James Barrett

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My role as a Lind Plus Trading Strategist is to help clients assess markets with great price adjustment potential due to changing intermediate and long-term fundamentals. Once we hash out what’s driving a market, and if the forces doing so have legs, the next step is to form a complete trading plan to capitalize on these fundamental forces, incorporating technical analysis and my extensive experience in the futures and options markets..

 

Industry Background:

I began my career back in January of 1976 at the Mid America Commodity Exchange, trading grains. I moved over to the Chicago Board of Trade in 1980 when membership lease programs began. I started spread trading the then-new Treasury Bond contract, which was enjoying dramatic growth in activity due to the highest interest rates in the history of the United States. I remained a local on the CBOT floor over the next 12 years, alternating between the soybean and bond pits depending on their activity levels. In the early 1990s I made the tough decision to move off the floor in order to build a brokerage business and in 1995 I joined Lind-Waldock. Many of my earliest clients remain active traders and those longer term relationships are the best aspect of the job.

Market Focus:

I cut my teeth on some of the more dramatic markets of the last 25 years, including the attempted cornering of the soybean market by the Hunt brothers in 1976, and the 1979/80 silver play by the same characters, which drove the market to almost $50 an ounce. I was an active trader in the bond markets in the early 1980s when long-term interest rates were at nearly 15%, and was also trading stock indexes during the 1987 market crash. I like to focus on big markets. Identifying markets showing trend characteristics is where I feel the retail client can get an edge.

Technical Study Background:

EI began my technical studies with Edwards & Magee‘s Technical Analysis of Stock Market Trends, and that book is still a great place to begin for anyone today to learn about the classic chart formations. But key for me was the more practical hands on knowledge I gained from the many CBOT workshops I attended throughout the years that I was a member. Nearly 30 years of participating in futures markets is what helps me gauge what to do on daily basis.

Advisory Background:

I begin the day on Web sites such as Bloomberg, Wall Steet Journal, NY Times and Financial Times. From there I move on to private subscription information such as the Helms letter, and then turn to our in house analysts at Man Global Research.

Trading Strategies:

Since I began as a spreader, I still look for spread positions to capture and hold longer term stances in fast-moving situations. Another focus of mine is using option strategies for trending markets because of their built-in money management feature. I also use market profiles and old fashioned point-and-figure charts to spot advantageous trade location for responsive trades and as a decision aide for placing entry stops for markets with the potential of undergoing major price breakouts. Once a trade is entered, structural stop protection is recommended on all positions to protect capital and profits. The goal is to catch important price adjustments.

Analysis Preference:

I like to use momentum-oriented indicators to monitor market activity with the idea of riding strong directional flows. Price action rules the roost, so my job is simply to recognize where there’s a flow and hop on with a stop. Computer-assisted momentum studies are carefully followed, but price action is what to respect.

Educational Background:

BA Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1975

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*Futures trading involves the risk of loss and may not be suitable for all investors.

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