Trader Mark Cook. How one cow changed a farmer's career.
We have all heard repeated calls to never give up, calls to get up from your knees and always move on, without looking back at anything. Unfortunately, in the stock exchange world, almost every trader motivates himself; no profession requires as much motivation as trading.
The cost of a mistake is hundreds, thousands, or even millions of dollars, and before a trader climbs to the top, he will have to fall to the very bottom many times.
Today trader Mark Cook is the most famous figure in the stock exchange world. His fortune and life path cannot but surprise. However, few people know that he initially owes his success to his cow, and of course to luck, which made him what he is.
Mark Cook was born into a family of hereditary farmers; his great-grandfather bought a farm in Ohio, after which it was inherited by his father.
From childhood, Mark saw himself as the successor of this farm, since from an early age he had to help his father in everything. After graduating from school, he entered the Faculty of Agriculture at Ohio University.
Mark, as a student, repeatedly bought various stocks because it was popular among his peers. His first shares were Columbia and Sambo, if the first share made a profit, then the second lost. Thus, from the first purchase, he learned that on the stock exchange you can both lose and win.
Since Mark was a diligent student, he decided to participate in the jury of the national heifer competition in Ohio. If anyone doesn’t know, the essence of the competition was to choose the best cow. The winner was Elsie the cow, who became the advertising idol of the Borden company. Mark was chosen as a chaperone, or more simply put, a shepherd, after which they set off on a 13-week trip around the country.
According to Mark, he has traveled to almost every corner of the country, attended dozens of conferences and met many people. One day he was invited to the radio, where he talked all about cows for the whole night, and at the end, fans were waiting for him at the entrance. Actually, the cow made him popular and gave him many impressions and acquaintances.
When the tour ended, Mark Cook decided to try himself as a broker. Having sent out his resume to all corners, he saw only negative responses. One day he decided to change something and added the phrase that he was the shepherd of that famous cow. It’s hard to believe, but a representative of one of the stock exchange offices that day read a newspaper about the same cow and saw their photograph.
Having called Mark, a company representative directly told him that he was in hundredth place in the ranking, but because of this very cow, they moved him to first and he was being hired.
Trade. First failures
Mark Cook earned his first capital in the amount of 20 thousand dollars as a result of the resale of cows. One day, a broker gave him a booklet about options and Cook decided to try trading on his own. As a result, in a very short time, Mark lost 20 thousand dollars, with another 3 remaining due.
However, having received such a bitter experience, he did not give up, but rather saw the prospect of growth and continued trading with even greater zeal. His work as a broker, which brought in good income, also provided a safety net.
In 1981, Mark came up with options selling strategy, which formed the basis of the program created by his friend. Having switched to systematic trading, Mark Cook began to earn good money and after a year his deposit amounted to about 115 thousand dollars. However, having grabbed luck by the tail, Mark exceeds the risks, which ultimately leads to the loss of 500 thousand dollars. In order to pay off his debts, he had to take out money on credit for the farm outpost.
In 1986, Mark started his own transaction diary and began to conduct more detailed analysis. Thus, he discovered that transactions that were held for more than three days almost always brought him a loss. After some minor adjustments, the strategy began to generate very good profits.
So, at one point Mark gives up working for a broker and focuses on independent trading. After Mark took part in a number of championships, he became a famous manager, and money flowed to him like a river. Thus, only one transaction with an initial amount of 15 thousand dollars brought him about 1.4 million dollars per day.
It's not for nothing that Mark Cook became an example of one or stock magicians in Jack Schwager's book "Stock magicians, interviews with top traders".