Why do traders succeed?

[theasxgorilla]

Does gift or talent or discretion or subjectivity or creativity (art) play a part?

 

[tech/a]

They dont do these things. https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5579

 

[theasxgorilla]

They dont do these things. https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5579

Boom, boom! Agreed.

I should elaborate. Is trading like playing cricket for Australia? If we all do the right things from the "Why do traders fail" thread, does it guarantee us a spot in the side? Or is there something else that exists in successful traders that is harder to put your finger on?

I have a mixed opinion you see. I agree with Elders, who says that trading is not like being a prodigious mathematician ie. if you're not one by your mid-to-late 20's you're not likely to become one, ever. Instead he suggests that trading is perhaps a bit more like a golf handicap. Something you can work at and refine well into your 30's, 40's, 50's and beyond.

At the same time, I know of traders who are young freaks. If you asked them to write down their trading plan so it was mechanical and you, I or anyone else can follow it, they probably couldn't do it.

Seemingly their experience has given them a feeling that they get when the trade is right that they can't even put their finger on. Is this the "art" of trading that some people talk about?

And then, on the other hand we have Ed Seykota. Elusive as he is it would seem from what I have read that he is the grand-daddy of computerised, mechanical systems trading. His testament (among many others, some of whom are on this board) would suggest that mechanical, systems trading works and can be extremely lucrative. But what might Peter Lynch or Warren Buffett or Richard Farleigh say about this approach?

 

[happytrader]

Hi all

They have come to the realisation that cheating doesn't work.

Cheers
Happytrader