Like many of you, I'm trying to learn to trade on my own. Resources I have access to include books, online chat/discussion forums, online subscription services, etc. I've been looking into classes and mentoring services. However, at an average of $3,000 for 2 to 5 five days of learning, these services don't come cheap. I would like to organize a study group of 5 traders that are serious about becoming successful traders. All levels of experience are welcome, but the following minimum requirements would need to be met: 1. A direct-access broker with level II 2. At least $10,000 in your trading account 3. Willing to spend $50 to $100 per month for services we would need to subscribe to for our group 4. You must have a trading method you are either already using or are putting together that is daytrading oriented but allows overnight holds in some situations 5. You must be available for at least 20 hours during trading hours M-F for online group participation. 6. You must have a high-speed Internet connection (DSL or better) This is how I envision our group would function: 1. Each member would submit to the group a complete breakdown of their trading system including entry setups and trading vehicle selection, exit strategies, and money management method. 2. We will select one trader to act as our "educator" for the week. 3. For that week we will utilize email, this discussion forum, and a web-conferencing service to share information and actually view the "educator's" trading live. 4. Each group member will submit a critique of every trade completed by the educator based on the educator's stated methodology. We will create a form to be used for trade evaluation. 5. At the end of the week, each member will submit a review with recommendations. Elements of the review will include whether the educator stuck to the entry setups, exit strategies, and money management principles outlined in the educator's trading method as well as an overall evaluation of the educator's method. 6. The following weeks we will repeat this process until all members have had a turn at being the educator. We will then decide whether to disband the group, repeat the process, start separate groups, etc. Please only respond if you would like to join or have constructive suggestions for how to improve the idea. Please also give a brief overview of your trading experience. Myself: I've been trading on and off for about two years. I started with tips from friends, then went to technical analysis, and finally ended with studying daytrading and swing trading. So far, my education has cost me about $30,000 in bad trades, books, magazines, services, and software. My most recent influences include Van Tharpe, Tony Oz, Dr. Elder, and Barry Rudd. I meet all the requirements mentioned above. I look forward to your replies.
You might be on to something but may I suggest that you require the educators to show their track record. Then have them submit trades for a few weeks. This seems like a tough standard but do you really want to be led by people who only think they know how to trade. Perhaps you could use that 50 to 100 dollars to form sort of a buyers club. The club would then accept offers of training from anyone willing to show track records and prove effectiveness real time. Then a few leaders of the group would choose the educator of the month. This might actually be the answer to Don's real time test. P.S. I reread your post and I see what you are getting at, so perhaps you do not need the above suggestion.
2 problems. It really sounds like the blind leading the blind.... The only way you'll all learn anything is if you can flag down someone very successful to mentor you. Otherwise, you'll just be sharing bad ideas and you won't learn nearly as fast off each other. Much more difficult then is to convince that one person to evaluate those trades. If he's successful, I doubt you have enough money as a collective group to interest him. Either he's gotta be altruistic, or just really bored with life. I know of very few successful people who have the time to help others whom they don't know (they're too busy making money for themselves). Or they dont' want to share great ideas. Good strategies only work if they're kept quiet. This sure does seem like a great idea, but I just don't see it working too well. If you have some recent trades of yours that you'd like a critique on (email me at hkuppy@aol.com), I have all day monday with nothing to do, but I can't get into anything long term with a group.
Thank you jem and praetorian2 for your replies. The blind leading the blind: I think most successful traders would agree that the keys to success are money management, method, and discipline. It is my contention that most traders fail because they usually don't have any kind of money management and certainly don't have the discipline to stick to their methods, especially when trading alone from home. One of man's strongest needs is for approval from one's peers. If we can build a small group of traders who provide support and positive feedback for maintaining discipline, then we are less likely to stray. This will eliminate the self-blame spiral that traders fall into and will allow for a more objective evaluation of the trading system and money management routines followed. Find a successful trader to lead the group: If Tony Oz wants to lead the group, great! Otherwise, I believe we can all recognize when discipline is being chucked out the window and method disregarded (by someone else!). In other words, the "educator" or group leader will not really be the teacher, but the group providing feedback. Form a buying club: This is a great idea but I don't believe it negates the original study group concept.
Why don't you write a trading diary and publish it here you will learn a lot. It will also force you to be more careful of how you trade. My personal experience is that if you ask for mentoring from someone and if you are persistant, and if that person feels you can be influnced most people will agree to mentor you free.
easyguru, thank you for your suggestion. In fact, I've made several false starts at maintaining a journal, but have managed to document my last three weeks of trading without fail. I agree that a trading journal is a fantastic and essential way to improve one's trading and it will be one of the key ingredients in our trading group.