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About a year ago, Dr. John Kepler (professor) wrote an excellent article in Active Trader magazine titled, "A Good Trading Education is Hard to Find". I was impressed because it really drove home the fact that traders trading without proper training and knowledge are sunk from the get go. They blow up their accounts over and over making the same mistakes trade after trade, year after year. But they balk at investing in knowledge, education and close, personal, dedicated mentorship. He also points out that the most expensive trading knowledge free. He's got a point.
I'm not saying that with enough time, say, 15 or 20 years or so, and serious capitalization while you reinvent and overcome all the mistakes and pitfalls yourself, that you couldn't become a darn good trader. It's happened. It's just odd that people will spend megabucks learning income producing skills...from welding to medicine to commercial aviation. But they refuse to invest the price of a clunker used car on trading knowlege and essential trading mentorship.
It doesn't matter where you get your knowledge, training and mentorship as long as you get it and it works for you. You can get a lot of what you need here at futures.io (formerly BMT). Lots of good stuff here.
Addressing acbrasil's comment, I humbly request that you come into my room and openly ask the members how they are doing. It's an open forum where everyone sees everyone else and what they are saying. They'll be glad to answer your inquiry honestly and completely. As I'm writing this, here's an email I just received from one of my students, Noel. Some of you futures.io (formerly BMT) Elites may know Noel or be a friend of his from the room. Here's what his email said:
Hey Roger
Hope you guys had a good week. I didn't get to spend a lot of time in the room but had decent stats for the week.
39 for 45 +192 ticks
Noel
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Understand, Noel's a darn good trader, for sure. But when he came to me he was a lumberjack...literally. He didn't know a chart from a can of fruit cocktail. As a trader, he was awful and he'll be the first to admit it. I spent many evening sessions with him and over months he evolved into a trader that I'd trust with my own account anytime. Now, does this prove that you too will do well? Absolutely not! I know that's probably not what you expected me to say, AC, but it's an honest answer. You may do well learning from someone, but please don't think the secret is in a trading system itself.
Personally, I think it's this rotten stinking industry that's made traders think this way. You can't open a trade magazine, surf the Internet or attend a tradeshow without being bombarded with get-rich-overnight trading systems and indicators. It's created a mass of "trader zombies" wandering around aimlessly looking for "the holyfriggingrail" when all they have to do is look in the mirror. Would you believe anyone who said that if you bought their golf clubs you'd make lots of money as a pro golfer virtually overnight? Then why do traders believe those scumbags claims??
The secret is in you, my friend. The answer is knowledge, training and mentorship and how hard you are willing to work.
Most traders need mentorship...and lots of it. From novices to seasoned veterans, we all must never stop learning and honing our craft. By mentorship, I'm not talking about a forum chat or a pep talk on Skype. Most traders need a trading professional who can also teach whom they can reach anytime they need for as long as they need...evenings, weekends, holidays. When the market has spanked you to the point where you have to trade standing up, you probably need help. Traders can easily derail and get in trouble when they're feeling confused, frustrated, panicked and angry...and still trying to trade. Close personal guidance on a daily basis is very important to work past the hurdles and keep on track thru the learning curve. They should call it the "learning zig zag" because it's not a line that always points up. A good mentor can't prevent the "lows" but they can help insure that they are "higher lows".
Becomming a successful trader goes way beyond what trading system you use. Some of you will get that and some won't. It's why one trader consistently loses and another consistently wins TRADING THE SAME SYSTEM! Knowing the difference - what's that knowledge worth? What's it worth to have a professional trader/trainer at your beck and call for the rest of his life and not charge you for the sessions? Just something for you guys to think about when you consider what's actually involved when someone charges a fee.
Look, there are a lot of learning options out there for you. If you don't want to learn by making all the mistakes yourself and you're willing to pay someone competent to help get you where where you want to go, for gosh sakes don't let price be your measuring stick. That's my point here. There are courses and systems out there charging $7500 to over $20,000 that aren't worth what's at the bottom of my birdcage. Cheap and freebie stuff can be beneficial but it's never a complete "package".
To be successful at this difficult game, you've got to know what it's going to take. And there will always be a cost...be it in knowledge, training and mentorship...or one heck of a long time investment going it alone. Ask Big Mike sometime if his own success was the result of hard work, study and practice or simply the result of hitting on a winning trading system alone. I should write a series here about "The Mindset of the Misguided Trader". Sure make for interesting reading.
