My First Mentor

[GlassOnion 12]

My first mentor's name was Mike. He was a young guy who traded currencies for Tudor's fund in NYC. According to him, he was the youngest ever full-time trader for PTJ. I met him online, very unexpected, but it required me taking advantage of something I had seen and understanding the implications of it. To wit, he had posted a 3-sentence post on MoneyTec saying he wanted to mentor 2-3 people.

 

I contacted him and he sent me a questionnaire that initially I found off-putting. It was detailed and designed to see what I knew about markets and basic financial math. He also wanted me to take a Myers-Briggs test. Fortunately, I had taken one about 6 months earlier when my wife and I were in marriage counseling (yes, 8 years later we’re still married).

 

About a week later, I figured what the hell, I’ll answer it. I sent it to him, along with Myers-Briggs results and he contacted me a couple of days later.

 

After talking to him a couple of times about ourselves and what he wanted to do, I told him I needed to verify his bona fides. He said he'd be very disappointed in me if I didn't. He then told me to call the fund’s office in Greenwich and ask for Mr. X. This was a man who he had worked with and was still trading for PTJ. Two days later I got the number from the net and called the office at their lunchtime. I got reception and asked for Mr. X. He answered the phone and I told him that Mike had given me his name. I explained what was going on with us and that I needed to verify his story. We talked for 15 minutes and this man seemed genuinely interested in talking to me and didn’t rush me off the phone.

 

He verified everything that Mike had told me, about working in the NYC office, being the youngest trader, pushing a $50 million account, and consistently making his targets for 5 years. And then abruptly leaving.

 

Unfortunately, things didn’t go so well for him. He said he walked away from PTJ with about $12 million. But he was like the stereotype of what I think, and I’m sure others, is the typical Wall Street trader. . .young, brash, brilliant, well-educated, over-confident and arrogant to a degree. Coming into so much money so quickly and at such a young age, many like him don’t know what to do with it, so they blow a lot of it. Women, drugs and booze is a familiar refrain simply because they’re the best things to spend lots of money on for many folks. He told me the story of how after one particularly stupefied day and night, he received a call from his broker to inform him he had lost over $1 million dollars on a trade on either the Hang Seng or the Nikkei. He still has no recollection of putting on the trade, but he lost that money. He’s a cautionary tale, to be sure.

 

Mike was, and still is, one of the smartest and sharpest people I’ve ever known. He’s an astute reader of people. He had me pegged in no time and he consistently amazed me by being able to determine what I was thinking and going to do at any given time. Given my background, I’ve met lots of smart people, but he’s one of best.

 

As I’ve said before, it has taken me some time to fully understand what he tried to teach me. I remember waiting for the hammer to drop, for the “Big Secret or Technique” that would explain trading. But he told me in the very beginning that he could not make me into a successful trader, but only show me how I could make myself into one. Of course, the hammer never dropped, because there is no “Big Secret”. But there is a way to go about becoming a successful trader. It’s there for everyone to see if they want to, and I’ve seen some guys here on these forums do so. It’s called desire, consistency, self-knowledge and a fucking huge work ethic. That’s the Big Secret.

 

I’ve worked with 6-7 people over the years trying to teach them. Only 1 of them showed what was needed.

 

Anyway, enough of this. I’m sure some will understand what I’ve tried to get across, others won’t, some will later on, and some will scoff. None of it matters to me, really, as not a single person on these forums has any impact on my life or my trading. And that’s a big part of the Big Secret.

[steve46 12]

My first (and last) Mental Health Professional

 

I had just gotten my first institutional job....I had an excellent record managing a private fund, years before I had graduated a top tier school with an excellent record. Clearly I am a "type A" personality...driven, detail oriented and (when not winning)...a short tempered SOB....when winning I was a walk in the park....patient and helpful to one and all...

 

At the beginning of my second year, everyone in the office attended a seminar by Dr. Ari Kiev....afterward I discovered that it was "mandatory" that we all become his "clients" for a minimum of 3 months....at our own expense....lol. I grumbled, and threatened to leave....I was told that "the choice was mine"....translation... "don't let the door hit your ass on the way out"....

 

The experience was an eye opener to be sure....I saw the good Doctor every other day for 1 hour....he watched me trade every day for 15 minutes and he had access to my trading records as needed....after the first month my P&L turned down as I encountered some problems with my trade selection process...with his help that was corrected in about a week...We had one more conversation, the content of which I am not willing to share in detail, but suffice to say it was NOT about trading but about life in general and the importance of time (the limitations we all face, our mortality, our families, etc)....the short version, of this story is that from that point forward, whenever I have felt that I was "losing ground" I simply remember some of the comments that kind gentleman offered me about the importance of living life and being aware of the only really precious commodity we have...our time on this earth...

 

Since that time I have worked with a handful of folks (about 8 in total) and I have tried to offer the same kind of counsel to each....some have found it useful, some not so much....realistically thats how life is, some win, some lose, and in the end it is not which side of the equation you encounter but how you choose to handle it....

 

Best of luck to all.

