The Turtles experiment from decades back is proof that trading can be taught and learned. Having a mentor can massively speed that process up, like a senior trader on the desk who takes the junior under his wings. Learning the process how to develop an idea, put the trade on, manage the position and risk in very structured way. As self-starter with no such exposure, it is ways harder, not impossible but ways harder. It's also harder to spot the b/s and there is plenty of the old bull out there.
I think everything can be learned by oneself with enough time and dedication. A proper mentor can just shed off some of the time and "learning costs".
Doing alone back in the 80/early 90s I believe was fricking hard, but now 10 times harder IMHO. Now there are so many many youtubes, thousands of printed matter on the web, hundreds of trainers, thousands? of indicators for charts and fundamentals, in other words TOO MUCH CHOICE. We live in a microwave world of wanting it now, but you have to trade against automation and very experienced fellow traders who spent dozen years plus of either having different degrees of mentors or working alone. A mentor can show direction, but they can also hinder you as well as he trying to teach you his direction which might not be good for your personality. The bottom line, regardless of having a mentor or not, you still going at it alone when you trade. And when you think you good enough, sim trade 19 of 20 days profitable three times in a row then skip this and lose money. And it is harder to trade now than before, your discipline has to be better cause of electronics, too easy to get in and out quicker.
mr handle123, you're probably right. sifting through the information, yep, i see your point. for my 2cents, i'll take information overload, learn to deal with that, a project in itself, and keep my eyes on my fries. seems like the more one treats it like a business, with a cogent business plan, the more likely one can find out if they are suited to trading or not with less success than, say, a mcdonald's in a prime location, but the barriers to entry for that mcdonalds aint no cakewalk. plus, with the mcdonalds, you get employees. oy vey. all in all, for me, today's level of difficulty is fine. At least the market moves, no? lol cheers
i would strongly disagree with this if you have not found value in his first book then you have not read it properly. i too did not read it properly and when i started rereading it again after 7-8 years it was like a revelation. it is possible that i did not appreciate it because i had no trading expereince trading 5 min. i have in many posts here, said not to read his books but i have to say that it was my foolishness laziness or haste . if you read each chapter 5-6 times you will understand the markets like you have never before. after that it all comes down to trade management because once you know what is happening.....
just becase something is taught does not mean people will follow it:it is never easy. we are taught to healthy have exercise but how many do it.....95% fail in following good advice and that is why 95% fail in trading or in being successful at anything taught 1% learning 99% there are some things that cannot be taught but have to be mostly learnt
It's nice to read to get ideas. But you got to trust yourself to discover your strengths and weaknesses. I am an ET poster that actually trades. This is the only way to apply the trials with fire to your reality. Es