Being a licensed specialist in psychology (a bit above the typical "coach" actually ) I can say that certain coaching techniques are definitely effective, but they won't turn a losing strategy into profitable one.
No, for sure. Coaching is abt correcting trading errors (which mostly come from the psychological side imo), as opposed to mentoring which is more abt correcting or even giving a winning trading method, as commented above.
Actually coaching is more about reminding you to follow your plan. Without a thoroughly-tested and consistently-profitable plan to work with and from, the term "trading error" is meaningless. You can, of course, become your own coach, a desirable effort. However, to do so requires a state of emotionlessness which few amateur traders can achieve (largely because they've convinced themselves that it isn't possible).
Frankly after 10 years of trading and communicating with traders about many deep issues I would say 99% of "psychological" problems in trading are just absence of any significant edge. Maybe, maybe there is 1% of professionals who's systems are good, but who simply burn-out or have similar issues and need help to get back on track. But probabilities are if you think you need help it means you don't have a profitable method in the first place.
After 20 years of it, I agree. In all this time, I have yet to encounter any trader with "psychological problems" who also has a thoroughly-tested and consistently-profitable trading plan.
My win rate and profit ratio say otherwise.. But I have noticed, for example, I have issues after great winning streaks (like most traders I guess...). This is psychological and hard to monitor/correct on one's (my?) own.. For example, after I reach +100% returns over a period of time <1year (with minimum drawdowns per trade), I noticed I go on tilt. Why 100%? Am I unique? Certainly not regarding to performance after big winning streaks (maybe regarding the 100% mark). Has a coach been faced with many such cases? Yes. Will he know better than I what to do and let me avoid giving back a large part of those gains? Probably. Van Tharp charges 20k$ per consultation... (not in my price range yet...) But I doubt he could charge that if he did nt add any value, even considering he has a lot of HF clients with money to burn... I have already said to myself to stop trading after such streaks, but finally I don t do it... Maybe it will be like with other many adjustments in trading, after I get hit hard a couple of times, I will change my behavior. Would not mind to pay for a shortcut in this case tho...
If one has a robust trading plan but lacks the discipline to follow it, then perhaps he for some reason seeks failure. This isn't a matter of coaching but of therapy, and that is outside the purview of an internet message board.
U sound pretty sure of yourself dbphoenix.. am not sure why?... The sentence above abt "seeking failure" has been heard time and time again everywhere... Yet, is it truly true?.. or could it really be something else?... Re coaching & therapy, what is the difference for you? In layterms therapy sounds more pathological.. On some level, I guess one could say both work on your weaknesses... I was hoping the thread could stay on track with the thread original title (see above), but always more difficult than it seems... (not looking for coaching on the thread, but advice ON coaching... "This isn't a matter of coaching but of therapy, and that is outside the purview of an internet message board.")
Of course it could be something else. That's why I used the word "perhaps". But this isn't the place to go into all of that. As for the difference between coaching and therapy, as I said, it is the job of the coach to get the trader to trade his plan. If the trader doesn't have one, the coach can help him put one together. But coaches are not therapists. But if all of this is off-topic, I'll make this my last post on the subject.