Spotlight on John Bollinger

The Man Behind Bollinger Bands

Indicators in forex trading are calculations based on the price and the volume of a security that measure such things as money flow, trends, volatility and momentum (I hope I don’t sound like Scott when he discussed that on his forex trading videos!). And one of the most common yet “commonly misunderstood” indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Please, don’t expect me to talk about Bollinger bands in this post (although I would be doing that soon). I’d prefer to give a little profile spotlight on the man behind it.

Bollinger Band was named after its founder John Bollinger. Just like most traders, he started out doing something else. His passion in lighting and photography brought him to New York and eventually to La-La Land in Hollywood.

Eventually, his interest in stocks sprang out of him when his mother asked him to check her retirement portfolio. Soon enough he began trading and was hired to help set up Financial News Network in Los Angeles in 1983. For many years, he was the Chief Market Analyst for FNN (which was bought later by CNBC). John became publicly known through his market analysis and commentary on television.

Though you would think that Mr. Bollinger reached the top point of his career, he believed that it was still not good enough. “It’s very important to continuously expand your knowledge and skills,” Bollinger said.  And that’s what he did exactly.

He became an avid researcher and developed a number of widely used investment tools and analytical techniques. Voila! Came the Bollinger Bands which made him popular all over the world. As we all know, Bollinger Bands are used to measure a market’s volatility. His book, Bollinger on Bollinger Bands has been translated into several languages and has helped countless traders. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a Chartered Market Technician (CMT).

As of right now, John remains as the president of Bollinger Capital Management which he also founded in 1990. At this point, he decided to become his own boss and perhaps, it was the best decision he ever made (and highly recommends it to everyone).

There you go. Another inspiring story of a man who reached the top of the mountain with hard work, lots of patience and belief in his inner self. So, what if the Bollinger Bands remain as the most misunderstood chart indicator? John Bollinger’s example of becoming your own big boss isn’t that hard to understand.  

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