Trading with ADHD/Does ADHD make you a better trader?
Hello!
I need testimonies....I was diagnosed with ADHD two years ago. Because of severe sleep deprivation caused by
my undiagnosed ADHD I was not able to finish college...During the pandemic I was searching for a job but the
market was tight, and like most Adhders, I'm not really cut out for traditional work environment involving a hierarchy with someone above myself
giving me orders all day long....So someone told me about Propietary trading firms offering traders to trade their
own capital provided they pass their evaluation tests. So I learn how to trade for a year, learning the basics was not
the most difficult, but finding a strategy that work and stuff like that was the most challenging, all the more that my
ADHD makes me very impatient and impulsive at times, so when things don't go as fast as I wish, I'm tempted to give up.
But lately I passed an evaluation and I am now officially a prop trader. If someone had told me years ago that I would
become a trader I would have never believed it...I've always disliked finance, to me it was all very virtual and not tangible so.
The last four months I was followed up by a coach who told me that I made progress quickly and that I was able to replicate
easily what he taught me in class in live conditions, which to him is the most difficult to most of his students....and that I made
progress super fast. So despite my lifelong dislike for finance, maybe my ADHD has something to do with me being a good trader
to my great surprise...I've read articles about how trading is the perfect fit for people with ADHD....I am medicated btw, so it helps
me wait and be patient when I'm waiting for a pattern to form and it's not coming right away (sometime I need to be 2 hours into the
London session for the pattern to start formin...it varies daily, thats what I love about trading, the markets are different every day)....but the fact that I'm performing very good, even way better, than in class is maybe due to my ADHD;....I'm super happy I was able to find a stream of income (and a very good one) that is not a 9-5 job...
It also a revenge on all the people that called me out in college for being lazy...especially all my female classmates who badmouthed me
behind my back because I was an underachiever at that time...It feels so good to think that I earn 5 times as much as them by working
twice as less as them...(I only trade the beginning of the london session, so from 9am to 12am)...Finally every dog has its day... yess💰💰💰💰💰💰
Still, the correlation between how many times you've jerked off in the toilet stall and how well you're trading is higher.
high correlation, but it's a necessary-but-not-sufficient trait. If masturbation was sufficient I'd be much wealthier
I mean, I do see lots of people tick some boxes for the adhd or on the spectrum. Some are better than others but some is not, it really depending on a lot of other things as sometimes your emotions should not massively implicate your action, but sometimes the hunch take you out from a deep sunk hole. Id say it helps as people are more fast learner, but interms of long term career wise, id say proper adhd might not be your best friend to have. Tho some of the natural elements does help, more importantly is some elements that also
might blow you hard in the face
Congrats dude! Keep working, growing, perfecting!
Get out of the ADHD is a disease/disability/real-thing mindset. I was told I had ADHD as a kid, took meds for it, and let it serve as the excuse for a lot of bad behavior. Is organization and discipline harder for some people based on their family background and does upbringing impact brain development and make it more more difficult to concentrate for some people? Undoubtedly yes. I tend to subscribe to the view that ADHD is a coping mechanism for a certain type of childhood trauma. Grow up in a certain way as your brains developing and yes you will be distractible and disorganized. You will be more inclined to give up early because you lack the confidence to finish.
Throwing my own diagnosis away was the greatest decision I ever made. I think if you really look objectively at the ADHD literature and the problems with psychology research in general you will find an overdiagnosis and overmedication problem that you more than likely fall under. I'm not a doctor but I also have experienced the feelings your describing of having a tendency to give up and blame ADHD. The truth is that it enables you to be weak. When the time is right look into getting off the meds because theres no such thing as a free lunch. It took months for me to feel normal after throwing them away.
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental condition which is not just a mindset and definitely is a real thing. It has been found that up to 50% of people who are diagnosed with ADHD in childhood will find their symptoms do not persist into adulthood. Those of us who continue to experience ADHD into adulthood will also continue benefiting from medication. Owning the diagnosis is an important step towards managing ADHD symptoms for many people.
I agree with you though - I don't think it’s helpful to view ADHD as a disability, disease or excuse for poor performance. ADHD symptoms are just part of who you are (if you have it) and some symptoms can be improved through behaviour change and/or medication. No one is really interested in excuses so there's not much point in offering ADHD as one!
A huge benefit I find in having ADHD is the 'Hyperfocus' (I think it's sometimes also called 'ADHD Flow'?). I imagine that it would be an asset in trading
I am in trading and do find that the hyperfocus aspect can be extremely useful, especially when applied to a topic you are interested in. With that said some of the other aspects of ADHD that some may experience including procrastination and overthinking things certainly don't help. Overall I do think it can be a great asset and that the benefits outweigh the cons.
I half agree with the_lonely_traveler and half agree with you. It's not easy giving up medication as a true ADHDer (not a fake adderall addict) because one literally cannot function w/o it. But personally I was able to lower my daily dosage (sometimes I'll even skip it on any given workday) after I developed strategies and habits that help me stay on track. Hyperfocus is amazing when modeling for example (I can go hours non-stop and even forget to eat or go to the bathroom) but on the flip side I can miss appointments or forget about other stuff I should be doing. Starting and stopping tasks is super hard for ADHDers so I use 15/25/55min timers on my smartwatch for EVERYTHING I do, even at home after work. Happy to share some of the strategies I learned and tested over the years...
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