Saturday, July 15, 2017

Evaluating Yourself as a Trader

Very quickly, evaluate yourself on the following criteria:

1)  Innovation - Researching new sources of edge in your trading, drawing upon different inputs; learning new strategies and markets; finding new opportunities; learning from your experience and the experience of others.

2)  Flexibility - Ability to find opportunity in different market conditions, different markets, and different time frames; ability to move from being aggressive to being patient and back again; ability to trade different strategies and different sides of markets.

3)  Self-Improvement - Always assessing what you could do better and making steady improvements; following through on goals with concrete plans and actions; keeping yourself in peak performance condition.

If I had to identify one flaw affecting struggling traders, it would be stasis.  The static trader does not innovate; is too fixed in doing one thing; and has no consistent process for improvement.  Most important, struggling traders aren't following Elon Musk's advice and questioning themselves.  

Show me what traders are working on outside of market hours, and I will show you the odds of their future success.  A passion for trading in the absence of a passion for innovation and improvement is a sure path to losing money.

.