I was on the West Coast last month to present to the Scottsdale (Phoenix) Traders and Investors Meetup Group. After my presentation, an astute and succeeding retail trader approached and asked,
“What do your top traders do to improve?”
At SMB, our top traders have been homegrown. We hired them. Trained them from scratch. Provided capital, technology, coaching and mentoring to grow. The best have become seven-figure traders. Many more have become high performing traders. Still even more have become consistently profitable traders.
What are our top traders doing to improve?
Let me be clear they ALL are working to improve. And they are doing so in different and diverse ways.
Here are five ways our top traders are working to improve:
1. Technology
SMB, powered by Kershner Trading Group, offers proprietary technology for traders to build custom filters. Our top traders are building custom filters of their favorite setups to play more offense. Some top traders ask Junior Traders to build these filters for them. Also, one top trader has recently teamed with Junior Traders to co-produce automated trading models. The strategy comes from the Senior Trader with the coding, back-testing, forward testing and management of the model coming from the Junior Trader.
2. Expressing their edge in different ways
Suppose a trader has edge in market plays. They spot edge the market will trade lower intraday and they express that trade shorting SPY. They measure their results and find edge in market plays. Well…..there may be a more efficient way for them to express that edge trade bigger and better. For example, perhaps options offers that opportunity. Their edge originates from equities, but their improvement may become amplified from another product.
3. Diversifying
Suppose you have an edge in a specific setup in a small universe of stocks. You may not be able to express that setup with edge in most large cap stocks. But through study you may be able to express that setup, with specific opportunities in large cap stocks. Instead of trading this opportunity in all large cap stocks, trader may become more selective. And thus find a new edge and expand his universe of stocks to trade.
4. Work with a mentor AND coach
Our best traders work with trading coach, Dr. Brett Steenbarger, and me on achieving their trading goals. Some send us a review of their trading session at the end of each day for feedback. I stand as the mentor and Dr. Steenbarger as the coach. I focus on helping with their active trading strategies as the mentor. Dr. Steenbarger focuses on traders performing at their peak. Some meet regularly with Dr. Steenbarger and brainstorm ways to improve. The key takeaway here is that they are receiving mentoring AND coaching.
5. Team Trading
Our top traders often head their own trading Team. We believe that teaching helps traders improve their own trading. Junior Traders can help our top traders with idea generation, building technology, and developing new strategies. You can do more together than solo.
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*no relevant positions
