If there is a question that I am consistently asked when individuals inquire about my trading program it is "How long till I am making big bucks?" Conversely, if there is a question that is more impossible to answer it would be the same question. We are all different in the way we assimilate learning, and learning to trade e-mini's is no different.
Okay, how long do most people take to become competent and consistent traders? It's an easier question; I have had traders tearing it up at two months and others that don't really catch on until about a year of experience. My general observation is the traders who have fortitude to get off the simulator the fastest generally have the fastest success.
Why would that be?
You don't learn from your mistakes on a simulator, it's not real. However, when a mistake costs you $100 you tend not to make that mistake again. I suppose lessons in trading are learned by trial of fire. Mistakes lead to the discipline necessary to not over trade, or trade against the trend, or a host of other trading mistakes. Oddly enough, I have found that I can talk until I am blue in the face about some of the most basic trading issues and until a trader makes that mistake my words have not sunk in. After one of those mistakes, they will often say, "oh, I see what you mean." Which says to me they listened to what I said and read what I wrote in the large training manual we distribute, but until they actually taste that bitter flavor of a basic mistake that costs them money, they aren't buying into what I am saying. I hear this from many of my colleagues, too. It is frustrating.
That being said, there is a group of individuals who will never be traders. This is the toughest group to work with in training. Trading has little to do with how brilliant you may be; plenty of individuals of average intelligence are great traders. No, trading is a way of thinking. The thinking part is much more difficult to learn than the set-ups, how to set stops, all the basics. Usually when I hear a trader cussing and berating himself for a bad trade my antennae go up. I know I have a problem that may not be fixable. There have been volumes written about emotional control so I'll spare you the dynamics of that variable. With that being said, it is my opinion that the traders who will inevitably fail are the most emotional, least disciplined traders.
In summary, I have tried to give an honest assessment of how long it takes to learn to trade. For some, they get it very quickly and others have to struggle a while before they are consistent and profitable. Finally, there is a group of traders who will not make it, usually for emotional/psychological reasons, but there can be other contributing factors, too.
Okay, how long do most people take to become competent and consistent traders? It's an easier question; I have had traders tearing it up at two months and others that don't really catch on until about a year of experience. My general observation is the traders who have fortitude to get off the simulator the fastest generally have the fastest success.
Why would that be?
You don't learn from your mistakes on a simulator, it's not real. However, when a mistake costs you $100 you tend not to make that mistake again. I suppose lessons in trading are learned by trial of fire. Mistakes lead to the discipline necessary to not over trade, or trade against the trend, or a host of other trading mistakes. Oddly enough, I have found that I can talk until I am blue in the face about some of the most basic trading issues and until a trader makes that mistake my words have not sunk in. After one of those mistakes, they will often say, "oh, I see what you mean." Which says to me they listened to what I said and read what I wrote in the large training manual we distribute, but until they actually taste that bitter flavor of a basic mistake that costs them money, they aren't buying into what I am saying. I hear this from many of my colleagues, too. It is frustrating.
That being said, there is a group of individuals who will never be traders. This is the toughest group to work with in training. Trading has little to do with how brilliant you may be; plenty of individuals of average intelligence are great traders. No, trading is a way of thinking. The thinking part is much more difficult to learn than the set-ups, how to set stops, all the basics. Usually when I hear a trader cussing and berating himself for a bad trade my antennae go up. I know I have a problem that may not be fixable. There have been volumes written about emotional control so I'll spare you the dynamics of that variable. With that being said, it is my opinion that the traders who will inevitably fail are the most emotional, least disciplined traders.
In summary, I have tried to give an honest assessment of how long it takes to learn to trade. For some, they get it very quickly and others have to struggle a while before they are consistent and profitable. Finally, there is a group of traders who will not make it, usually for emotional/psychological reasons, but there can be other contributing factors, too.
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