It’s probably not what most of you imagine. And I’m going to help you find it. I promise.

You’re going to go through a six step exercise to find it. But before the first step you need to know that to find the secret sauce to trading success you first have to understand what’s behind  the ‘presenting problem’ or your ‘chief complaint’.

My educated guess is that your presenting problem is some variation of either the generic ‘I’m unhappy with my trading results, or a specific variation of the the more personal ‘I’m so frustrated making the same mistakes’.

In my clinical training I learned that the presenting problem is not necessarily the actual diagnosis or what needs to be treated. What needs to be treated is the underlying cause(s) of the presenting problem (e.g. insomnia is a presenting problem that requires treating an underlying anxiety or depression or situational circumstance such as rotating shift work insomnia).

Still with me? I hope so, because you’ll get to the secret sauce if you do the exercise below.

To know what the secret sauce is you have to go through a diagnostic process of sorts. One of the the first steps in diagnosing involves a process of ruling out possibilities one by one in an informed systematic fashion.  Eliminate what’s it not. The idea of first ruling out possibilities, continuing to narrow the list down to find the real issue was drilled into me in my first clinical internship.

Here’s a general exercise for traders to help find the secret sauce. Because I’m not there to guide you during this exercise, its important to know the more honest you are with yourself during this exercise the more you’ll get out of it. Follow the steps of the exercise below and you’ll get to your secret sauce.

Step one –  Get a piece of blank paper. Don’t read on until you have your paper in front of you. If you bypass this step you won’t get the most out of this exercise.

Step two – I want you to think about all the things you’ve added to your charts and your trading. If you’re like most traders you probably add something when things aren’t going as well as you hoped. There’s probably many more items the longer you think about it.

Step three – go ahead and write down all the things you’ve added to your trading process or method over time. This can include different chart types, different annotations on charts, special software showing order flow imbalances or anomalies, indicators, chat rooms, seminars, people you follow on Twitter, even books or blogs you follow. I’m serious, go ahead and and list each one on a separate line, and leave at least two or three lines between each item on your list. Still with me? Good job, I know this is probably not fun but it will help you find the secret sauce.

Step four – next to each thing on your list jot down how long you you used it, and note whether you had a good run in your P&L (if you even had a good run) with that item. If the item never contributed to a positive run in your P&L note that as well. Did you end up giving all the profits back in a subsequent bad run? Note that, but don’t put a star by that item. If you gave back all the money, no star for it! Be honest here.

Step five – look at your list. Is there an item that has contributed to sustained success? If so put a star by it. Remember, if you ended up giving all the profits back….no star!

Step six – If you have one or more stars on your list, you’re ahead of the pack. Go ahead and write down how well that item has worked for you across various market conditions.

So, do you have any stars on your list? if you so, do you know when to lean on them or when to shift to another starred item based on changing market conditions? No stars at all? That’s okay, that’s nothing usual, no starred items is common for traders who haven’t made the turn yet. You’re actually part of the majority of traders.

The secret sauce? It’s not really the starred items (if you have them). The secret sauce is YOU.  Knowing when to lean on one item or not. In other words, the secret sauce is typically not one thing, it’s more about knowing how to use those things (assuming you have starred items).

Whether you have any starred items or not is important information. It’s highly likely that more market information such as interesting order flow software showing you imbalances or other anomalies, or a new indicator, chat room or whatever, etc. is not your secret sauce to sustained success.

This is something I see all the time, with both successful traders (about half my coaching  clients are traders who’ve been successful prior to coaching) and not successful traders. Traders get caught in the vicious cycle of thinking more information will lead to better results. In reality, the best information you could use is more  information about your own internal market; what triggers you to make the same mistakes.

Trading is a business, a successful business requires a solid plan, commitment of time, capital, and focused energy and attention on the right things. And  in my experience the most important item in your trading  is YOU. How much do you invest in yourself? Developing honest self-awareness is what I’m talking about.

With limited capacity to take on new clients I’m only accepting traders who are absolutely committed and a good fit. If you think you’re one, email me first, if you’re still serious, we will have a phone/Skype chat to see if it makes sense to work together. I prefer to choose my clients as much as they choose me. You’ll know why once we talk. My self-paced course is another option.