Edited October 24, 2012 by steve46

[Vince50 10]

My first mentor's name was Mike. He was a young guy who traded currencies for Tudor's fund in NYC. According to him, he was the youngest ever full-time trader for PTJ. I met him online, very unexpected, but it required me taking advantage of something I had seen and understanding the implications of it. To wit, he had posted a 3-sentence post on MoneyTec saying he wanted to mentor 2-3 people.

 

I contacted him and he sent me a questionnaire that initially I found off-putting. It was detailed and designed to see what I knew about markets and basic financial math. He also wanted me to take a Myers-Briggs test. Fortunately, I had taken one about 6 months earlier when my wife and I were in marriage counseling (yes, 8 years later we’re still married).

 

About a week later, I figured what the hell, I’ll answer it. I sent it to him, along with Myers-Briggs results and he contacted me a couple of days later.

 

After talking to him a couple of times about ourselves and what he wanted to do, I told him I needed to verify his bona fides. He said he'd be very disappointed in me if I didn't. He then told me to call the fund’s office in Greenwich and ask for Mr. X. This was a man who he had worked with and was still trading for PTJ. Two days later I got the number from the net and called the office at their lunchtime. I got reception and asked for Mr. X. He answered the phone and I told him that Mike had given me his name. I explained what was going on with us and that I needed to verify his story. We talked for 15 minutes and this man seemed genuinely interested in talking to me and didn’t rush me off the phone.

 

He verified everything that Mike had told me, about working in the NYC office, being the youngest trader, pushing a $50 million account, and consistently making his targets for 5 years. And then abruptly leaving.

 

Unfortunately, things didn’t go so well for him. He said he walked away from PTJ with about $12 million. But he was like the stereotype of what I think, and I’m sure others, is the typical Wall Street trader. . .young, brash, brilliant, well-educated, over-confident and arrogant to a degree. Coming into so much money so quickly and at such a young age, many like him don’t know what to do with it, so they blow a lot of it. Women, drugs and booze is a familiar refrain simply because they’re the best things to spend lots of money on for many folks. He told me the story of how after one particularly stupefied day and night, he received a call from his broker to inform him he had lost over $1 million dollars on a trade on either the Hang Seng or the Nikkei. He still has no recollection of putting on the trade, but he lost that money. He’s a cautionary tale, to be sure.

 

Mike was, and still is, one of the smartest and sharpest people I’ve ever known. He’s an astute reader of people. He had me pegged in no time and he consistently amazed me by being able to determine what I was thinking and going to do at any given time. Given my background, I’ve met lots of smart people, but he’s one of best.

 

As I’ve said before, it has taken me some time to fully understand what he tried to teach me. I remember waiting for the hammer to drop, for the “Big Secret or Technique” that would explain trading. But he told me in the very beginning that he could not make me into a successful trader, but only show me how I could make myself into one. Of course, the hammer never dropped, because there is no “Big Secret”. But there is a way to go about becoming a successful trader. It’s there for everyone to see if they want to, and I’ve seen some guys here on these forums do so. It’s called desire, consistency, self-knowledge and a fucking huge work ethic. That’s the Big Secret.

 

I’ve worked with 6-7 people over the years trying to teach them. Only 1 of them showed what was needed.

 

Anyway, enough of this. I’m sure some will understand what I’ve tried to get across, others won’t, some will later on, and some will scoff. None of it matters to me, really, as not a single person on these forums has any impact on my life or my trading. And that’s a big part of the Big Secret.

 

Glass, Your story is indeed interesting, but like a plot in a good movie that just has a blase ending and everyone goes "huh" I must say I felt this way about your story. Something is missing.

 

First of all, Ive been investing,swing trading and day trading for years. If having a willo of steel, a never give up attitude and huge thirst and dseire to succeed was truly enough, than all the guys we really (and foolishly) think are gurus who write books...wouldnt be writing books! Guys like Bulkowski and Van tharp and Douglas and on and on and on. These are brilliant people with a lifetime of work in their books. I dont believe 1/3 of them are profitable and not 10% ablle to trade at a professional level. Money folows least amount of time. If any person could make more money trading than writing they would surely trade. We all know this and we keep buying the books, listren to the same old story about: 1-having a stop loss 2-dont be over leveraged 3-stick to your plan 4-wake up early and review your day 5-not to many things cluttering up your chart,etc. And suddenly you find after years that aside from chart patterns, moving averages and cutting your losses and letting your winners run, what does anyone writing a book have to offer you? A very,very few have that something special, but still, is it enough to make you a pro?

So I am saying that I dont believe all of us can be a pro who want it bad enopugh. Heaven knows I never would have

gotten into trading if I knew so many years would pass before I got the knowledge I have. Some people physically cant do it. Some people have thew wrong nervous system yet the right brain. Some peole just are unlucky and after back testing a system for 6-12 months start using real money right at the systems biggest drawdown start. Also your atmosphere of where you trade makes up soooo much of the quality of your life it goes far beyond just winning and losing money. No one talks about this at all! I will continue another time.

 

V.

[Mysticforex 13]

" Also your atmosphere of where you trade makes up soooo much of the quality of your life it goes far beyond just winning and losing money. No one talks about this at all! I will continue another time ".

 

 

Look forward to it Vince.