Resources for Finding a Trading Coach


A question came up during the recent Swingers, Scalpers, Holders panel discussion I did for Currensee which we didn’t have time to address at that time. It is something a great many traders think about, though, so I decided to put something together here in response.

The question was:

I’m at the point I’ve exhausted books, etc. and have a good sense of what I need…what sources/people are available to find a 1:1 coach?

I have written several previous blog posts on this subject in the past. Here are some of them which may be useful.

The trading coach thing is a tricky one because it’s not like there is some kind of central listing of coaches where new and developing traders can go to do a search based on their needs. That would be a great resource, though, wouldn’t it? To an extent, Currensee is developing just that sort of listing in the Marketplace there.

Furthermore, there’s no accreditation process by which trading coaches are certified. When I was coaching volleyball I went through a multi-level program run by USA Volleyball which certified coaches based on their fulfilling educational and other requirements at different levels. We have no similar system for trading. Sounds like that would be another really good thing if it were ever to come along, doesn’t it?

There are, of course, plenty of folks out there who offer coaching services to a greater or lesser degree. Finding them often is a question of identifying someone who’s writings you like to follow and/or someone whose trading style and approach matches your own, or the one you’re looking to develop, and investigating whether they do 1-on-1 work. Not all do because the individual coaching work can take up considerable time if the coach is working with more than just a couple people. If the coach is an active short-term trader, or has a job, their time will often be very limited. Some do, though, and if it’s not clear one way or the other you can always ask.

Before trying to find a coach, though, know quite specifically what you want, and it better not be “show me how to make 30% per month”. Coaches often get bad reviews from folks who go in with unreasonable expectations. They also get them from situations where what the coach had to offer was not what the coachee required. The latter issue comes down to good communication going into the relationship. Both sides need to be very clear on the expectations.

So basically, finding a coach comes down to research and communication. One piece of advice, though. Do not make the immediate assumption that someone who has done extremely well in the market will make a good coach for you. They may not trade in a fashion which makes any sense in your case and/or they may not be able to communicate well what they need to teach you or do a good job guiding you in the non-mechanical aspects of trading. To put it bluntly, not everyone has the skill to be a good educator.

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About the Author
John Forman, author of this blog, has traded for more than 20 years, is a professional market analyst, and authored The Essentials of Trading. He is an active participant in trading forums, consults for trading related businesses, as published literally dozens of trading articles, and has been quoted in a number of books and in the media.
** See John’s full bio.

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  • duc

    Furthermore, there’s no accreditation process by which trading coaches are certified. When I was coaching volleyball I went through a multi-level program run by USA Volleyball which certified coaches based on their fulfilling educational and other requirements at different levels. We have no similar system for trading. Sounds like that would be another really good thing if it were ever to come along, doesn’t it?

    Sounds like a Syndicalist model to me. I have two major objections to this: first, some government agency starts to formulate a syllabus of what is and isn’t important, that forms the basis of this qualification. Then they charge you money, to conform to their abitrary decision.

    The free market can very easily and efficiently allocate these resources [coaches] without any regulation.

    jog on
    duc

    • http://www.theessentialsoftrading.com John

      duc – Who said anything about putting it under government auspices? USA Volleyball, mentioned in the post, has nothing to do with the government. It is an independent body affiliated with the FIVB. Prospective employers of coaches certified at the different levels can take the certification into account or not as they see fit, much like the CFA.

  • duc

    John,

    “Furthermore, there’s no accreditation process by which trading coaches are certified”

    And there is no real need for one. What I would imagine the “market” for trading coaches requiring would be results.

    “USA Volleyball which certified coaches based on their fulfilling educational and other requirements at different levels.”

    Which opens the box as far as curriculums with regard to areas to be covered. Who’s to decide what is/is not important? Then, what are their qualifications to so decide?

    “We have no similar system for trading. Sounds like that would be another really good thing if it were ever to come along, doesn’t it?”

    No, for the above reasons.

    jog on
    duc

    • http://www.theessentialsoftrading.com John

      The point I make is a simple one. A certification indicates that the individual in question has demonstrated competency in a proscribed area. For example, we can easily look up what is required to become a CPA. Whether that subject matter is relevant to the person doing the hiring of an accountant or auditor is for them to decide, and certainly there are ways beyond testing, etc. to demonstrate the competency.

      You bring up results as just such an alternate measurement. I contend that just as the ability to slam dunk a basketball in no way indicates one’s competency to coach a basketball team, the P&L of a trader similarly is no firm indication of ability to provide trading guidance. Successful trading is often a very specialized thing and as such not easily transferable. For example, the techniques employed by your typical bank desk trader who makes his money off market making and flows trading, regardless of how many millions he makes, aren’t going to be much use to your average retail trader. Hell, the trader may not even understand the full scope of the market he trades. I once worked with a woman who was an All American collegiate volleyball player, but she didn’t know one of the most fundamental rules about pre-serve player positioning and she was a poor instructor because she had the attitude of “if I can do it you should be able to do it”. In other words you can be highly talented, while at the same time lacking both the knowledge and the ability to pass along that knowledge to others (not to mention motivating them).

  • duc

    John,

    “The point I make is a simple one. A certification indicates that the individual in question has demonstrated competency in a proscribed area.”

    Which is exactly the point I am refuting. Who decides what is competency, and in what areas?

    “You bring up results as just such an alternate measurement. I contend that just as the ability to slam dunk a basketball in no way indicates one’s competency to coach a basketball team”

    Agreud. What I actually said though was “let the free market decide what it wants. When I said “results” you have misunderstood the way that I am using the term results.

    I am not referring to results in a P/L perspective, rather the results of the coach to glean results for his students. That is to say, he successfully brings them to the point where they feel that they have received value.

    jog on
    duc

    • http://www.theessentialsoftrading.com John

      Who decides what is competency, and in what areas?

      How do any of these things get agreed upon? Folks come together in agreement (more or less) over time as to what’s important from their perspective. If that perspective is comparable to those who would be employing the certified individual then the certification gains credence and credibility in a fair market way as you are endorsing.

      I am not referring to results in a P/L perspective, rather the results of the coach to glean results for his students.

      I can definitely respect that. The problem is lack of information in the marketplace, at least the way things currently stand. How do we know how effective a coach has been? There is a strong bias in the current public feedback toward the negative as folks will more readily complain than praise.

  • duc

    John,

    “How do any of these things get agreed upon? Folks come together in agreement (more or less) over time as to what’s important from their perspective.”

    This is where we part ways. Education, is a cartel. This cartel has been empowered by government. How’s education doing [standards] in the US?

    You provide CPA’s as an example. How’s the CPA profession doing? Do you believe the Financial Statements produced under GAAP for the corporations? I look at many, essentially they are lies.

    Yet, a large component of any CPA syllabus, as it is in medicine, law, etc is ethics. Thus, the educational cartel is failing, and failing badly, in numerous areas.

    Why, in a profession, where you really have the chance to break from Leviathan, viz. trading, would you invite this schmuck to the party? Allow the best to rise, via an unfettered free market, to sell their product, and be valued by the market.

    The internet provides more than enough transparency for information to disseminate with regards to an unfettered free market.

    jog on
    duc

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