The idea for this podcast episode has its roots in a trip I made to the States last year. I was at a conference and one of the speakers was 1993 Karate World Champion Ricardo Teixeira. Ricardo was explaining how he came about becoming World Karate Champion and he shared his #1 secret to achieving this success, any ideas what it was? It was something that sounds incredibly boring, but it produces big results, and that is: Mastering the fundamentals. Ricardo explained that leading up to the World Championships, he spent months and months just practising the core fundamental moves. He wasn't practising all those complicated, fancy looking moves you see in the Hollywood films. No. He spent weeks just practising a punch... Until he became so great at it that nobody else could beat him. I think this "mastering the fundamentals" approach has strong applications to trading too. Many traders, especially when starting out, think that the latest software or fanciest indicator is going to guarantee their success, but over time I think we realise that there are some core fundamentals to trading which really bring the results, and perhaps from time to time we even forget them too, so today we're going to discuss some fundamentals with our guest Martin Lembak. Martin is in a very interesting position because he has access to hundreds of different trading strategies, being traded live in the markets, so he's in a very exclusive position to see what works and what doesn't. In our chat today you'll here: Why it's important to understand the characteristics of a market before trying to create or match strategies to that market, How to choose the types of strategies that suit the personality of the market and the types of trading styles that are the most popular (and profitable) in the markets right now, Commonalities between developers of successful trading strategies and what traders can do to accelerate their progress, The fundamentals of portfolio construction, including some challenges and false assumptions of creating portfolios, Broker selection and some warning signs when assessing whether a broker is safe to use, Plus much more. So, let's get started, over to my chat with Martin. Disclaimer: Trading in the financial markets involves a substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone. All content produced by Better System Trader is for informational or educational purposes only and does not constitute trading or investment advice. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.