Our new traders love to hear “back in the day” stories. You know the late 90’s when day traders were making 6 figures a month. What was the most you ever made in one day is a frequent question. And I tell our prop traders the story about when the Fed cut rates surprisingly intraday by 50 basis points. Now that was a chop!

But one of the things that I remember from “back in the day” is how tired I was after the Close. Most assume that it was so easy to make money “back in the day.” Not true. Specifically, I remember being out with some friends on a Friday after the Close. And it was around 9PM. I was talking with one of my very best friends from law school who was visiting. And I actually couldn’t stand and talk. I had to sit at the bar. And then after an hour of sitting I felt like I was gonna pass out. I was a beer and a half into the night. I literally had to go home. I was so alarmed by this sudden fatigue that I went to the doctor. I relayed the story, the doctor asked me what I did for a living, I responded, he laughed and told me I was suffering from exhaustion and to get some more rest. Lunch was eaten at your desk, charts were religiously ripped through after the Close, discussions were omnipresent about past trades, 300k shares a day was commonplace, there were very short and infrequent to zero vacations, and traders obsessed about how to get better. All those guys who you heard made millions….. yeah they earned their money “back in the day.”

But as I write this blog I have that same feeling of fatigue. Was today a great trading or what? How do I spell OPPORTUNITY? How can anyone want to be anything other than a trader? Maybe if you are working at LEH or FNM or FRE you might want to get that resume together (I feel really bad for anyone who actually loses their job btw)? Jim Cramer was yapping on Hardball about how all the banks and the lenders are insolvent. Sure looks like that might be true based on the price action in some of the above today. And boy if they don’t go out of business is that gonna be some fun trading playing those bounces.

Look the economy is a mess. But this is the time to be a trader. We pray to the trading gods for stretches like this. This is all we can ask for as a trader.

So rip through your charts after the Close. Each your lunch at your trading desk. Review trading tapes of your trading. Find the levels that are most important in these stocks in play and set your alerts. Get to bed early. And do this for however long this run lasts. This is the time to work. There is a ton of money to be made this summer. Take advantage of this opportunity.