Are most traders introverts?

Just wondering. Thinking about the very few trader friends I have, they mostly seem to be introverted.

How about you? Are you introverted, too? How about the other traders you personally know? :open_mouth:

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Good question. 'Cos I thought we were all introverts - we work alone, hunched over screens, and nobody around us has the faintest idea what trading is.

But actually, I suppose I think long-term traders are introverted and day-traders are extroverted. Long-term traders are chess players, day-traders are social network gamers.

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Yeah Iā€™m thinking about all the traders I know or even those who just dabbled, theyā€™re all introvertsā€¦ Trading is definitely an introvert interest I think. Just because of the sheer lack of social interaction :sweat_smile:

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This is actually a good question, and in part explains why some make lousy traders

Extroverts work best needing to speak to other traders, soak up other opinions etc which often doesnā€™t sit well with being all alone, and can lead to self sabotage.

Brett Steenbarger talks about this in some of his books.

As for myself, Iā€™m an introvert who can successfully hide it in social situations. But I most definitely need to retire to solace and reading my book after all that excessive stimulation.

If @tommor is correct that day traders are more extrovert it would also explain my inability to master that style.

However Iā€™m am not so sure he is correct.

Iā€™ve always likened day traders to shoot em gamers, and letā€™s face it most of them were never the ā€˜in crowdā€™ at school.

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Iā€™m an extroverted introvert, and ambidextrousā€¦ I trade to make money, which seems a dirty word for many, but I keep within my intraday comfort zone, trading the Ih - daily charts only.

Look up Tom Hougaard - he has a free download course that would cost $3k elsewhere. Also seminars on YouTube. Heā€™s a philanthropist, and definitely a modest extrovert with a unique style, and (likely) in the top 1% of successful traders.

Let me know if you like his style, certainly it opened my eyes to not being normal as a route to success - 555.

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Ooooooh. :blush: This oneā€™s an interesting question. :smiley: And tbh, itā€™s nice to read the comments cause I sort of get to know more about the others. Iā€™m an extrovert :sweat_smile: Iā€™m pretty much the same online and offline. :smiley: I think somehow, it was an advantage for me because I needed so much help from people, especially during my first months.

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Will do ! - He was ā€œchief Tactical Traderā€ for City Index when I first started over 20 years ago - and I paid something over Ā£500 to go on one of his 2 day courses. :slightly_smiling_face: - Be interesting to see where heā€™s got to these days :sunglasses:

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Personally I seem to be able to ā€œflipā€ between the two - When Im in a ā€œsteady relationshipā€ - I seem to become more Introverted and when Iā€™m ā€œsingleā€ - I get more extroverted - or at least maybe as @Johnscott31 defiines himself ā€œan introvert who manages to mask it in social situationsā€ . There are elements of both which I would like to be able to meld into a better whole - but I donā€™t seem to be able to do that succesfully.

Is the distinction ā€œIntrovert / extrovertā€ I wonder ? or is it perhaps a fact that an apparent introvert who has few friends may have a common link between the two rather than a causal link ? Again as @Johnscott31 points out those ā€œdaytrade gamersā€ would probably not have been the ā€œmost popular at schoolā€ - yet if we look at the recent Gamestop incident they seem to number in the Millions on ā€œReddittā€ where they call themselves ā€œProud Autistsā€ or ā€œHappy Autistsā€ (donā€™t remember which)

Iā€™m going to postulate a hypothesis here ;

Maybe those who are attracted to this ā€œoccupationā€ tend to be intelligent ? - Iā€™d say in the top quartile of intelligence - ie 3/4 of the population are of lesser IQ - so IQ say 108 and above ? ie - If we think in Bollinger Band terms somewhere between the first and third UPPER Bollinger band ?

