A Great Day for Two New Traders

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Yesterday was a great day for our prop trading desk. My partner and our head trader killed it. One of our new traders who was a former Olympic trial swimmer put up a huge day. And on and on and on. But I want to highlight two of our new traders because we can all learn from them. For those who read Dr. Steenbarger, they are Trader B. They were both the hardest working guys in their training classes. While I am extremely proud of both of them, their results yesterday were of no surprise to me.

I am not a huge results person, but it is impossible not to discuss them after a day like yesterday. Dov, one of our new traders and absolutely the smartest trader we have ever trained, had his best day by far. This is his third month trading. Dov is a sponge. You tell him something once and he gets it. Dov got 800 on the Math SAT. He says things to me about trading where I walk away and remark,”how the hell did he pick that up from me? You shouldn’t understand that for another 6 months.”

Dov was the last guy to leave at night from his class. And I remember Dov talking about his posh new apartment but highlighting the work area he set up to rip through charts. We moved Dov recently next to one of our millionaire, killed it “back in the day” traders, who does a great job teaching our new traders. But Dov is so smart and works so hard that he will probably start teaching his new Mentor. Dov is Trader B.

And then there is Danny, a former professional golfer, who started trading 5 months ago. Danny is on schedule to be one of the best traders on our desk. Danny is the first one in every AM. I see him there at 8AM watching tape of his past trading. I know he bugs the hell out of his Mentor with late night calls asking him how he can get better.

Danny had his best day yesterday. He made a great deal of money for someone who never trades with more than 600 shares at at time. Danny is Trader B.

We have a very talented desk. And there are many other guys who work very hard. Our desk went out to celebrate the great day last night at Pat O’Brien’s on the East Side. And Danny and Dov were still smiling late into the night and from ear to ear after their trading days. But Dov and Danny teach the new trader a valuable lesson: the guys who work the hardest will make the most money. You want some good advice about trading? Be Trader B.

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