Characteristics of a Successful Trader

Quote from olias:

Well said. The only thing I disagree with is that I don't believe there are exceptions. There may be...but I doubt it
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I believe there are exceptions. I received a free weekly sample swing trade email from Pristine for over 6 months. They provided the setup (long or short) for a particular stock, the entry price trigger (buy if price rises above X or sell if price drops below X), the stop loss level, and an initial profit target level. These trades were called in advance so there was no way to fudge the results. The filtering criteria were a) wait until the initial 5 minute price bar closed before putting on the trade, and b) if price hit the stop loss level during that initial period of time, the trade was invalidated altogether.

Of the trades that met these criteria and triggered an entry, the win rate on the trades was close to 90%.

They teach trend-following price action trading, a method that has been proven consistently profitable in all time frames when combined with rational risk management.
 
Quote from NoDoji:

I believe there are exceptions. I received a free weekly sample swing trade email from Pristine for over 6 months. They provided the setup (long or short) for a particular stock, the entry price trigger (buy if price rises above X or sell if price drops below X), the stop loss level, and an initial profit target level. These trades were called in advance so there was no way to fudge the results. The filtering criteria were a) wait until the initial 5 minute price bar closed before putting on the trade, and b) if price hit the stop loss level during that initial period of time, the trade was invalidated altogether.

Of the trades that met these criteria and triggered an entry, the win rate on the trades was close to 90%.

They teach trend-following price action trading, a method that has been proven consistently profitable in all time frames when combined with rational risk management.
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I would recommend caution for anyone considering getting involved with Pristine. Few on this site have not heard off the shenanigans and fraud/theft allegations against Pristine co-founder Ollie Velez. In addition, the education guru that I mentioned in my referenced post (who was proven to be a consistently unprofitable trader by the Tuco court documents) was also a key member of Pristine staff for almost a decade (and also wrote some of their newsletters during that time). One might wonder: "If Pristine taught such great stuff for traders, and this guy was a decade-long Pristine employee who led his own Pristine chatroom and wrote several of their newsletters, how in the world could it be possible that he consistently loses money in his own personal trading, as proven in legal court documents published in the Tuco case?" Is this the type person you want to be 'learning' from?

Finally, the person/people who write those newsletters are constantly changing, and you never know who is writing it at any given time. Back in the day, Oliver Velez or Greg Capra were <i>always</i> listed as the newsletter editor despite the fact that they provided no input into most of the various newsletters that their underlings were producing.

I know Pristine from extensive first-hand experience, and would not recommend a good friend or relative to get anywhere near them, for what it's worth. That said, I'm glad your limited experience with them was different.

P.S. Sorry for this post that has little to do with the topic of this thread. In general, I think it's safe to say that the vast majority (but not all) trading educational vendors are a waste of time/money. Some <i>may</i> be worthwhile, but they are the exception and not the rule. Let's make this the last comment on a specific company, because specific names can divert a thread away from a discussion of good trading topics.
 
I know of a futures trader who reached the $600,000 mark in his account then took out 20% of it and put it in a less risky hedge fund.

I'd say one characteristic is long term self control.

Those who get carried away when they start seeing huge amounts of money usually do something drastic and lose it all and POOF! 5 years of work gone to waste.
 
2 quickie points that came to my head ....

1. Regarding "Newbies validating some wonderful guru/seminar, etc..."

It makes sense that newbies do well after having been taught a course with some guru. My success in trading goes in waves and has become more consistent over the years - but in the beginning it had some big ups and downs. Now, who will go to such a seminar? Probably the person who is in a down mode and who, statistically speaking, is about to go back up. So when they come out of the seminar, and have a bunch of winners, they credit the seminar/guru with it. In a way, the could have done without the seminar, but the seminar is certainly a morality booster.

2. "Those who teach don't know how to do". Again, from my own experience .... My own trading started doing better when I somehow had to be responsible for it to someone else than just me. So, when I traded in front of my girlfriend, or her parents, I stuck with my plan and had a lot better winners. This in turn, developed good habits and made me a lot more profitable as my trading had to be less emotional (which I couldn't explain). So, I could see, how a person likes to trade in front of people in order to check themselves.
 
There is wisdom in muliple counselors. The time, effort and wisdom shared in this thread is greatly apppreciated. Thanks for sharing.
 
One other important characteristic of a successful trader, that has not been mentioned yet, is the ability to waste inordinate amounts of money on champagne, blow, and sluts.
 
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