One of the underappreciated joys of blogging is the wide variety of people who you end up corresponding with across the globe – and whose paths would likely never have intersected my own had it not been for the blog.
Partly as a result of the blog, I have a better sense of what goes on in the heads of other traders, what issues they struggle with and how they do – or sometimes don't – overcome obstacles to success.
I have enough anecdotal evidence that suggests there is something of a typical development path that many retail traders follow as they grow and develop as traders. In an effort to start a dialogue about this and to give the blog a framework to refer back to in future posts, I thought I would post a draft of the mental model that is forming in my head.
Frankly, I am surprised I have not seen a similar graphic and if there is one out there, I would be interested to hear about it.
Keep in mind that as best I can, I have attempted to keep the model simple. Once the basics have been debated and reformed, then it is a lot easier to add in some of the complexity.
So…without further ado, I have appended below the first draft of the trader stage development model, which is hopefully relatively self-explanatory. Note that the vertical gray arrows are supposed to represent tension between related issues (leverage vs. position sizing, minimizing losers while maximizing winners, developing an edge vs. diversification.) Also, while I consider all the issues to be iterative, I suggest that the iteration process in the third stage is continuous.
As always, all feedback is appreciated.
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