Mirror

mirror (verb)

(see also “follow”) the potentially-dangerous practice of attempting to mechanically take identical trades as another trader at the same times, especially those of a Pro trader. There’s a fine line between robotically mirroring a professional trader vs. following (watching, learning and asking oneself if you would take the same trade). So there is a “good” mirroring and a potentially destructive mirroring, and TT members are encouraged to watch and learn the how and why of the Pros’ entries and exits, while being careful about attempting to robotically mirror. This is for at least three important reasons:

1. TOOLSET — Most members don’t have the account sizes, experience, speed of execution or even the trading platforms that the master traders have. This is not an indictment on the Members; it’s a reality that can seriously harm the inexperienced mirror trader. For example, if TT master trader @Dan calls out an entry trade and then the price moves against him more than he expected, he may have a different level of risk tolerance and therefore a different stop rule that’s manageable for him but may not be for a Mirror trader.
2. TIMING — Due to the instantaneous volatility inherent in today’s market, especially with all the computer trading, it is virtually impossible to fully mirror a trade no matter how quickly it’s called out and also no matter how quickly a Member trader can respond and execute. This latency invariably causes unforeseeable gaps between the master trader’s and the mirror trader’s results, with possibly devastating consequences.
3. TRANSLATION — The Pros at TT take their stewardship of the TT membership’s capital preservation and growth very seriously, and with that comes an emotional sense of responsibility for mirrored trades gone bad even though all have understood and even agreed by contract that EACH TRADER IS 100% RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HIS OR HER OWN TRADES, FROM TOP TO BOTTOM. There is a human element even for a Pro trader, where the pressure to stay perfectly accurate in their translation of keyboard and mouse activity to the Zoom share (and the Pro room) *while also staying* up-to-the-minute in their entry and exit calls is only compounded when they learn that a member blindly attempts to mirror them on an execution, only to get burned by a few seconds or pennies of a missed level… which, in the micro-seconds world of intraday trading can translate into huge losses if not managed with precision and skill.

In summary, there are 3 things working against the robotic mirror trade scheme, which together remind us that the calls are there only to (a) demonstrate how the Pros think; plus (b) provide additional ideas for A+ setups which still must be vetted by each potential trader:

• Toolset (members aren’t generally equipped on the level needed to even get close to mirroring successfully);
• Timing (members can’t physically enter and exit simultaneously with the Pro who’s calling the trade); and
• Translation (the chance for miscommunicating and/or misunderstanding each critical detail of an exact call is high)