In January 1980, the price of silver rose from $11 to $50. Gold 200 to 850 was crazy everywhere. The headlines in the newspapers, the experts on TV, everyone was saying the same thing. You should really invest in silver, which is up $50, and gold, which has seen an $800 increase this year. Buy silver. Buy gold. Once in a lifetime opportunity. In every second house in America, people were investing their savings in this gold and silver. Some people were buying silver futures by selling their mother's jewellery. The greed was so much that people thought it would never go down and then one day it all ended. Silver fell from 50 to back to 11, Gold from 850 to 300, 70% crash in a few weeks, thousands of traders wiped out, some people lost their homes. Some people gave their families, some even gave their lives on Wall Street. That day when the whole world was burning, a man was sitting in his house. silent. His phone was ringing in front of the old screen. He picked it up. A voice came from the other side. Ed is all falling apart. Do something and take all my money. Ed looked at the screen and then said Frank, I had exited a week ago, the system had given the signal, what do you mean I have exited, that means all my capital Ed said it is safe, your capital was taken out of the market before the market fell, don't panic, Frank happily disconnected the phone Ed kept the receiver and looked at the screen, everything was as per the plan, his heartbeat was normal, hands were steady, no panic, no celebration, the name of this man was Ed Seykota and 50 years ago he had created something which 93% of today's traders do not have. A system that thinks, decides and protects him from his own emotional decisions. Hello friends, what you just heard is true. That crash is called Silver Thursday. The Hunt Brothers were two brothers who wanted to take the silver market in their own direction. He lost $1.7 billion on that Silver Thursday. The world's biggest traders were devastated . And an engineer from MIT was sitting quietly with his system making profits. You are probably hearing this name At Sekota for the first time because this man never appeared before. No TV, no interviews, no social media, at Sekota, a successful trader who created a setup. He followed a system, made mistakes, but earned so much money from the market in the 1970s and 1980s that he is included in the list of the world's biggest traders today. This story is not just about his success. It's all about what prevents loss-making traders from becoming ad-quota. If you trade options , take swing trades, or are into intraday trading, Ed's story mirrors your own. He had made the same mistakes that you are making today. He just did one thing differently. He stopped himself. Today we will see how MIT Cambridge uses messages. It was 11:00 pm. Only one tubelight was burning in the computer lab. There was only one boy sitting, he was 23 years old. In front lay a stack of books, notebooks, a pencil in hand, and a few pages from the Wall Street Journal. He was typing into punch cards, writing the numbers one by one by hand. Gold, Silver, Green, Cattle. Now what does punch cards mean? Small cards that were attached to computers of that time. Computers used to understand data through those cards. Today you enter data into an Excel sheet in 2 seconds. In those days, to do the same thing, you had to punch each number on the card by hand. Well, Ed Seykota was not a finance student. I was doing electrical engineering. Along with the management, his father also invested money in stocks in his time. So the concept of the market was not new to Edik. But Ed was interested in the system. Was in the machinery. He was the kind of boy who didn't break toys. I used to open them and see what was going on inside. He is like Arancho from the movie Three Idiots. But why was this engineer punching commodity data in the computer lab at night ? Because of an article. Richard Donch wrote that Donch was considered the father of trend following at that time. He wrote a simple idea to create a five-day and 20-day moving average crossover system. Investing in diversified markets can consistently generate good returns. Now, hearing this in 2026 will not make much difference to you because everyone is telling you such strategies. But in 1969, no trader traded with a system. Everyone used to act on gut feeling. Even today many people give tips and opinions but at that time that hall was just about cut feeling. Well, for Ed, it was a testable hypothesis. MIT had taught him one thing. Test any claim first and then believe it. Ed had a friend in the lab, Ray. Both were studying engineering together. Ray comes into the lab one night and finds Ed typing punch cards into the computer for hours. Dude, what is he doing? You have to submit the assignment tomorrow, so do that first. Take your eyes off the ad screen. Bola is a backtesting experiment. If it works on old trading data then it is more important than assignment. Rain looked at the screen, things like numbers, charts, you are learning trading. Not trading I'm testing if trading can be automated? Hey Hansa Automate, trading is an art. There is a feeling. There is experience. How will it be done by machine? Ate looked at Ray for the first time. Feel and experience, that's a fancy word. For guess work. I want to see if a rules-based approach works. If she does then there is no need for feeling. Hey, maybe he didn't understand anything. You are mad and he said this and went away. The lab door opened at 6:00 am. Ed's eyes were red. I had finished three cups of coffee. The printer was printing pages. Ed looked at the