And also - do not leave a losing trade overnight.

The result, but not the end

Vivian, being a professional, recorded all her experience accumulated over a long trading life (is it a joke - 35 years?) In the form of books and training courses. She was able to transfer her knowledge to thousands of followers around the world, largely defining the face of modern trading. There is hardly a single trader who has not read her books and has not tried to work according to the strategies given in them. In addition to the fact that Vivian herself achieved significant success in life, she was able to give impetus for development to all these people. We think that it was the realization of this fact that allowed her to retire, because now her strategies are living their own lives and are improving in her successors, without needing Vivian's personal participation.