{"id":56673,"date":"2023-11-04T13:21:57","date_gmt":"2023-11-04T17:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/?p=56673"},"modified":"2023-11-04T13:21:57","modified_gmt":"2023-11-04T17:21:57","slug":"the-healthy-happy-trader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader","title":{"rendered":"The Healthy Happy Trader"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Justin<\/p>\n

We noticed one of our developing traders on our proprietary trading desk in NYC looking crestfallen.\u00a0 I asked to speak with him privately off the trading floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why was this trader so dejected?<\/span><\/p>\n

The trader had built signals that alerted him to a trade.\u00a0 He misread the signals and took the trade short when the signals indicated long.\u00a0 The trader was in disbelief that he had done this.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

His body language was how could I make such a stupid mistake.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The trader was in pain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Feeling pain after underperformance is an excellent sign.\u00a0 It means you expect and care about doing well.\u00a0 These are the feelings of many elite traders.<\/span><\/p>\n

But I want to offer a healthier, more productive, and more sustainable way to handle your mistakes.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is that way?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t judge yourself for your mistakes.\u00a0 Observe your mistakes and then propose solutions to fix them.<\/span><\/p>\n

You are not a bad trader because you misread a trading signal.\u00a0 Certainly, this says nothing about the type of person you are.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Rather, you are a trader who misread a trading signal\u2014just that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who are you really?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You are a trader who did terrific work building these signals.\u00a0 You did outstanding research to find the signals.\u00a0 You showed fantastic preparation to create these signals.\u00a0 You collaborated well to get them built.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You are a trader doing terrific work for which you should be very proud.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I pointed out to the trader all the things he had done well.\u00a0 And brainstormed some potential safeguards so he wouldn\u2019t misread a future signal.\u00a0 From my seat, running a proprietary trading firm, I would take a hundred traders out of a hundred like this developing trader and be very excited about the firm\u2019s future.<\/span><\/p>\n

So if this happens to you, what should you do?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The next time you make a trading mistake, try just observing your trading.\u00a0 Make an observation about the trade.\u00a0 No judgment, just make an observation.<\/span><\/p>\n

That was a good trade because my risk\/reward was excellent.<\/span><\/p>\n

I shouldn\u2019t have made that trade because it\u2019s in the middle of a range.<\/span><\/p>\n

I should take more trades like that last one because it felt right from the minute of entry.<\/span><\/p>\n

Challenge yourself to make an observation after a trade.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ask yourself: observation?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Doing so will help you become the trader you deserve to be… The Healthy Happy Trader.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Important disclosures<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mike Bellafiore is the Co-Founder of SMB Capital, a proprietary trading desk, and SMB Training, which provides\u00a0trading education<\/a>\u00a0in stocks, options, and futures. Bella, @MikeBellafiore, is the author of\u00a0One Good Trade<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The PlayBook<\/em>. He welcomes your trading questions at\u00a0mbellafiore@smbcap.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We noticed one of our developing traders on our proprietary trading desk in NYC looking crestfallen.\u00a0 I asked to speak with him privately off the trading floor. Why was this trader so dejected? The trader had built signals that alerted him to a trade.\u00a0 He misread the signals and took the trade short when the signals indicated long.\u00a0 The trader … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":56505,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5463],"tags":[4676,50,682],"class_list":["post-56673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bella-daily-update","tag-day-trading","tag-proprietary-trading","tag-trading-psychology"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Healthy Happy Trader | 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\/the-healthy-happy-trader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Healthy Happy Trader | SMB Training\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We noticed one of our developing traders on our proprietary trading desk in NYC looking crestfallen.\u00a0 I asked to speak with him privately off the trading floor. Why was this trader so dejected? The trader had built signals that alerted him to a trade.\u00a0 He misread the signals and took the trade short when the signals indicated long.\u00a0 The trader ... Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader\" \/>\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=\"2023-11-04T17:21:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/justin-trading-desk-new-office.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bella\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/80500a901d0e5ce0a27fa996bb1b9161\"},\"headline\":\"The Healthy Happy Trader\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-04T17:21:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader\"},\"wordCount\":451,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/justin-trading-desk-new-office.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"day trading\",\"proprietary trading\",\"trading psychology\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Bella Daily Update\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader\",\"name\":\"The Healthy Happy Trader | SMB Training\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/justin-trading-desk-new-office.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-04T17:21:57+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/justin-trading-desk-new-office.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/justin-trading-desk-new-office.jpg\",\"width\":1800,\"height\":1200,\"caption\":\"Justin spero\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Healthy Happy Trader\"}]},{\"@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":"The Healthy Happy Trader | 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\/the-healthy-happy-trader","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Healthy Happy Trader | SMB Training","og_description":"We noticed one of our developing traders on our proprietary trading desk in NYC looking crestfallen.\u00a0 I asked to speak with him privately off the trading floor. Why was this trader so dejected? The trader had built signals that alerted him to a trade.\u00a0 He misread the signals and took the trade short when the signals indicated long.\u00a0 The trader ... Read More","og_url":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader","og_site_name":"SMB Training Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/smbcap\/","article_published_time":"2023-11-04T17:21:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1800,"height":1200,"url":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/justin-trading-desk-new-office.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bella","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@smbcapital","twitter_site":"@smbcapital","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bella","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader"},"author":{"name":"Bella","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/80500a901d0e5ce0a27fa996bb1b9161"},"headline":"The Healthy Happy Trader","datePublished":"2023-11-04T17:21:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader"},"wordCount":451,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/justin-trading-desk-new-office.jpg","keywords":["day trading","proprietary trading","trading psychology"],"articleSection":["Bella Daily Update"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader","url":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader","name":"The Healthy Happy Trader | SMB Training","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/justin-trading-desk-new-office.jpg","datePublished":"2023-11-04T17:21:57+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/justin-trading-desk-new-office.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/justin-trading-desk-new-office.jpg","width":1800,"height":1200,"caption":"Justin spero"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-healthy-happy-trader#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Healthy Happy Trader"}]},{"@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\/56673","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=56673"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56674,"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56673\/revisions\/56674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}