“Mr. Seykota himself has put together a money management track record with returns of roughly +60% net of fees over the three-decade span of his trading career…”
-Futures Magazine
Ed Seykota, first featured in the book Market Wizards has one of the best records of all time for any trader. Ed Seykota’s record is as good or better than Warren Buffett, George Soros or William J. O’Neil. He is among the trading gods with no doubt. What does he find important in trading success? Mr. Seykota has a keen focus on trader psychology above all other trading dynamics. Seykota’s website Trading Tribe spends more time advising it’s readers on proper trading psychology than anything else. At first I thought this was silly, I am not concerned with my mind I am concerned with entries and exits, with trading systems and making money, not myself. However the longer I trade and the bigger my account gets the more I see the crucial importance of a trader’s mind set in the trader’s success or failure. When a losing streak sets in the trader finds out what his underlying issues are and how he handles losing is the key to his long term success. The traders ego management determines his success as much as his trading system and risk management. An ego can cause you to let losers run and bet far too much on any one trade. An unchecked ego can destroy your account. Ed is the master of homework, trading the price action, managing risk, and letting the market show him where to enter and when to exit.