{"id":22805,"date":"2013-01-05T16:37:49","date_gmt":"2013-01-05T21:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/?p=22805"},"modified":"2013-01-08T09:29:17","modified_gmt":"2013-01-08T14:29:17","slug":"should-this-trader-make-a-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/should-this-trader-make-a-comeback","title":{"rendered":"Should This Trader Make a Comeback?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Below is an interesting trading anecdote I received via LinkedIn. \u00a0I asked the writer if I could share his trading experience with our community. \u00a0He agreed. \u00a0The names and places have been changed for compliance reasons and we have no interest in saying anything negative about anyone or any firm on this blog.<\/p>\n

What I find interesting about his note is:<\/p>\n

1) Good traders are not always good teachers.<\/p>\n

2) Trading strategies that worked in the past may not going forward.<\/p>\n

3) Trading is a tough sport<\/p>\n

4) Some catch a bad break and start during difficult market conditions. \u00a0One of the first lessons we were taught at my starting firm is not to expect every year to be a great year if you want to trade pro.<\/p>\n

5) Traders that fail can parlay their trading experience into solid jobs.<\/p>\n

One opinion I would like to share, as I enter the world of Dr. Phil. \u00a0Trading is not worth messing up a relationship with someone you love. \u00a0Marry that girl, keep that job, and do some swing and options trading on the side.<\/p>\n

Anyone here goes a very entertaining and insightful trading anecdote from a former intraday trader.<\/p>\n

Dear Mr. Bellafiore,<\/p>\n

My name is Brady (named changed), and I just finished reading your book “One Good Trade.” I know that your book was released two years ago, but I figured that you\u2019d still enjoy receiving positive feedback from your readers.<\/p>\n

In all honesty, I think your book is spot on when it comes to the world of Prop Trading. I\u2019ve read many day-trading books in the past, but none of them come close to yours. Unlike the other books that I\u2019ve read, so many sections of your book offer insight\/knowledge that is actually relevant to today\u2019s world of trading.<\/p>\n

Also, I had a lot of laughs reading stories of your former\/current SMB traders. I worked on a prop desk in St. Louis (location changed) for two years, and many characters in your book were similar to traders that I encountered on my own desk. My favorite story of yours was about the new trader who put up monster numbers on his first day but did so by trading poorly. We had a guy on our desk that made $3k on his first day of live trading, but he was trading like a putz. On his second day he put up similar numbers, and our desk aptly gave him the nickname \u201cGolden Dick\u201d because everything he touched turned to gold. When our head trader came back from vacation and saw the type of risk that Golden Dick was taking to generate his numbers, a closed door meeting (shouting match) ensued, and Golden Dick\u2019s days were numbered. Several blow ups later, and Golden Dick was too afraid to trade anything but the demo.<\/p>\n

Before you even wrote your book, I used to visit SMB\u2019s website on a daily basis. You and your team really offer a lot of help and knowledge to the trading community. When I worked on the desk, my mentor\/boss\/funder named Boss (named changed) (who was also rich from trading the internet bubble) used to bust my balls for reading your team\u2019s blogs. He didn\u2019t approve of screen recordings\/physchology\/notes\/etc. His philosophy was \u201cTrade, Trade, Trade. That\u2019s the only way you can improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

I love Boss and would do anything for him, but he is a poor teacher. There is no doubt that Boss is an incredible and profitable trader, but he could never explain his methodology coherently. His tape reading skills were superior, but when you asked him to explain his methods he’d tell you to “figure it out by yourself.” In many ways your trading skills\/system are alike. However, he preached 10 cent plays and trading a basket of IPO stocks (which you could only trade on the long side until they became unrestricted).<\/p>\n

In late 2008, Boss used his own personal money to start a prop desk. His idea was to hire twenty new graduates and train them to read the tape and scalp the crap out of the market dime for dime. However, without proper tutelage and resources, the desk did not perform well. One by one Boss began axing the unprofitable\/unmotivated traders. I remember one day I had just finished reading Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr. Maltz, and I was anxious to use some of his quick positive meditation techniques. I closed my eyes for a moment to clear my mind, and when I reopened them a trader named Eddie who saw on my right was gone. I asked the other traders where he went and they said that \u201cBoss just fired him\u201d\u2026so much for positive mediation. Two years past, and twenty traders got chopped down to me and two others (one of them being Boss\u2019s brother).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to call yourself a trader, but trading is never easy. Despite my ups and downs, the daily 4hr+ roundtrip commutes from (where he lived) to St. Louis and my long-term girlfriend (now fianc\u00e9) busting my balls, I still truly love equity trading. It\u2019s the greatest job in the world for those who can make the grade. I\u2019m currently a trader at a BD\/IA in Boston, which involves more operational duties than actually trading duties, and it\u2019s tough knowing that there are other traders are out there living the dream. Your book actually rekindled my fire for trading, and I\u2019ve been trying to use your firms philosophy to find stocks to trade. However, with my firm\u2019s $28 ticket charges (bogus) and terrible buying power, trading just isn\u2019t quite the same.<\/p>\n

I just wanted to thank you and the other traders at SMB for all the wisdom you share on a daily basis. I feel like I learned more about trading by reading your book than I did from actually trading those two years. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll enter the arena of day trading in the near future (fianc\u00e9 and my advancing age seems to be my kryptonite), but if you ever opened a shop in Boston I\u2019d be the first person to send in my resume. Your philosophy and culture is simply outstanding, and that\u2019s something that I could have surely used two years ago.<\/p>\n

Happy New Year,<\/p>\n

Brady<\/p>\n

So I ask: Should this trader make a comeback?<\/p>\n

Mike Bellafiore<\/p>\n

One Good Trade<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

no relevant positions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Below is an interesting trading anecdote I received via LinkedIn. \u00a0I asked the writer if I could share his trading experience with our community. \u00a0He agreed. \u00a0The names and places have been changed for compliance reasons and we have no interest in saying anything negative about anyone or any firm on this blog. 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