In body building, there are a few simple initial tests to determine your ability to succeed. You can take measurements to see where your muscles connect and whether you have long muscle bellies or not. Lacking the proper genetics, you can save yourself a whole bunch of time trying to be a professional body builder - since you'll never get there.
In trading, unfortunately, we can not just take a tape measure, make you flex and measure the connecting points of your muscles to your joints. In trading, you can either find out on your own or you can hire a professional to tell you.
Is there a simple test to evaulate my trading?
Yes, there is. It's the profitability test. Are you making money or not? Are you making more money than you would have if you had simply put your money in an S&P index fund? If you're not, then you have two choices.
The first choice is real simple. Take all the money in your trading account, put it in a mutual fund, and go off and enjoy your life. Because you're bound to make a mistake that will cost you more money than you can afford to lose.
The second choice is, if you really love to trade and think this is for you, to seek professional help.
I'm not talking about sitting down with a shrink. And I'm not talking about buying the latest trading book from the latest guru. I'm talking about sitting down with another trader and having them analyze everything about you and your trading style to see what you're doing wrong and figuring out what you need to do to fix it.
Don't get me wrong, trading books are good to read. I've got hundreds. Even if you're not a day trader, it's good to know what day traders are looking for. It's important to understand wave theory. It's essential to know what Japanese candlesticks are and even more importantly; what candlesticks are not. It's knowledge that will improve the entry and exit timing of your trades.
Knowledge is what differentiates traders.
Each of us has a specific knowledge. Each of us has our own unique trading signature. You could give two traders the exact same material to learn from and the exact same timing of taking the input. But at the end of the day, because of the inherent individuality of all of us as human beings, you'll still end up with two unique traders.
Like finger prints, no two traders are alike.
That's precisely why you need to sit down with a professional and have your trades analyzed to determine what you're doing right, what you're doing wrong and what you need to learn to become a better trader.
What would a professional look at?
The key for a professional is to baseline the student; to spend as much initial time as necessary determining where this trader is on the trading knowledge and experience spectrum.
This is done with a series of initial questionnaires. Some questions are preliminary to test understanding of basic concepts. For example, some traders - especially the new ones - don't understand the difference between trading and investing and more importantly don't consider separating these two concepts by using separate trading and investing accounts.
Do you know what investing is and isn't?
There are some trading styles that certain people might think cross over into investing - but they need to get it straight - trading and investing are entirely separate concepts. Investing is the belief in a company's ability to perform and or believing in their product and then buying shares in that company and holding until those two premises are no longer valid. Or building a portfolio of a certain diversification across stocks and bonds, market cap, industry ETFs, etc. will allow you to achieve your goals. That's investing.
How does trading compare to investing?
Trading is much easier. It's buying at a specific price level, with a specific price target in mind with a plan that allows you to get out if you're wrong so that you'll live to trade again. Any more than that and you're not trading. Any less, then you're throwing your money away.
Do you want to learn how to trade in the comfort of your own home?
Whether via email, face to face, phone, or in our offices, we accommodate you.
Do you need to learn how to find stocks to trade?
Do you want individualized focused attention?
Learn at your own speed. Have your trades analyzed by a pro. Expand your trading knowledge. Find out what you're doing wrong.
We don't focus on one methodology - so you're not tied into learning 'our method'.
Many traders pay $500 for a 1-day seminar to sit in a hotel conference room with a large crowd just to get homogenized advice specifically designed for a large audience. This works out to about $70/hour. Unfortunately, these seminars are set up as marketing gimmicks to either 1) get you to subscribe to their service or 2) get you to buy their product.
How much would you pay for individual attention?
Our Trade Tutor service is fairly priced for unparalleled individual attention. It's one on one. If you're not local, we do it over the internet combining phone and computer to deliver one on one advice.
Click here to sign up now.
Only a limited number of traders will get this opportunity in 2007.
Scheduling preference will be given to those who register first.
Contact us after you've signed up to schedule your first session.
Regards,
Jay DeVincentis
