Why some individuals are better traders than others?

Claire209

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I am a final year student at the University of Gloucestershire, investigating for my dissertation why it is that some individuals are more successful traders than others.
I would really appreciate if you could take a few minutes to answer these questions; the more in depth the better as this helps my analysis. All answers will be treated in confidence.

1) What does it take, fundamentally, to be a successful trader?
2) If it is the case that some people are simply unable to be successful traders, why is this?
(Please note that one is not necessarily the opposite of the other).
 
Claire do you wanna come to my office on a trading day for a few hours? serious offer :)

If you send me your facebook so I can check you're not a serial killer you can stay in my spare room...
 
:LOL:

Arabian just wants to make sure that there is just one serial killer at his place at any one time...

Anyway, read "Trading in the Zone" by Mark Douglas. In fact, just copy the content and there's your 1st.
 
I am a final year student at the University of Gloucestershire, investigating for my dissertation why it is that some individuals are more successful traders than others.
I would really appreciate if you could take a few minutes to answer these questions; the more in depth the better as this helps my analysis. All answers will be treated in confidence.

1) What does it take, fundamentally, to be a successful trader?
2) If it is the case that some people are simply unable to be successful traders, why is this?
(Please note that one is not necessarily the opposite of the other).

1) you need one of ODT's systems
2) you haven't got one of ODT's systems
 
Claire - I urge you not to take up Arabian's offer. I too came to this forum asking a simple question and was duped by his kind offer.

I arranged to meet him at his office - this office turned out to be a shabby backstreet upstairs in Soho just above a taxi rank. When I tried to ask him pertinent questions associated with trading, he could only utter that 'trying it myself' was the only way to experience matters and answer my questions. A drank some tea and then it all gets a bit hazy after that although I have a vague recollection of him asking me to hold something small.

He has never returned my calls and I learnt very little about trading. I still to this day feel violated and confused.
 
I wouldn't listen to him claire, I should imagine you are far more suited to me... unless you've given brith to quads or something...
 
I am a final year student at the University of Gloucestershire, investigating for my dissertation why it is that some individuals are more successful traders than others.
I would really appreciate if you could take a few minutes to answer these questions; the more in depth the better as this helps my analysis. All answers will be treated in confidence.

1) What does it take, fundamentally, to be a successful trader?
2) If it is the case that some people are simply unable to be successful traders, why is this?
(Please note that one is not necessarily the opposite of the other).

Hi Claire,

You could find some help for your dissertation in the books on the 'Turtle Trader's', which is based on an experiment carried out by Richard Dennis and William Eckhardt. If you look it up on the web you will find plenty of reading.

In brief and very, very simplistic terms, the answers to your questions are as follows; -
1) To become a successful trader you need a strategy that gives you an edge in the market. It may have a highish probability and or may prove to give you more in return than you risk, i.e. for each winning trade you may get 40 points whilst only risking 20 points.

When you have an strategy that gives you this edge you need the discipline to trade it to the rules. There is a huge psychological element to trading manually. This answers your second question as well.

2) We have seen examples where we have called a trade out to 10 people at the same time. They all got a different result. Why? Even with a known probability some people may not have the nerve to take the trade at the same time. Thus they wait until they see the set up in profit, others panic if the trade goes marginally against them and close the trade. The psychological variables are massive, hence why so many fail.

Hope that helps a bit.
 
Hi Claire,

You could find some help for your dissertation in the books on the 'Turtle Trader's', which is based on an experiment carried out by Richard Dennis and William Eckhardt. If you look it up on the web you will find plenty of reading.

In brief and very, very simplistic terms, the answers to your questions are as follows; -
1) To become a successful trader you need a strategy that gives you an edge in the market. It may have a highish probability and or may prove to give you more in return than you risk, i.e. for each winning trade you may get 40 points whilst only risking 20 points.

When you have an strategy that gives you this edge you need the discipline to trade it to the rules. There is a huge psychological element to trading manually. This answers your second question as well.

2) We have seen examples where we have called a trade out to 10 people at the same time. They all got a different result. Why? Even with a known probability some people may not have the nerve to take the trade at the same time. Thus they wait until they see the set up in profit, others panic if the trade goes marginally against them and close the trade. The psychological variables are massive, hence why so many fail.

Hope that helps a bit.

You missed out the education element. Retail traders have a plethora of information which Is mostly comprised of worthless facets from failed attempts.

The few that make it are the ones that manage to digest the good from the worthless which only comes with time.
 
Claire - I urge you not to take up Arabian's offer. I too came to this forum asking a simple question and was duped by his kind offer.

