50 Trades in 50 Weeks: One year of good ideas, dumb mistakes, and timeless trading lessons

50 Trades in 50 WeeksOne year of good ideas, dumb mistakes, and timeless trading lessonsHi, I’m Brent Donnelly. This is 50 Trades in 50 Weeks.Over the years, many have asked me for a detailed, start-to-finish walkthrough of my process and framework for selecting and executing trades. 50in50 uses the business school case study method to go through fifty(ish) real-time trades in detail.The idea first came to life as a blog on Substack, and this two-book series is a permanent record of the weekly process that spanned from February 2022 to May 2023. Each week, I shared a new trade idea and walked readers through my thought process. Lessons include a wide range of topics like global macro, technicals, backtesting, correlation, narrative analysis, mindset, risk management, position sizing, and of course the psychology of successful trading.50in50 lets you watch real trade ideas come to life in real time.Each trade goes from start to finish, touching on aspects like:Where did the idea come from? Why does it make sense?NarrativeFundamental analysisTechnicalsPattern recognitionBacktestingPositioning and sentimentRisk managementHow to choose stop loss and take profit levels.How to determine position size—What is the appropriate amount of risk for this trade?Psychology. How might this trade be ruined by mental errors and bias?The alternative hypothesisWhat are the risks to the trade and reasons it might not work?Pre-mortem as we imagine the trade going wrong and dissect the worst case before it happens.Data collection. Monitoring and tracking trades.Learning. What have we learned?50in50 is a 1-year “Introduction to Trading” class full of new ideas, tactics, and strategies for trading.The books follow the trades over time and conclude with takeaways and the many lessons learned along the way. The target audience is traders with 0 to 5 years of experience, but professionals will find the series valuable, too.Frequently Asked QuestionsThe Substack is free. Why are you charging for a book?People asked for the book! I tried to make it as low cost as possible.I already read Alpha Trader and The Art of Currency Trading. Is this different?About 15-20% of 50in50 overlaps with one of those two books and the remaining 80% is original content. The concepts overlap significantly with Alpha Trader, but the examples and situations are all fresh. If you’re nervous about this, check out the Substack first and if it seems fine, grab the book!The trades are all closed now, and in the past. Is the info still useful?Yes! Case studies are still useful, even after years have passed. This is why Harvard and many other business schools use the case study method.If you are such a good trader, why are you writing books and Substacks and a paid newsletter?This is a common question and a smart question to ask. I have been trading non-stop since 1995, mostly currencies, but also futures and single name equities. I have been an FX market maker, a Managing Director and chief dealer at various commercial and investment banks, a portfolio manager at a hedge fund, and I traded my own money for five years. I have been writing about macro and markets just about every day since 2004.I have had a successful 25-year trading career and continue to trade my own money while advising and providing liquidity for hedge funds and asset managers in FX.BUT… I also love writing. I’ve written two books on trading, and I write fiction. As I hit the halfway mark of my 100-year lifespan, I find I get as much joy out of writing as I do out of trading. Read more