We asked about 8-10 of our core traders to work on their skill development during the past two months. These are guys who had been trading live anywhere from 8 to 16 months. They had all previously demonstrated a high level of profitability. But the market environment changed and they had to adapt. They had developed some bad habits because they began their trading careers in the middle of a crazy time period. Young traders who should have been making 300-500 a day were making 3-5K. They started to believe this job is easy and spent less time working on their skill development.

This lack of focus and overconfidence came back to bite them in the you know what in December and January. We started doing more video review sessions. There were some grumblings but not much. Our traders respect our level of experience and the culture of learning that we have built. They understand giving up a few hundred dollars in the midday to be able to consistently make six figures is time well spent. During these video review sessions (VRS) we were able to identify some bad habits and some underdeveloped trading skills. The first person who started working methodically on these things was able to turn their PnL around very quickly. I don’t like to name names so let’s just say he is pretty tall and may have a video on our website about him. Once others saw his rapid improvement they had further incentive to spend time working on their skill development.

Two months later as a group their numbers have vastly improved. They put in the hard work and deserve the fruits of their labor. These traders have helped to create an environment of success at SMB. I thank them for their hard work. And look forward to seeing them fulfill their potential as traders in the coming years.