When to teach others (and when not to)

Don't teach before you've earned it

Every trader who has a couple of green months eventually thinks about the same thing: maybe I should teach this. Make a YouTube channel. Sell a course. Build a community. It's a tempting business — the income is more predictable than trading itself, and the audience seems to grow effortlessly. We need to be honest about why that audience exists and what teaching prematurely does to the world.

The reason most trading 'teachers' you see online exist is simple: they couldn't make trading itself work, and teaching pays better than losing. This is the unspoken survivorship bias of the entire education industry. The pros who can actually trade rarely teach — they're busy trading, and they don't need the income. The people most visible online are often the ones who failed at the thing they're now selling.

Here's the bar we'd suggest for yourself, if you ever consider this path. Five years of consistent profitability is the minimum. Across multiple market regimes — trending, ranging, volatile, dead. With a documented journal you'd be willing to show. Talking shop with peers at your level is fine and useful anytime — that's how traders sharpen each other. Charging beginners for your insights when you're still figuring it out yourself is not the same thing.

The other thing teaching does to you, the teacher, is corrupt your own trading. Once you've publicly committed to a method, you'll defend it past its expiration date because changing it would mean admitting you were wrong in front of an audience. Pros adjust silently. Public teachers can't. If you want to keep your edge sharp, keep it private until you've truly mastered it — and even then, weigh what going public costs your real P&L versus what it pays in course revenue.

Recap: don't sell trading education before five years of real consistency. Peer conversation anytime. Charging beginners early = harm in nicer packaging.