We’ve been taught since we’re young not to plagiarize. That we have to do things on our own and be independent. Don’t copy other people’s work. Eyes on your own paper. In the real world however, everything we do is built on other people’s work. Your desire to contribute and be unique however, is probably hurting your trading.
It’s tempting when trading, and when in a community to feel the desire to contribute. In order to do that in trading many feel the need to always find their own setups, their own unique take on the market. The trouble with this strategy when you’re still relatively new to trading, is that you are taking on double duty of both having to find setups, and then also having to execute them well.
What if instead you copied everybody’s work? I don’t mean blindly take a trade that someone else posts. But when I started with TCG, even when I wouldn’t be looking to take a trade, every time someone requested a ticker, I would look at the chart and try to see what they saw, and then tried to see what Dan or another experienced trader might see or say about it This way I was only looking into tickers that other people were already identifying as potential setups, or that I would get immediate feedback on my thoughts.
The most wonderful part about community is that you are not alone. Eventually after hours of looking at charts and interacting within the community, you will start seeing setups and finding trade ideas very quickly. But if your focus is on that at the beginning of your trading journey, you are adding in an extra level of stress in order to “do it on your own”.
Look at all the tickers posted, look at all the setups. Learn to see why people see what they see, match trade plans with your own personal style (and of course personal risk!!!). Then slowly overtime progress in your own style of trading. And as you do that, as you practice executing and formulate your own style - you will then add SO much back into the community that helped you. But NEVER be afraid to just plain steal plays! It’s why we’re here sharing them.
