It's been said that the best traders adapt to ever changing market conditions. The need to adapt implies that one must be struggling or having a draw down at the present moment. So this means from time to time our resident trading gurus at ET are losing money! There is no way they can adapt quickly and start making money each and every time. Odds are they struggle much longer at particular times and some may never make it back. Human nature always wins out as some(if not many) of our ET gurus would never admit to you they are struggling as much as you are, but they continue to guide and direct with such great conviction. Perhaps they believe the setback is temporary, and at the same time can't give up the attention and guru status their ego has become to need and love. Please realize they are teaching a part of their methodology at a time when its effectiveness is suspect. Think about this... a trader who declares themselves a super trader and has pushed their method on ET would be hesitant to ever admit its demise due to criticism and possibly losing all credibility. Not talking about gurus here to SELL...totally different thread.
Struggling traders and Gurus
- Thread starter BONECRUSHER
- Start date
I would say that for the best traders, the need to adapt is motivated by the need to be the best. If one "milks" a strategy without replenishing intellectual capital it is like a business that under-invests in improvements to boost short-term profits. It looks great for a time, but it is at the expense of the long term viability.
I started this thread because I know of multiple "guru" traders who have traded the same instruments as I do, yet they never express difficulty/concern when significant market changing conditions occur. What I do notice is they quit being as specific with the current methodology and later on they discreetly share changes. Those are the ones who actually were able to adapt(I think). The problem I have is they always displayed an image of being special and gifted as a trader and implied they should be followed. They secretly dealt with their struggles while maintaining the guru image. I have a problem with this, but I realize its just human nature. Point is... just be aware! And NO...I'm not giving names.
Of course lot of sellers & gurus are noobs in trading, so they are selling. Still there might be different point of view.
I do not consider myself struggling ever. This is maybe more about psychological settings of ourselves. I am emotionally neutral about trading, I have accepted risk.
Of course I have loosing periods (who has not?), but my approach is fundamentaly very robust so I am convinced that I am and that I will be able to regularly overperform SPY.
There is one thing where I am different from your definition of gurus - I do not want anyone to copy my methods, because I do not want more competition.
I am not offering and selling anything publicly, but I am able to sell stuff (statistics, tools and my software in VBA, ...) if it is not part of my core trading strategy. And I also sell signals, manage money (I am paid at the end of year based on results)... so overall, for some people I might be considered selling guru
Jack Hershey?
I spent a few $k on a course a while back. The course was comprehensive and included follow-up mentoring. Some students became consistently profitable as a result (at least in the short term), but it was obvious the methods taught weren't working as well as they had in previous years. This fact was openly discussed - not hidden from us, but only after the course fee had been paid and mentoring was under way. To the vendor's credit, the course was updated the following year and was open to the previous years' students for free.