Bon voyage to Paris to become a better trader

Bojour.   I am flying through some nasty turbulence from southern France to Paris to catch my connecting flight back to NYC.  I land, drop off our bags and my wife, grab a few hours of sleep and then head back to the airport for a flight to Toronto.  I am the chairman and a presenter at Quant Invest Canada 2012 … Read More

Our markets are broken but still the world’s best

Bonjour. As I write I am flying from Paris, the most beautiful city I have ever seen, to the French countryside for a chateau wedding.  Since there is no gogo internet access on the flight and I am sans iPad I thought I would share a story about a future trader I lunched with in Paris.  Perhaps some will see … Read More

What is Your Advice for Trading Success?

Bonjour! During some down time in Paris I met with an FX trader and later a broker who wanted to be a trader. Both spoke English but admittedly not as well as they would have liked. At times it was difficult to communicate. When we got really stuck I just wrote down my major points in English and let them … Read More

Proper position sizing for your trading

Bella, I want to start off by thanking you for all of the material you present through your blog and your book.  I look forward to your next book, I already have it pre-ordered on Amazon.  I feel like I get more educational material from the SMB Blog than I get from my own prop firm in Chicago.  I started … Read More

A sad anecdote of a failed trader

I received this email from a trader this week: Hey Mike, We talked awhile ago, about how your book “One Good Trade” has helped me and my 5 friends on the trading desk at our prop trading firm($$$$ Capital).  I have been trading for about 12 months total and about 6 months live.  I have found that your website blogs … Read More

Are You in the Right Culture as a Trader?

Do you think you should be doing better as a new or developing trader? The concerns of one SMB Trader and my discussion with him can provide some insight into the best start to your trading career and the importance of culture. Bella, I’ve been thinking about what you said yesterday about being properly prepared. I’ve been getting better in … Read More

Chill!

Here are two comments made from two SMB traders in their daily review sent to me after the close.  Both harm their results by trying too hard.  Do you do this? I am slowly becoming less and less content with just making $$$$ (note: SMB cannot talk our PnL because of compliance reasons) and calling it a decent day. I … Read More

I See Momentum Buying

I settled at my trading station wondering what to trade on this Open.  RHT? BBY? AMLN?  There had not yet been a price spike on the SMB Radar in health care yet but I would later ask what and where to buy for that sector.  BBY showed some consistent selling at 25 so I scalped that down to 24.60 on … Read More