Tharp Trader Test

Copyright © 2016 Van Tharp Institute for Trading Education. All rights reserved. 

So my coach suggested that my fellow students and I do the Tharp Trader Test. If you're interested you can take it yourself for free here.

I thoroughly recommend it, I have only just received my personalised report but am already gleaning useful information from it. Not only that but I am being pointed to follow up material to help correct the areas I need work in.

According to Tharp there are 3 Core Trader Qualities to have...

Copyright © 2016 Van Tharp Institute for Trading Education. All rights reserved. 

I came up as a Facilitative Trader and accordingly have qualities 1 and 3,  so will need work on 2, "Making decisions based on logic and analysis".

In honesty this blog works much like my personal trade journal/diary, so what follows is more for my records. However you're welcome to read on if you desire. My immediate task will be reading the suggested articles for each "strength" and "challenge" Tharp has listed.  I will likely write an additional post in the future with what I garner from the lessons.

NB: Much of what follows are Tharp's own words, these are indicated in italics and are only reproduced as an aid for my learning from the personal report I received from The Van Tharp Institute.

My strengths according to Tharp are...

• Strength #1 – Energy and Creativity : I'm " not afraid to try new ideas and are good at coming up with new ideas." but this creativity is "best applied to systems ideas that you will be interested in testing and trying." so I "need to understand all that’s required in a trading system. Read the Article “What Is a Trading System?”
• Strength #2 – Ability to Pull the Trigger I "do not require extensive backtesting or live testing to execute your trading ideas  and my  "courage to start working them right away is useful to a trader" but i need to understand that my "ideas really are beliefs and how that distinction is critically important, read the following article. Read the Article “Your Beliefs About Trading”
• Strength #3 – Quickly Develop Trading Ideas I" have the ability to come up with tradable ideas very quickly" and "this will seem quite easy for you"  but I need to "remain in the flow of the markets. To see what that means, read the following article. Read the Article “The Flow of the Markets”

While my weaknesses are...

• Challenge #1 – Need for External Confirmation I "may feel a need to get external confirmation of your ideas, your systems and beliefs, which can be detrimental to becoming a successful trader." I need to "Learn how to develop the inner confidence and the other requirements needed to trade consistently successfully or what I call “Peak Performance Trading”. Read the Article “What Is Involved in Peak Performance Trading?” 
• Challenge #2 – New Ideas I am  "always coming up with new ideas that you want to apply to trading systems that are already working and can subsequently screw things up". and I "could find it hard to trade it because of mistakes." I need to  "Understanding the purpose of trading systems and their role in pulling money out of the markets is the basis for the following article. Read the Article “Paradigm Shifts for Trading Success” 
• Challenge #3 – Needing Excitement  I need to understand that "Good trading tends to be boring but you have a need for external excitement." and  "It is imperative that you have an outlet for this excitement; otherwise, you will bring it into your trading. Rather than profitable, excitement in trading is most often very expensive. Complete the “Compulsive Trader Test”