What is a Trading Mentor and Who is the Best One Online?

What is a Trading Mentor – Learn How to Pinpoint the Best Ones Available Online:

There are plenty of self-proclaimed trading gurus out there on the internet, but not all of these so-called gurus are actually good mentors. In many cases, fake gurus are merely masquerading as trading educators in order to sell you something expensive.

I’m willing to bet that you’ve probably come across some “inner circle” or “mastermind” groups online within the trading space that are supposed to put you on the “fast-track” to success – and the costs to join these programs are typically in the thousands.

Now I’m not saying that every single inner circle or mastermind program is bad or a scam. But I am saying that you should be cognizant of red flags. Because the sad reality is that many of these programs are more interested in your money than your success.

Since there are hundreds, if not thousands, of trading gurus online – there’s no way to compile an accurate and comprehensive list of every good/bad actor. So this article aims to provide you with the knowledge to pinpoint the good from the bad on your own.

Once you understand the common characteristics of good vs. bad trading mentors, you’ll be able to smell BS from a mile away.

3 Key Characteristics of Both Good Trading Mentors and Bad Trading Mentors:

GOOD TRADING MENTORS

1. Focus on Proper Training and Skill-Building

Even though trading is a skill-based, peak-performance endeavor – most people don’t treat it that way. Instead, they tend to look for shortcuts to success in the form of hot picks, guru alerts/signals, magical indicators, and foolproof systems.

With this being the case, there’s no surprise why such a high percentage of traders fail. Because no sustainable amount of success in the markets can ever be achieved without developing the requisite technical, analytical, and mental skills through training.

The crazy thing, however, is that you don’t often hear the term “training” very much in relation to trading – even though it’s absolutely critical for developing self-sufficiency and long-term success. So make sure to find a trading mentor fixated on training.

2. Concentrate on Process Over Profits

In one way or another, every trader is in it for the potential profits. But being overly obsessed with profits, especially on a trade-by-trade basis, is a recipe for disaster. Invariably, those who focus on profits over process are always horrible traders.

This is a really tricky concept for many new traders to understand because they think trading is all about the money – so they get caught up in every little change to their PnL. But doing so typically leads to impulsive, irrational, and overall harmful decisions.

If you can’t accept loss, risk, and uncertainty as unavoidable aspects of trading, then you’ll never achieve any consistent level of success. Managing these components ultimately comes down to following your process – the rules, plans, and systems meant to protect you.

3. Take the Mindset Component Seriously

While bad trading mentors focus on surface-level components of trading like money/profits, good trading mentors actually help their students dig deep in order to develop an uncommon level of personal depth. This is what it takes to truly succeed in the markets.

You probably think being a successful trader is all about receiving some hot picks, using some fancy indicators, or finding some holy grail system. But in reality, successful trading starts with acquiring the proper mental framework in regard to market characteristics.

The fact of the matter is that even the best strategies and systems are often compromised by individuals who lack the mental clarity, balance, and patience to execute them properly. They enter with distorted expectations and lack the ability to think probabilistically.

BAD TRADING MENTORS

1. Focus on Lavish Dreams and Lifestyle

In an effort to distract you from the hard work and persistence required to become a consistently profitable trader, bad trading mentors attempt to reel you in with lifestyle components like jewelry, fancy cars, mansions, exotic vacations, and stacks of cash.

Since their courses, programs, and services often lack substance, they have to find another way to generate customers that isn’t based on quality – so they often turn to questionable marketing practices that includes selling dreams with get-rich-quick promises.

I understand why service providers turn to this type of marketing because it flat-out works. People don’t generally want the work – they just want the rewards/lifestyle. But even though it’s what most people want, it’s not what they need to become great traders.

2. Brag About Their Own Success

Another way that bad trading mentors distract you from their inability to develop consistently profitable traders with their courses, programs, and services is by bragging about their own profits/success. They try to mesmerize you with distorted profit proclamations.

This is often the case with stock alert/signal services where the trader running the service sends out his buy and sell alerts to a massive group of people (in the hundreds or thousands). The blind followers all attempt to pile into the same trade at the same time.

What this does is produce an initial burst of buying power – driving the price up 5, 10 or maybe even 20%+ within minutes of the alert. This makes it easy for the person sending the alerts to generate massive (yet distorted) profits. But it’s not so easy for the followers.

3. Feed You Get-Rich-Quick Promises

One of the worst things a trading mentor can do is start you off with improper expectations. Yet the trading education industry is full of gurus doing just that – promising easy profits within short periods of time. But it’s complete nonsense.

The focus on fast and easy riches is great for making sales, but once people actually purchase these programs with high hopes, there’s no follow-through on the unrealistic marketing/advertising promises – resulting in disappointment and despair.

This is why I respect trading mentors who are upfront about the training, skill-building, and overall process required to become a consistently profitable, self-sufficient trader from the start. The hard work doesn’t sound appealing, but it’s the only effective path.

My Personal Favorite Trading Mentors – Josh Schuler and Chris Capre:

To give examples of good trading mentors, I want to share a couple of my personal favorites – Josh Schuler and Chris Capre.

Josh Schuler is the founder of Trade With Profile – the most immersive, methodical, and comprehensive training program for developing legitimate market edge, in my opinion. What he teaches is what I believe most traders are missing in their approach.

If you scour the “trading education” space like I have, you’ll find a ton of so-called “gurus” hyping up simple price patterns that supposedly “work” – because they want you to think that basic patterns are the path to fast, easy profits. But it’s just not that simple.

Top Training Program For Skill & Edge Development → THE PROFILE TRADING DEVELOPMENT PATHWAY

What they fail to mention – or don’t even understand themselves – is the context beyond price (what actually drives price?). Through the framework of auction market theory and volume/market profiling tools, Josh Schuler provides an extremely robust market view.

Chris Capre puts the same sort of emphasis on skill-building and edge within his offerings at 2ndSkies. In fact, he was the first trading teacher/mentor that I ever heard mention the term “training” in relation to trading. It changed my entire view on trading success.

It’s truly sad when you think about how out of the thousands of trading courses, programs, and services available online, only a small fraction provide the necessary training and mentorship for durable success. But at least there’s the small few that do.

The Wrap-Up – Tips For Finding the Best Trading Mentors Available Online For You:

There’s no shortage of so-called trading mentors available online – that’s for sure. But they’re certainly not all created equal.

So when it comes to locating the good ones, be on the lookout for those providing legitimate training and constructive feedback – and avoid the ones excessively bragging about their own success, obsessed with lifestyle, and offering get-rich-quick systems.

When you know what to look for, the BS is fairly easy to spot. It really comes down to process over profits. The good trading mentors focus on process (which isn’t always easy or exciting) and the bad trading mentors focus on profits (to entice you).

At the end of the day, traders who focus solely on profits will never achieve a level of consistent profitability – because there’s no foundation to do so. But when you concentrate on process (good habits, plans, rules, etc.), the rewards/profits take care of themselves.

It might seem counterintuitive to not think about the money because that’s what trading seems to be all about. But durable, long-term success in the markets requires a certain level of detachment from expectations and profits in the short-term.

Good trading is not gambling. Good trading is implementing your technical analytical, and mental skills on a statistical edge.

Learn More in the Trading Success Framework Course

Written by Matt Thomas (@MattThomasTP)

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