An open letter to all traders

I'm Tim Bourquin and I'm a trader and the Co-Founder of TraderInterviews.com. My brother Emile runs the site with me (he's there on the right).

We've done just one thing here over the past 4 months - and that's talking to good traders about how they do it - how they find great trades every day and consistently make money in the markets they trade.

Let's face it - there are a lot of people out there teaching trading - but that don't actually make money trading.

I wanted something totally different for our site - something I couldn't find anywhere else. It's easy to find the "gurus" of this industry. They're typically selling software or a newsletter or access to their chat room. And some of that's OK.

But how do you find real traders who are trading from home or from their office who are actually making money? It isn't easy - but that's what we did every day for the past few months - and that's what makes Trader Interviews different from anything else out there.

So why did these traders talk to me and what's my background? Well, grab a soda pop cause I'm going to tell you a quick story.

Back in 1996, I was a police officer with LAPD. I worked the 2pm to 2 am shift in South Central. But I was also a day trader. The markets open at 6:30am here on the West Coast so I would trade stocks, options and currency, in the morning and then go chase bad guys with guns down dark alleys at night.

And believe me, the most stressful part of my day was the morning of trading. After trading all day, a high-speed car chase seemed downright relaxing...

I didn't know anyone else who was trading from home at the time, so I literally put a classified ad in the newspaper asking if any other traders wanted to meet for breakfast at a place called Hof's Hut Bakery in Irvine - (I picked that place because they have great sausage - but my quest for perfect breakfast meat is a story for another time)

Anyway, three other traders showed up that morning. And we spent two hours just talking about making money trading (and eating sausage). Even back then I was the one that asked a ton of questions. Two of the three traders were much better at it than I was. They had been trading since it meant calling a broker on the phone at Paine Weber and telling them what to buy or sell.

I learned more about what it took to really make money trading talking to those traders in those two hours than I had in the entire year before. In fact, at that moment I decided this was the best way to learn how to trade. If I could just find other traders to "interrogate" (in my police lingo), I could learn a little bit from all of them about what it takes to really make it in this crazy business.

That small group actually grew to 500 traders meeting each month in a hotel ballroom. It got so big that I was even interviewed on CNN.

I always remembered those conversations I had with those traders as the best education I ever had about how to trade well.

So a while back I went on a quest to go find other traders that had "made it." I'm a pretty good trader myself, but I'm impatient of course - I want to get to where I'm going as fast as I can.

So every time I want to get better at something, the fastest way I've found is not to read a book or take a class. The best way for me personally is to go find people that are already good at it and ask them what they're doing. How did they get to where they are? What are they doing that I can duplicate? What helped them get there faster than most people?

If I was interviewing for a Detective spot in the police department, I'd go talk to the best detectives I could find already doing the job.

When I wanted to take a stab at re-tiling our guest bathroom shower, I went down the street and talked to my neighbor who was a high-end contractor.

But the point is, the best way I know how to get from point A to point B quickly is to talk to people who've already been down that road and found success. Now, not every interview we do is a home run - sometimes you have to talk to a lot of people to get what you need. But everything along the way is valuable - not just the end result.

So when it came to trading, I did the same thing. I went out and I found the best traders I could find and asked them how they did it. I asked them questions about the charts they followed, indicators they used, timeframes they used - everything. I even asked a lot of them how much money they made (and then prayed they didn't hang up on me).

None of them did actually.

The point is I really wanted to get to the heart of the matter, which was basically, what makes you so different than the 90% of other traders out there that lose?

Now, these guys (and when I say "guys" I mean guys and gals) - these guys aren't easy to find, right? I mean they aren't selling anything, they have no desire to be an "industry guru" (whatever that means). They're happy just trading away and making a great living at home for themselves.

But they make great interviews because there's nothing in it for them do talk with me! They could care less if anyone knows their name.

I interview traders - not gurus - that's what makes this site different from everything else out there.

Ok so why DO they talk with me. Well, most I know at least in passing from my 15 years as a trader. I've either met them at an event, through my early day trading group or through a friend of a friend.

And most of them are just going me a favor. Or they are friends of friends that are doing their friends a favor.

(Yes I do call in a lot of favors to get these interviews)

The other thing is that some of them had mentors themselves - and this is just their way of doing that for someone else.

So you might be asking yourself, "OK so why are talking about their strategies? Aren't they worried that if their secrets get out, everyone will be doing it and it'll stop working?"

Let's be honest, as much as I'd like to think that my little corner of the world wide web can move the markets, I'm not that powerful. These traders know they're talking to Trader Interviews - not the Wall Street Journal.

But also, these traders knew that even as they were telling me their specific rules and steps they take each day to find their trades - they know deep down that most people aren't going to follow them! That's just human nature.

They won't believe they work, they won't put in the time to practice the skill, they'll try to tweak it thinking they can do little better - there's a ton of reasons why.

But if you are willing to give it a try and listen to what they are saying - this truly is about as close it gets to a shortcut to trading success.

You'll also get access to a new interview each week with a successful trader.

So click on the "Buy Now" button at the top of the page, and get on board with a Yearly Membership at $499. It'll be the best thing you do this year for yourself - and your trading account.

Get access to all 225+ interviews now.

Feel free to call or email me anytime.

Tim

Tim Bourquin
Co-Founder, TraderInterviews.com
Call or email me