Successful traders can make a fortune in the market but make no mistake, trading is hard – or so the statistics will tell you!
No doubt you’ve heard about how 90% of traders will fail and quit. Sure, a good portion of those failures probably never even mastered the basics, but still, 90% is a big chunk.
You’ve also probably heard it said that it takes 10,000 hours of practice at something before you become legitimately “professional” – whether that’s becoming a blues guitarist or a computer programmer or… a day trader. When you put those two stats together, it seems like quite a feat to reach 10,000 hours as a day trader and not fall victim to the supposed 90% failure rate in the process.
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But regardless of these chilling stats, we KNOW how possible it is to succeed as a day trader. After all, Limitless Volume members have trade success rates upwards of 95%. And as of the date of this article, Limitless Volume founder / lead trader / mentor Daryl Morse boasts 234 consecutively profitable trading weeks (and counting).
Why are some traders successful while hundreds of others struggle and fail?
“Everyone who succeeds has had a mentor or mentors.”
This quote from famed 20th century chairman and CEO of the pioneering retail giant Jewel Companies (now Jewel-Osco) sums it all up: you need a mentor, especially in such a challenging and rewarding field as trading! The stakes are simply too high to “go it alone”.
So, what exactly makes mentoring so vital to your success as a day trader? Whether you’re new at trading or an experienced trader, you’ll want to know the 5 key reasons which we break down below. But first, what is a mentor?
Key Qualities of a Day Trading Mentor
The formal definition of a mentor is “an experienced and trusted adviser.”
The word “mentor” actually comes from Homer’s epic classic, The Odyssey. Mentor was the name of the trusted, wise friend of Odysseus (King of Ithaca, the story’s main character).
It’s important to note that a mentor differs from a coach or teacher. While a mentor may have some qualities of a coach or teacher, the underlying objective of a mentor is different.
In a nutshell, a coach is primarily focused on identifying your strengths and building on them (often in the context of team development). A teacher is concerned with educating you on concepts, techniques and processes (rather than how you put them into actual practice). On the other hand, a mentor is both an objective third party and an advocate for your growth and development. Rather than focusing on enhancing your strengths, a mentor lends their experience to help you uncover areas where you can improve, actively encouraging you to overcome your challenges. And rather than simply teaching you, a mentor guides you to put what you’ve learned into practice, to set achievable goals, and to discover more about yourself in the process.
1. Cut The Learning Curve
Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.
-Benjamin Franklin
No doubt, there is a learning curve with trading. Sure, it’s not too difficult to learn the tools of the trade. With a little practice, anyone can learn which buttons to press to execute a trade. In some ways, learning to drive a car is more complicated when you consider all the interactions going on around you that you learn to track almost instinctively. And talk about high stakes… make one wrong move on the road and you could lose a lot more than your savings account!
But where the learning curve really comes into play with trading is not so much in the mechanics but in mastering your reaction to events as they unfold. An experienced mentor will have seen these events many times before, and can offer you practical, time-tested ways to deal with them without having to “reinvent the wheel” through the excruciating (and expensive) process of trial and error!
Going further, trading is full of psychological pitfalls that are much easier to avoid with a mentor’s guidance and feedback. In short, a mentor’s experience and knowledge help you accelerate your progress while avoiding the growing pains.
2. Encouragement
Let’s be honest… not every trade will be a winning trade. You will make mistakes. You may question why you got into trading in the first place.
That’s your fear talking.
Fear is a protective mechanism. It’s engineered to protect you from failure, but NOT to push you toward success.
That’s where a mentor’s encouragement is vital to helping you overcome fear and reset your confidence to a healthy level. A mentor has your personal and professional development as their primary goal.
And as for making mistakes in trading, that’s unavoidable. What is avoidable is repeating the same mistakes, but it’s not always easy to see that for yourself.
Why? Because you have an emotional stake in your actions — and in the outcome. A mentor is objective when observing your actions and doesn’t have that emotional stake in them that you have. This allows the mentor to help you objectively recognize when you’re stuck in a repetitive pattern and that alone is half the battle to overcome it.
3. Focus on What Works
In trading, every successful mentor has a “system” that they’ve shaped over years of trading which they share with you. That’s an incredibly valuable thing!
Consider the vast array of techniques, indicators, and strategies in trading. You could literally spend half a lifetime learning it all, then find yourself too overwhelmed with options to ever put it to use.
A trading mentor’s system is a distilled, refined version of that sea of knowledge. An experienced mentor has spent a considerable amount of time finding a strong combination of techniques, indicators and strategies to make money. They will save you an enormous amount of time by focusing on those things rather than teaching you everything there is to know about the thousands of technical indicators available to you.
4. Goals and Accountability
One of the most important aspects of trading is your Trading Plan – and sticking to it!
A solid plan is built on a solid system. Having shown you their own successful system, a mentor will then help you incorporate it into a trading plan that works for you.
But having a trading plan is just the first step. You need to follow it, track it, and tweak it. If you’re deviating from your plan, a mentor will call it out. If you’re too rigid with your plan and it’s not working, a mentor will help you soften your approach and rework it. These things are really difficult to do on your own as you’re still growing! If you want to take your day trading rocket ship to the stars, you need an experienced navigator.
5. Good For Your Health
Yes, having a mentor is actually good for your mental health!
A 2008 study published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found evidence that mentoring has a wide range of positive outcomes. Not only does it have the effect on motivation and increasing desirable behavior (job performance) but also provides for “emotional and other forms of health-related support.”
Given how trading can be a rather stressful activity at times, the study points out the value of having a mentor specifically as it relates to helping you adjust to stress and other mental-health factors that have a proven impact on whether you succeed or fail: “A mentor may listen and offer advice during times of stress or provide counseling on personal or job-related issues. Mentors can also enhance overall well-being by challenging protégés’ negative self-views which may enhance protégé self-confidence or self-esteem.”
Not All Day Trading Mentors Are Created Equal
There are lots of trading “gurus” out there. Many talk a good game and are more than happy to take your money and sell you the latest “shiny object” indicator. But…
- Are they highly successful, active traders (not just teachers)?
- Are they 100% transparent with their trading and do they enable you to trade alongside them in real-time?
- Do they not only show you how to get into a trade, but also how to get out of it?
- Do you get one-on-one time with them?
- Do they personally guide you to set-up your own rock-solid trading plan built on a proven successful system?
- Do they offer you the support of a whole community of successful traders they’ve trained?
At Limitless Volume, you get this and much more.
Sign up for a free 7-day trial to see for yourself how Daryl Morse — a world-class trading mentor — can guide you to success.
