Course Q and A                                            [Back to Course Main Page]Learn more about the Commodity Course through the following question and answer
session with David Duty.

Q: David, you've been teaching people to trade for quite some time now. What motivates you to teach people what you know?

A: I've always liked to help people learn. Prior to trading, I was involved with sales and sales training for several companies. I'd written training manuals for most of them. I found that I really enjoyed doing that. It's a great feeling to be able to put something together that people can learn from. The Internet is going to be the worlds best "school". It gives someone like me a classroom that stretches around the world. This would just not have been possible before the Internet was available. It's an exciting time we live in. (Since this interview in 2000, we now have thousands of students on every Continent, including Antarctica, and in over 67 countries).

Q: I understand you only teach technical analysis, so that means that you don't listen to the news right?

A: I feel the news is reflected in the charts before it's even seen or heard in the news. 99.9% of us are on the low end of the food chain when it comes to news. By the time you hear it, it's already "old news". You just can't trade based on it. You need to be aware of it, but to trade based on it is crazy. I don't watch the news on TV and I don't read about it in the paper either. I just watch the charts. To try and keep up with all the news, weather forecast around the world, etc. that could effect commodity prices would be impossible for the average person. The average person can learn to read and analyze charts though.

Q: How easy is all this to learn? I've picked up some books at my local bookstore and I have to tell you, I was lost. It seems kind of intimidating. Can anybody do this?

A: I think that anyone with a little common sense and self discipline can learn to trade. I found that when I first started learning how to trade, I got lost. Information overload so to speak. There are so many "systems" out there telling you to do this or do that, it can be very confusing. It's not just one way to trade. It's very individualized. Each person trades a little differently than the next.

The first thing that people need to do is to learn the basics. After that, you can start to develop your own method of trading, or system if you will. You can't do that unless you first learn the basics. I wrote my course to teach people the basics. It's a good place to start.

Q: From what I see on the news and read in the papers trading is becoming very popular. I mean, there's no boss, no hectic commute to the office, no product overhead, and it seems that a lot of people are making a ton of money doing this. How can I do it? I don't have any fancy degrees or even a college education.

A: I didn't even finish college and struggled through high school because I was bored with what they were teaching. It held no interest for me. When I first got interested in trading back in 1996, I became an avid student. I read everything I could lay my hands on. I went back to school, so to speak. At first, it was confusing because of the conflicting information that I was getting. One person said to do it this way and someone else said to do it that way. That's when I decided to go back to the basics. On of the greatest football coaches in the world, Vince Lombardy, always started the season by telling his players, "This gentleman is a football". He had the right idea. Start with the basics. I try to do the same thing with my students. I start out with something like "This is a chart". For me, this is a great business. I have never liked to work for someone else. I've always liked to work for myself in one way or the other. I don't have an office that I have to get up and go to every day. My office is in my home so I have a 10 second commute. I work when I want to, take off when I want to, I don't have employees, and my overhead each month is minimal. 

I like the freedom that it offers. You know that I love to ride touring motorcycles. I like long rides and long trips. This week I'm going to ride from Denver down to Deming, NM which is only about 50 miles from the Mexican border, about 800 miles or so from Denver. There is a big BMW motorcycle event there on Saturday. I've got a lot of friends that I ride with and I'm trying to get a few of them to take off three or four days and ride down there this weekend with me. Most of them find it very hard to get off work or to leave their business and just go. I don't have that problem. If I want to go somewhere, I just go. I don't have to worry about taking off work or leaving the office to go. It's a great feeling to have that kind of freedom.

Q: OK. So I know this is a great business...but what can your course
do for me?

A: My course can teach you the basics and then some. I decided to write it because there was nothing out there that I thought was very good for a new trader. Don't take that wrong, there is a lot of good material out there. The problem I found with most of it is that it's either too basic or to advanced. Take Ken Roberts TWMPMM as an example. It's a very good basic course but it just doesn't go far enough in my opinion. I was one of the many people who bought that course thinking it was all that I needed to know. I learned the hard way that there is a lot more to trading than is contained in that course. Then look at Larry Williams. He is a great trader and his material is very good but he doesn't teach the basics. It's very advanced and the average person could get lost if that is all they study. There are also some great books by authors like John Murphy who I like a lot. But then again, it's somewhat dry and not easy for a new trader to understand.My course was written to take someone from the basics up to some of the advanced techniques that that are being taught. It's the only course I know of to do that. (Since this interview, Common Sense Commodities was rated the #1 Course on the market!)

Q: What about the risk? Everyone tells me I could lose my shirt doing this. How can you teach me to control risk?

A: Of course there is risk in trading. You can lose your shirt if you don't know what to do. On the other hand there is risk in anything you do. Is there any business that does not have risk? I've never found it. Ask a farmer if he has risk in his business, or a doctor, or a truck driver, or a salesman.

Now that I've said that, let me say that you can learn to control some of the risk in trading. I teach that to my students and in my course and we will teach that on this forum. One must learn to control his risk or else he won't be around long enough to keep trading. You can learn to control the risk and that's what's important.

Q: I hear people talk about paper trading. What is this?

A: Paper trading is simply practicing what you learn on paper before putting real money in the market. I don't know of any other business that you can do that. Could you imagine trying to "paper trade" a McDonald's franchise for a few months? I stress the point to all my students to learn to paper trade first. Never put real money in the market unless you have paper-traded for a long time and are consistently making money on paper first. If you aren't making money paper trading, you certainly aren't going to make money trading real money.

Q: How about when I am done reading and practicing what you've taught me? Can I still reach you then? Can you help me continue my education?

A: Of course you can still reach me. I'm not hard to find. I'm here almost everyday on the forum and all the students have my home telephone number. I only have one course that someone can buy. I know that there are people out there that "bait" you with an inexpensive course and then try and sell you $5,000 worth of additional "course materials". I've got integrity than that. I just won't do it. You mean I don't have to buy anything else?

I don't have anything else to sell you. I am going to be doing seminars around the country next year and that is something that the students can attend if they want to. (Since this interview I have held dozens of seminars in the USA, Canada, Europe, South America)