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Growing Broke

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Notes on STOCK-TRAK

1. Think of yourself as having a ten week internship as a commodity futures trader. You are a commodity trading advisor (CTA) and I am a commodity pool operator (CPO). You have $1,000,000 of my money to use for margin.

2. At the end of the ten week trading period, you are required to write me a report explaining why you should be retained as a CTA. A first draft of the report is due Thursday, March 22nd. This draft will be returned with suggestions for improvements. I expect the first draft to be an honest attempt to meet the requirements of the assignment. If I conclude that this draft is not salvageable you will forfeit your right to submit the final report.

3. Your grade will be based upon the quality of the report and not on your trading results.

4. For the report to receive a high grade it must be 1. Well written i.e. no spelling, punctuation, or grammatical mistakes. 2. Convince me (it is my money after all) that you were serious and thoughtful about what you did. What approach did you take? How did you acquire the information required. 3. Explain your approach to risk management.

5. You can only trade commodity futures and commodity futures options. That is commodities like corn, copper, oil, pork bellies, wheat, coffee, sugar, cotton, etc. You CANNOT trade interest rate futures, stock futures, stock index futures, or currency futures. It is my money and all you are authorized to trade are commodity futures and commodity futures options.

6. Please make sure you take this report seriously. It is worth 22% of your grade. If you have any doubts about how to proceed, please see or myself to discuss possible strategies. Please note we will only make suggestions and offer guidance, it is your responsibility to write a thoughtful, professional report that is up

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