Interview with Justine Pollard of Smart Trading
Could you tell us a little about yourself?
I am a private stock market trader, trading educator and mother of two. I love trading the markets and sharing and teaching what I do. It is my way of giving service to other budding traders and educating them on the keys to successful trading.
How did you get started trading?
When I was 18 my Grandfather took me aside and gave me a list of shares that he recommended I buy with the money I had saved up from my part-time job. I followed that advice and invested into the four shares he recommended. This was during the early 90’s bull market, where anyone could make money. Five years later I sold those shares for a nice healthy profit and put it down for a deposit on an investment property. Then after watching the continued rise and falls that followed in the market after I had exited, I realized that it was a shear fluke that I got out when I did. I continued my trading education and fell in love with charting and have not looked back since.
How long have you been trading now?
It was 18 years ago I bought my first stocks in the market and it continued to be a hobby and a huge interest, and then became a full time career in 2001.
What do you like best about trading?
Lifestyle. Being able to have time with my kids and work from home. I have my trading completely systemized and only spend 30 to 40 minutes per day on trading.
What markets do you trade?
I have traded a range of markets over the years from options, warrants, shares, CFDs and these days just focus on share and CFD trading.
What style of trading do you use?
I have a long-term share investment strategy and a medium term CFD swing trading strategy. Both strategies involve running a mechanical scan and then selecting from a list of shares based on my trading rules and following strict money management rules to position size and manage the trades as they progress. With the goal of cutting my losses short and letting my profits run.
What have been the biggest influences on your development as a trader?
Technical analysis was a huge influence on my trading. I just love charts and following trends and finding breakouts. Next biggest influence was money management. Position sizing, trailing stop losses, pyramiding and handling windfall profits – these are what make me profitable in the market.
What is the one biggest lesson that you have learnt since starting trading?
Never let your ego get the better of you and always stick to your trading plan and money management rules.
About Your Trading Coaching
How did you get interested in coaching other traders?
I was asked to teach a trader how I do everything in the markets. He wanted me to take him under my wing and train him in everything I do. I really enjoyed this experience and he passed the word around and before I knew it I had more people knocking on my door wanting to learn from me.
Do you focus on coaching of one particular area of trading, e.g. risk management / psychology or finding trades?
Risk management is my biggest focus and I have three out of the 11 sessions of my Smart Trading Plan & System Development course just focused on money management. Anyone can buy a share, it was what you do next with the trade that will make you successful. That is risk management and having the psyche to follow your management rules.
How do you work together with your clients? E.g. phone / email / screen sharing?
Through online courses with mp3 audio recordings, pdf notes and supporting video. As well as through discussion forum, phone and teleconference sessions.
What sort of results do your clients get after coaching with you?
Honestly, they are mixed, as it depends on the kind of markets and experience my clients have already had. I have had traders email and tell me that they have made a 20 to 30% returns in their first year of trading, to others that have come out with a small loss.
The first year of trading is about survival and if I know my client has survived their first year of trading with most of their capital intact I know they have learnt a lot about trading and about themselves and their mistakes, and managed to follow strict money management rules to survive long enough to learn. And then I love hearing, how from there on, their trading returns have soared.
The real experience comes from trading the markets and unfortunately that first year may not be large sums of money. It is about surviving. Trading is a journey of self discovery and psychology. It is one thing to know what to do, but to actually do it for real in the markets is another. Eventually you learn to let the ego go and stop watching the market all day and just follow your trading rules and let the market be. If you are passionate, determined and grateful for all the market offers, the profits will come.
What is the most satisfying part of coaching traders?
Receiving emails from clients telling me how my courses have supercharged their trading and how they have turned themselves around into profitable traders.
What is the biggest but most easily fixed mistake that you see traders make?
Not taking the time to complete their trading plan. The need to get into the market is so strong that they put this off and it is not until they have been trading for a while and not succeeding that they realize they still have not completed their plan. It is a critical element to successful trading, along with the ability to be able to follow it. It is one thing to know what to do, it is another to actually do it – that is where the psychology of trading comes in.
Do you recommend journals or other record keeping as an important part of trading?
I recommend my Smart Trader Spreadsheet that is aimed at tracking and managing your trading business. As well as keeping a self awareness journal where you write down everything that went through your mind when you were trading or looking at the markets that day. Analysing this at the end of each week and writing down what you have learnt about yourself so that you can recognize any weaknesses that are developing.
What are the most common issues that you see in your clients that prevent them from becoming better traders?
This goes back to Question 1. I am still amazed, after drumming in the importance of a trading plan through my courses and book, that traders still do not take the time to complete their plan. They may start and have good intentions, but they just want to get into the market and start doing it without finishing the plan first. Then don’t go back to finish it off as become focused on the market movements each day.
Another issue, after a run of losing trades, I have seen traders get cold feet in the market and cut other trades, that would have otherwise been profitable and would have more than made up for the losing trades. But the fear of losing profits then becomes the next issue and so they cut other trades to hang on to what is left. Unfortunately, as a trader we will never know which trades will be winners (and hindsight is always wonderful). The losing trades will always be the first to go and the first trades a trader exits and this can be disheartening at first to take those losing trades up front. But that is how trading starts. The first trade that will usually be exited will be a loss, as these trades have a much shorter hold time and you need to let the profitable trades run. This is so much harder than it sounds to do.
Plus, it is our beliefs about ourselves that are reflected back by the market. For example, if you believe you are not worthy enough and it is impossible and why me, nothing ever works for me, the market will prove you right. We bring all our own biases into the markets and the market will show you the way and show you that what you believe deep down may be true, as you can sabotage yourself in the market through your beliefs. This is something else that traders need to work on if the profits are not showing after a period of time, and it is not a reflection of the markets performance.
General Advice
What advice would you give traders who are just starting out?
Take the time to write a trading plan with strict money management rules before you even start in the markets. This is one of the top mistakes that traders make before that start out.
What 3 books do you recommend traders read?
Smart Trading Plans by Justine Pollard
Secrets for Profiting in Bull & Bear Markets, Stan Weinstein, McGraw-Hill, 1988
Trading in the Zone, Mark Douglas, New York Institute of Finance, 2000