Didn't mean to go off on a rant,
Roger
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
....where you have to trade standing up, you probably need help....
hi roger
just so you know, i am one of those traders who very much like to trade STANDING UP....
not only that i would stand up and trade about 30% of the time, i would also do the oriental ti-chi to keep psychologically and physiologically alert, fit and ready at the same time....
just waiting for the greatest moment.... when all four green stars in any one of my trading monitors would lighten up vertically for the bingo run.... LOL
for the last two sessions watching you trade last week, you showed that you could trade profitably and your setups also appear to be interestingly looking and appealing, especially for newbies.... however as we know well, constant chatting regardless of what the contents entail.... are annoying and distracting to live traders.... just my one trader opinion, K?
will see you in action again.... on and off.... when i could look away from my screens....
also, you offer much more than most vendors that i came across.... thx on behalf of the many silent learners in your room as well....
Hi Roger, thanks for taking the time to reply. Yes, you are very right. There are a million get-rich-quick schemes out there and because of this, any legitimate provider may be automatically denounced as a snake oil salesman in public forums. (50 pages of Google Searches revealed a few comments along those lines for your sevices). The problem is that live results are hard to come by so no one can trust anybody. Metatrader definitely has ninja beat in the area of results publishing. Sites like Mt4stats show the good and the bad. No way around it. If someone blows an account, they have to create another account.
I already understand divergences quite well and enjoy them when they show up. What interests me the most is the computer program (your indicators) which helps the brain for trade management. And how you use a whopping 2 contracts to get the results that you do.
Yeah, AC, we've been through the Snake Oil Salesmen gauntlet a few times, too....just not by anyone who has ever been an actual student. You'll find a few of them in futures.io (formerly BMT). It's ok though...better traders be too skeptical than too gullible.
There are a number of ways that trading system hawkers can demonstrate the effectiveness of their wares. All but one can be faked.
First, they can make up some numbers and claim them as true. You see that all over the place...."Our traders are getting over 400% ROI using our amazing Madoff Made Easy trading system....." Gimme a break.
Then there's testimonials. Time was, people believed in testimonials. I think they sold a lot of Geratol and Liver pills that way.
Most traders got wise and thumbed their nose at testimonials and outrageous claims. But a few suckers still remain and keep them in business. So, the ONLY foolproof way that the snake oil people could be stopped is by making them show actual results, right? Think again....
It's actually quite easy to produce actual valid trading results where a trading system is shown to never lose. This can make you millions if you have no scruples. Here's how. Open, say, 16 trading accounts at various brokers. On 8 of them, take a long position in a market that trends a lot and on 8 go short in the same market. At some point, you will have made 400 to 600% on your original account on half of your trades and lost that much on the other 8 accounts. You'll need to be well capitalized so that your brokers don't close out your position on the losing 8 accounts but, don't worry, you won't lose anything but a few commissions.
Now you have 8 accounts that have performed really well and 8 that didn't. Close out the 8 stinkers. Of the 8 winners, go long on 4 accounts and short on the other 4. Stay in your positions until you have made another 400 to 600%...actually, you can set your own goal. Want to make 1000%, just stay in till you get there.
You will have 4 winning accounts and 4 losing for a net gain of zero dollars. Go long on 2 and short on 2.....then long on 1 and short on 1. The entire exercise seems pointless because you don't make any money...actually lose a little in commissions. But what you will have in your grubby little hand is a trading account that shows a humongous amount of profit and no losing trades. You'll have another one that probably did pretty well too with just one losing trade.
With those two pieces of paper you can now call yourself an honest to goodness Trading Guru. You'll make millions bilking traders who will think they found the Holy Grail. Traders will flock to your booth at the trade shows and they'll trip over themselves getting their wallets out to buy your Can't Lose Trading System. And, it absolutely can't lose because it comes complete with a notarized copy of your actual trading results!
Get my point, AC? Even actual trading results can be a scam. The ONLY thing that can't be faked is actual live market trading. No smoke, no mirrors and no pony. It either consistently wins or it doesn't.
But understand, anytime you witness consistently good trading results, don't believe for a second that it's the trading system that's doing it. It's always the trader behind the system. To do what he does you have to know what he knows.
thx for presenting an interesting theory of 16 acct.
since 99% of us here are not proprietors of anything, so it is a kind of difficult to fathom your wisdom in trading theories and practices and such, would you kindly for these traders benefit, exemplify in further details the theory of 16 acct, pls.
as a simple minded trader among numerous learned and more experienced traders here, i was just wondering if there is an over simplification in your postulation some here....?
to subdivide the 16 acct into two groups of 8, and each 8 represents long and the other 8 to represent short....; then from these two groups of 8, further subdivide them into 2 groups of 4, then 2 groups of 2.... so on and so forth....;
in terms of mathematics, your postulation appears entirely probable and agreeable,
but in terms of practicalities and realities in trading, it is conceivably difficult to reconcile the two into one practical and logical conclusion and summation, that....
in order to attain per your quote--But what you will have in your grubby little hand is a trading account that shows a humongous amount of profit and no losing trades. You'll have another one that probably did pretty well too with just one losing trade.
