Ten Characteristics I See Among Successful Traders

There's no one formula for trading success, but there are a few common denominators that I've tracked in my years of working with traders:

1) The amount of time spent on their trading outside of trading hours (preparation, reading, etc.);

2) Dedicated periods to reviewing trading performance and making adjustments to shifting market conditions;

3) The ability to stop trading when not trading well to institute reviews and when conviction is lacking;

4) The ability to become more aggressive and risk taking when trading well and with conviction;

5) A keen awareness of risk management in the sizing of positions and in daily, weekly, and monthly loss limits, as well as loss limits per position;

6) Ongoing ability to learn new skills, markets, and strategies;

7) Distinctive ways of viewing and following markets that leverage their skills;

8) Persistence and emotional resilience: the ability to keep going in the face of setback;

9) Competitiveness: a relentless drive for self-improvement;

10) Balance: sources of well-being outside of trading that help sustain energy and focus.

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However, in Van Tharp’s latest book “Super Trader,” he provides 10 common characteristics frequently found among the best of the best among the hundreds of traders he’s worked with throughout his career. Like me, I think you may find it of interest!

1.They all have a tested, positive expectancy system that’s proved to make money for the market type for which it was designed.

2. They all have systems that fit them and their beliefs. They understand that they make money with their systems because their systems fit them.

3. They totally understand the concepts they are trading and how those concepts generate low-risk ideas.

4.They all understand that when they get into a trade, they must have some idea of when they are wrong and will bail out.

5.They all evaluate the ratio of reward to risk in each trade they take. For mechanical traders, this is part of their system. For discretionary traders, this is part of their evaluation before they take the trade.

6. They all have a business plan to guide their trading. You must treat your trading like any other business.

7. They all use position sizing. They have clear objectives written out, something that most traders/investors do not have. They also understand that position sizing is the key to meeting those objectives and have worked out a position sizing algorithm to meet those objectives.

8.They all understand that performance is a function of personal psychology and spend a lot of time working on themselves. You must become an efficient rather than inefficient decision maker.

9.They take total responsibility for the results they get. They don’t blame someone else or something else. They don’t justify their results. They don’t feel guilty or ashamed about their results. They simply assume that they created them and that they can create better results by eliminating mistakes.

10.They understand that not following their system and business plan rules is a mistake.