raised. I understood a little and then I understood more. His hands stopped. Doncias was right. The system worked. Simple rules have been historically profitable without any human judgment. And even when Ed moved the parameters around a bit, they still worked. Ed had a working setup in his hands. Ed studied the data a little more carefully and found that systems with more patience perform better and in short-term systems, the profit is cut into transaction costs. Meaning, if you trade too much, the cost eats away at the profit. But the biggest thing that clicked was that if trading can be written in rules and executed by machines, then what is the need for humans? Humans get scared, greedy, tired, overconfident, all this does not happen in machines. In 1969, this idea was so strange that no one believed it. Today it is called algo trading, setups, automated trading. Billions of dollars run on this. Ed did n't say anything about that to anyone at the time. That night he ran a back test and left. But theory is one thing and investing real money in the market is another. What happened? Ed took the first trade in silver. The logic was bulletproof. The US Treasury announced that it would no longer sell silver. Ed understood that supplies would be low. The price will go up. He said bye to simple economics. Confidence was complete. It wasn't gas. This was a logical conclusion. Green numbers were visible on the screen. Then he turned yellow. Then Red Silver was falling. Red's mind was racing. How is this? The news was bullish. The government had announced that this could be temporary. Yes, this is temporary only. Would have stopped. The numbers on the screen were getting smaller. Eyes were glued to the screen. There was sweat on his forehead and his throat was drying. If I sell it now, a loss will be booked. A huge loss. And if he stops, he might come back. My logic is correct. It will take a day for the market to understand that the supply is decreasing. But the market did not understand the logic of the ad. The market did not even know that money had been invested in the ad. The market already discounted that Treasury news. By the time Ed got the news, the market movement had already done its work. Ed's stop loss was hit. The money is gone. Welcome to the stock market. Ed Head was silent for a long time. Didn't speak for a while. But Ed didn't just make a mistake here. Then he made the mistake every trader makes when they think they've learned something. Backtest Working Donch's Rules was profitable. So it occurred to Ed that the system was good. But if I add my intelligence to it, I can make more profit. The system says bye ad and thinks no no, I will wait a little. The system says exit ad thinks it will go higher still. Result Losses No consistency in trading one after another. A problem that most loss making traders face. One night I was sitting at the desk. There were two trading lists in front of him. One in which he placed trades following the system and the other in which he showed his intelligence. Looking at both lists, Ed understood that the difference was so clear that there was no need to say anything. That night, he got a call from his lab friend Rekha. He asked how is your trading experiment going? The head said the system works. I don't. Meaning, whenever I have followed the system, I have made money. When I have tried to use my mind the money has gone. The problem is not in the market. I am the problem. Hey Hansa, what is the session? Get your brain out. A paused silently for a second and thought, yes exactly the same, Prey thought he was joking but Ed was serious. He decided that now will do whatever the system says. No opinion, no gut feeling, the only job of a human being is to create a system, test it and then stop tampering with it. It sounds simple to hear but almost impossible to do. But why can't anyone do it? The answer lies in the wiring of your brain. Now when I bought at least silver in the first trade. Supply will decrease, price will increase. His mind had created a story. And when the mind believes in one thing, it rejects every information that goes against it. This is called confirmation bias. After this experience, And stopped doing what loss-making traders consistently do. Ed admitted his mistake. He moved forward and this time he started believing the setup. Now what do most people do these days ? People open demat account. Deposit money into your trading account and start taking trades straight away. Well, Ed thought that instead of investing his new money, this time he would learn from the market. What did Ed do? Ed joined a small brokerage firm. His first assignment was to cover the market for eggs and broilers. Eggs and chickens. Here, sitting next to Egg was a colleague named Steve. Steve was a natural trader. Gut feeling also used to trade. I used to sit on the charts and look for patterns. He used to earn quite a lot. Was popular in the office. He used to tell everyone stories about his trades at lunch. On the first day, Steve shook Ed's hand and said welcome. You have come from MIT. Engineering background. And said yes, okay, okay. Now look, there is no need for engineering here. Trading is field work. Grab the nerve of the market. Everything else comes. The head smiled and said yes, definitely. Ed observed for the first week. Steve would come in the morning and open the charts. I would take two-three trades, make profit in some and loss in some. When there was a profit, Steve would announce it to the entire floor. I took out $3000 in copper today. Feel the flow boys. When there is a loss, he doesn't say anything. I would quietly move on to