When I’m trading, I like to have things that can quickly put me in the right trading mindset. I think it’s important for every trader to be able to place themselves in the right frame of mind before the day begins and during the day when losses, mistakes, or boredom can leave one in a negative state of mind. One of the ways I found that I could quickly achieve a state conducive to optimal trading was to watch motivational videos and commercials. I especially like Michael Jordan commercials where he talks about what it takes to succeed and be the best. It gets my blood pumping and and rapidly elevates my level of focus. In fact, any video about great athletes can do the job because I view trading as a mental sport.
For years, I wished there was a video or commercial like that specifically made for us traders. One that paid tribute to us as traders. One that shot down the skeptics in a “us against the world’ type of way. But I couldn’t find one. And that irritated me. What we do is just as tough from a mental and skill-based perspective as any sport. Why was there nothing out there for us? But then, years later, we launched OpenTrader.com. And it hit me. I was going to produce this video that I’ve always wanted. So I sat down and started writing from the heart. Writing about how we are misperceived as traders. Writing about who we are and what it means to be a trader. Writing a tribute to all those who have ever taken this incredible challenge.
When I was finished, I read it to Awais. I didn’t know what he’d think of it. But he liked it. It resonated with him as a trader. And so we set out to plan how it would become a video. It wasn’t going to be an easy undertaking to translate the vision in our heads onto the screen. But man did we have fun doing it. We’ve had a great ride so far building up OpenTrader.com, but possibly the most fun and gratifying part of it was working on this video. We ended up calling the video “We Are Traders”, and today it just hit over 200,000 views. It has now been translated into two other languages and received over 150,000 views in those. Over 1,000 traders have it as one of their favorite videos on YouTube, and some have sent us emails telling us that they watch it each day before the market open to pump themselves up.
But the other part of the video called for a movement. A movement to join us. In the beginning we were building a social network for traders built on transparency. The vision behind it was to find legitimate traders who would prove that they actually make money and then teach others through our site. But it was difficult to find such traders. And then we had our next realization. That we were very skilled and profitable traders who also had the talent to teach. So why not go out and build the best training program in the world for independent traders, and do it ourselves? And that’s when OpenTrader was reborn, and now that vision has been accomplished with the launch of our Professional Training Program.
Check out our video if you haven’t yet:
