I have heard from three reputable day trading firms who were concerned about this market. I have received email after email from experienced traders complaining about their performance of late. Their traders have not been doing well. They were worried about the volume drying up going forward. I will share what I relayed to these firms: get your traders in the right stocks.

I have not had a negative trading day in three weeks. The market is not as easy as it was in September and October. But again there were opportunities. And this is all we can ask for. FDO was not difficult. CNQ was not difficult. GYMB offered opportunities. If you did not make money today it was your fault.

Why did I make money today? I was mentally prepared to trade. I fretted about the right stock for me on the Open. Before our AM Meeting I thought about the best stock FOR ME. During our meeting I considered the best stock FOR ME. After our meeting I scrutinized what would be the best stock FOR ME. I chose FDO. There was no chance that I was not gonna be positive. None. I was prepared. All I had to do was execute.

And FDO threw a few curves at me. I bought 3 lots at 30.15 when it first broke through 30. That was a rip. I loaded the boat around 30 at another point. The market headed lower and I got shaken out. Rip. But I bought FDO back when it really didn’t go down. I gave away one lot just before it made its move from 30 to 31. But still after all of that I had a good day trading FDO. But what else was gonna happen? I had won the battle before the day started by picking the best stock FOR ME.

I have traded markets where it was impossible to make money. This is not one of them. I apologize for being so blunt but if you are not making in this market then 1) you lack discipline, 2) you need to get better. It is not the market. Saying so may help you feel better about yourself but it’s false. At one of the better trading firms on the Street a majority made over 1k today. Our most disciplined traders all made money today.

I graduated from law school. I run my own trading firm. At times I wonder if it is unrealistic for others to meet the standards that I set for myself. This is nonsense. I live by the standards that my boss sets. My boss is the market. And my boss is demanding and tough. But you know what. When it is tough then we do what is tough. What other choice do we have? I know I am not putting on a suit and practicing law. That isn’t gonna happen. So I better figure out this market.

At our firm we spend 99 percent of our time teaching, and working on skill development. This is certainly most important. But any good teacher understands that this is sometimes not enough. And the one thing that is hardest to teach new traders is how to compete. This is the other one percent. This job is not supposed to be easy. You are not entitled to make a living as a trader. There are very bright, better capitalized, trading competitors thinking about how to beat you in the market. And I love this part of my job. I love beating the quants. I think it’s funny that they think they can write a dopey program that can trade better than me.

Why can’t they beat me? Because I will never let them. I will not tolerate being beaten by the market. If I get beat one day then I come home and obsess about succeeding the next day. I think about every single thing that I need to do to profit the next day. I consider every variation that can be thrown at me. I think about the best stocks to trade and what prices to trade them out. I consider the different ways these stocks will trade at certain prices. I prepare myself mentally for any challenge. And then the rest is just a matter of staying disciplined.

And for those that trade around me there is one thing that is very clear: I am the most disciplined trader on our desk. I didn’t just arrive at this point. I worked at it. I have visualized my weaknesses and eliminated them. For example I used to double down on stocks. I visualized myself being tempted to double and not doing so. I did this for 15 minutes everyday for three months. I don’t double down anymore. I used to thrown away money midday. I worked on this with visualization exercises. I don’t lose money midday anymore.

Tomorrow we will get back to skill development. The good news is that you can correct your lack of discipline. The good news is that there are plenty of traders making good money in this market. The best news is that the past is the past. And the market will not judge you tomorrow on how you traded today. Tomorrow you can start getting better.

Best of luck with your trading!