Novice Traders vs Expert Traders

In trading, there are 3 tiers of experience levels. Novice, proficient, and expert. Most novice traders get stuck and give up before they ever gave themselves a chance to succeed. Here’s how you can climb the ladder from novice to proficient, and from proficient to an expert:

Novice Traders

New traders must adhere to checklists. Just like a pilot each trade must have rigid rules with no deviation.

This cuts down on mistakes but also paralysis by analysis. 

Most newbies haven’t the reps to build up expert intuition. To ask them to think on their feet invites BIG mistakes.

Novice can still learn, grow, make money. But sticking to rules working off a cheat sheet is key.

Novice traders make money by having RIGID discipline. Strict adherence to system. 

Novice traders will have low win ratios but with a strict adherence to reward to risk ratios and working off a checklist they can make money.

Everything must be static. Risk per trade, position-sizing, number of trades taken.

When a novice ad-libs accounts are destroyed. Confidence is shaken. Consistency is impossible to attain as there is too much deviation from the checklist.

Proficient Traders

The proficient trader no longer relies on checklist, Strict Rules or trading mantras.

They can call an audible in the middle of the trading day and shift their plans.

The proficient trader will still make 1-2 mistakes a week but now they have limited most emotional mistakes and are now spending time refining processes.

The proficient trader can make fantastic money. They have the checklists in their heads. They operate without thought and can adjust quickly when the situation calls for it.

The proficient trader has now thousands of trades under their best that have been journaled. No longer is every stock a “long” or “short” They move with the flow on a stock as the stock reveals its true nature that day managing a stock around its levels.

The proficient trader has built niches and understands them. They can see variations in setups and how they come about in different market conditions. 

They build out specific contingencies or static responses when conditions change. 

They understand that certain stocks move in different ways and adapt the setups to those stocks.

The proficient trader is setup specific. They have a playbook of setups that they can deploy. Inside this “cookbook” They have specific “recipes” and guides on each pattern. They have defined their setups and build scans & trading processes around them.

Expert Traders

The expert trader operates from a deep understanding down to the microscopic levels of his trading setups. 

Market awareness, trading intuition, his process loops are every flowing. He can react without thought.

Moves can be anticipated.

That is difficult to explain to the novice trader.

This trader has experience gained through tens of thousands of trades, knows all the angles of the trading setup and the different variations. They can see the shifts in the setups before they even happen on certain stocks from watching them for years. As a result, can make adjustments to the trade that are different from the original plan as he sees the full picture/context of the trade once in it. 

A novice or good trader will make adjustments on their trade due to emotions or from watching their profit & loss. An expert can call an audible based on real-time information and subtle shifts in market conditions. 

The expert trader can make charts in his head. Even if a chart setup is still valid he can sense a shift in the tape and bailout of a trade right before it gets busted.

Keys to Peak Performance

A master musician for instance when asked how they made a particular piece of music will just say: “Because it felt right; I started playing and it just happened. .” The performer is no longer aware of the rules governing their craft or doesn’t need to think of them. It’s as 2nd nature as breathing. Top performers in any field ie Sports, music, programming will say similar things. It’s fluid. 

 People will ask me all the time. How come on this stock I switched the chart from 5 minute to 2minute. Or why I used premarket data on one stock and not other.  Why on this particular stock I refused to use the 9ema I only wanted 20ema pullback. That comes from years of accumulated experience and high Self Efficacy beliefs. That belief that I can get anything done in the trading game due to my experience, reps, and methodology.

To get to this spot. You need mentorship. If your a Bootcamp student and you need more help reach out. If your not a student then find someone somewhere who will help you. It doesn’t have to be me but find someone. 

Once you know the steps. Be on the hunt every single day. Full-blown attack.

If you look at 1000 charts a day by the end of the year you will have 250,000 charts under your belt. No matter your intellect if you see that many charts certain things/looks/feel for mom will be imprinted into your brain.