market to trade. It can put your head on a platter faster than I can calculate the next 15 minute range if it breaks above or below the current. A $2 move in a 5 min timeframe is very common. If you guess the wrong direction you had better have damage control in place at the same time you enter, you may not have time to figure it out.

I began my trading addiction with the feeders over 20 years ago, when they weren't near as dangerous and when I had a lot of hard lessons to learn. The feeders started that education process and after 3 yrs of losing the 18k I made the first 6 months of beginners LUCK. I started looking for less dangerous markets and gravitated to the second most dangerous market with the hogs. My beginners LUCK with hoggies worked similar to the feeders but they allowed me to be correct longer and more often and didn't take all my Bank Account nearly as fast as the feeders. I have to say the hog market was a better teacher than the feeders.

I haven't traded the feeders very much the last 7-8 years but I've always had a liking and temptation to trade them. In May of last year I took on a client that had lost 130k trying to hedge feeders. He was down to his last $6000 his bank would let him have for hedging and way too many positions short futures and too many calls he paid way too much for. I was in the right place at the right time and told him I thought I could probably get back 40-50k for him, if feeders gave us a seasonal bounce but he needed to let me make the moves cause the market would probably not give him time to think about the choices. In the process I would teach him a few things I've learned from walking in his same shoes. He agreed and I immediately spread all of his short positions with long Aug. The spreads gave him some margin breathing room, which left me to needing some LUCK to make the right choices at the right time. I was LUCKY that the market cooperated with my choices, it could have went the other way. I was on a mission, my focus was to take some his pain away that was directed at trading and brokers. He is currently short April feeders(hedges) from 175.00 that he has been holding since Nov. and at every mid month swing cycle low, we were spreading with long Jan and now long March to deposit $5-$10 spread profits and still waiting for our 135.00 downside target which we may or may not get but having a good time enjoying the bounces. At x-mas time I sent him a 80k check and we are now getting very close to him getting the rest of the 130k back to his banker that he owed when I took over his account. His banker was very opposed to spreading and I had several confrontations with him in the beginning------but not anymore.

A couple months into working with this guy, I realized my instincts were picking something up on the feeder radar and I couldn't resist the temptation to trade a few feeders myself. After I sent his 80k refund check, I wasn't so worried about jinxing any trades I put on for him. I was even surprised that I had doubled what I thought I could get back for him. Know I'm starting to worry that if I continue, I will not only jinx myself but him also. I don't want that to happen but there will always be a soft spot in my heart for the feeders. I can't describe the joy and satisfaction that I feel from being a helpful service to someone that the markets were very close destroying him and his operation. For the first time, I feel like my persistence in following my passion, plays a bigger part in the Big Picture of Life than what most see on the surface. Once again, things happen that affirm my motivation-----it's not about the money(which is only a gauge) it's the process and now the service to help someone that doesn't have the necessary tools for playing this game, that is my motivation and joy that comes from trading.