The Trader Meetup Dilemma (Part 4)

Internal ego conflict could be a main reason why I have a difficult time resolving the dilemma of organizing a trader Meetup. While I outwardly say ego has no place in trading and outwardly refuse to associate with egotistical traders, perhaps deep inside I view myself as one of the same.

Let’s review why I might balk at organizing a free trader Meetup and being fully transparent about the totality of my strategy and experience.

One reason to hold back could be inflated ego. If I am arrogant then I may erroneously view personal knowledge as uniquely mine and therefore highly valuable. I may be willing to share—for the right price—but I would otherwise look to keep it secret. I generally do not believe any new ideas really exist when it comes to investing, which would make this is an ego issue. Holding back would therefore reflect an inflated view of myself.

Another reason to hold back could be because I am actually special. Everyone has access to the strategies I implement but I have survived 10+ years as a full-time trader with no other source of income. With hopes of collaboration, I have looked high and low for other full-time retail traders and have found hardly any. This suggests that I am unique. If I have succeeded where others have failed then I truly do have something of value and I would be selling myself short in giving it away for free. This is about capitalism, not ego.

Another reason to hold back is because too much transparency can be irresponsible. I’m sure many compliance firms would agree. Holding back may therefore be good business sense rather than anything related to ego.

As discussed here and here, SOP is to hold back when it comes to “proprietary information.” Although I have seen strong ego to be common among traders, I do not think this completely explains the SOP because I believe some successful (i.e. special and unique) retail traders do exist and I certainly believe the industry as a whole is successful (mostly due to raising assets). Again, a reliable money-making strategy is to be sold rather than given away. That is capitalism, not egoism.

The source of my reluctance will determine my future course of action. If my reluctance is a matter of ego then perhaps I should seek psychotherapy. If my reluctance is based on other reasons then I need to look further into what I can do (if anything) short of organizing a completely free Meetup.

I must side with the latter because I have laid out three good reasons to hold back that are unrelated to trader ego.

At least for the time being, I will consider this matter resolved.