{"id":50183,"date":"2020-10-06T11:44:50","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T15:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/?p=50183"},"modified":"2020-10-06T11:44:50","modified_gmt":"2020-10-06T15:44:50","slug":"you-have-to-perform-honest-talk-to-traders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/you-have-to-perform-honest-talk-to-traders","title":{"rendered":"You have to perform (honest talk to traders)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

I wrote the tweet<\/a> above recently.\u00a0 Let me say this again, as someone who has hired and trained traders since 2005 at SMB Capital, our proprietary trading desk in NYC:<\/p>\n

Trading is a performance sport.\u00a0 At a certain point, you have to perform.<\/p>\n

(What No One Tells You About How To Become An Elite Trader (surprisingly)<\/a><\/p>\n

Not too long ago, SMB management sat around a conference table confused at the underperformance of one of our traders.\u00a0 He reminded me of one of our great traders in his temperament.\u00a0 His ability to control his emotions struck me as exceptional.\u00a0 When we hired him, we all thought he was gonna be great.\u00a0 After he started, we all thought he was gonna be great.\u00a0 After impressive runs with his trading, we all became convinced he was gonna be great.<\/p>\n

And you know what?\u00a0 He wasn’t.\u00a0 We were too far into his trading career, and he just wasn’t.<\/p>\n

So we talked about what to do.\u00a0 We had tried many things and poured in substantial firm resources over the now years to help.\u00a0 And it just wasn’t clicking for him on a consistent basis.<\/p>\n

(How to Become a Consistently Profitable Trader (like you deserve to be)<\/a><\/p>\n

Finally, we agreed he needed The Talk.\u00a0 During The Talk we put him on notice.\u00a0 If he did not show improvement, significant improvement, in 90 days then we would transition him out of the firm.\u00a0 That is the professional way of saying he would be fired.\u00a0 I couldn’t believe it had come to this.\u00a0 I felt terrible.\u00a0 But it had.<\/p>\n

Our floor manager gave him the talk.\u00a0 He put him on notice.<\/p>\n

Word got back to me that this trader took The Talk very hard.\u00a0 He was very disappointed in himself that he had let himself down. And displaying a sign of very high character that he had let the firm down.\u00a0 He was embarrassed by his performance.\u00a0 It was hard to hear that this trader who we thought so much about took this so hard.<\/p>\n

I decided to pull the trader aside as well and chat with hm.\u00a0 I was frank.\u00a0 It was time for him now to perform.\u00a0 No excuses.\u00a0 No better next time.\u00a0 No missed lay up trades.\u00a0 No more underperformance.\u00a0 No more.\u00a0 Enough.<\/p>\n

But I also pointed out to this trader that this was not the first conversation I had ever had with a trader, who turned around his career after The Talk.\u00a0 I shared that sometimes The Talk was exactly what a trader needed to start performing.\u00a0 That back-up-against-the-wall reality fueled better trading for some.<\/p>\n

And I have seen this.\u00a0 Sometimes The Talk leads traders to focus solely on their best trades and stop stop stop making their crappy trades.\u00a0 Those crappy trades that endanger a trading career.\u00a0 Those crappy trades that are beneath you.\u00a0 Those crappy trades which you owe it to yourself to eliminate.\u00a0 Those crappy trades that are just not acceptable, when you up against it.<\/p>\n

I left that trader with this:<\/p>\n