Take it from the person who won the United States Trading
Championship with profits of more than 440% in 1984 – there are five things that
every successful trader needs to know how to do:
-
Have a method to trade.
-
Have the discipline to follow your method.
-
Get real trading experience, instead of
only trading on paper.
-
Have the mental fortitude to accept the
fact that losses are part of the game.
-
Have the mental fortitude to accept huge
gains.
Bonus tip: Find a
mentor.
That trader who won the
championship in a record-breaking fashion is
Robert Prechter,
the founder and president of Elliott Wave International. Once you think you've
mastered his 5 tips for how to trade successfully, then the best thing to do is
to find a mentor. In this excerpt from the book,
Prechter's Perspective, Bob Prechter discusses how sitting at the elbow of
a professional trader can make all the difference in learning the trade of
trading.
Free 47-page eBook: How to Spot Trading Opportunities
Elliott Wave International has
released part one of their hugely popular How to Spot Trading Opportunities
eBook for free. The eBook sells as a two-part set for $129. You can now download
part 1 for free.
Learn more here.
(The following Q&A is excerpted
from Prechter's Perspective, revised 2004.)
Question: Has any
specific trading experience decreased your trading success?
Bob Prechter: Yes.
My first trade in 1973 was wildly successful, and I was hardly wrong in my first
six years at it. Then I had a big trading loss in 1979, and that taught me more
than the wins. The best way to develop an optimal state of mind for trading is
to fail a few times first and understand why it happened. When you start, you're
better off speculating with small amounts of real money. Using larger amounts of
money will bankrupt you early, which, while an excellent lesson, is rather
painful. If you want to be a trader, it is good to start young. Then when you
lose your first two bundles, you can gain some wisdom and rebound.
Q.: It sounds painful.
Is there any way at least to reduce the hard knocks?
Bob Prechter:
There is one shortcut to obtaining experience, and that is to find a mentor.
Q.: Did you have a mentor?
Bob Prechter: In
1979, I sat with a professional trader for about a year. The most important
thing he taught me was to keep trades small relative to your capital. It reduces
the emotional factor.
Q.: How would one
select a mentor?
Bob Prechter: The
best way to select one is to find a person who is doing exactly what you would
like to do for a living, then get to know him well enough to ask if he will
tutor you or at least let you watch while he works. Locate someone who has
proved himself over the years to be a successful trader or investor, and go
visit him. Listen to him. Sit down with him, if possible, for six months. Watch
what he does. More important, watch what he doesn't do. Finding a guy who knows
what he is doing is the best lesson you could ever have. You will undoubtedly
find that he is very friendly as well, since his runaway ego of yesteryear,
which undoubtedly got him involved in the markets in the first place, has long
since been humbled, matured by the experience of trading. He will usually
welcome the opportunity to tell you what he knows.
Free 47-page eBook: How to Spot Trading Opportunities
Elliott Wave International has released part one of their hugely popular How to
Spot Trading Opportunities eBook for free. The eBook sells as a two-part set for
$129. You can now download part 1 for free.
Learn more here.
