A note from the prop desk

BellaGeneral Comments

This African Proverb above presently sits on our whiteboard, just outside the trading bullpen, on our trading desk.  It encapsulates the advantage of trading at a proprietary trading firm, and helps us raise questions about what we want to be as a trader. Let me offer five examples from the desk this week to illustrate this point. 1. Trader A, … Read More

Join SMB’s Options Desk

smbcapitalFree Daily Trading Video

In our SMBU Daily Video Seth discusses the importance of finding a group of traders to trade with. Many options traders are isolated from other options traders because of their geography This isolation causes traders not to get exposed to new ideas to enhance his or her skills as options traders Joining an options trading community provides a solution to … Read More

An anecdote from the prop desk: The unprepared trader

BellaGeneral CommentsLeave a Comment

Often new traders think they are prepared to trade when they aren’t.  They think they have done the sufficient preparation to trade and the market truth is that they haven’t. Traders who we have trained from scratch to consistently profitable have always met the market definition of prepared.  Those who have underperformed have met their definition of prepared but not … Read More

Running a Trading Desk- Why it’s so Hard

BellaGeneral CommentsLeave a Comment

I received this note from a partner at a trading firm in Eastern Europe. I thought it would be interesting to share our exchange with the trading community as many might find it educational. Dear Mr. Bellafiore, Following my email from 25 Jan of 2014 (then i sent you a review of The Playbook) i am continuing my trading development … Read More

Ideas from the Prop Desk to Improve Your Trading – The Partner Rips (Video)

smbcapitalFree Daily Trading Video, Mike Bellafiore's (Bella's) BlogsLeave a Comment

Last week I presented at #Stocktoberfest the @Stocktwits event masterminded by @howardlindzon.  My presentation was titled: 8 Ideas from the Prop Desk to Improve Your Trading.  Below is part 4 of the video series reconstructing my presentation. In this video Mike discusses: 1) Larges losses an SMB partner was taking in afterhours trading 2) The importance of understanding your edge 3) … Read More

Unlocking Trading Ideas from the Prop Desk: A Trader’s Treasure Hunt for Edge (Video)

smbcapitalFree Daily Trading Video, Mike Bellafiore's (Bella's) BlogsLeave a Comment

Last week I presented at #Stocktoberfest the @Stocktwits event masterminded by @howardlindzon.  My presentation was titled: 8 Ideas from the Prop Desk to Improve Your Trading.  Below is part 3 of the video series reconstructing my presentation. In this video below Mike discusses: 1) The importance of reviewing your past trades to find your trading edge 2) The value of learning … Read More

Ideas from the Prop Desk to Improve Your Trading – The Non-Scalable Trader

smbcapitalFree Daily Trading Video, Mike Bellafiore's (Bella's) BlogsLeave a Comment

Last week I presented at #Stocktoberfest the @Stocktwits event masterminded by @howardlindzon.  My presentation was titled: 8 Ideas from the Prop Desk to Improve Your Trading.  Below is part 2 of the video series reconstructing my presentation. You can sign up for our free daily trading video here! Mike Bellafiore is the Co-Founder of SMB Capital and SMBU, which provides trading … Read More