As of this writing (Spring of 2009) Global Macro Trading is making a huge resurgence as most other hedge fund strategies have fallen by the wayside and vastly underpreformed. Global macro on the other hand has done quite well and on average has made money during this whole crisis.

In the hey days of the gunslinger hedge fund, managers such as Michael Steindhart and George Soros would trade in and out of any asset class as long as they saw a good trade. They delivered excellent long term returns but some investors wanted a steadier ride. Of course Soros has only have one negative year since inception but apparently some people dont like a 100% year followed by a 4% year followed by a 50% year that was a 100% year before a pullback. Essentially many investors are afraid of volatility, notwithstanding the fact that upside volatility is a good thing.

Of course during a crisis Global Macro thrives as it tries to profit from major economic dislocations. So here we are again in the midst of a crisis and macro traders the world over are loving it as they are up and everyone else (except the short sellers) are down. How does the retail investor get into global macro trading? As with anything it takes time to get into it and become good at it but there are some simple, albeit timeconsuming, steps that can give you a jumpstart in your journey.

The first thing that we recommend is that you buy an Econ book and/or take a good economics course. If you have a college nearby then it is well worth the expense and time involved to learn basic economics. You will of course want to do a lot of extra curricular reading but a good teacher gives you a good jump start.

The next step is to start reading the wall street journal, financial times, and especially the Economist. In fact you should be reading the Economist cover to cover each issue. By doing this you will over time build up a vast library of knowledge regarding world events, and events that primarily have to do with money. At first you will have a hard time seeing how this really helps but over time it will become clear that if you don't know what is happening in the most random countries you will be missing out on some huge opportunities. Plus as an extra benefit you will be the life of cocktail parties as you will know what is happening in Sri Lanka and Nambia.

There are hundred of books that you should read over time but some of the most pertinent for you to learn how to think are written by some good global macro managers. Alchemy of Finance by George Soros lets you sit at his desk as he trades and thinks. Inside the House of Money is a great resource of interviews with macro managers, by a macro manager. Finally we have the Market Wizard series of books by Jack Schwager. These books are full of very insightful interviews with, as the name implies, market wizards. Reading these books will help get you inside the mind of some of the best managers in existence or even in history.

Another palce to find good macro reading material is online. The Federal Reserve has tons of useful info and smart researchers that are constantly publishing readable and implementable information. You pay their salary via taxes so you might as well take advantage of their knowledge. You can also go to good blogs. We say good because there is a lot of great stuff as well as a lot of total junk. TheMacroTrader, BigPicture, MacroMan, and Macroblog are all good starts to learn about macro and different events in the macro universe. Read these sites and you will have more info then you thought possible.

After all this reading you should try and put some trade ideas together and at first paper trade them, meaning that you just write it on paper without risking real money. Once things start coming together you can risk real capital and you will be on your way. it takes time but you can do it if you put the work into it.