I know, I know..."wHat dO yOu MEaN bY sUcCeSSfuL????"
For the scope of this thread, successful is defined as meeting the following:
- You have more profitable years than losing years.
- Trading is your PRIMARY source of income...not interested in hearing about how you're a genius because your 401K is killing it...or even your self directed IRA that is 80% S&P...
- You don't necessarily need to be self employed to comment.
What do I mean by Mentor? Someone with much more experience than you had when starting, that were themselves successful by the above criteria...That were available to you as a resource and helped guide you in early decision making. This could be an individual relationship, OR a manager of sorts at a business where you held a job related to trading of some type.
Do you think a mentor is required for success in this field? I think most would agree that it is at least helpful...but I am curious to see how many of you (if any) made it solo, strictly with self education via books, videos, seminars, etc...
I think I am "successful." I have not had a year-over-year loss since 1984. From 1984 to 2019, I made about 20-30% per year. Since 2019, I have been making about 150% per year. I have no "mentor," but I have several traders that I have paid attention to over the years. Most notable is Larry Williams. I do not trade during the day. I trade only once per day, using daily bars. I post all my trades BEFORE I make them, and I have published trade-by-trade results for 2019, 2020, and 2021.
