Quote from 2manywhiners:
Superior trader, a born talent or can be taught?
Yes and No, both.
First of all, it depends on what is being traded. Simple recognition of trends and going with the flow can be done with any instrument that moves in a single direction continually. You won't make a killing, but following the crowd is how most people evolve. Ever seen 2001: A Space Odyssey? At some point in our existence (if you believe in evolution, that is) one monkey picked up a bone and used it to beat up another monkey. This taught the other monkeys that while it doesn't exactly make perfect since, beating a rival monkey with a bone is more effective than using your hand. Hence, monkeys began using blunt objects to defend their territory.
Back in the SOES Bandits glory days, they could have trained monkeys to make their trades for them. But that was only an exploitation of a mechanical based system, not a viable long-term (short-term trades for long-term success) trading strategy.
Hedging your bets in less than a handful of extremely volatile positions is not for the faint of heart, and takes more than just mechanical decision making. You almost have to feel what's happening and react to it very quickly, if not immediately.
So I guess it's Yes and No, both. depends.