Some of us tend to be more interested in ā€œhow things workā€ - including the human mind and perhaps we like to think about and consider questions exactly like the one @ponponwei asked us to ponder when she started this thread ? and perhaps we find those who want to talk about ā€œfootballā€ and ā€œSoapsā€ quite tedious and uninspiring company ? Ergo we may Appear to be ā€œIntrovertsā€ and ā€œnot have many friends at schoolā€ - simply because we are not really interested in talking at ā€œthe ā€˜Normyā€™ levelā€ ? - Perhaps even we might internalise this as an indication that there is ā€œsomething wrong with usā€ as opposed to what may be the real truth - that ā€œTheirā€ conversation level we just find trivial and boring ?

I think too - most of us donā€™t fancy the concept of a 9-5 job and would like to be financially free to do as we wish in life whilst just ā€œPopping inā€ to the markets occasionally to pick up some money :rofl:

I do know ā€œExtrovertsā€ who trade - one in particular is Sooo bright that he can pretty much get himself into debt at a level most of us would find
-a) scary
-b) Impossible since we would never get that level of credit !

Then he will come up with a scheme to make a few quid - and next time you see him he has swapped teh porsche for a Ferrari and upgraded his Merc !

Yet he can speak to anyone and buys ā€œroundsā€ continuously ! - charms everyone - including the Tax-man! - unless they Cross him ! - ex RAF - that seems quite a good start in life from those I have met !

At the moment he recently bought a farm in Poland - where he lives with his new Polish wife.

Another one used to run a Singles Club and went into property at the right time - baled out at the right time and went off to New Zealand - not heard from him for some years now.

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Tom Hougaard has a Telegram group - free to join of course - trades all day everyday.

Me ? Introvert/extrovert

Definitely well east of north on the Autie spectrum :sunglasses:

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Would a trader who is truly an introvert actually respond to this question? :wink:

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Shhh ! :shushing_face: - Speak softly - donā€™t startle us :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

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I think your reply gave me aids

Iā€™m very much an extrovert in the social situations I find myself in, but Iā€™m not sociable or gregarious in the sense of actively seeking out the company of others. Itā€™s not that I dislike or am afraid of people, I just prefer my own company. Probably has a lot to do with what Falstaff was saying. I just donā€™t share most other peopleā€™s interests. Not that I donā€™t enjoy interacting with you lovely folks. Weā€™re mostly on the same page. Besides, youā€™re all not really real, anyway, just avatars on my computer screen.
:sweat_smile::sweat_smile::sweat_smile:

I tend to gravitate toward hobbies that are solitary. In fact, probably the biggest selling point for trading forex with me is that it requires zero interaction with other humans. Itā€™s just my laptop, the market, and me. My success depends on no one else. No excuses, no alibis. I love that.

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Hi ponponwei and fellow traders,

It looks like I am the exception to your rule as I am not what you would call introvert. I also have worked with a very successful trader who is well known in the industry for over 20 years and he also is no where near introverted. But it is an interesting theory and judging by the results, does hold some merit. I guess the question is: Does it matter???

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Nah - the question is in the title mate !

either join in or donā€™t ! :slightly_smiling_face:

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I think of all the traders that are successful, the majority are extroverts. But it will be introverts that create winning strategies, and then share those ideas with an extroverted friend, who will then sell that strategy to other extroverts. Introverts design success, extroverts copy it but actually make up the larger portion of traders (IMO) :wink: As a creative introvert Iā€™ve had a lifetime of extroverts gaining off the back of me.

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Iā€™m introverted to the point of almost being a hermit.

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It is not necessary that mostly introverts are into this trading thing, most of the traders that I know are extroverts. Trading now a days has become a more interactive process, you need to learn from others, share your experiences with each other. However there are also many people who like to work in isolation, so no thumb rule here.

So I guess the next question would be: ā€œDoes it have to?ā€ I thought we were just having a friendly discussion for the fun of it. If every conversation I had was earth shaking it would tire me out. :wink:

Maybe Iā€™m really a repressed extrovert.

I agree that contact with others is normally required to be able to understand thing better, get new insights, and ā€˜see how things are doneā€™.