Superior intellect - is that enough?

Quote from whitster:

genius intelligence is neither sufficient nor necessary for trading success.

just ask any brokerage. some of the WORST clients are PhD types, MD's etc. this is primarily because very smart people tend to be too sure of themselves. trading means (among other things) admitting you are wrong when you are. that's a psychological issue.

don't get me wrong, some very smart PhD types are often excellent quants.

i'd rather train a trainee with the right mindset (disciplined, hardworking, flexible etc.) than one with a 160 iq who didn't have the right "head" for trading.
Agree, wrong head = disaster regardless of IQ. But you take the right head with smarts and the sky is the limit.
 
Quote from Anunakki:

Im in Mensa and been tested consistently in the 150-160 range since my teens...having said that, I dont feel exceptionally smart and I dont think it helps my trading.

Trading in my mind is about pattern recognition and emotional control. Neither need a genius level IQ to be successful at.

FWIW Ive also noticed most people with very high IQs are almost savant-ish in that they are exceptional at some things and others leave them dumbfounded. I know Im that way.
All have blind spots. Somw you can drive a truck through. I qualified with "common sense". Seen many smarties with none.
 
Now you're talking. Where can one find that info on Ms. Simpson? :D

Quote from Hydroblunt:


By the way, did you know Jessica Simpson has a very high IQ. Ponder on that one for a while.



 
Quote from demoship:

Yeah.. If a position moves against you 10%. Ask yourself, were you wrong for taking it? If the answer is no, then you probably don't have the right mindset for trading. Because that big of a move against you means you were wrong.

Some people have the worst ways for justifying losing positions.
Yes, if you took a position for the right reason, then is correct despite the outcome. Need to be right ---> failure.
 
Quote from Mom0/pH0x:

as others have suggested, cognitive ability is CERTAINLY helpful, but not sufficient... certain cognitive skills such as pattern recognition, logic, and short term memory are particularly helpful, but the theoretical foundation of your psychological/ideological framework (at the subconscious level) must also lend itself to trading... because, in part i believe, is the values that bring you success in the world (generally speaking) arent identical to the values which bring you success in the markets... in the market you cut your loosers, maybe to re-enter later, maybe not, maybe to reverse... in life you ''stay the course'' if you want to win... just one example of hundreds... so for many people it's challenging to re wire themselves to this sort of logic and reason... i think most importantly, you have to have the ability and willingness to truely see anything, then you have the core essence of what it takes to be a great trader( to paraphrase kovner)...
All that and an ass-load of work.
 
Quote from blackchip:

LOL. Apparently you're not smart enough to understand sample selection. So you're statement about 99.9% would probably be very wrong here.

Note - There are people much smarter than you getting paid lots of money that will be taking the other side of your trades.

Have a nice day. :)
So you have special knowledge of sample bias in ET community? Please enlighten.
 
I believe athletic ability is better for trading then intelligence.

Athletes usually are better at coordinating price and have excellent reflexes. They make decisions very quickly and react instantly to obvious problems.

Someone with intelligence will often try to reason things out, take time to think and thats when they get caught up in the storm. You cant use logic and reason against the mad crowd. Instead, reflexes, quickness and coordination win out all the time.

Eric Bolling was a baseball player, not a doctor, lawyer or chemist.
 
Quote from Hydroblunt:

You're showing some real stupidity by using something so redundant as SAT and standarnized test scores to judge your level of intelligence. So you are already showing a big flaw thinking that you're smarter than you really are.

As for IQ tests, it is questionable just what exactly do they measure. I've met some high IQs who often show some real serious lack of common sense.

By the way, did you know Jessica Simpson has a very high IQ. Ponder on that one for a while.

Means little in the markets when it comes to discretionary short term trading.

P.S. Seriously, trying to peg your intelligence on SAT scores? It's remedial math and vocabulary knowledge, all of it can be memorized.
Used only as supportive of premise in my question. Intellect is certainly more that standardized tests. What, did you want me to give my entire life history? The meat is in the question, not my 800 math SAT 20 years ago.
 
Oh baby. Can't believe I missed this.

Nov 25, 2005
HOLLYWOOD - In a statement released today, Jessica Simpson blamed Mensa, the high IQ society, for her split with Nick Lachey, her husband of three years. Simpson, 25, star of Newlyweds and The Dukes of Hazzard, claimed that her involvement with Mensa was "the straw in the ointment" that doomed her already shaky union with Lachey, 32.

"My husband, for whom I have the upmost respect, was threatened by my association with men with big IQs," said Simpson, who achieved notoriety for believing Chicken of the Sea tuna was actually chicken. "I tried to reassure my husband that size doesn't matter, but his infections were already alienated. He feared that he was in under his head."

Simpson had recently become the poster child for a Mensa recruitment campaign. The society, which boasts more than fifty thousand members in the United States—none of whom work in government—is open to anyone who scores at or above the ninety-eighth percentile "on an accepted, standardized intelligence test."
...
In the first ad for the Mensa campaign, which will air on Super Bowl Sunday, Simpson appears in her Daisy Dukes cutoff shorts. She is sprawled on a bale of hay occupied with a volume of Kierkegaard. Stretching languorously she looks up from her book and says, "I'm tired of men who only look at my body when they see me. That's why I'm saving myself for a Mensa man."
 
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