Identifying the trend and the use of entry signals is something you can learn for the price of books and seminars particularly in conjunction with using a "training mode" on your software. Most of us can feel comfortable with this part. It is simple learning. A trade plan is (strategy) also necessary for CONSISTENT profits. My troubles have come from not bothering to develop trade management strategies. Without a plan, once in the trade the emotions often have taken over. These were the small losses. A trade plan does need to include a money management plan. Overtrading... This is where I have lost the big money. Who could have helped me sooner than I have helped myself? Only someone to whom I provided the nitty gritty of how I went about things. Someone who would have the information to educate me about how the losing trades could possibly have been more limited in draw down or possibly even successful. If I don't trust myself as a trader, why would I trust a "mentor" ? I would want a mentor to know my plan, the basis for my plan, a couple of options within the plan, and my money management guidelines. But, if I go through the work of doing all this preparation, why would I pay the mentor? Only to be an outside force keeping me cool in the heat of battle, focused on the plan, etc. Handholding. There is a place for that, but it is not through high commissions to a broker, or $25 to a guru. That should be a reasonalbe hourly or daily rate, I think.
Scientist, You sound like you were very fortunate to have a great mentor. I would like to ask, where (how) did you ever meet him?? thnks.
somehow I imagine as he walked along the beach then he come upon a man keep looking at the ocean and making dense notes in his note book, this aroused his curiosity a great deal so he asked what that man was doing, came the reply 'counting waves, my son, I am counting waves' thus it was a beginning of a beautiful mentorship.
Hi zman7854, "Fortunate" is a word people really seem to love to use. It's one of those things hyped into people's heads by lotteries and casinoes. If you believe in luck, fortune, or anything like that, go and work at McDonalds. If you want to even have a chance as a trader or any kind of business person, mind that luck is a four letter work and flush it down the toilet. You need to realize that nothing comes from "luck". You must put diligence in - on all ends! Same with mentorship. You need to be "duly diligent". You can't find a mentor unless you do a good deal of research and "networking". That is, get a small selection of real traders and make them your friends. As you get integrated, you will get into new circles and make new acquaintances. You can find some very good traders even on ET, just listen carefully when they talk / post. A main matter of distinguishing them is that they are generally "contrarian" to what most people say / post and they're most prominently "bashed", "flamed", "polled", etc, I find this particularly symptomatic for ET. Examples of clearly excellent "locals" would be NihabaAshi, Cutten, AMT4SWA, Ken_DTU, Aaron, Don Bright etc. to name just a few. Listen to them, and do some networking. Be a PR person, build good relations, do lots of exchange. As you do exchange and find people you really like and agree with, do more exchange of ideas, get them to know, appreciate you and trust you, do exchanges of trading logs to mutually work on problems etc. If you have any kind of social skills and go through this process properly, the rest should almost happen by itself. By now you'll have trading logs (showing you how who the best traders are and how they trade), what style you agree with / like the most, and what expectations to have. Next, you pick the trader you deem the most suitable and approach him/her about it. If the "mentor" likes you and knows you have potential and a good base to start from (i.e. not so much work to do, like trying to train a complete beginner), your chances are good that he/she might say "yes", and mentor you. From what I feel, a mentor needn't be charging you anything... A trader who's good enough to qualify for your mentorship should be making enough money to make any "disbursement" from your side seem rather ridiculous. Trust me - there are some seriously good traders out there. The art lies in finding them and getting them to teach you. Unless they see "potential" in you or any other reason to pass on their skills (such as opportunity to improve their own skills as well because they see you're smart, i.e. "Docendo Discimus"), they probably won't do it. So work hard, be smart, be inquisitive, and you may get there. Hint: Females make better traders / mentors than males! Hope that helps you in your quest to find a mentor! Warmest Regards, Scientist.
Read the thread Velocity Trader Dax Journal. I have been a pro trader for 2 years, but I have learned a lot.
I'm not a big believer in trading mentors because you have to have a mentor that shares your philosophy and trading personality. This may be difficult to find. For example, one of the posts on this thread suggested Dynamic Traders. I know some traders who really think this is good stuff. I also know a lot of traders who think Farley's book on Swing Trading is great. I can't read that stuff!!! It's way too "technical" for me. So this just goes to that point that you need to figure out what works for you. One suggestion may be to get a subscription to TCNet software so you can observe other traders in action and see some of their methods. But once you get comfortable, I think it's best to trade on your own. Figure out what works best for you.
you might try trading from main street .com there are emini traders there. they used to give a free trial period.
Actually anyone can learn a lot from losers....just don't do what they do. The real issue for most people is they need a mentor for their emotions, not their intellect. Once a trading systems is understood and practice of that system begins the problem is usually in the emotional obstacles to proper execution of the system. An executioner will do better with a poor system than one who cannot execute does with the best system. Mentoring execution and mentoring the emotions that prevent execution is a very difficult task. No one can take the fear and greed away from anyone else, that is an inside job. Many mentors understood the process, but could simply not overcome their own fear and greed, so while they can teach the process, they can never teach overcoming fear and greed which they themselves have not conquered. They can explain what needs to be done to get the job done, but they can't transmit what it takes to get the job done. There are mentors who are also successful traders who offer to help others, but it is not really about the money that they make mentoring, it is about sharing who they are with others. The best mentors will always be free of charge, in the same way that the best lovers don't charge you for sex. You may learn techniques of sex from a prostitute, but you will never learn about love from a hooker.
those are who you want. They are hard to find. Why would you want to train someone for free when you are busy trading profitably on a consistent basis? Why would anybody take their precious time to devote to someone looking for a handout? If you expect to find someone to make you a profitable trader via handholding, teaching, encouraging, etc.etc.etc. without being compensated........your nuts! If you expect a mentor to be the BEST of the BEST buy $25k is too much for you to pay or even a $75.00 round turn commission on emini SP 500 trades then you are fooling yourself. Nobody does anything for FREE. NOBODY! Exception: (1) T-REX and his T-REX Journal (now closed). I went back and read his journal and I'm amazed at his spectacular trading performance and I regret that I missed out on his FREE offer. However this is not the norm. Most guys are not free. Canibus has a fantastic journal. I don't think he has had a losing week since he began. These guys are nuts! I'd never do what they did. Why should I. I'll admit I'm not even as good as they are but you get the point.