Brett Steenbarger, an acknowledged expert on the psychology of trading and on ways to boost trading performance, regularly shares his insights from working with other traders on the Trader Feed blog. Recently, he highlighted seven questionable things that he often hears from traders. For example, anytime a trader claims that he or she "has a feel for the market," the alarm bells start to go off:

"And I have a feel for bull****. Do you have a track record of success across a variety of market conditions? Can you document solid risk adjusted returns over time? Have you actually tested the setups that you "feel"? If the answer to these questions is no, your trading identity rests on an unproven premise. Don't be surprised when you have trouble sustaining confidence during a drawdown. When the chips are down, what will you really have to feel confident about?"

The point Steenbarger is making is not that it's impossible to have an intuitive "feel" for the market. He's simply stating that this "feel" needs to be substantiated with a lot of hard work and risk management. Alex Rodriguez may have a "feel" for being a great hitter, but he also spends hours each day, repeating simple drills and training himself to become a better baseball player.