FAIR VALUE GURU

“Don’t wait for a guru. Your life is your guru.”
~ Krishna Das

A line I heard from a professional trader plays on my mind constantly…

“No one can teach you to become rich.”

“No one can teach you to become a trader.”

I really believe this to be true.

I’m a teacher of sorts. Well, I’m someone who likes to talk about trading and help people figure it out, but I’ve found out some unusual things in the process.

Firstly, people can’t figure out trading until they figure themselves out to a higher degree.

The old saying that you are your own worst enemy is never more true than when you apply it to a losing trader.

Confidence, conviction, setups. It’s all a game of perception and self awareness.

I’m fond of saying that every tick makes money for someone.

There are infinite combinations of winning combinations.

Every trade, like every trader, is different from the next one.

I almost want to use the term “snowflake” but we’ll keep going.

On the subject of education, different schools of price action theory spring up almost like clockwork, with one target demographic in mind: the struggling trader.

Foolproof models, insane risk reward, young traders going from former dropout losers to self made millionaires.

All the social media clickbait, present and correct.

People gravitate to this stuff in the hundreds of thousands and the multi level marketing funnel of Adsense revenue clicks into high gear.

Maybe YouTube is the real market maker?

Anyway, the point is this:

If every trade is different, and every trader is different, what is the value of a guru?

I’ll tell you. It’s fundamentally zero if it results in a dependency on their every word.

There are no gurus in markets. There are some bona fide wizards, legitimate geniuses and a whole raft of helpful, successful traders trying to pull the next person up the mountain.

But they’re not your guru.

You are.

Conviction is a term that’s slightly abused in trading. Conviction is an inner state of strong belief.

Inner state.

You can’t believe in another person’s words, clout and results more than your own experience.

Taking it further, it’s impossible to have conviction in something you are unwilling and unable to prove.

There has only ever been one way to do this and that is your way.

That simple truth either causes frustration or a sign of relief.

Would you rather be made wealthy in someone else’s image?

Go to Twitter every time you win and shout out everyone and your mother like it’s the Oscars?

Or, are you quietly convicted, full of self belief in your own clarity, authority and strategy, knowing that the journey is always a work in progress?

Fully confident that you know best what to do with your time and money.

Isn’t that the entire point of this?

When it comes to gurus, don’t believe the hype. The best teacher, the most suitable person who can help is the one who cares more about your success than what they get from it.

They aren’t preaching the good word on a single timeframe and calling everything else blasphemy.

They’re not paranoid with their own delusions and claiming the world is out to get them.

They’re fit for service, not shrouded in mystery and clickbait personal branding.

Fair value in markets is achieved when a buyer and seller agree on a price.

A mutually beneficial transaction that is of equal perceived benefit to both parties.

Next time you look to someone to help, ask yourself whether they are going to help you access your own conviction, or loaning you theirs at a premium?

To close this out, consider the history of the 4-minute mile. Once it was broken by Roger Bannister in 1954, over 1700 athletes have achieved the feat.

Did they learn how to do it from Roger, assuming his running style would perfectly fit or even surpass their own capacity, cadence, cardio and physical dynamics?

No.

They had conviction.

He shifted the paradigm of possibility.

They did the rest.

A trailblazer isn’t a guru.
A teacher isn’t a guru.
A trader isn’t a guru.

They’re just guides.

Be your own guru, and exchange fair value when it suits you.

P.

P.S. Happy 4th July to my American readers!