I remember the interview. I meet hundreds of trading candidates every year during our firm’s hiring process. You remember the best ones. He was one of the best.
- There was a clarity of thought.
- There was a focus.
- There was a calmness.
- There was speed in his processing.
- There was a demonstrable interest in trading.
I told him on the spot, he should pursue trading. I rarely do this.
We extended an invitation. He accepted.
I sat him down recently and encouraged him to momentum trade because of his unusual skill set. Momentum trading is a style where you bet on the next move of a stock, market or ETF. It’s short term trading inside of short term trading.
He said something so interesting that I know many of you struggle with as well. He said, “I feel like I have to capture the whole move.”
Who told him that? Who told you that? No…. you…… don’t. 1000 shares held for ten points is the same as momentum trading 20k shares for 50c. And for some the later is much easier. In fact, some of the best traders, seven figure traders, are momentum traders.
There seems to be some specious stigma for not holding for the whole move, or the “real move”, said another way. Being big for the meat of move works quite nicely for some.
Your job is to match your talents with a trading style best for you. Not to be bogged down in myth about how you have to trade to make big money.
The object in trading is to win (HT @steenbab). Your job is to win!
*no relevant positions
