The 38 steps to becoming a successful trader: Steps to Successful Commodities Futures Trading as published in Commodity Futures Trading Club News 1. We accumulate trading information - buying books, going to seminars and researching. 2. We begin to trade with our 'new' knowledge. 3. We consistently 'donate' and then realize we may need more knowledge or information. 4. We accumulate more information. 5. We switch the commodities we are currently following. 6. We go back into the market and trade with our 'updated' knowledge. 7. We get 'beat up' again and begin to lose some of our confidence. Fear starts setting in. 8. We start to listen to 'outside news' & other traders. 9. We go back into the market and continue to donate. 10. We switch commodities again. 11. We search for more trading information. 12. We go back into the market and continue to donate. 13. We get 'overconfident' & market humbles us. 14. We start to understand that trading successfully is going to take more time and more knowledge then we anticipated. Many Traders Will Give up at this Point as they Realize Work is Involved. 15. We get serious and start concentrating on learning a 'real' methodology. 16. We trade our methodology with some success, but realize that something is missing. 17. We begin to understand the need for having rules to apply our methodology. 18. We take a sabbatical from trading to develop and research our trading rules. 19. We start trading again, this time with rules and find some success, but overall we still hesitate when it comes time to execute. 20. We add, subtract and modify rules as we see a need to be more proficient with our rules. 21. We go back into the market and continue to donate. 22. We start to take responsibility for our trading results as we understand that our success is in us, not the trade methodology. 23. We continue to trade and become more proficient with our methodology and our rules. 24. As we trade we still have a tendency to violate our rules and our results are erratic. 25. We know we are close. 26. We go back and research our rules. 27. We build the confidence in our rules and go back into the market and trade. 28. Our trading results are getting better, but we are still hesitating in executing our rules. 29. We now see the importance of following our rules as we see the results of our trades when we don't follow them. 30. We begin to see that our lack of success is within us (a lack of discipline in following the rules because of some kind of fear) and we begin to work on knowing ourselves better. 31. We continue to trade and the market teaches us more and more about ourselves. 32. We master our methodology and trading rules. 33. We begin to consistently make money. 34. We get a little overconfident and the market humbles us. 35. We continue to learn our lessons. 36. We stop thinking and allow our rules to trade for us (trading becomes boring, but successful) and our trading account continues to grow as we increase our contract size. 37. We are making more money then we ever dreamed to be possible. 38. We go on with our lives and accomplish many of the goals we had always dreamed of.
Hoping for some interesting answers... Maybe even a better understanding of what's involved... i) Which step are you at? ii) How long / how much effort did it take you to get there? iii) Did you encounter any additional steps or pitfalls? iv) If your path was professional/institutional, how did the steps differ? v) Do you believe you will get to the last step? (If at the last step, did trading profoundly enhance your life?)
39. Method goes Kaput due to market conditions 40. Go back to step 1 and waste another 5 years, pay your bills while surviving on nachos and hope the bank doesn't foreclose on you.
39 would be the individual traders fault. Also, every independent trader I know lives well below there means so even 3 or 4 good years should create enough savings to live off of for at least 10 to 15 years with no problem. Last but not least, nachos are not what someone eats on a budget. A question for you now...... U mad bro?
39 would be the individual traders fault. Also, every independent trader I know lives well below there means so even 3 or 4 good years should create enough savings to live off of for at least 10 to 15 years with no problem. Last but not least, nachos are not what someone eats on a budget. A question for you now...... U mad bro?
You think someone who posts what he posted is really going to be interested in trying to develop a robust methodology that works across multiple markets, time frames, and market environments? Seems to me like he has already decided that trading is impossible and unbeatable. This attitude rarely leads to success.
Hee hee...next we'll hear how robust methodologies that work as you describe are like unicorn sightings.