I started actively trading in mid to late 2009, and am entirely self taught. I largely have folks from the interwebs to thank for this, as the font of this knowledge. The main problem of course, is that while the internet does certainly contain resources where one can learn and genuinely improve as a trader, the majority of content is self-hype, lies and outright scams. I was, and still am, looking for ways to improve my trading system, as well as learn from the systems and knowledge of others, which required sifting through the sewer that is the internet in hopes of finding gems. What follows is what I have learned from this process to date.

1) Stock pickers are not for me.

I have great respect for people who can look at a company, the balance sheet and the business and place a dollar figure on where the price of the shares should be. It is lucrative for those that do it well, and inside The PPT there are veterans who do it on a daily basis who one could follow/learn from (notables include the commander and chief, the devil (or at least a devil), and an phenom who speaks at least three languages and don’t wait in the line at the club).
The problem is that, by in large, I cannot replicate the results. The success of the system is based on knowledge and expertise that I am trying to build, but do not have. This makes this form of trading risky for me, as I am following someone else (at which point I would rather just have my money managed) and not fully understanding the trade or the reason for it. For me, that causes extra stress, frustration, and in the past loses. It also makes it impossible to evaluate if the quality of the trade, or to evaluate when the nature of the trade or stock has changed.

2. Find those who have styles/systems/mentalities that you can understand and can be successfully incorporated into your system.

The mentality of trading is extremely difficult. When money is on the line, it was difficult for me to avoid becoming emotional as a new trader. Wins were accompanied by highs, losses by lows. This hurt my performance, my health and my trading system. It became important to find people to learn from, who had seen the emotional roller coaster and had ways to deal with it.
I do not choose these people based on their ability to earn incredible returns, but rather because their temperament is one that I would like to replicate in my own trading. The two people who stand out most for me are the people who put together the 12631 trading service Chess and the Cajun. Not only did they put together and maintain a trade room, which is a fantastic resource for self-education but they also put out content daily that is educational. By observing Rajin’ Cajuns trades I have found numerous new intraday setups I am confident trading in my system. ChessNwine has been invaluable in outlining the mentality with which a successful swing trader approaches the market with.

3. A system does not require any particular person.

I did not truly learn this until I stopped lurking in the free section of this website and jump behind the pay wall. The Fly throws out incredible calls and picks all the time (your FTK, WNR, the legendary DECK earnings call last July) but if he were to leave tomorrow and leave the servers on, The PPT would still continue to make great market timing calls and fit into my trading system the same way. I do not mean to imply that I do not benefit from watching veterans use The PPT, but the success of the system does not depend on them.

I hope this was helpful, feel free to add your own experiences in the comments.

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