the next trade. Ed notices that everyone knows about Steve's profitable trades. But did not tell anyone about the loss. But Ed was more interested in data than in observing all these things. That's why he came to this firm. The firm had old price books. Historical data over the years, gold, silver, grains, cattle currencies. This was a gold mine for ads. Ed's routine became routine. Everyone would go home at 6:00 in the evening. Ed would have stopped right there. A desk, a lamp and Price books. Steve would take out the numbers by hand, type them into punch cards, feed them into the computer , and wait until morning. One evening, while leaving, he stopped and said, "Friend, you are stopping by again. What do you keep doing all night?" I am trying to do a backtest on historical data. I am testing mechanical rules. Mechanical rules means trading will be done on computer. If the data says that the rules work then yes I will do it with the computer. Steve patted Ed's shoulder. Brother, this is not a trading machine job, it is a human job. I need feeling, I need instinct. You are so engrossed in data. The rhythm of the market is missing. Ed said, Steve, does your feeling work only when you are in profit or also when you are in loss? Steve 's hand dropped from Ed's shoulders. No one said anything for a second. Then Steve said, bye friend. You analyze a lot and he left. In a few months he built his entire system. Arguably the world's first fully computerized trading system for the futures market. Entry when the trend starts , exit when it reverses, predefined stop loss in every trade, predefined position size. The system started working. The clients' money started growing but then something different happened. Discussions about the ad system started on the office floor. The management saw that the ad system was giving profit but there was a big problem. The system is taking very few trades. Fewer trades mean lower commissions. The clients are making profits but the company's commission remains the same as before. Morrison, the head of the firm, arrives at Ed's desk. The ad system is good but clients should be more active. Increase trading frequency. If the frequency is increased, the cost will eat into the profit. I have seen in back testing that more trades I have, less returns Ed responded. Morris placed his pen on Ed's desk. As if giving a final statement. Ad We are a brokerage company. Our money comes from trade. Adjust the parameters. Increase trades. Sir, he will ruin the system. Do what I said. Morrison said this and left. The parts were changed. Without Ed's consent, the system's performance plummeted. Exactly like Ed said. That evening, Steve saw Ed in the parking lot. Ed's face told him something wasn't right. Steve asked what happened? Morris changed the parameters of the Yar system. Performance dropped. Clients' money is being lost. Steve said then adjust the system friend. Lose some food and sit in front of the computer. When the market changes, the system also has to change. Ednest looked at Steve. The system is working fine. Humans spoiled it. I had done this before also. When I had eaten my loss. Today clients' money is going away. Steve didn't say anything. Ed made up his mind. He left the firm. This time he was alone. No salary, no safety net. One night I was sitting at home wondering if I did the right thing ? Picked up the phone. Called my old friend Ray. Friend, I quit my job. Did you leave your stable job? What to do? I will trade with my system. From your own room. No one will interfere. Dead, this is a huge risk. What will it do if it doesn't work? Hey, I've run thousands of backtests. The system works. Just no human being should come in between. Ray said, brother, if you feel like it then do it and go ahead. Ed built systems within his professional network. Talked about it a little bit, an old client came back. Taking only $5000. Consider it to be around 30-40 lakhs today. Ed took that money. Turned on the system and it moved out of the way. The system said buy in gold. Ed said bye. I got entry in silver. No signal given in Greece. Didn't do anything. When asked for exit, I took exit. Be it profit or loss. Didn't keep any feelings. Some days a $200 profit, some days a $150 loss, some days doing nothing. And those days were the hardest. Ed called Ray again, "Dude, it's been three days." A trade has not been received from the system. The market is running. Prices are moving but the system is saying do nothing. Ray said, hey friend, it's your money. You take the trade. Are you relying on the system? No, there is a rule. But it is very difficult to sit in front of the screen and do nothing. I feel like I'm missing something . Someone must be making money in the market. Ray said, okay listen, my neighbor's friend has suffered a loss. He bought the house last month. Within a week, it was discovered that the entire house was infested with termites. When I asked why the inspection was not done, he said that the dealer had told me to sign the agreement as quickly as possible and the deal would be lost. Without thinking he said goodbye. A bill of ₹ lakh has arrived. Ed fell silent. Hello Hello Ed is listening. Yes yes, let's go, I will talk to you later. Ray Ed hung up. Looked at the screen, there was no signal in the system. Ed thought the dealer created urgency. The neighbor became restless and said goodbye. There was a loss. Hey, I was going to do the same. I was restlessly taking trades without signals. The market also does the same. Looks like there's a trade ahead. Looks like I'm missing out. Looks like someone else will take it. But nothing was missed. The