Back from the Vegas Trader Expo, which was a lot of fun. I presented at 8AM Friday. I started my presentation with, “I am very disappointed to see a packed house. It is 8AM. This is Vegas. I hope you are all just rolling in from last night :)” That is tough start time for Vegas. Heck it was a tough start time for even me working on EST.
My presentation was about building a PlayBook that makes sense to you. I went through the SMB PlayBook Template.
Name of the Play
Big Picture
Intraday Fundamentals
Technicals
Reading the Tape
Trade Management
Review
As I began to explain our template I received an excellent question from an attendee. He asked, “I am a swing trader. Why do I have to be concerned with Reading the Tape?” Short answer- you don’t.
We ask our trainees to develop a Playbook that makes sense to them so they understand their best trades. So that they focus on their strengths and eliminate their weaknesses. We want our mentees focusing on getting bigger in their best plays. We want them branding their best plays in their trading minds. We want them internalizing their most opportunistic trades.
But I am not suggesting that you build a PlayBook that uses the exact criteria for a trade that we do. If you do not trade like us, fine. However, co-opting this exercise for your trading is still very helpful. And you must develop criteria for each trade. You ought to archive a best trade each day. You must understand your best plays and obsess about whether you were big enough in them. What the plays are. How you get into them. The way you find them. That is about you developing Your PlayBook. And up to you.
To that gentleman asking that wonderful question at the Expo, I might also add that if you have read our blog over the years you will understand our training philosophy. We are the anti-gurus. If we can get you to think about your trading so that you can improve, then we sit with proud smiles on our faces. But we never mean to represent that we have all the answers and should be followed blindly. We do have a lot of the right questions you might ask yourself to improve as a trader.
Thanks to all of you who came out to meet us in Vegas. Thxs to the MoneyShow for inviting me.
Bella
