I get many new students who have read a small library of books about trading and can quote various trading rules and money management discipline verbatim.
This type of student has studied a range of trading systems and can spot a variety of setups, generally with well after they have passed.
While not always true, the general prognosis for success of these types of students is below average.
Why? From the onset, let me say that I am not a psychologist but do have an understanding of the psychology of trading.
The best traders I have had the good fortune to trade with seem to have a knack for picking profitable trades.
They know the same setups and trading methodology as the student mentioned in the previous paragraph, but somehow the professional trader has a knack for knowing which set up to take and which set up to avoid.
Of course, I have yet to meet a trader who has a natural intuition as to which way the market will move over any period of time.
So when I say a trader has a knack for picking good trades I am saying it with a certain degree of whimsy, as anyone who has a knack for doing something well as a generally acquired a great amount of experience.
Great cognitive skills and experience are the stuff of trading success.
Great traders seem to trade e-mini charts and grasp all the information the chart has to offer and distill it into a definitive decision, usually in rapid order.
I think understanding trading methodology and set up identification, along with money management, are just some of the many variables proficient traders factor into their trading decisions.
What separates great traders from the pack as the speed at which they assimilate and act upon the information they have gathered; and I believe this skill is developed through experience reading charts and trading.
This should be a fairly encouraging article for new traders, because it is my belief that knowledge alone will make you marginally profitable, but when you do begin to incorporate experience into your trading equation, your profits will grow exponentially.
In a roundabout way, I have stressed the importance of trading knowledge combined with the experience in producing consistently profitable e-mini traders.
I have mentioned that traders who seem to have great market intuition are generally the product of superior training and years of experience.
Great traders learn to trade then hone their skills.