One of our traders had a great trading day. \u00a0 He finished negative. \u00a0The market was up 500 points as the Obama administration unveiled its plan to remove toxic assets from the books of the nation’s banks. \u00a0 BTW we now have traded up 1300 points since the day I left for vacation. \u00a0This trader did not make many trades after 10AM. \u00a0Today he was a role model that we all can learn from. \u00a0Today he planted a lot of seeds. \u00a0Huh? Let me explain. <\/p>\n
This trader has been underperforming of late. \u00a0He is better than his previous results. \u00a0He knows it. \u00a0I certainly have let him know this. \u00a0I have challenged him to step it up. \u00a0His results are unacceptable commensurate with his ability. \u00a0Lately he has been fighting the trend and becoming frustrated too easily.On the Open I heard him cussing under his breath. \u00a0A few minutes later I noticed he went for a walk. \u00a0Very nice response. \u00a0The only way to alleviate your frustration is to leave the desk, breathe until your state is relaxed, and then return. \u00a0You cannot will yourself to calm down. \u00a0You are frustrated. \u00a0You will remain frustrated until you change your mental state through relaxation techniques. \u00a0This trader was aware of his frustration and then reacted. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Later during the trading day he missed an excellent trading opportunity. \u00a0I heard him cuss under his breathe. \u00a0And then I saw him start writing. \u00a0He did not pick his head up for ten minutes. \u00a0He made notes of this excellent trading opportunity. \u00a0By doing so he reinforced a set up that works for him. \u00a0Next time he will be more likely to catch this trading opportunity.I like what I saw from this trader. \u00a0On a day where almost everyone on the desk was very profitable, he lost money. But his actions were very encouraging. \u00a0His actions were those of a consistently profitable trader. \u00a0 For this trader, continuing with this type of quality work, it is just a matter of time.<\/p>\n
I call it planting seeds. \u00a0When you consistently work like the trader above you are planting seeds that will grow later. \u00a0In this case your reward will be cash as opposed to tomatoes. \u00a0In college planting seeds meant something different, but that is a different discussion. \u00a0In college this meant talking to as many pretty co-eds as possible with the hope that in the near future there would be a payoff. \u00a0And I have to explain this because I know too many on our desk (think CMU and GDI) would think this is what I meant by planting seeds. \u00a0\u00a0Get into the habit of judging your trading day based upon your development and not your P&L. \u00a0 Better to plant some seeds and be negative today then to make money and not improve as a trader. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Best of luck with your trading!\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"