With those two pieces of paper you can now call yourself an honest to goodness Trading Guru. You'll make millions bilking traders who will think they found the Holy Grail....
and in order for anyone to attain such theoretical ultimate achievement.... the longs group would always have to be consistently profitable, or that the other shorts group would likewise always have to be consistently unprofitable.... or vice versa....; is such an attainable feat in practical terms and realities under present trading conditions, pls?
perhaps, you could help me understand the inconsistency and irreconcilability in my own little easily confused mind.... which i would be very appreciative indeed.
this is in no way a challenge to you or your trading ability or anything like that, ok? it is just that because of my own simple mindedness, i could not completely comprehend your entire theoretical framework, OK? thx rogerf for your generosity to us members of bm community.
Hi Roger, thanks again for taking the time to reply. Please don't misinterpret what I was saying. I was not calling you a snakeoil salesman. There are some forums out there that basically label every vendor a snake oil salesman.
1- In the 50 something pages of google, I found a forum where it appears as though a student was speaking well of you. After about 5 pages of people saying "anyone who charges is no good" basically, the moderator said it looked like a solicitaiton and closed the thread. I don't agree with that too much.. but anyhow.
2- In another forum, they said that you may achieve those results, but that may be you with 12 years of experience. A student probably won't be able to get those same sort of returns.
3- Someone also said that they studied with you at your former employer. When a trade didn't work out, they would say "ahh.. but it was something else..." There was always a special nuance of why the trade worked against them or only for the moderator and not for the students.
So really, my main concern is #2 and #3. Do you have any idea what the type of return, or performance of your students have? If not, why don't some of the students come here to give their experiences. If they are in fact doing well, staying quiet does nothing to help the person that helped them.
Just so you know, in my case, to get your returns I take about double the risk. That's why I'm asking you lots of questions about your course.
"But understand, anytime you witness consistently good trading results, don't believe for a second that it's the trading system that's doing it. It's always the trader behind the system. To do what he does you have to know what he knows.
Roger"
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" to know what he knows" is a tall order and but doesn't address the situation of talent.. Though this is often construed as negative, complaining etc and not positive thinking, the truth in the world I have seen is that everyone doesn't have talent for everything despite taking numerous instruction, observation, positive thinking..
Like, I can't understand how my spouse can screw up a PC so bad,, is she stupid, dumb?,, no just doesn't understand and has no PC talent (but they didn't ask her that before they sold her a PC!)..... Think u can write a sentence about ur own xxxxxxxxxxxx, can't u?
Other then the Dennis "turtles", I know of no other person who attempted to "qualify talent" before even bothering to train them.. Anyone been turned away from a trading room before they got ur money?
Its lots of fun thinking u can sink that 10' putt or hit that 250 yds drive consistantly but for 95% never happens (put in ur own wannado xxxxx)... Guess there just is not enough instruction and tips out there,, dumb us!
I'm waiting for the book..:"Winning UGLY at trading", since all that pretty stuff never worked for me.
I always think a market is too high, and short,, or think its too low and buy ... works "almost" everytime!
I doubt that many people are very talented at things they have no interest in. My wife couldn't care less about defragging the hard drive or running a virus check. She darn sure wouldn't make it as a PC nerd.
People can become proficient at things they are interested in...such as golf. But talent must come from passion. There's a big difference between interest and passion.
As a golfer, I just never could care much about knocking a little white ball into trees and lakes. But, if I had an interest, I'd probably get out there with some friends and practice. But would I ever make it to the big money tournaments? Nope. I could never get passionate about the sport.
Trading is basically the same except there's no physical coordination to develop. It's all mental. Trading profit is the hardest easy money you'll ever make. Not everyone is cut out to be a trader. Instead of physical strength or coordination, trading requires patience, focus, confidence and discipline (just to name a few) at extraordinary levels. Those aren't talents, they're human characteristics that take extreme effort to develop to the level needed to be a good trader. Most wannabe's just don't have the drive. They have just enough interest to get into trouble.
These characteristics can be developed but not if a person only has a passing interest in doing so. It takes passionate dedication. If a trader isn't passionate about trading, talent will never exist. An amazing level of talent can be achieved, but it never comes easy.
I would agree that trading is a skill. Some people can and some people can't.
Whilst there are probably characterisitics that help in trading, just as there are in shot-putting. We should not ignore the fact that trading itself is a skill and not just something you can do because of a collection of matching attributes.
It's very nice to have a checklist of attributes and see that you have all those and so will make a good trader. The thing is though 'good trader' should be an attribute too.
There are various trading crutches that people rely on in an attempt to become skilled at trading. These usually come in some form of handing over the process of making trading decisions to something or someone else. The internet is full of offers to relieve you of this burden.
Whilst you are looking for someone or something to tell you when to trade, you will be standing totally still in terms of your development as a trader.