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There's a key ingredient in trading that few talk about: the scientific mindset.
Don’t have it? SPOILER ALERT: you can develop it.
It's true, some people might be more predisposed to it, but everyone can learn to approach problems more rationally.
The trick is not to hit a wall at the first hurdle if you can help it.
And remember, always take it one step at a time.
In this video, you'll find out:
-What it means to have a scientific mindset in trading
-How to determine if you have it and ways to develop or enhance it
-The secret to tackling problems logically
-Dos and don'ts when faced with challenges
-The connection between debugging and trading
Watch it now! 😉
Introduction
Scientific mindset in trading. I often mention this. I'll say it's really useful to figure out something about systematic trading. Well, I'm Andrea Unger, and I won four times the World Cup Trading Championships with real money using trading systems. Then, I founded the Unger Academy, so I met many students.
Engineers and the Scientific Mindset
And I can tell you that, among these students, I noticed that some of them, those who normally are more successful, are engineers. So okay, now you say "Oh, I'm not an engineer. I will never be a good trader". No, wait, wait. Engineers, why? Most probably because they have a scientific mindset and not because they learned what they are supposed to learn in engineering.
So, it's not about the math they apply in their studies. No, it's just because they are accustomed to approaching problems with a specific mindset, just trying to figure out step by step where the buck is, where the problem is, and trying to find a solution. So, it's not rocket science. You don't need to be an engineer. You don't need to be a scientist to have a scientific mindset. You just need to know that when you have a problem, you approach the problem step by step, trying to find the solution.
How Useful Is the Scientific Mindset for Becoming a Profitable Trader?
Imagine you go hiking and you get lost in the mountains, ok? Not very pleasant, especially if it's evening. So, at that point, if you start crying, sitting next to a tree, and you wait for something, you probably don't have a scientific mindset. I mean I understand it, I fully appreciate your concern, but you don't have a scientific mindset.
The man with a scientific mindset is the one who, getting lost, tries first of all to go back to rewind his path and say "Okay, wait, wait, wait. That's where I probably made the mistake. That's where I probably mistook the way to go. I took the right turn, I should have gone left. That's the point where I made the mistake. I can go back to the point and I can find the path back to my hotel or to the house, or not being able to find the point where he turned the wrong way, at least he tries step by step to find the way home.
He tries to find a solution, to find the right way to go out of the mountain or to go back to a village or somewhere, just to go away from the unpleasant situation of being lost in the mountains at night, maybe.
So, I mean, I hope this never happens to you, and I hope in any case you find the solution, but this is just to tell you that he is not the one who finds a scientific solution. He's the one to find a common sense solution, trying to approach it step by step. Engineers are normally more accustomed to doing this just because maybe they were born with this or maybe they got this being in touch with many people who have these traits of their mindset.
Using a Computer Doesn't Mean Relying on It
That's very useful. It's useful in trading and especially in systematic trading. Now, we use computers, we use scripts, we use programming language to build our systems. And if we got lost with systems, in the development of systems, we have to find the way, the way back. We have to find where we made a mistake.
We give inputs, data, inputs in the computer and we get an output because these data are analyzed with some easy and simple scripts just to understand the markets we intend to trade. This information has to be analyzed by us. So, we use the computer as an aid. We use the computer as a helping partner. We don't use the computer as our boss.
Everyone Can Make Mistakes…
We don't rely on the computer completely. But we have to understand if the computer is giving us some mistaken output. We have to understand - imagine you need 2 plus 2 on a calculator and you get 5. You immediately understand this is wrong, I mean I hope so. But that's easy. In some other cases, it's not that easy.
Some other cases, we might never understand that what we got is wrong, but we have to get the chance to understand if a result is blatantly wrong and to take action to find why it is wrong and what happened. This is not difficult because we don't have to do complicated maths or to understand the programming language in that. No, we just have to understand what happened and why. And not why the computer mistook, but what we have done wrong to lead the computer to a mistake.
The Steps Needed to Solve a Problem
This is a scientific approach. So, if we stare at the monitor at something wrong and we say "mhh?", that's not scientific. Sorry about that, if you approach the problems with philosophical thinking, it might be very nice, useful in some cases, but not in systematic trading because we have to go back, to rewind and to find the bug.
That's also why I also say that it's very important to have a high debugging capability. That's part of the scientific mindset. Something is going wrong, I am the one who will find the bug, the mistake. I go step-by-step. If you have to change something in something - something in something is very nice - you should not change 10 things on the single run, because if after this change of 10 inputs or instructions you get the right solution, you will keep wondering what or which one of the 10 changes made it.
So, the scientific mindset is very simple. Goes and changes one by one and controls the output after every single change. This might sound very understandable, but believe me, it's not always like that. I myself do it wrong most of the times, because I want to test everything on a single go, so I change more inputs, I change more stuff just to find something. But then obviously I go back and say, "Wait, and now?" What made it to a winner or what made it to do something that worked? I have to go back to analyze every one on a single run to understand which one made the change.
The Scientific Mindset Isn't Necessary, but It's Very Useful…
This is important. It's just an example. If you go emotionally, you probably might get lost. If you go rationally, so your brain works in a rational way, then you might go to the goal. This is the scientific mindset. So, we don't need NASA employees or people with an IQ of 150. No, I mean, it is welcome, of course, but to be a successful systematic trader you just need to be the one who approaches problems, if you meet one, in a relaxed and systematic way, step by step.
You get to a solution step by step. You don't panic, you just go step by step. Step back if you might go back to the point where you made a mistake, or you look for a way out step by step. That's the scientific mindset we need in trading. "Scientific" might sound like a huge word: it's not. It's just the way to go step by step with a big portion of common sense in finding the solution, or at least in looking for the solution. Not always the solution is there, but we have a higher chance to find it if we proceed step by step with a scientific mindset.
So guys, if you are not an engineer, if you are not a mathematician, if you are not a scientist, no worries. It's only important you approach your personal problems, normally, in a scientific way, step by step. If you do so, if you do this normally, you are on the right track to become a professional systematic trader. If not, you can change. I mean, you don't need to change your personal life, don't get me wrong, but you can change in approaching the problems you might encounter in trading.
And it's important to know that you can do so just approaching everything step by step. That's the scientific mindset you need to become a successful trader. That's it, guys. I hope this helped. Please write in the comments what you normally do when you have a problem, so that I can know whom I'm talking to, and we keep in touch for the next contribution. Ciao, from Andrea Unger.
We'll help you map out a plan to fix the problems in your trading and get you to the next level. Answer a few questions on our application and then choose a time that works for you.
BOOK YOUR FREE STRATEGY SESSION NOW >>Andrea Unger here and I help retail traders to improve their trading, scientifically. I went from being a cog in the machine in a multinational company to the only 4-Time World Trading Champion in a little more than 10 years.
I've been a professional trader since 2001 and in 2008 I became World Champion using just 4 automated trading systems.
In 2015 I founded Unger Academy, where I teach my method of developing effecting trading strategies: a scientific, replicable and universal method, based on numbers and statistics, not hunches, which led me and my students to become Champions again and again.
Now I'm here to help you learn how to develop your own strategies, autonomously. This channel will help you improve your trading, know the markets better, and apply the scientific method to financial markets.
Becoming a trader is harder than you think, but if you have passion, will, and sufficient capital, you'll learn how to code and develop effective strategies, manage risk, and diversify a portfolio of trading systems to greatly improve your chances of becoming successful.
