In Australia, while doing the seminar, I realized that there are a few types of traders who come to a seminar.
1. The Risk Taker. This type of trader simply isn't going to obey any principles of money management. Of course they'll nod their heads and say that they're going to trade differently when it's for real, but during the seminar, while testing, they show how much they are addicted to taking huge amounts of risk. This is a very small percentage of the attendees, never more than 10% of the group. They are the hardest to help because if they don't manage their risk, it's not going to matter what they trade or when or how. These traders want to take a lot of trades. They want to ratchet up the lot size quickly.
2. The Perfectionist. Usually this person has been looking for a trading system for at least two to three years. He often knows how to program automated trading systems. Generally these are the highest IQs in the room. They are neat, professional, quieter than the other students, and they are at the end of their rope: they have tested so many different systems that they are simply unable to have confidence in any system. By looking for the "best" system, and realizing over time that it's so very hard to trade automatically, they have become very skeptical of all systems. Don't get me wrong: these are some of my favorite traders. But they can stare a profitable system in the face, and pass it by because it is seemingly too simple to really actually work. What helps a trader in this position? An easing of the expectations.
3. The Beginner. This person often has trouble using a computer, let alone learning a trading system. And they are often the most successful traders after the seminar, because they don't know enough to complicate the trading systems, and they are risk-averse so they tend to not even think about breaking money management rules.
4. The Systems Collector. Similar to the Perfectionist, with one difference: the Collector isn't trying to get one system to work perfectly, but is rather trying to get many systems running at the same time. They often don't spend long enough on one system to ever see it through. They often lose their profits on a good trading system by trading another trading system at the same time. By trying to do many things well, they do nothing very well.
There are more classes of traders that I'll bring up in the coming days. This just scratches the surface. I'll have more to say, and maybe I'll put it all into an ebook or something if I get really ambitious.
