Quote from Mr.Consistent:
What you wrote seems logical on the surface, but in reality that kind of thinking doesnââ¬â¢t apply to trading, plus youââ¬â¢re comparing apples to oranges.
It seems to me that what youââ¬â¢d expect from a mentor would be a trading method that makes money, and in order for you to justify your erroneous belief, youââ¬â¢d request proof of trading results. Youââ¬â¢d probably go for mentor who would teach you a how to analyze the market, where to enter, where to exit, etc. In other words, youââ¬â¢d be looking for a mentor to teach you an edge. In order to make money, having a statistical edge is the smallest obstacle new traders have, yet they tend to focus on it the most. Let me sidetrack little bit, and return back to the first post in this thread, which started about John Carter being full of shit;
For example, John Carter sells a Forex course CD in which he claims to that he turned 5K to nearly 50K in 5 month. The clown even shows a statement in the course. However, when I analyzed the statement, there are massive drawdowns to start off with, and then he leveraged himself to get the account to such figures in such a short time. It made me wonder if he ever heard the word ââ¬Årisk managementââ¬Â and ââ¬Åmoney managementââ¬Â. He also didnââ¬â¢t have any consistent approach, apart from Fibonacci levels. Most new traders wonââ¬â¢t be able to analyze the statement in a proper way, and all theyââ¬â¢ll look at is probably the starting capital and ending result. Anyway, few months later, he comes out with a book about psychology, risk and trade management. But he'd fit your requirements, he trades, and he showed his statement which was profitable. That he is a hypocrite would probably escape your selection criteria. A mentor like him would be able to show you profitable trades, but I doubt he would teach you to become a professional trader.
Now, letââ¬â¢s take a look at Mark Douglas, or Van Tharp, they wonââ¬â¢t show you whether theyââ¬â¢re profitable or not, and Iââ¬â¢m not even sure whether they trade or not. Anyway, yet theyââ¬â¢re mentors and coaches, they wonââ¬â¢t teach you where to buy or where to sell, but instead they would be teaching you the ââ¬Åprocess" of thinking and acting as a trader. By learning from them, youââ¬â¢d have much higher probability of becoming a successful trader, but youââ¬â¢d have to forget about the notion that a mentor has to be a profitable trader.
You see, trading has nothing to do with whether the mentor even trades, or whether he charges money for mentoring or not. All the mentor needs to know is how to think as professional trader does, and then teach you to think and act that way. All new traders are interested in the ââ¬Åend resultââ¬Â (the P&L statement). The P&L statement has nothing to do with becoming a trader. Donââ¬â¢t confuse with learning ââ¬Åprocessââ¬Â with ââ¬Åend resultsââ¬Â. You have to learn think on your own, and become aware of your own biases (such as this belief you currently have about mentors), instead of projecting your beliefs on the market. Unless you stop this thinking pattern you have now, you'll have a great difficulty becoming a professional trader.
One usefulness of this forum is to read all the contradicting posts, and then realize that everything read can be discarded, and instead take any half decent method and focus then learning to work on yourself and analyze yourself so you donââ¬â¢t become a part of the crowd. Donââ¬â¢t get sucked into the BS that you have to pay big bucks to be taught to become successful, it can be done on your own. It is not easy, but doable.