Round 3: In professional games, you cannot beat a professional - Benjamin Graham
Episode 3: Benjamin Graham
■ What individual investors cannot do is “win against professionals in a professional game”; what you can win with is by succeeding in your own game under your own control
This saying isn’t something spoken by general traders or businesspeople.
It is a famous quote from the traderBenjamin Graham.
(Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/8-brilliant-lessons-from-the-investor-that-taught-warren-buffett-everything-he-knows.jpg)
This person was born in London in 1894,
moved to New York at the age of 1.
Losing his father at a young age, living in poverty,
graduated from Columbia University with excellent grades and entered the financial industry.
He is famous for rising from nothing to become a multimillionaire,
but he experienced financial collapse twice before achieving success.
From those experiences, he built a careful trading style.
Incidentally, he was Buffett’s teacher.
He was not only a skilled trader but also trained many excellent disciples.
■ You sometimes see traders like this.
If I adopt the trading methods of world-renowned traders as they are,
won’t I be able to make money too?
Then I search the internet for famous traders’ quotes and trading methods,
to obtain their trading methods.
First of all, I don’t know the concrete trading methods.
Even if there were, they might be styles that are impossible to imitate.
(Hiring math PhDs, physics PhDs to develop software, thousands of trades per second on a computer)
Or they are trading methods from 50 years ago, making direct application to the modern era difficult.
The same goes for books.
And they try to look up quotes from global traders.
They think about constructing trading methods from quotes.
Quotes are fairly easy to understand, but
elevating them to one's own trading style is very difficult.
Because there is no single correct answer.
■ Then, do quotes serve no purpose at all?
The answer to this question is the quote introduced at the beginning.
What individual investors cannot do is “win against professionals in a professional game”; what you can win with is by succeeding in your own game under your own control
This quote tells us that those worries themselves are unnecessary.
You do not need to step onto the professional field; you can win on your own field.
When we say “the professional field,”
it’s easy to imagine the information warfare being intense.
Additionally
・Pressure to manage other people’s large sums quickly for results
・A powerful mindset
・A cutting-edge trading environment funded by a company
That kind of environment is not easy to set up.
As soon as you think you must stand on the same level as professionals,
individual investors are in a disadvantageous position.
And the professional trading methods developed in that environment
are not methods that individual investors can use as-is.
■ So, how do you win in your own game?
There is no clear answer,
but at least how you should think is evident.
・Incorporate trading methods and tools
The losing traders cannot do this.
There is a “train, learn, and depart” path in trading as well.
First, learn trading methods from mentors or teachers.
And while practicing, expose and correct your own trading habits and mindset.
Ultimately, trade in your own style.
Bringing in trading methods and tools from outside means
towards the goal of increasing assets,
are you going to walk step by step or accelerate by high speed?
The latter is the choice.
Sure, walking might be free,
but using the shinkansen to reach your destination quickly allows you to enjoy more things later on.
First, look at popular tools and trading methods on fx-on,
and try adopting tools recommended by someone’s blog,
to overtake the traders who are just walking.
This column cannot provide specific tools or trading methods, but
if you ask questions or inquiries on the blog, you can obtain helpful information.
Writer:Yusuke KurodaProfile: FX information product trader. While working a salaryman job, he became free from money worries through FX and binary options.
Blog:FX Information Product Trader – Verification Review Site