system does not receive a signal. Meaning there is no signal. He looked at the screen. For the first time, he felt okay not taking any trades. With this system and psychology, Ed worked in the market for the next 12-13 years. Massive trends came in the market. In 1979 Silver 11 to 50 Gold 200 to 850. The setup of the ad was getting the trade entered, held and exited at the right time. The money was also compounding and Ed had already withdrawn his first money in the first week of that crash in 1980. This was also said by the system. The result was that his career started with $5000 and reached $15 million in 12-13 years. $500% return compounded annually would roughly be 60% per year after fees. Some people want to 2x the options pay today. Meaning, 200% of the day's ad made 60% of the year's return, and that 60% kept compounding for the year. He quietly found his footing in the ad market through hard work and consistency and because he had the capital. Ed Nerist made a rule for management which he never broke and that one rule played a big role in his success. What was that rule? The rule was simple. Risk no more than 1% of your account per trade. Never. There is an account of Rs 1 lakh. Trade at maximum loss ₹1000. What would you think would happen in 1000 ? And this is the problem. You want to make money on every trade. And he just wanted to survive every trade. Even if there are 20 consecutive losses at 1% risk, the chances are very low. But even if this happens, only 18% of the total account value will be lost. But if you take even five losses at 10% risk, more than half of your account is gone. The rule is simple. Very few people can follow. But another concept of the add was the total live risk of the heat portfolio. The combined potential loss of all open trades. If there are five open positions, the combined risk will be 4 to 5%. The sixth trade should not be taken no matter how good it looks. I did this for 12 years, it was boring, but I made $15 million. Now when the system works, money comes. When money comes, you get a chance to make more money and people also come to work with you with the money. Bring your money. Clients started coming in this case also. The head said the same thing to everyone. I will follow my system. Your opinion has no role. There will be bad days too. Don't interfere. It's your wish. If you want to work then do it, otherwise leave it. Absolutely add. I have complete faith in you. You do whatever you have to do. People were happy after making money but then a bad phase also came. The market became trendless. Accounts down 5%, down 8%, down 11%. One client was Robert. Was a businessman. He had given his money to Ed. The first 6 months went well as a friend suggested. Robert never called. But when the drawdown began, Robert started getting calls. The position in Ed Gold is still open. Yes, Robert is still there. The signal for ACCH has not come yet. But in the news they are saying that there will be a correction. I have a friend. He says, Gold up Robert, if I could put your friend's opinion into the system, I would have avoided it. But this cannot happen. The system looks at the price. The price is saying that the trend will remain the same. Robert remained silent for now. But after two days he gets a call again. And my wife is saying what is happening? The account is coming down 11%. What should I say to him? Ed listened and said tell them the drawdown is normal. This is what happens in trend following. Many small losses have to be taken. Then comes a huge trend that covers everything. Yes, but she will not understand all this. He can only see the minus. Robert, I already told you. Bad days will come. Then you said that you have faith. Yes Ed, I said it. Saying this, Robert disconnected the phone. But the third call came again on Friday. Ed I want my money. Withdraw everything. Ed sighed. Robert, I will not force you. But I am saying clearly that the system is not saying exit right now. If you withdraw now, you will incur a huge loss and may miss a big move. Ad My wife hasn't been talking to me for three days. He thinks I have lost all the money. I don't want this stress. Ed said, I understand, I'll process the withdrawal. Robert's money is gone. Three weeks later, gold broke out. Increased. Kyles who held on saw their accounts reach all-time highs, up 40% in 1 month. Robert called Ed again two weeks later. The voice was quite different this time. Ed, if that move that came in gold had stayed, Ed remained silent for a second and then said yes, Robert would have earned $2 lakh, so Robert did not say anything. Cut the phone. Ed thought the system worked. Not people. With his setup and strong psychology, Ed has made good returns for himself and his clients in the market. But understand one thing, today many people will try to convince you to invest your money in their system by saying such things. They will attract you by saying some system setup software. But if he does not have SEBI PMS license then he is 100% fooling you. This story just an inspiration form a psychology and setup for someone to make their money from the post. Now while all this was happening, Steve also started his trading. Steve, the same colleague who was trading with his own money in the brokerage firm, was based on gut feeling. Steve also took a heavy position in Silver. He would talk to Dad on the phone sometimes. Tad Silvers is going on 48. I entered at 35. Saw the feel works. Tad said, look friend, my system is also in silver. But my system is saying that the trailing stop loss has come very close. If any reversal signal comes, I will be lost. Is everyone crazy outside ? It will go up to 60, it will go up to 70. Hunt Brothers is such a big brokerage house and such a big investment firm. We will take it up to 100. Steve's system does n't care about predictions. Price means. Ed said, leave your system, friend. This time the feel is right. Saying this, Steve got busy in his trading. And then the market saw such a huge crash that not only the Hunt Brothers but no one could survive. Steve called Ed again two weeks later. Hearing the voice, Ed knew what had happened. Ed asked how much it cost? Steve was quiet for a second and said the entire account had a margin call. Could not take exit. I was frozen on the screen. Ed didn't say anything. But Steve said, you know what the worst part is? Steve, I didn't listen to my system at first either. I also suffered a loss then. So what's the difference? There is always loss in your setup and in my field. There is a difference. The difference is that one day I decided that I will not listen to myself. I will listen to the system. You're still listening to your music. Both of them hung up the phone. Ed began to wonder what it was inside a human being that made them turn against themselves. Well, Ed answered that question with his trading . This is where StockParshala 's mentorship program comes in. Where a verified mentor discusses with you one to one for 15 to 20 sessions. Understands your setup. Sees your mistakes. After that he tries to improve it so that you do not make the same mistakes. If you want to know more about this, book a Stock Parshala consultation today. You will find the link in the description and also in the pin comment because without Steve One you will probably not be able to survive in trading for long. Well, time moved forward and in 1989 Jack Sweig was writing his book. Market Visits, which you might have also read, includes interviews of the world's top traders. But when Jack was writing this book, the first traders that came to his mind were Paul Tudor, Bruce Koebner, Richard Dennis. But one more name was added. Swagger wrote a letter to Ed. Ed didn't respond. Wrote a second letter but got no response. When I wrote the third letter, he said, Mr. Sekota, I know about your track Rokot. If what people say is true then the whole world should know your story. This time Ed replied saying let's do it. The interview took place. Sweger asked, “What is your biggest insight?” About trading. Mad said that whether one wins or loses, one gets from the market only what one actually came to take. Mad said that I had a client. Very intelligent people understood the system. Knew the rules. Followed it perfectly for 3 months. Then one day, without any reason, I put 40% of my account into one trade. The market turned against the system. Half the account was lost. I asked why did you do this? So he had no answer. He himself was confused. Strager asked what do so many people actually want? And said want some excitement. Like it's boring, 9 to 5, same routine. Sounds like a trading adventure. Even if they become profitable, they find it boring and boring is bigger than loss for them. They unconsciously start taking more trades. So if you remain silent for some time then you say that this is not trading, this is psychology. Ed smiled and said, " Exactly." That's the point. When the book was published, this line went viral all over the world. But most people treated it like a motivational court. But the reality is that 90% of the reason we make money from Ed's trading is because of this one line, meaning people get what they really want from the market. If you have seen this entire video then you know what was to be learnt. But one thing is that Ed also has the same brain as you. Same confirmation buyers, same theories, no super power. The only difference was that he asked himself a question: what do I really want from the market? And when the reply came, he accepted it. Then live your entire life according to that answer. You should ask yourself the same question and give the truthful answer. If you want money then behave accordingly. Build the system, test it, work through the setup , manage the risk, get your mind out of the way. It will be boring but it will work. If you need something else, excitement, validation, want to show off to others, want an escape, don't like it, don't understand it, then that's okay too. But don't lie to yourself. Because there is one thing you always have to keep in mind. The market will give you what you really want. Be it profit or destruction. Ask after thinking carefully. This Steve , are you able to relate to this Steve ? You feel that you also trade based on gut feeling and enter. I do n't know why you do that, after entering you do n't know when to exit because your setup is not there anywhere and even if it is there, you don't follow it because you lack psychology. Even if there is psychology, we cannot always follow it. So if you want to go from Steve to Ed's journey, then whatever you have learned and tried to understand till now will have to be abandoned because it is not working. Well Eddie's story ends here. But your story continues even today. If this story does n't go to Steve, you have to go to Stock Parsala. You will find details about how to go there in the description. Click on the link and give details. We will call you back. And to understand and learn about other traders like Ed, to know why they were successful in their lives and how they were different from loss making traders who were consistently loss making traders. Give this video 10,000 likes. We will keep on bringing more stories like this. That's it for now in this video. Thank you so much.