Becoming a consistently successful trader is a tough job. It’s a craft that requires extensive knowledge of the markets―involving a whole lot more than just finding the next great trading opportunity―and a process that addresses many aspects of both the market’s, and your own, behavior.

Nobody understands this better than author and longtime trader Peter Brandt. During his thirty-plus years in this field, he has made every mistake possible and learned some major lessons along the way. He also developed a set of guidelines, rules, and practices―which he refers to as the Factor Trading Plan―that direct his trading decisions.

Now, in Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader, Brandt shares the experiences he has gained trading price charts over the years, and through a real-time journal―which spans an arbitrary time frame of 21 weeks (from December 2009 to April 2010)―skillfully shows how he goes about the difficult endeavor of trading the commodity and forex markets using classical charting principles.

Divided into four comprehensive parts, this personal and unique guide clearly reveals the uncertainty and emotions that surround trading and details an effective approach towards speculation that will give you an edge. Page by page, it:

• Offers a real-time, play-by-play account of Brandt’s trading activities―the good, the bad, and the ugly―during his 21-week journey, and provides valuable insights into market analysis, trade identification and selection, and risk management
• Highlights the basic building blocks of the author’s Factor Trading Plan and examines how his plan continues to evolve with the markets
• Emphasizes the central role risk management plays in market speculation―an even more important role than market analysis or trade selection
• Reveals trading as a fundamental battle to overcome your basic human emotions
• And much more

Unlike most books on this subject, which try to tell you how to trade, Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader offers a rare look at the realities of this discipline and provides you with a firm understanding of what it really takes to improve your performance over the long term.

PETER L. BRANDT has been a full time professional commodity and foreign exchange trader for over thirty years. He has worked as a broker to large industrial clients, traded for his own account, and was one of the early pioneers in the commodity hedge fund arena. Along the way, Brandt published a highly regarded newsletter called The Factor, and also collaborated with Bruce Babcock Jr. to publish the highly acclaimed book, Trading Commodity Futures with Classical Chart Patterns. Primarily devoted to trading proprietary capital in commodity and forex markets, Brandt has achieved a lofty average annual rate of return of 68 percent during his career.

The author can be reached at plb.factor@gmail.com