In your experience, what qualities should traders look for when choosing a mentor to ensure a productive and beneficial mentorship relationship?
There are those who can teach but have not succeeded in trading due to the inability to do what is necessary as an active trader (patience, focus, discipline, courage). But how would you qualify someone with no track record of profitability? Then there are those who are happy to collect a fee for teaching but are not qualified to do so...again, how would you know? Most successful traders would not be interested in a fully committed mentoring arrangement as 1. They don't need the money and 2. It takes a major commitment of time and effort with no guarantee that the student will do what is necessary to succeed regardless of the quality of the teaching. That said, there is no lack of quality technical and behavioral content available to get you started, followed by hours and hours of simply watching price form on a chart. Put what you see with content you have learned from other sources and test ideas. No two people will trade alike as no two people are just alike. We have all had our influences and have received ideas but you have to make this stuff your own.
You need a mentor that has very similar trading style to yours, otherwise it’s a waste of time. I have been around quite a few mentors, and the best ones will be transparent and call live trades as they develop and provide guidance on trade management all real time. (They almost never show the size of their trades, and that’s fine, you don’t need to know that) Avoid those who explain to you what they would have done after the fact, anyone can do that. As a general rule of thumb, people who are good at public speaking and communicating are often very good at bullshitting and marketing, and they can sound very “knowledgeable”, confident and convincing. Be aware of smooth talkers. Trading style, and transparency is the key. Decades of experience is not necessary, but transparency is as it will reveal the mentor’s competency.
%% Some body like WO'N [IBD founder] or Dave Ramsey , ''heart of a teacher '', with Financial Peace local group. Even if you dont get a lot out of it, Bill gates free notes , those may help a bit.....May not help as much as the other 3 i've noted . Millionaire Mind book helps, by Dr Stanley. Not many stock traders in there, but plenty of good patterns. Like Dave Ramsey noted ''readers are leaders''
Perhaps a trading partner would be better. Someone with the same style, temperament and willingness to do the work. A good trader is someone who is trading actively, while constantly improving, and is past the emotional distractions phase.
1. He/she/it knows how to trade, preferably proven irt. 2. He/she/it is willing to share his/her/its profitable trading methods with you. 3. Repeat 1 & 2 above.
a verified track record that you can independently test yourself to ensure it holds up. I think the skill set of critical thinking is on you and your ability to ask the right questions and properly vet if he or she actually can do what they claims. I think understanding how to think and how to research properly is by far the most important.
Nobody is going to go to those lengths/costs to prove to someone they are legit. Net liq is all that your going to get and ofc that can come from anywhere.
You can GOOGLE How to tell whether the trading coach is a snake oil seller You can also SEARCH in ET forum eg Index trading course where can I find a good one? If you have a good friend or relative who are successful trader, then try to ask them to be a mentor. You wouldn't find a successful trader who wants to be your mentor. A successful trader (who is already earning $$$$$$$ from trading) wouldn't want to be paid to be a mentor and be subjected to mental torture/torment from the student. Would you want an unsuccessful trader to be your mentor? Many people think this is a good idea. They think it is an opportunity for traders to share idea, help each other. And they think more heads are better than one.
You're right. A good trader/mentor won’t put up for too long with a tonne of interrogating questions from wannabe traders. It’s just the newbies who think that trader/mentor needs to go out of their way to constantly prove themselves. A bit more advanced traders can usually tell whether or not the strategy being taught is legit, and then they do their own due diligence themselves. The newbies often develop contempt for advanced real money printing strategies simply because it is beyond their level of comprehension. Unfortunately, these days people are lazy and believe that the world owes them a living and have unrealistic expectations of genuine mentors.