The other day I was flipping through one of my favorite books on trading, Market Wizards: interviews with top traders by Jack Schwager, and came across a great line by Richard Dennis

I Could Trade Without Knowing the Name of the Market

This line was in response to a question by Jack, “How much common behavior is there between markets? Are the patterns of beans the same as the patterns of bonds, or do the markets have their own personalities?”

Richard Dennis is one of the most famous traders of all time. Not only did he turn a couple thousandsdollars in to $200,000,000 over a 10 year period, but he was also a founding partner, along with William Eckhardt, of the famous turtles group.

Richard Dennis’ comment shows his faith in technical analysis over fundamentals when it comes to trading. Price action was king and everything he needed to know he got from the chart data. His trading style was mostly  trend following and a strong belief in systems trading based on solid risk management.

It was irrelevant what the chart represented, as long as it was trending he could trade it. For Dennis, and most of those who learned or were inspired by his success, trading was truly a numbers game regardless of the market.

If you haven’t had the chance to read The Market Wizards and the New Market Wizards, both by Jack Schwager, then you’re missing out on some of the best trading interviews ever compiled and an enormous resource of wisdom from some of the worlds top traders.

Also checkout the article Trading Is A Numbers Game.