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Trader Monthly Magazine Review
Trader Monthly was a lifestyle magazine for financial traders that began publition in November 2004 by Doubledown Media. It was founded by Magnus Greaves and edited by Randall Lane and was published bi-monthly (6 issues per year). In February 2009 the publisher, DoubleDown Media, stopped publishing the magaine. Then, in April 2010, DealFlow Media acquired some of the assets of DoubleDown Media, including Trader Monthly, but the magazine still hasn't come back on the market.
The target audience is the financial community with an average income of $450,000 and/or net worth of more than $2 million. Specifically, the magazine targets traders who work in various industry capacities, including: banks, hedge funds, exchange floors, asset management firms, and other areas. The magazine covers different trading instruments, including: foreign exchange, derivatives, bonds, equities, futures, commodities, and others. The target audience of the magazine is almost exclusively young and male. The New York Times described the magazine as "a combination of the Robb Report, Maxim, Institutional Investor, and Forbes". The magazine's annual "Top 100 Traders" list was very popular. The focus areas of the magazine are listed below (the share of their content in each area is in parenthesis):
- Trading Strategies (44%)
Trading lessons (the psychology of trading, creating a trading plan, etc), trading products, and markets.
- Trading Profiles (7%)
Profiles of traders and trading companies.
- Lifestyle (49%)
Articles about high-end clothing, real estate, private jets, and $25,000 per night hotels rooms.
My Opinion
Trader Monthly is somewhat of a contradiction to me. On the downside, the magazine's content was heavily geared towards the unapologetic promotion of excessive consumer spending, as indicated by the magazine's slogan, "See It, Make It, Spend It." Although I can easily ignore this stuff, I dislike it just based on principle because it contributes to the sterotype of the "crazy trader lifestyle" of excitement and big spending. Thankfully, the magazine's targeted audience was relegated to the Wall Street trader niche and not the at-home trader market.On the upside, the magazine has very unique content, mostly insider trading stories from Wall Street guys about their experiences (like working on the exchange floor or working through the crash of '87). There was also an interesting monthly column by poker pro Johnny Chan about the similarities of trading and poker. I also liked that the magazine assumes that the reader has an intimate knowledge about the world of trading . An article would make a casual reference to someone like Victor Niederhoffer or The Turtles without the author stopping to explain who there are.
The magazine won't have too many articles which benefit you as a trader. It is more of a guilty pleasure - although there will be an occassional article or interview with a trader who talks about how they blew up or something. The magazine is about 10% educational and 90% entertainment.
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