Frankly, I don’t think about Alpha.

Coach Noah Davidson —

Those are the first words out of Noah Davidson’s opening remark when I asked him what Alpha means to a trader. As a veteran trader with decades of experience and a star mentor who has taught students to become successful traders, I was a bit stunned to hear this answer. Of course, it gets better…

Noah: “Alpha is irrelevant because my goal is focused on myself. Instead of focusing on Alpha, you focus on how you can become a better trader today versus yesterday. I don’t compare myself to the market. I compete with myself. The market is just the market.”

“The world we live in today is constantly chasing after money, position, and status. Most people think being an active trader/investor is all about money and that’s where most people are wrong.”

Noah: “You want to think about how to outperform in life. It’s not about beating the market. There is no such thing as living a bad life yet still being financially successful. Some people cheat and take the shortcut to get wealthy and what happens to them? They get smacked back down harder than ever. Why? Because they did not spiritually align to have a fulfilling life, to begin with.”

Pearl: “What are some of the top qualities that you’ve seen where traders have long term success?”

Noah: “They are simple. They are in total control of the risk. You treat every trade as if it’s a loss to start with before you think about winning. You pad yourself on the back to taking small losses and avoid catastrophe and you become consistent. Its all about risk management.”

Pearl: “What has the market taught you?”

Noah: “The market shows everyone’s personality weakness. It shows us our cognitive flaws, our confirmation bias and our decision-making challenge through prospect theory. Being alpha is not being better than the market, it’s a process to become a better self. Everything else follows. You never say you have arrived, or you know what’s going to happen. There are always the next challenge and the next phase of knowledge seeking. You are on a journey and its never-ending for a lifetime.”

Pearl: “What is your advice to traders who are still learning to grow and outperform?”

Noah: “Don’t focus on just learning the strategies and the analysis. It’s useless. Trading is a mentality and a psychological state. Learn how to take small losses and control your emotions.”

Noah’s final thought: “Alpha to me is inner peace.”

My hour with Noah has been so enlightening, I stayed awake that night thinking through my own life lessons and who I want to be. Jokingly, I’ve described this moment much like the Padawan Apprentice learning from the Jedi master to seeking spiritual truth rather than just developing skills with the lightsaber. After all, winning is a mentality.

Thou shall not desire Alpha but learn to procure the best of yourself to perfect your craft and all will follow.

Coach Noah Davidson —

Stayed tuned for more to come.

Access the first part of the Alpha series “The Story of Alpha, Part 1: Does Alpha really exist?” here.

Pearl Li. The Theta Finder. In the Making.

Pearl Li previously has been a product management professional for more than 10 years working at well-known companies such as Amazon and Nielsen Company. She took the leap in 2016 with Elite Legacy Education to learn about building long term wealth through financial market trading/investing. In 2018, Pearl happily left her job to pursue investing/trading fulltime producing theta style trading that generates monthly cashflow. She is thrilled to be a voice on the Tackle Trading platform to share her transformation as she goes through various phases of her growing experience.

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