Thursday, April 27, 2017

How To Develop Yourself As A Trader

Many thanks to the great site of Despair for this perspective on limitations.  We see lots of motivational posters on how failure is a step toward success and we should always keep persevering, etc.

No.

Sometimes perseverance is denial of limitations.  And sometimes failure--like losing your entire trading stake--really is failure.

So much of the reason many traders fail is that they never pursue trading the right way, as a performance discipline.  They don't have a structured process of learning.  They don't have the tools to properly replay, review, and correct their trading.  They don't have mentors to role model good trading practices.  They don't learn strategies with true edges and instead trade random patterns on charts or headlines of the moment.  They don't have enough capital to survive their learning curves.  They don't find the trading markets and styles that best fit their particular strengths.

Could someone on their own train for and reach the Olympics in an athletic event?  Could someone on their own practice acting and make it on Broadway?  

Of course not.

Performance fields require ongoing programs of development.  Without such programs, success is unlikely.

It's not what individual traders want to hear, but it's what I've learned in over a decade of working with everyone from beginners to portfolio managers managing billions of dollars.

So what goes into a proper developmental program?  I recently teamed up with Mike Bellafiore and Steve Spencer to summarize what has been working in our development of successful traders.  My intention is *not* to promote myself or SMB.  Rather, I'm hoping that seeing what is actually working with traders will inspire each reader to construct or find their own effective program of development.

You and your capital deserve nothing less.

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