Self Taught or Mentored?

Be sure to incorporate the art of feng shui when setting up your trading desk. Beware of sharp objects pointing towards your direction because they emanate death chi.

When you are on a winning streak keep doing what you are doing and don't change anything. If it means wearing the same underwear for over week, do it.
 
Quote from Mecro:

Ok but now more seriously.

I had to reteach myself since I was taught/forced the size scalp and bullet short scalp strategy from the prop firm I started with. Since I already had the experience of trading the stocks, I just started aiming for more trendy moves, pullbacks, reversals and tape reading. It had quite an effect on my P&L as I was down net everyday for about 2 weeks to a month.

Surprise, surprise, as I start hitting the profitable streak, bullets are gone. Our original "mentor" all of the sudden could not make a dime.
More...


Hey thats what I was taught too when I started. Those strategies worked for awhile, but then the market changed. By then I had a better grasp of tape and chart reading so I'm still in the game now.
 
Quote from BuddhaTop:

Hey thats what I was taught too when I started. Those strategies worked for awhile, but then the market changed. By then I had a better grasp of tape and chart reading so I'm still in the game now.
More...

I am in the process of trying different strategies and opening my mind to different "pro's" ways of thinking.

I dont expcect to make $$$ using their systems, but I try to take and learn something from their methodologies..

For example, Larry Connors window strategies do work sometimes, but require tweaking for risk tolerance.. He also helped me integrate ADX into trading.

Don Miller SPY, crossover system was pure crap.. Of course this in a choppy market. Which obvioulsy taught me MA crossover systesm only work in trenidg markets and you get chopped up alot, and make your $$ back on teh big moves... lesson learned

I learned a listed scalping technique from a top trader at my prop firm, coupled with heis style for reading teh spu's, and using a filter.. This worked for him, but I could never make any $$ myslef, and churned my account.. But his way of teaching me the pschology of certain chart patterns and how teh crowd thinks was invaluable... His method went downhill when bullets became illegal.

Basically, I take what I can from each person, and try to come up with my own system.. I havent found one yet that is consistant, but am finding out what NOT TO Do.. ;)
 
Self taught for the most part.

But the teacher wasn't very good at trading.

Have picked up things here and there, some better than others.

A good mentor would have been invaluable when I first started out. Instead, I got a LOT of bulls*** advice, some of it I even paid for.

But, I am still in the game.......

:cool:
 
I don't trade for a living, I have a job and trade to increase my modest capital for retainment, but I will answer this post anyway because how people learn to trade is a topic of interest.

I had no mentor.

It did not cost me any significant capital to learn how to trade as I made a profit in every month for my first 22 months of trading. This was from 4/99 till 1/02 with my first loosing month in February 02.

I often read posts describing how people study and study and then purchase software and develop a system and then practice on paper and back-test for years, and et el. I do not find this to be a very practical way of learning how to trade and it was certainly not my experience. I think the "study" approach to learning how to trade results in an informational overload where the individual has a vast and extensive knowledge of trading concepts with no experience with what works or does not work. When things break down and stop working, they have no idea why and are therefore incapable of making meaningfully changes to correct for changing conditions in the market.

It is my view that it is far easier to learn how to trade one step at a time. Work with a simple idea and test it. If it works then incorporate it into your trading and move on to the next idea. This accumulation of skills over time gives the trader a solid foundation on which to understand why changing conditions in the markets require changes to trading behaviors. Books are truly a great source of new ideas to play with and test but I think it is nearly impossible to simply read a large number of books and then become a trader. Instead, absorb practice and perfect the most simply techniques before moving on to the more complex.

I think the important characteristics of a successful trader are, a) skepticisms, b) objectivity, and c) adaptability. This is not rocket science and even those of modest intelligence can become profitable traders if they experiment and refine their behaviors as the market will be happy to provide the lessons.

Regards
 
There are those that would like to take credit for my success as a trader but NO WAY DUDE!

I'm ALL self taught .......by way of the school of hard KNOCKS UP SIDE THE HEAD!:(

There are up days and there are down days. Like today for instance (pun intended).:D

T-REX
 
Self-taught. My dad was active as an investor for many years, and he imparted some lessons to me, it turns out his idea of investing was more like long term trading. He didn't impart a ton of information to me, and now he's gone. Some days I do wish I had a genuine mentor.
 
Quote from tito:

To all those on ET who trade for a living, are you a self-taught trader or were you mentored one-on-one by a fellow trader?
I guess what I really want to know is if someone can still be a successful trader if he learns the hard way by himself. I know the learning will be a lot longer and more expensive, but is this possible at all?
Thanks. :)
More...
I would say that I am 50% self-taught, 25% one to one mentored, and 25% general ask question/get answers by assorted traders.

Number one key to successful trading is educating yourself and trading your own individual style.

Even when my mentor tried to suggest trades I lost using his structure. You should develop your own unique trading structure.

Trade small at first, because this is when you are at your worst.

Never trade on trading "tips" from a friend.

Not playing with yourself while looking at Internet porn while waiting for the trade to go into your favor may help - I have not decided yet.

Sam
 
Mentors can show you their road traveled. As an observer you can learn a lot. Just don't assume that their methods will fit your style. This is akin to me giving you my eye glasses and saying, "hey, they work for me great".

Self taught allows you to create something you have true confidence in which is essential for the psycological developement of a trader.

Learn from the best and improve upon them.

Cheers!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top