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5 Minutes of Daily Conditioning

Deciding to be a profitable financial trader is the first step in becoming one. Trite you say? Not really. Missing this one step or doing it out of order xplains why 90% of brokerage accounts go to zero within the first year, many doing so in the first 4 months!

In addition to arbitrarily deciding to be a profitable financial trader, a more powerful and lasting way is to use psychological conditioning on yourself so that you CONSISTENTLY decide that you are a profitable trader Here’s my interpretation of the method for doing this that I learned from the famous success guru I alluded to in my comments two blogs back.

First, write out the sentence below on a piece of paper.

“FROM THIS MOMENT FORWARD, I AM A PROFITABLE TRADER”.

Second, consider the pain you have experienced before because you have not consistently thought of yourself as a profitable trader. Imagine experiencing that again in the present and future. Do this for 30 seconds. Notice how you feel as you do that. (more…)

Typical Traids of Top Traders

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First, let me say that I know of examples of successful trader’s that don’t have each of the characteristics that I would say the “typical” good trader shares. So there are exceptions to each of these. (more…)

Typical Traits Of Top Traders

Temperament – In general, people with more analytical and even tempered personalities make better traders.

There is a counterbalancing trait which is the willingness to take risks. Some traders with volatile temperaments are successful because they can take risks easily and can keep trading after getting knocked down. They also tend to blow up more often.

Character – Humility is a very important ingredient in trading success. The truth does not care what you think of yourself. The markets don’t care what you want to believe reality is. Trader’s that are humble are better able to examine their methods and trading objectively and make changes where appropriate.

I’ve known a lot of successful traders that most people might consider arrogant but when it comes down to their own success and the reasons for that success they were able to see the faults in themselves and their trading. The trader’s that were out of touch with reality tended to blow up and have short-lived success.

Intelligence – General intelligence is correlated with success but not as highly as you might think. The ability to discern patterns and relationships with limited information is very useful.

I’d say that you need to be relatively smart to be successful but not extremely smart. Smart enough to understand the principles but beyond that it doesn’t necessarily help you. I’ve seen many very smart people tie themselves up in knots by second-guessing themselves.

Social Skills – Most of the really successful traders are not very socially skilled. Many tend to be reclusive and introverted. There are some exceptions. (more…)

Anirudh Sethi's Lessons From 2008 : Part – I

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Last week …Many Traders had asked me :Dear Anirudh Sethi… “What would you say is the most important thing you’ve learned about investing and/or trading in 2008?”
Here are some of the replies ….I had given (more…)