In the summer of 2010, \u00a0I traveled to Manhattan from my home in Philadelphia to meet with Roy Davis of \u00a0SMB Capital for the purpose of checking out \u00a0SMB’s \u00a0 \u00a0intraday \u00a0equities training program. While I am an income options spread trader myself, \u00a0my premise was that \u00a0intraday equities trading and options income trading \u00a0were not at all mutually exclusive \u00a0and that I could enhance my overall trading skills by becoming proficient at day trading.<\/p>\n
In addition to meeting extensively with Roy that day, \u00a0I also had the opportunity to chat with Mike \u00a0Bellafiore \u00a0and \u00a0Gman. \u00a0While I had alot of questions about the nature of the day trading \u00a0 program, I found myself very curious to see how each of them would answer the following question: What do you think are the top three characteristics \u00a0of a successful day trader? \u00a0I was really interested to see if those same traits translated easily over to options trading (which they did by the way). \u00a0I thought their respective \u00a0answers were very helpful.<\/p>\n
Roy felt that successful traders: \u00a01) \u00a0are very solid with what he called the “basics” (tape reading, execution, \u00a0preparation for the trading day), \u00a02) have discovered \u00a0the trades that fit their \u00a0personality and became excellent at those and \u00a0 \u00a03) \u00a0realize that \u00a0successful trading is about pulling a small bucket of \u00a0profit water out of the market well \u00a0multiple times \u00a0(in other words they are not greedy).<\/p>\n
Mike’s top 3 were: \u00a0 1) a passion for trading, \u00a02) the willingness to admit you are wrong in your bias and to change your bias or terminate a losing trade and \u00a03) to work really hard to become better each day.<\/p>\n
Gman \u00a0(who had actually had a \u00a0list of 7 characteristics \u00a0which were really interesting, but I’ll share his top 3): \u00a0 1) hard work and preparation, \u00a02) an ability to recognize what trades truly \u00a0work \u00a0for you and to STICK with them and \u00a03) calmness in the midst of market volatility.<\/p>\n
Unglamorous as it may sound, \u00a0it \u00a0looks like the \u00a0clear winner is hard work and \u00a0learning the basics. Should this be that big \u00a0of a surprise? \u00a0Wasn’t it Thomas Edison who said ” genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”? \u00a0But it is interesting to note that two of the three put a very high premium on recognizing your trading strengths and focusing on those \u00a0types of \u00a0trades primarily.<\/p>\n
I’d love to know what the rest of you think. \u00a0 Think of the best trader that you know–what do you think makes him or her successful?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"