One developing trader at our firm is not viewing his trading future only as a discretionary trader, but as a hybrid trader. A hybrid trader uses technology to make better trade decisions, and pulls money out of the market as a discretionary trader, discretionary trader armed with tools to make better trade decisions, and with automated models.
Here is that trader’s review after a recent trading session (edited):
Friday was a milestone day for me for a few different reasons. It was a record P/L, first time over ($$$), and a record trade in ZSAN. (Trader N) and I got our first model live, and Friday was the first day the model ran and it yielded a 100% win rate (9 for 9 trades) and made $$$ trading 25 share lots of SPY. I think the thing about Friday that means the most to me is the fact that I visualized both the ZSAN and QQQ trades the evening before and came into the day with a plan that I executed and capitalized on. This was a big step for me in terms of being able to see the opportunities, see them play out, and trade the opportunities. These were two scalable trades in two completely different arenas the can become big-time setups for me in my career. I could have traded them better, and there will be more opportunities to take what I learned Friday and trade these setups better the next time.
There are numerous lessons for new, developing and experienced traders in his write-up:
a) Trader is making better trade decisions as a discretionary trader, with an automated model built with a teammate.
b) Trader is making money as a discretionary trader, a discretionary trader armed with automation to make better trade decisions, and automated models. This is a more expansive career path than just being a discretionary trader.
c) Trader is showing edge with smaller size in different strategies and then will increase his risk. He is experiencing small wins, from which he can build.
d) Trader uses visualization to best prepare for the trading session. This is an excellent best practice that trader ought to replay before more opens.
e) From this success, Trader starts mapping out how he could have traded even better.
Dr. Steenbarger wrote an important post recently about the learning curve of traders. Above is an example of a trader walking through such a learning curve. Notice how he is attacking his career from multiple angles to make money. Notice how Trader is winning at an early stage, well short of 7-figure trader.
The winning that new, developing and experienced traders achieve along the way to their best trader can be seen by this trader above. Thru the power of compounding improvement, this winning lays a foundation that quietly leads to becoming a large and sustaining trader.
*no relevant positions
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