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Do you need a mentor in order to be successful at trading?
I am speaking in generalities. I know that anything is possible, but in general, does a trader need someone to mentor them in order for that trader to have a real chance at being successful?
Bearing in mind that answers to this can be varied, if I were to answer this, say for someone I wanted to see successful, like a friend or a family member then I would say yes. Absolutely essential.
The devil is in the details, the little things that a mentor would never put on paper like when to be extra cautious, when to realize that you have a huge opportunity and when to bet the bank.
It's almost guaranteed that the nuances that a mentor has picked up over the years while looking endlessly at price action and patterns that something or the other is left out inadvertently that a trainee will almost never get from picking up a book or trying out for himself until its too late.
Having said that, the best teacher is live experience itself when you see things unfolding for yourself, but if you can see an experienced person do it live in front of you, one automatically picks up clues on intangible things. Like a child learning from his parents or a observing a mechanic at work when his listens to an engine running.
I am absolutely convinced that developing the skill of "listening" to the market comes in only one way, and that is doing it live yourself. The 2nd best way is to sit next to a mentor and see him do it.
Observe, record and repeat. Observe record, repeat. And so on. The caveat in all this is that this is discretionary skill development, if one is talking mechanistic trading or systems development (which I have no interest in) then anyone can do it as long as one pays enough attention to statistics and RR.
I think so as well. I do think you can succeed without one but will still need resources like this forum as well as books from Mark Douglas, Brent Steenbarger, etc.
Beyond that though, looking back at my journey, I think I would have benefited greatly from an experienced mentor to show me early what works and what doesnt. But it would need to be someone I trusted on a personal level, otherwise I think I would be tempted to ignore what they were saying.
Free would be nice as well. To many "experts" charging fees for nothing more than indicators. Bad mojo.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Couldn't have said it better!
This is kind of what I meant, you can learn a lot by watching and mimicking a master, but you will only ever become a master if you have the experience and skill to draw your own conclusions. I strongly believe that my own thoughts come much more natural and fluent than "thinking with someone elses brain".
Mike, What do you think? Did you have a mentor?
I am not successful yet so I don't know... But I have never been able to find one. I don't know anyone who I am absolutely sure is successful. An even if they are, they probably trade in a very different style and I would have to either relearn or get very aggravated and it would ultimately be a setback.
That said, I think good mentors are out there. It would have to be someone who doesn't show you how to trade but can look at your trading and make comments on what you should be thinking and looking for. But that is aggravating too because most of us just want someone to tell us when and how to trade...
Once I am successful I would like to develop some sort of coaching style to be able to help people, but it would be probably just family, friends, people close by. It would be hard over the internet...
The reality is, I would think, most of us never will have the opportunity to work with a mentor... Hopefully we are not 100% destined to fail...
You can get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot by yourself, sitting alone in a room.
Dr. Seuss
I have plenty to say on the subject, but have started this topic to gather insight into others opinions. I will put it all together and have much to say during my upcoming webinar.
So for now I will remain silent in this thread, just an observer.
I also think a mentor is not required, it would be very helpful though if you had one providing you KNOW that he is a good trader and makes money. I think you almost have to know someone who is a trader ahead of time.
With all the crooks and frauds and lunatics out there that greatly outnumber the legit guys your odds of finding a good mentor are so small that your better off alone if you don't already know someone. You just have to do a lot of homework and study and spend time conversing with fellow traders at futures.io (formerly BMT)...
No, a mentor is not needed to be successful (consecutive + monthly/yearly returns) at trading.
There is nothing magical about trading that hasn't been already exposed.
A mentor is merely a guide that may shorten the learning curve.
You have to find it within yourself to be successful at this game.
There's lots and lots of traders that sign up for mentorship programs that
are still unable to turn consistent profits.
There are also lots of extremely intelligent programmers that are still
unable to turn consistent profits.
Then there are the 23-29 year old skateboarder types
that figure out a way to get their slice.