At my old firm we had hundreds of traders. One trait I noticed all the successful traders I've known was they all were EXTREMELY competitive. Didn't matter what the competition was...poker, golf, trading, etc. ...just another game. I invited a trader to come play golf at a local public course on a Sunday (just to hang out for the day). He lived more than 100 miles away. When I walked into the pro shop with him Sunday morning, the guy behind the desk said "back again today?" to my friend. Found out later, he came up Friday night, stayed in a local hotel, and played 54 holes on Saturday before we went out on Sunday. During slow summer months we often had putting contests down the aisles of our trading floor. I used to practice putting 2 hours a night in our family room just to get ready for work. (I wasn't the only one). One year our company decided it was going to do a wellness campaign for the summer. Checkups (weight, blood pressure, chol. levels, etc.) at the beginning and end of summer. A desk created a pool for many categories to see who could go in the worst direction by end of summer. Things like total weight gain, gain as a % of initial weight, blood pressure increase, etc. We had guys having the trading assistants running out and getting all kinds of junk food during the day so they could win the contest. Guys used to come in with 5 lb. bags of chocolate covered nuts to munch on during the day. We used to also have paper airplane distance contests. One guy built a launcher with a board, some nails, and rubber bands. All had to be standardized before the contest to ensure every plane got the same sling shot. In the end, most guys that lost would blame it on their position of shooting the plane. High position (rubber bands not loosed up ...too stiff), low position (rubber bands too loose ...worn out). The markets don't let people rationalize (gains and losses are material...not perceptual). I think that's one reason why only extremely competitive people remained for more than a year. Even today, I need to use models as a straw hat to trade against. I worked hard to build good models. When I see them trading in realtime I use it as a competition to see if I can stomp on the results of the model as the day goes on. I need the competition to keep me motivated.
I have a fascination with trading. For example, the daily stock charts of the 1929 crash, Gold in 1980, the Japan crash of 1990 and the Nasdaq crash of 2000 all have very similar chart patterns. Very similar. A near vertical, parabolic rise, an initial sharp decline/crash, a rebound, then a decline through the previous low. To me it's fascinating how completely different market participants in different eras have responded in a similar fashion to bubble type markets. When something is a passion or fascination for you, you spend more time on it, make more new distinctions and ultimately reap better rewards than someone only halfway interested in the subject. New distinctions about bubbles that I've made deal with standard deviation above the norm, moving in gaps, and other gauges of emotional intensity. Then I've taken those distinctions and applied them to smaller, mini bubbles that you see so commonly in any market and I trade from those distinctions. If I was never fascinated with it in the first place, I'd still be using cookie cutter, garden variety methodologies and be at best, only slightly profitable. I don't know if I'd call it a passion, but definately a keen interest.
Passion is just a passport it is not enough. Furthermore I saw many people who declares to be passionated for trading but seeing their mentality I guess that they much confuse their passion with ... cupidity . I will say that most important is commitment and since commitment requires some work having a passion transforms the work into pleasure so that it is not work any more. Commitment implies willing to follow the path of knowledge in details (since many just content with principles), practice the knowledge with failure pending and correcting until one reach the state of master. Of course it will be more or less hard because of chance. You can enter trading in a favorable period and benefits from it so it would be easier whereas if you entered a bad period you would suffer a more difficult path. Passion is not the only passport. For example I didn't have passion for trading, it was by chance that I entered futures market because of a crook who conducted me to invest in US/Deutchmark. Nevertheless I promised myself a few years before that I will study market's crash so I just take this circumstance as a pretext to satisfy a curiosity at the beginning. I have posted this in another thread: when passion turns into obssession well it's dangerous ! Diary of a Day Trader http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/06/06/1054700388544.html
I don't have a passion for trading...but I do have a passion for freedom and self reliance. And success in trading let's me experience both.