I was thinking yesterday in my way to the gym that one should approach trading a certain market in the way a baseball hitter would approach his/her at-bat.

Would I be willing to face Mariano Rivera with overweight and relative ignorance of hitting mechanics?

Hitting skills are acquired at early ages. The grip of the bat, the transference of body weight from back to front when swinging, keeping the eyes on the ball, stay on the tip of your feet, hip movement, recognizing if the pitch is a fast ball or any thing else, and such and such are skills that the hitter begins to practice at about eight years old. Only the daily improvement in such skill will allow him/her to fight an at-bat against a regular pitcher.

MLB’s players take batting practice before each of the 162 games during regular season. They never stop seeking improvement their hitting skills. You see a Derek Jeter that goes on December to Florida for taking some swings, Robinson Cano, Yankees’ 2nd baseman, goes with his dad to his country and both train together on the hitting mechanics, Arod makes swings at his pool.

Also a hitter’s odds are always against him. Actually 33% probability of getting on base by making a swing is a very good average since most of the time a good hitter will fail on the main goal of his at-bat.

The important question is what mechanics do you think a wannabe-trader should learn to start as a trader? What kind of routines would you propose him? So far I have an answer but I’d like to see you speaking your mind.