Image Source: Pexels
 

Reducing and eliminating trading mistakes is necessary for success but not sufficient.  Having worked at many successful trading firms, I've been able to see success up close and personal.  In these posts, I hope to share what I've learned.

The first element in success is curiosity.  The really great traders spend a good amount of time screening for opportunity:  across the universe of stocks and stock markets, across a variety of strategies and systems, across a range of asset classes.  They explore what is happening in the world--and what is happening in markets--and actively looking for what is likely to move next.  I spoke with a portfolio manager recently who described scouring the interest rate curves of various sovereign markets to see what might be mispriced within and across markets.  This process requires digesting news across the world, an understanding of central bank policies, and a continual updating of economic and geopolitical developments.  No one can sustain that kind of curiosity without unusual open-mindedness and a passion for puzzle-solving.

Day traders in the stock market may not be scanning for those global drivers of markets, but will be equally detailed in tracking the prices where volume expands and contracts; the ways in which stocks are moving together or in rotational patterns; and the patterns of shares that are most active and volatile.  In my books, I've shared how successful traders I worked with spent all day following and trading the market--and then spent further time replaying the day and examining what happened, how it happened, what they missed, and how they could improve their execution and trade selection.  Day after day.  That is more than motivation.  It is a passion for learning and an undying curiosity.  It's what drives world-class athletes to spend hour after hour watching game videos...Their motivation is not just to win, but to live life as a winner.  

More By This Author:

Finding Trading Opportunity
How We Develop: As People, As Traders
The Power Of Perspective