Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Is There a Formula for Trading Success?

This afternoon's webinar hosted by SMB's Option Tribe featured excellent questions from participants.  Two in particular have me thinking, and I hope to share thoughts soon:

1)  How does the developmental phase of the trader (age, marital status, kids/no kids, other career activities) affect how the trader approaches markets?  Might there be different best practices for traders in middle and later years compared with those in early years?  Are the motivations of older traders different from those of younger ones?

2)  How do the best practices of longer time-frame traders differ from those of shorter-term ones?  Is the learning process for longer-term traders different from that of shorter-term ones?  How can longer-term traders achieve the deliberate practice needed for the development of expertise, given that they place far fewer trades than daytraders (and hence have fewer learning trials)?

There are many paths to success.  Traders vs. investors; younger participants vs. older ones; intuitive pattern traders vs. research-oriented ones--all may have very different best practices and work processes.  Trying to mimic the practices of traders unlike oneself might be a formula for frustration.

Further Reading:  A Solution Focus to Trading