It’s important to adopt a trading strategy that fits your personality. But first you need to define yourself as a futures trader. There are three basic trading personalities: the dominant trader, the detached trader and the dependent trader.

The Dominant Trader: My way or the highway. The dominant trader thirsts to be in control. Intensely competitive, the dominant trader must win at all costs. He approaches everything in life as a contest to be won. Like a hunter, he is constantly scanning the market looking for weaknesses to exploit. Because he will do anything to win, the dominant trader assumes this trait in his competitors, causing him to be untrusting. He views emotions with disdain as weaknesses. Anything that cannot be controlled must be ignored. The effort makes him even tougher and less flexible. Unfortunately by ignoring his emotions, the dominant trader loses the ability to control their effects, which can affect his trading. Dominant traders feel they are above the rules. They do not take orders or accept advice and may break the rules to have their way. Dominant traders are interested only in their own pontifications. They talk fast and loud and interrupt often. Their speech is punctuated with sharp, jabbing gestures. The goal of the dominant trader is to control every aspect of his world. Unfortunately, the market cannot be controlled so the dominant trader is perpetually frustrated. [Read more…]