How to find a qualified trading coach, and the six questions to ask

There is no licence for trading coaches, no register, and no exam. Anyone can use the title tomorrow. That means the filter has to be yours, and it has to be applied before you pay rather than after.

The short version

Ask three things and the field narrows fast: can I see your own trading record, what will you measure in mine, and what would you refuse to coach. A coach with a method answers all three without discomfort. A coach selling access to themselves will deflect at least two.

Why there are no credentials, and what follows

Financial advice is regulated in most countries. Coaching is not, because coaching does not — or should not — involve recommending positions. The result is a field where the only signals available are self-reported.

Two consequences follow. First, marketing quality tells you nothing; the best websites in this space frequently belong to the worst offers. Second, the absence of regulation means the burden of due diligence falls entirely on you, and most people skip it because the purchase feels like education rather than a financial decision.

Treat it as a financial decision.

The six questions

1. Can I see your own trading record? Not because a coach must be a profitable trader — some good ones are not, and coaching is a distinct skill — but because the answer reveals how they think about evidence. A good answer is a record with losses in it and a clear statement of what period it covers. Or an honest "I don't trade actively any more, here is what I did and when, and here is why I think coaching is a separate skill." The answer that should worry you: screenshots of winning trades, a verified badge from a service nobody has heard of, or deflection to student results without naming which students or how many did not succeed.

2. What will you measure in my trading, and how often? This is the question that separates a method from a conversation. Coaching that changes behaviour is a measurement loop. If nothing is measured, nothing can be shown to have changed, and you will be told you are improving on a schedule that matches your billing cycle. A good answer names specific quantities: size after a loss versus after a win, stop movements per trade, hold time on winners versus losers, the deviation rate between stated plan and executed trade, reviewed at a stated interval. The answer that should worry you: "we'll work on your mindset."

3. What would you refuse to coach? A method has a boundary. Someone who will take any client with any problem is selling hours. A good answer has a real boundary in it — "I won't work with someone trading money they need", "I won't coach behaviour before we've established the strategy has an edge". The answer that should worry you: "I can help anyone."

4. What happens if my strategy is the problem, not my behaviour? This is the trap the entire category is built over. If your method loses money when executed perfectly, then coaching you into perfect execution produces disciplined, consistent losses. A good answer: "We check that first, over a real sample, and if there's no edge we work on the strategy or I tell you to stop."

5. How is this priced, and what happens if I stop? Pricing structure reveals the business model. Monthly with an exit is a service. A large upfront with a lock-in is a product sale, and the incentive to keep you improving disappears the moment it clears. The answer that should worry you: high-pressure closing, "this price today only", a payment plan discussed before the method is.

6. Who else have you worked with, and can I speak to one of them? The request itself is the test. A coach with real clients usually has one who will take a call. The answer that should worry you: testimonials that cannot be traced to a person, or a refusal framed as confidentiality where no confidentiality was needed.

Red flags that end the conversation

• Any guaranteed return, in any form. This is not a weak signal; it is a disqualifying one.
• Signals bundled with the coaching. Two different businesses. When they are combined, the coaching exists to sell the signals, and your dependence is the product.
• No measurement of anything.
• Pressure to decide today. Nothing in behaviour change is urgent.
• A record with no losses in it. Everyone has losses. A record without them is a selection, not a record.

When you do not need a coach at all

Three situations where the money is better spent elsewhere.

You do not have enough trades yet. Under a hundred trades there is no pattern to coach. Trade smaller, keep a proper record, come back with data.

You already know exactly what you do wrong and have never tried the obvious fix. If you can name the behaviour and have not yet tried trading at a third of the size for two months, try that first. It is free and it works more often than it should.

Your problem is knowledge, not behaviour. If you cannot yet say what your edge is, in one sentence, with a number attached, then a course or a book is the correct purchase, and it costs a fraction as much.

> Indikora does the measurement half of this — reading your own trade history for the patterns a coach would look for, and reporting them with your numbers. Some people find that is enough on its own; others use it as the data a coach works from.