I arranged to meet him at his office - this office turned out to be a shabby backstreet upstairs in Soho just above a taxi rank. When I tried to ask him pertinent questions associated with trading, he could only utter that 'trying it myself' was the only way to experience matters and answer my questions. A drank some tea and then it all gets a bit hazy after that although I have a vague recollection of him asking me to hold something small.

He has never returned my calls and I learnt very little about trading. I still to this day feel violated and confused.

Robster,... Great comment, I nearly pissed my pants :LOL:
 
If you find answers anything nearly conclusive you'd get Noble Prize immediately. And tons of money from hedge funds for consultations.

In fact (I am not sure why Arabian got so excited) I think you are another logical US sand castle builder, gathering information for your future trading career using street smart DIY tricks. And you are most certainly male. Using girls name is the old honey trap :sneaky:

Prove me wrong. Call Arabian for a scientific interview and let him publish the details here. :smart:

with pictures :devilish:
 
1) To become a successful trader you need a strategy that gives you an edge in the market.
you missed the point. the question was not how to be a successful trader but what personal characteristics separate successful trader from a muppet. I.e. combination of physical, psychological, biological, genetical, mental, other (to be discovered by the future Noble laureate) parameters.

these should exclude external factors - upbringing, education, social pressure, brainwashing, consciousness expanding substances administration, yield curve of paddy bonds etc... :clover:
 
I am a final year student at the University of Gloucestershire, investigating for my dissertation why it is that some individuals are more successful traders than others.
I would really appreciate if you could take a few minutes to answer these questions; the more in depth the better as this helps my analysis. All answers will be treated in confidence.

1) What does it take, fundamentally, to be a successful trader?
2) If it is the case that some people are simply unable to be successful traders, why is this?
(Please note that one is not necessarily the opposite of the other).

I'll take a serious stab at this actually. Overall I'm not profitable, so bear that in mind when you read my reply.
I believe the ability to become a succesful trader rests on a triumvate of 3 things. All of equal importance.
1) personal responsibility.
2) self-awareness.
3) self-discipline.

As it relates to trading here is my theory.
If a "system" or method has a positive expectancy over time and someone looses money at it, it is the fault of the trader not the system. People in general can commit heinous crimes and blame everyone around them. There was even a famous experiment where people were told to push buttons and someone in an adjacent room screamed for mercy. the test subjects believed they were electrocuting the people in the adjacent room. A very high majority of the people tested continued pushing buttons. Even after the adjacent room fell silent. Simply because a person with a white lab coat and clipboard told them to continue.
In short most people choose to believe they dont have responsibility in actions they participate in.

Number 2 of the 3. Self-Awareness. Most people simply react to situations around them. They get angry in traffic jams, they yell at the dog when the dog poops in the house. They see a price bar move against them and make a rash descision. A succesfull trader needs to be aware of WHY they are taking the actions they take.

And 3, discipline. To reach any goal above the median line of the society you live in you need discipline. Im an American and Im overweight. Thats typical, it's average. In order to loose weight I should eat healthy and excersize. But I wax and wane. Because I lack discipline.That's also the "average".As it relates to trading, I recognize a setup that's almost always profitable. Its a retracement in a trend. Its one of the oldest setups known.
I stayed home from work to daytrade a few days ago, and I took 10 trades. 2 were profitable and 8 were not. Only 2 fit my criteria for a trade. the 2 winners. But I only recognized that in hindsight.

So to wrap things up, you need the ability to recognize profitable opportunities, the ability to act on them, the ability to self-correct any mistakes you make, the ability to accurately judge yourself, the ability to follow self-imposed rule and the ability to acknowledge what the self imposed rules need to be.

Look at it this way, have you ever had a night were you had homework and/or studying planned and something came up and you deviated from your original plans?
If you were a trader you would have lost money, plain and simple.

Having said all that, I am not yet able to follow my own rules, and im not sure why yet. So I will continue to learn and try.
Maybe stubborness should be added to my list :)
 
Here is my humble opinion.

What makes someone a great trader is probably the same thing that makes great runners, physicists, astronauts, soccer players, painters, sculpters...

Now - I couldn't fill Linford Christie's shoes (or shorts to be honest) and I'll never be able to but I could certainly train to be a better sprinter.

What makes a great trader ? Probably natural talent.
What makes a profitable trader ? Probably less natural talent and more perseverence.
What makes a terrible trader ? Again - probably inbuilt attributes that work against them.

Some people will be fantastic with little relative effort.
Some will be OK with a lot of work.
Some will be crap regardless of what they do.
 
A great trader gets the maximum out of the strategy he uses. Given a strategy with a positive mathematical expectation, there are three key attributes that make a great trader.
  1. Will
  2. Focus
  3. Discipline

To the extend any of these three are weak, greatness will elude the trader. Only the few excel in all three and achieve greatness.
 
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