the-daily-trading-coach-101-lessons-for-becoming-your-own-trading-psychologist-brett-steenbarger-_2009_-a23

Lessons from Trading Professionals 299Trading in a Good Environment“In order for me to be able to coach myself,” Larry explains, “I needto trade in an environment that is conducive for success. We built ourfirm with that in mind. All the traders at my firm are on the same page.Willingness to be a part of a team combined with the desire to learnare characteristics each trader possesses.” I have visited many firmsin which traders operate in almost total isolation of one another. Oneperson’s learning experiences become just that: opportunities to learnfor that individual alone. When a firm is founded upon a team concept,everyone’s learning becomes learning for the group. This is LarryFisher’s central insight, and it is the greatest strength of his firm. Wheneveryone calls out her trades, there’s no place to hide. That is tremendouslyfreeing. You can learn from the successes of your peers andalso from their mistakes. Their ideas spark yours, and your heads-upon news or breakouts aids everyone else. In an environment in whichall traders are their own coaches, all traders inevitably contribute toeach other’s coaching.Learning cannot occur without accountability.These are the real words of real traders who really trade for a livingand really run successful trading firms. Their best practices can becomeyour own, even if you don’t work for SMB Capital or Trading RM. How doyour trading practices compare with those at these firms? How does yourtrading atmosphere compare with theirs? When you’re coaching yourself,you are—in a sense—creating your own trading firm. You are coach, riskmanager, researcher, and trader rolled into one. How well you fulfill theseroles depends on the time and effort you devote to each. A world-class basketballplayer works on offense and defense; on passing, dribbling, shooting,rebounding, and physical conditioning. There are many facets to one’sgame—in sports and in trading. The successful firms pay attention to allof them.Mike and his partner Steve are correct to emphasize breathing in theirtraining of traders. This exercise makes a worthwhile assignment for yourdevelopment. The first step toward controlling emotional and cognitivearousal is controlling the level of arousal in the body. When we are filledwith stresses and worries, we bring those to markets. When we sustain aquiet mind, we let markets come to us and free our minds to respond tothe patterns we perceive. Write in journals, communicate with peers, andconsult your trading statistics. These actions are all ways to make sense ofyour market experience so that you can then sit in front of the screen with