It goes without saying that trading consistency is the key to longevity as a trader. What exactly does 'trading consistency' mean? How can you tell month after month that you are becoming more consistent instead of less consistent?
Your trading profits are only part of the story. Wild swings in account size, occasional big losses cannot be ignored even on a profitable month, It indicates that your profits more likely caused by excessive risk. On the other hand, scaling into a winner and pressing the advantage when the market is on your side is definitely a positive trait for a trader. In other words, it's OK to have big swings in the right direction.
Part of the reason that traders lack consistency is lack of discipline. Unlike a trainee trader in a proprietary trading firm, the trader at home can't get fired. They can wipe-out a SIM account one day and just start again the next day. No-one sees it. It is as if it never happened. No accountability to anyone. Bad habits become ingrained.
With the launch of the stand-along Jigsaw daytradr platform today, we are introducing a number of features specifically targeting trader discipline and consistency.
To trade consistently, you need a reliable, lightning fast platform that gives you the information you need to make informed decisions in an easy to digest manner. No matter how fast the market is moving, you need to be able to get in and out of trades. The daytradr platform is a truly multi-threaded platform aimed at the serious trader. It connects directly to your brokerage account, no need for any third party platform.
Then you need technique. At Jigsaw, we are strong advocates of trading techniques used in the proprietary trading world. We feel that it is better to promote techniques used in prop firms today than quirky techniques that have their basis in 30 year old trading books. We have 3 levels of educational materials, ranging from our free introductory course right through to an Institutional level trading course, straight from a Prop firm.
For trading consistency, we have the Jigsaw Leaderboard. A new service that is free to daytradr users. Once opted in, all trades will be sent to the Jigsaw servers. Traders are rated on a weekly and monthly basis and listed on the leaderboard. The top traders on the leaderboard will be those that are most consistent. The ranking is done based on proprietary algorithms that are based on actual proprietary trading firms "go live" criteria for new traders. The leaderboard is a true accounting of the trades you actually took - whether live or demo trading. You cannot take a trade back and you cannot reset your account.
Video - The Jigsaw Leaderboard
We feel this gives you accountability - to yourself and your fellow traders. You can remain anonymous with the use of a display name on the board but you will be rated for everything you do. That anonymity does not let you hide from yourself - something that many traders are doing by wiping their results. The consistency algorithm is one of the best ways to rate your trading abilities and track your performance over time. For those of you with low consistency ratings, you have a choice to make. You can leave the leaderboard, hide the bad news, lie to yourself that it's all going to be OK. Or you can use this as a wake up call, and start behaving as you know you should. If you are a bit lost and don't quite know what to do then you can give us a call (Skype: JigsawTrading) or email us and we can talk through your trading issues.
Not only is the leaderboard an amazing trading consistency tracking tool, proprietary trading firms have already expressed an interest in using it to find talented traders. We'll also be giving monthly prizes, starting on October to the most consistent traders.
The bottom line - hiding from your own results is not going to help you progress. If you cannot face your own performance history and use that to improve, your chances of success are slim. On the other hand, signing up to the Jigsaw Leaderboard is gives you a zero-effort way to track your consistency, have it reviewed by your peers and a information to really improve your trading.