You cannot do this and be a successful trader

BellaGeneral Comments

Last Friday as I was walking off our trading floor, a beaming SMBU student yelped at me, “Bella I could hug you after today.”  He was very pleased with the progress he had made as a trader. Fast forward to today and that same trader caught me hitting the elevator for my walk home.  I asked him how trading went … Read More

Some questions from a European trader learning US markets

BellaGeneral Comments

One of our SMBU students visited our desk in NYC from Sweden today. Merritt, from SMBU Trading Conversations on Friday 1:30PM EST, joined us for lunch, as did this trader’s dad. This European trader is a graduate of SMB DNA and The Winning Trader and working on his game, after work hours from Europe. There were two issues that arose … Read More

Decoding Short Opportunities: How Goldman Sachs & JPM Morgan Created Profitable Moves in $SRPT

sspencerGeneral Comments, Steven Spencer (Steve's) Blogs, Trading Ideas, Trading Lesson

Our #1 trading idea for Friday was SRPT. It sold $300 million of shares in a secondary offering via Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. Normally, biotech secondaries are excellent long set ups. The prior week I had been long AERI following its secondary offering and it traded 30%+ higher in a few days. But this time was different. I discussed why SRPT was likely a good short … Read More

Why I didn’t trade today

BellaGeneral Comments

I didn’t trade this morning.  I had ever intention to do so when I left the office last night.  I like the opportunity in FB TWTR SRPT SPY IWM for today’s trading session.  So this was not a decision of a lack of trading opportunity.  I, personally, was not in an optimal state to trade.  And therefor, I benched myself. … Read More

What this new trader learned on Day 1 (166 lessons)

BellaGeneral Comments

Our new class started part I of their training this week, with the SMB Foundation. Some say, “The only way to learn how to trade is trade.” Here is some evidence contrary to that position. One trainee with past trading experience sent me his notes, without solicitation, as to what he learned on Day 1 of our training program.  He … Read More

Building your trading team

BellaGeneral Comments

Performance isn’t exclusively about skill and strategy.  In fact, one top coach leaves all of this out of his top three keys to building a team. This is interesting to us as traders, as some of us trade in teams or something like teams, for improved performance. Team Trading is part III of our training for new traders on our … Read More