The Mental Strategies of Top Traders: The Psychological Determinants of Trading Success

1.1. A HISTORY OF SUCCESS

The fundamentals of education and work experience are just a beginning. In order to develop a true psychological profile and determine whether a candidate has the trader's edge, you must consider his history of success. What is a history of success? As cliché as it may sound, you will know a history of success when you hear it. Success manifests itself in a number of ways. For example, it could be the story of a young Russian immigrant with one year of high school who arrived in the states and one year later received a full scholarship to a pre–Ivy League prep school, followed by a magna cum laude degree from an Ivy League college, making his way to M&A at a major investment bank and eventually trading convertible bonds at a $1 billion hedge fund. But success can also be found in the candidate who was a Rhodes scholarship winner and played on his country's Davis team representing his country in international competition. Basically, a history of success connotes drive, goal-directedness, conscientiousness, and discipline.

Of course, you can also gain a lot of information from reference checks. I want to know how good a candidate is relative to all the people with whom the reference has worked. I am looking for superlative assessments that sound like the following report on Richard, given by a senior portfolio manager who had worked with him at his previous position:

Richard was a "tremendous hire" and a "perfect candidate" and he could not recommend him ...