By Michael Nauss, CMT

I recently had the privilege of participating in an insightful trading mentorship session with another experienced technical analyst – Jabir Samji. Jabir has been a CMT charterholder for 10 years and currently works as a financial planning analyst, whereas I have had extensive experience in prop firm trading and hedge funds which lead me into my analyst role here at Trade Ideas.

The session was moderated by Kaizad, who welcomed all the participants from around the globe. There were also two other mentees – Frank and Dhruv – who asked great questions during the discussion. In this blog post, I wanted to summarize some of the key lessons I learned from this veteran trading collaboration.

Combining Multiple Technical Indicators

One of the first questions was around combining multiple technical indicators to arrive at a comprehensive market analysis. My advice was to categorize indicators into trend analysis and overbought/oversold oscillators. I caution against using too many indicators from the same category as it leads to conflicting signals. Instead, I suggest choosing 1-2 preferred indicators from each bucket that aligns with your trading style and strategy. Jabir added that combining too many indicators leads to ‘analysis paralysis’. The goal should be to simplify the analysis as much as possible.

Top Books for Traders

During our discussion, we both shared our top book recommendations, which provided great insights into developing a trading mindset. Some of the popular titles mentioned were:

• Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz (for mindset training)
• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (on decision-making)
• Atomic Habits by James Clear (building habits)
• The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande (checklist approach)
• Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas (psychology of trading)

Jabir emphasized reading Jack Schwager’s Market Wizards series to learn from successful traders. Together, we agreed on consuming these books on Audible during mundane tasks to maximize learning.

Professional Morning Routine

When asked about our daily morning routine, I stressed the importance of separating trading from other life activities. I highly recommended completing exercise, family time, and other human needs before looking at the markets. Jabir also suggested reviewing the markets in a structured top-down approach, starting with the big picture indices and sectors first before analyzing individual stocks. This helps frame the macro context more effectively.

Preparing for the CMT Exams

For CMT exam preparation, I advised focusing on weaknesses first based on practice exams, but still reviewing all topics to an extent. Jabir relied heavily on video lessons that he could listen to while multitasking. He also suggested paper trading strategies learned during studies to get hands-on practice.

My key takeaways for CMT prep are:

• Use spaced repetition to review material frequently
• Prioritize practice exams to identify weak areas
• Schedule study sessions at fixed times for consistency
• Paper trade strategies to get practical experience

Managing Emotions in Trading

On managing trading psychology, I believe it’s extremely important to be aware of extreme emotions like euphoria or depression and being able to step away during those times. Having a hobby or activity outside of trading is key to reset mentally. Additionally, I suggest maintaining a journal to track emotional state. I also agree with Jabir that reviewing trades helps build self-awareness.

Some key tips on managing trading psychology:

• Track emotions in a journal to spot destructive patterns
• Step away during periods of extreme euphoria or fear
• Have interests outside of trading as a reset mechanism
• Review trades objectively to improve decision-making

The overarching theme was developing self-awareness about one’s emotional state and having systems in place to act rationally despite distorted psychology. This was a critical lesson for me as a beginner trader prone to emotional decision-making.

In Summary

This mentoring session reinforced that becoming a successful trader requires continuous learning, developing structured processes, managing psychology, and working on self-awareness. I’m very thankful to Jabir and the others for sharing their deep wisdom and experience. Veteran insights like these provide the foundation on which we can build our trading skills and profitability. I hope this information was helpful for those reading and implementing these life lessons discussed during the session.

If you found this recap helpful, do check out the full recording of the mentoring session for more context and insights. Do you have any other key takeaways from experienced traders that have helped you? Share them in the comments below!