Good morning,
A couple of days ago I had the huge pleasure of meeting up with one of my school contemporaries. Having gotten top grades in his A-levels and just having finished his first year at LSE studying economics, my friend is probably one of the smartest and hard working people I know.
We were meeting to discuss my attempted run at trading so far and what my friend could do to improve his demo trading account and while we were there I asked him the question I ask all other professionals and or prospective professionals:
"What is your opinion on the current bull market run?"
Now, my friend is very switched on, but I can remember the long pause that followed after asking him this, which was then followed by something along the lines of:
"I've never thought of that before."
I didn't ridicule him, but nevertheless, I was surprised that someone so smart could not have an opinion on something so important - especially for those trading high beta stocks on the FTSE100 or S&P500 it's always essential to have an opinion.
Trading and investing is all about having an opinion; yes, you may end up on unprofitable side of a trade, but without having an opinion you'll never be able to trade successfully.
Other questions I ask prospective traders are questions like:
"If people became invincible what would your trades be to take advantage of this?"
This is a technique I stole from Richard Farleigh (a man who is basically my hero) to assess the raw idea generating ability of people. I've met many people who say they could do a great job at trading, but you ask them a question like this and they stumble.
Good luck guys,
The Masked AIM Trader
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