Newbie: Trading Coaches and Mentors

Beginner Questions
1

Hi everyone! I’m new to all this so please excuse my ignorance if this has been discussed before!

I’ve been reading at length about how Forex and the Stock Markets work, and been watching lots and lots of videos on YouTube. I get the gist of how it all works and been running a Demo account for just over a month now, not doing that bad just about breaking even. However I feel I now need a bit more from a Trading Coach or Mentor who really knows his/her stuff.

I’ve scoured the internet for coaches and mentors (yes I know the difference!) and read some of their blogs and web pages, and listened to their Podcasts and YouTube vids. It seems no matter who I ‘latch on to’ and follow my internet searches about them always reveals negativity, i.e. they are always being rubbished, debunked, accused of being scammers and/or making up charts, or just trying to sell courses (which in themselves are described as a load of rubbish).

I know there are a lot of ‘know-it-all’ internet trolls out there spouting garbage about anything and everything, but I’m getting a bit exasperated trying to find someone ‘genuine’ out there who really knows what they are talking about.

Anyone got any recommendations of people who genuinely helped them out? I’m seeking a response from private ‘at home’ traders here who are doing well, not people offering their services saying “yeah I can teach you for $3,000”.

I would add that to me ‘doing well’ would be regularly making 20-50 pips per day (or even a week!), not necessarily making hundreds of thousands of dollars - or millions!!!

It just seems to me funding a genuine, reliable trading coach or mentor is as elusive as the holy grail itself.

Recommendations please before I’m sent down another path of what is right and what is wrong!!!

Thanks!

Mike. (UK)

2

learn to trade yourself…
beware of scammers…
there are lots of books and resources around
also, no one is perfect but with practice there’s no limit to your potential
90% of the people don’t have a clue when they are trading, why?
because trading is more of an art than science…it cannot be solved with just math and equations…
people often look at past data but is it reliable? can you just predict the future with just history?
of course you can’t, there’s no trade that has 100% accuracy!
but, like all other games, there are ways to increases your chances to strike the winning ticket…

to be honest, i suggest you start learning every available resource you get a hold of, and eventually you’ll a winning strategy/system
but here’s a big thing, no system or strategy lasts forever, they might work for a few years then stop working…

also, what good is a strategy/system when you have no self-discipline over your emotions?

what good is self-discipline when you have bad money management?

Alexander Elder mentioned successful trading requires 3 M’s - Mind, Method, and Money
Mind = discipline
Method = winning system/strategies
Money = money management

if you have all these M’s, im sure you’ll better off than some scamming mentors/coaches

if i were you, i would go out and buy all those trading books
and also there are tons of resources to help you online as well

I definitely recommend you to read Alexander Elder’s books
in his books, he mentioned he often does trading camp every year or so…perhaps you could try going to those…

also you mentioned trying to make a certain amount of pips a day, i think that’s very bad to set as goals
instead think of each trade as % of your account/investment
the rule of thumb in trading is never risk more than 2% in each trade
but that doesn’t mean you can’t earn 100% in a trade for 2% risk
limit your losses and let your profits run is often mentioned by pros, but once you enter a trade without a plan, your emotions will come and haunt you

3

imho, either ask for those pro fund manager to manage your funds
or learn it the hard way yourself…
seeking mentors/coaches is often the road to perish
in trading, many people seek advices from gurus, sure gurus will work for a couple years but then they begin to fade…some gurus can even move markets since so many followers and supporters will follow them…
why? because it just happens(mere chance/luck) that their systems work these couple years but once the market changes, their predictions will eventually be off and they will try to squeeze the last dime out of you
it’s similar to trading on zulu platform, there are many top performers they will work for a couple months eventually they go downhill and crash
it’s all due to mere chance/luck that they happened to have consecutive winning trades after trades…but how long can their luck last?

4

I personally believe that mentors are the best things out there for a trader. not necessarily for teaching “set ups” but because they have been there and powered through before. they can help you avoid countless pitfalls, which probably cost them a bit chunk of change. I have had mentors and trading partners before, all full time professionals that I could meet up in real life. But in this day and age, its harder to do and much easier to meet people on the internet. At this point in your career any profitable trader would probably be helpful. But as it was said in another thread finding professional forex traders is extremely difficult. But you can learn from any kind of successful trader, equities, bonds, commodities, futures. I personally trade futures but a market is a market.

Good luck, good traders are out there. most of the BSers can be identified in 10 minutes or less.

5

Thanks guys, but has anyone got any names of anyone even remotely ‘reliable’? (I note Alexander Elder has been mooted for example).

6

I would stay away from authors or anyone in the public domain. Look for traders who are “unknowns” but really doing the work. all the guys with names in the public probably have something to sell.

7

Hi Mike,
Glad you are doing all right with the demo and on the question of mentors or coaches, its rare for a trader to mentor someone else for free…and what works for them need not necessarily work for you.
Just review the online resources and use the info, start back testing a few strategies, streamline the process and later on, move on to live account.
Honestly, no one’s going to offer to mentor for free and how would you determine that they are as good as they say they are…since charts can be adjusted…