{"id":3455,"date":"2010-01-20T20:01:45","date_gmt":"2010-01-21T01:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/?p=3455"},"modified":"2010-01-20T20:02:56","modified_gmt":"2010-01-21T01:02:56","slug":"i-am-a-complete-idiot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot","title":{"rendered":"I am a Complete Idiot!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So today I strolled onto the trading floor, noticed MMR had gapped up over a buck, hit the bids taking my profits, and then grabbed some water for my ecocanteen (been reading some scary stuff about drinking out of plastic bottles).  I rustled through some stocks to trade: CREE? IBM? WFC? MMR? RMBS? AET?<\/p>\n<p>Would the insurers be in play again because of the Brown upset in Massachusetts? (I was shocked when his daughter got voted off of American Idol btw.)  Some of the financials were in play because they reported.  China sent bad news overnight that might cause weakness.  IBM below 132.50 was a stock to trade on the short side after it reported.  CREE was interesting for a pullback or opening drive having crushed their numbers.  Maybe this MMR would continue higher?  This RMBS sure was interesting gapping up and nearing a longer term resistance level of 24.<\/p>\n<p>And being the jackass that I was I picked the wrong stock for me.  And it made all the difference.<\/p>\n<p>After the Close our new traders met in our training room to discuss mental preparation for COH and CREE before today&#8217;s Open.  Actually we were supposed to hold a VRS but I changed things up.  I shared how disgusted I was with myself for choosing so poorly on the Open.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t want to look at myself in the mirror.  I don&#8217;t want to hear myself talk.  I am completely disgusted with myself. I can&#8217;t believe I did not focus on IBM.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>One young trader not quite catching on to my mental mood asked,&#8221;Bella how come you didn&#8217;t trade IBM on the Open.&#8221;  (Who recruits these kids? \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>I responded,&#8221;Because I am a complete idiot!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And I was.  There is no excuse to miss this IBM trade.  I traded it in the After Hours.  Below 132.50 was a stock to trade with a short bias as IBM failed there in the After Hours.  The Market got VERY weak.  IBM, a market stock, would trade lower just because of the weakness in SPY.  And what was I doing?<\/p>\n<p>I was banging around in RMBS, a stock that did not accentuate my trading skills today.  RMBS had just one more downmove in it for me whenever I had size.<\/p>\n<p>I have learned to use my personal disgust to improve as a trader.  It is healthy for me to feel so disappointed.  I am not interested in spending another day frustrated when I could have been laughing it up in all things short IBM.  I will remember my mistake, take corrective action, and come back tomorrow ready to compete.<\/p>\n<p>Long RMBS, Long GERN.<\/p>\n<p>Best of luck with your trading!  Don&#8217;t forget to <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/smbcapital\">follow us<\/a> on Twitter!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/IBM-1-20-10.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3457\" title=\"IBM 1-20-10\" src=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/IBM-1-20-10.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"551\" height=\"431\" srcset=\"\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/IBM-1-20-10.png 551w, \/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/IBM-1-20-10-300x234.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 551px) 100vw, 551px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/RMBS-1-20-09.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3458\" title=\"RMBS 1-20-09\" src=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/RMBS-1-20-09.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"553\" height=\"432\" srcset=\"\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/RMBS-1-20-09.png 553w, \/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/RMBS-1-20-09-300x234.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 553px) 100vw, 553px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bella discusses his poor stock selection on the Open today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,455],"tags":[225,564,163,18],"class_list":["post-3455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mike-bellafiore-bellas-blogs","category-trading_psychology","tag-ibm","tag-idiot","tag-preparation","tag-smb-capital","no-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>I am a Complete Idiot! | SMB Training<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I am a Complete Idiot! | SMB Training\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bella discusses his poor stock selection on the Open today.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SMB Training Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/smbcap\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-01-21T01:01:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-01-21T01:02:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/IBM-1-20-10.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bella\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@smbcapital\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@smbcapital\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bella\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bella\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/80500a901d0e5ce0a27fa996bb1b9161\"},\"headline\":\"I am a Complete Idiot!\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-21T01:01:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-01-21T01:02:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot\"},\"wordCount\":462,\"commentCount\":6,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/IBM-1-20-10.png\",\"keywords\":[\"IBM\",\"idiot\",\"preparation\",\"smb capital\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Mike Bellafiore's (Bella's) Blogs\",\"Trading Psychology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot\",\"name\":\"I am a Complete Idiot! | SMB Training\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/IBM-1-20-10.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-21T01:01:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-01-21T01:02:56+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/IBM-1-20-10.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/IBM-1-20-10.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"I am a Complete Idiot!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"SMB Training Blog\",\"description\":\"Lessons from the trading desk\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"SMB Training\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Logo-e1658419502954.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Logo-e1658419502954.png\",\"width\":230,\"height\":81,\"caption\":\"SMB Training\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/smbcap\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/smbcapital\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/smbcapital\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/80500a901d0e5ce0a27fa996bb1b9161\",\"name\":\"Bella\",\"description\":\"Mike Bellafiore is a co-founder of SMB Capital, a day trading firm which takes great pride in its exceptional training program. SMB Capital is an equity prop trading desk that trades on 5th Avenue in New York City. Mr. Bellafiore is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law. He has traded professionally for more than a decade.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/bellas-blog\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/author\/bella\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I am a Complete Idiot! | SMB Training","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"I am a Complete Idiot! | SMB Training","og_description":"Bella discusses his poor stock selection on the Open today.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot","og_site_name":"SMB Training Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/smbcap\/","article_published_time":"2010-01-21T01:01:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2010-01-21T01:02:56+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/IBM-1-20-10.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Bella","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@smbcapital","twitter_site":"@smbcapital","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bella","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot"},"author":{"name":"Bella","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/80500a901d0e5ce0a27fa996bb1b9161"},"headline":"I am a Complete Idiot!","datePublished":"2010-01-21T01:01:45+00:00","dateModified":"2010-01-21T01:02:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot"},"wordCount":462,"commentCount":6,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/IBM-1-20-10.png","keywords":["IBM","idiot","preparation","smb capital"],"articleSection":["Mike Bellafiore's (Bella's) Blogs","Trading Psychology"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot","url":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot","name":"I am a Complete Idiot! | SMB Training","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/IBM-1-20-10.png","datePublished":"2010-01-21T01:01:45+00:00","dateModified":"2010-01-21T01:02:56+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/IBM-1-20-10.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/IBM-1-20-10.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-am-a-complete-idiot#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"I am a Complete Idiot!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/","name":"SMB Training Blog","description":"Lessons from the trading desk","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"SMB Training","url":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Logo-e1658419502954.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Logo-e1658419502954.png","width":230,"height":81,"caption":"SMB Training"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/smbcap\/","https:\/\/x.com\/smbcapital","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/smbcapital"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/80500a901d0e5ce0a27fa996bb1b9161","name":"Bella","description":"Mike Bellafiore is a co-founder of SMB Capital, a day trading firm which takes great pride in its exceptional training program. SMB Capital is an equity prop trading desk that trades on 5th Avenue in New York City. Mr. Bellafiore is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law. He has traded professionally for more than a decade.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/bellas-blog"],"url":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/author\/bella"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3455\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}