{"id":381,"date":"2024-09-21T15:06:38","date_gmt":"2024-09-21T15:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/50yeartrader.com\/blog\/charlie-goodman-stories-trading-lessons\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T21:26:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T21:26:32","slug":"charlie-goodman-stories-trading-lessons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/50yeartrader.com\/blog\/charlie-goodman-stories-trading-lessons\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Charlie Goodman Stories and the Trading Lessons in Each"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Between the summer of 1973 and the spring of 1980, when I left for Hawaii, Charlie and I spent a lot of time together. Not just trading and analyzing charts, but chumming a bit (although he was almost 40 years my senior): going out to eat, events related to trading, the greyhound races, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something I concluded quite early: Charlie was always thinking about the markets and trading. We’d observe something a little out of the ordinary and Charlie would almost instantly relate it to the markets. Here are three examples I can think of right now. Charlie’s sayings are collected in Goodmanisms<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lesson One: Learn From the Past, Don’t Live in It<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The typical drill in the 1970s was for Charlie and me to finish trading at Peavey, then drive downtown and visit our good friend Jerry Peters, a broker at Bache, Halsey, Stuart. We parked a few blocks out to avoid the traffic. This day we were feeding the parking meters when we saw and heard a young couple arguing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You’ve always been that way!” shouted the girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I remember when you flirted with my best friend at dinner,” yelled the guy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You’ve never really tried to understand me!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Yesterday you left me stranded at the bar.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This went on for some time as we listened in. They eventually turned abruptly and walked away in opposite directions. Charlie and I headed down the hill to Bache.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charlie spoke: “That relationship will never work. They can’t get out of the past. It is OK to learn from the past, but not to live in it. They have no future.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I nodded and knew somewhere there was going to be a trading lesson involved. Charlie continued:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning from the past is a good thing. After all, what else is there? But living in it is a mistake. Too many traders look backwards instead of forward. That’s why I say to be proactive with the charts: “What do I see now, what do I want to see next?” If that couple had talked about wanting a better relationship in the future, instead of rehashing the past, they might have walked away arm-in-arm.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Lesson Two: There Is Never a Last Chance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We stayed late for the last race at the Byers dog track, about 40 miles east of Denver. We only trekked to Byers a few times, as the drive was somewhat unpleasant. It was pitch black outside that night and there were no lights on the narrow highway miles out of town. Eastern Colorado is mostly prairie, flat and barren in many places, with few landmarks to guide you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a small cloverleaf to get on the road back to Denver. As I drove, we chatted. We had driven about 15 minutes when Charlie noted nothing, of what little there was out there, looked familiar. I agreed but kept driving. Eventually I realized I had turned the wrong way and was headed further east, away from town and toward Kansas! I looked for a place to turn around and saw a sign that said, Town of Last Chance, 3 miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charlie chuckled, paused a few moments, then spoke:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is never a last chance in the markets, dad. As long as they open the next morning, fresh opportunities will present themselves if you are alert to them. This is why I say I’d rather miss a good trade than make a bad trade. There’s always another trade waiting for you.<\/p>

There is also almost always a second chance to make a trade. If you miss the initial entry, and don’t get frustrated thereby, a second chance will occur shortly after the initial entry. Not 100% of the time but at least 75% of the time. But if you get lathered over missing the initial entry, you’ll miss the second chance as well!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I wrote about that entry in Goodman’s Second Chance Entry<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lesson Three: You Make the Right Place and Time<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One time at Peavey a middle-aged woman came in; it looked like she was in a hurry. We didn’t see many female traders, and I often wondered why not. There is no reason a woman couldn’t be a very successful trader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She looked around, saw the sign on Pete’s desk that said “Manager” and walked over. Pete asked how he might help her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I was at lunch yesterday and heard two well-dressed men sitting next to me talking about a report of some kind coming out on Cotton futures. One said his cousin was a day-trader in New York, whatever that is, and he had inside knowledge that this report would make cotton prices skyrocket! I want to buy some cotton futures before the report comes out. I feel so lucky I was in the right place at the right time!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alas, the report had hit that morning and it was pretty much neutral. I looked at the clacker board and saw cotton was down slightly for the day. Pete explained all of this to her. She looked a little disappointed and confused, thanked Pete for the information and left, walking out somewhat slower than when she arrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charlie commented:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is human nature to think you are in the right place at the right time. Optimism is probably built into our evolution to overcome the bad times successfully. But it’s a foolish thought in the markets. There is hardly ever a right or wrong time or place. The markets are just “there” and you have to make of them what you can with the tools available. Ultimately, you make the right place and time, not the market or a chance situation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A Goodmanism: “The trade is in you!” Charlie said the charts were only a way to focus, like a crystal ball for a psychic, and bring out the trade that is in you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post is educational commentary. It is not investment advice. Trading futures and FX involves substantial risk of loss.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good Trading!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Duane Archer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related Reading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n