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FAQ Nature Vs Nurture – are Good Traders Born or Made?

Having worked at half a dozen major trading houses over 25+ years I truly believe you are born a trader- at every house, when the milk round graduates were thrown into trading, very few made decent traders. And the one's that did, you could generally tell before hand. Obviously, ( like any job) an average worker( trader) can become better, by practise
 
Having worked at half a dozen major trading houses over 25+ years I truly believe you are born a trader- at every house, when the milk round graduates were thrown into trading, very few made decent traders. And the one's that did, you could generally tell before hand. Obviously, ( like any job) an average worker( trader) can become better, by practise

I agree.
Great traders...are born with it.

'Woke up this morning...One in a million...the Chosen one...' :cool:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW3LikcBL68
 
I think a good trader probably has the stuff in him to make his kids into even better traders.
Teach them the right paths from an early age. Much easier when taught than have to get it right oneself.

:smart:
 
I think a good trader probably has the stuff in him to make his kids into even better traders.
Teach them the right paths from an early age. Much easier when taught than have to get it right oneself.

:smart:

Sounds a bit far fetched to me. You can try to teach them, but they should be the ones to take the decision whether they want to develop in the industry.
 
I have seen both the great, the overated arrogant and the good people but losers.
The great and successful Speculators are born with a natural instinct.

But maybe they had a mentor somewhere what we don't know...
I am a firm believer of Hire passion, teach skill set.

Simon Jacques
 
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i think there has to be a combination of both natural and made
you have to start with a "gift" a "talent" for something, but then you have to reach a stage where you need that extra step.
you originally had the nature, and that never goes, but then that push comes from the nurture

take andy murray, he has a tennis coach, several in fact. but he could never had got where he is without the talent. a trader is the same, you need the gift and also the coach to really get to the top in my opinion

im sure its been said already
 
take andy murray, he has a tennis coach, several in fact. but he could never had got where he is without the talent. a trader is the same, you need the gift and also the coach to really get to the top in my opinion

I agree to a point, however if you start at anything young enough [with the right tuition] the skills become ingrained, almost natural instinct.

Andy Murray started playing tennis at 3, Lewis Hamilton got his first go-kart aged 6.

Put either on a tennis court/racetrack for the first time aged 18 then I'm pretty certain their "natural ability" would not be able to get either into the upper echelons of competition.

If any parent is a half-decent trader and started teaching their offspring I'm sure the same skills would apply/transfer/etc... although I suspect the parent would be frowned upon for doing this! :whistling
 
all those believing in nature just accept it as destiny.the rest battle on and improve with nurture.
 
I think that you can lead a trader to water and even get him/her to drink a little ........... but the real difference is the confidence to keep trading when losses build (as they can do sometimes) ..............even the smallest chinks in Armour will affect the execution of even the most perfect trading systems

so its holding the nerve and executing 100% that's the key for me............and very few can hold their head up and say that they do 24/7.........

like most things really
N
 
I agree to a point, however if you start at anything young enough [with the right tuition] the skills become ingrained, almost natural instinct.

Andy Murray started playing tennis at 3, Lewis Hamilton got his first go-kart aged 6.

Put either on a tennis court/racetrack for the first time aged 18 then I'm pretty certain their "natural ability" would not be able to get either into the upper echelons of competition.

If any parent is a half-decent trader and started teaching their offspring I'm sure the same skills would apply/transfer/etc... although I suspect the parent would be frowned upon for doing this! :whistling

I was born into a bookmaker family and my father and grandfather were also professional gamblers

at 11 I was pretty well tutored in most aspects of Bookmaking , Gambling and horseracing .............at 14 I was making good money from the horses on my own accounts.................at 17 I finally took such a beating it hurt ...thought I was invinciple and lost most of my accumulated winnings on some big bets that had some major insider information...........hmmmmmm.......

anyway then had to step back in the late 70's to get my qualifications ......and then joined shell on the oil trading floors

I'm sure the lessons learned in my early years do still resonate in my trading approach these days ........but in truth I cant really remember that much ........and watching charts go up and down will never replicate the excitement of watching thousands of pounds on the back of the favourite running around a race track :smart:

I think that's the point - trading should not be exciting - its a job and should be boring .......if its boring and you are profitable then that's great !

N
 
so if you have fallen out of your mother swinging a golf club/driving an F1 car at 200mph/holding an iphone/spouting be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.........then its definitely nature.
 
Traders are made, not born.
Proof is, let a person with no training to trade and he or she will likely loss money.
 
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