“Convergent is a constant reminder that this is a marathon not a sprint” @RossScriv
In Members in Profile, we interview stand-out members that show strong aptitude and work ethic. Our goal is to highlight different folks so that you can see the effort that our members are putting into their trading and hopefully learn from their experiences of the Convergent Trading Community.
We hope you enjoy hearing what @RossScriv has to say!
What brought you into trading?
From a young age I was really curious about “predicting the future”; weather predictions, polls, charts and data all just fascinated me – then in my teens I watched a BBC documentary following some newbie Forex traders. I didn’t really know anything about the markets at the time, I thought it was all just random gambling or a ‘boys club’ – but this show caught my interest and started me down the path of Forex and then on to other markets. Trading has never been easy or natural for me, it’s always been a challenge, but that’s what I love doing.
I’m still fascinated by prediction markets for politics and world events, and by the many human behavioral nuances, we see in the markets… it’s a never-ending puzzle to be solved… such fun!
What do you like most about Convergent?
From the first FT71 video I watched on YouTube I could see his approach to teaching was really different. Convergent is realistic about the challenges of what it takes to be a profitable trader over the long-term. Convergent isn’t about giving you shortcuts, it’s about teaching you a framework of how to think about the game of trading.
What drew me in initially was the monthly stats, those are great, but over time I’ve learned that the real value is in the lessons, we can learn from other traders through the webinars, forums, and community journals. It’s hard being a lone-trader – new and different opinions are valuable to learn from.
How have these aspects helped you grow as a trader?
Continuous improvement – Convergent is a constant reminder that this is a marathon, not a sprint. I must show up every day trying to be better than I was yesterday. We see many people come and go because they aren’t willing to do the difficult and sometimes boring work of logging trades, doing research, and being brutally honest with themselves. Watching the Head Traders and seeing how they perform their job every day (like thousands of trader-bites) has set an example for me on how to progress as a trader and think of this as a job, not a mechanism to boost my ego or get-rich-quick.
Do you have a favorite community quote or webinar?
Not one in particular, but I do love Morad’s analogies, we should compile a book!
Do you have any advice for new traders?
Rigorous backtesting and execution of a strategy with a positive expected outcome IS trading, that’s all there is to it – “simple”! Focus all of your energy on finding that edge and executing on it.
I feel like this is easily lost in the noise at the beginning when there is so much else to consume and distract yourself with… you must find a strategy that not only do you believe in and makes sense to you, but you must be able to execute it perfectly and have statistics to prove it as well… only then will the confidence, consistency (and hopefully money) eventually come.
What is your favorite non-trading activity/hobby?
I’m lucky enough to live in a city next to a lake and a mountain, so winter is spent snowboarding, and summer is spent hiking or at the beach with the paddleboard… I don’t have a boat… yet 😉
Have you participated in the #TradeRight program/challenges? What discoveries have you made?
Yes, I participated, and frankly the results were embarrassing and required some deep soul-searching. I had to face the fact that I was overtrading and could not keep my emotions in check while trading discretionarily. Just a few slip-ups can ruin months of hard work. I had to accept the reality of my situation and that what I was doing would never work unless I made some drastic changes…
Having a background as a programmer allowed me to switch track and go completely automated/algorithmic in my execution. This change really helped perfect my execution troubles, it has stopped my random trading and free’d me up from much of the stress of making a million decisions each day… although it’s not without its own set of challenges.
Now my job is to come in to “work”, monitor my systems as they trade for me, then spend my time focused on finding new edges in the markets. My next goals are scaling up, diversifying across different markets/timeframes, and adding new strategies to the portfolio.
I don’t see many people in Convergent talk about automated trading, so I’d love to hear from anyone doing something similar, reach out to me via the chat!
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