Psychology: The Five Trader Personality Types, Which One Are You?

I’ve learned from over a dozen years as a coach to top traders that traders, like criminals, can be profiled (no offense.) In fact, just 5 Trader Personality Types encompass all the personality variations I’ve ever encountered, if one includes hybrids. (By the way, these five types have nothing in common with standard academic or corporate personality models.) Over the last 5 weeks I’ve presented these Five Types to Trader Planet readers. They correspond to the acronym AWARE.TM

‘A’ stands for Agrarian

You may not realize it, but farmers were the first traders and they still dominate the futures market in Chicago. Agrarians are hard-working, independent individuals who take a careful, consistent and conservative approach to life and to trading/investing. They like things to be orderly and predictable.

‘W’ stands for Warrior

Warriors see the market as a battleground. For them, trading is an intense competition that requires mental toughness and aggression. Warriors naturally dominate their environment, and when they can’t dominate, they do their best to join the winning side.

The second ‘A’ stands for Artist

Artists are right-brain dominant, which means they like novelty, so they explore and create, often to a fault. Artists are possibility people, so they over-rely on intuition and have a tenuous relationship with their trading rules.

‘R’ stands for Realist

If you approach trading as a business you are a Realist. Nothing wrong with that, but you should understand that it is only one of the 5 perspectives. All successful traders are Realists to some extent, but pure Realists focus almost entirely on the nuts and bolts of trading and the bottom-line. They only care about what works so they never ask “Why?” They simply want to know “How?”

‘E’ stands for Engineer

Engineers are detail oriented and rarely make mistakes because, like doctors, they have been taught that mistakes can kill, or at the very least cost them money. Therefore, they are conservative, calculating and methodical when it comes to risk-taking, both in trading and in life. Many Engineers have a critical inner voice that monitors and evaluates their every move.

YOUR FREE SELF-ASSESSMENT

From this brief review you might already know which type you are, but few traders are pure types. It’s more common, and actually better for your trading, if you are a hybrid. You can take a free Self-Assessment here. After you take the assessment, you can call me for a free 15 minute consultation, as well. Look for the consultation request form on my website. There’s no obligation to purchase anything.