My son and I have been watching the Yankees playoff games fanatically. And we have started our only little inside cheer. This cheer is similar in words and in spirit to what I often cheer to our promising new and junior traders.
This inside cheer started during the regular season. It started with us rooting for unproven players. You might say junior players. So when backup infielder Tyler Wade was pressed into duty and batting, I would root, “Why not you Tyler Wade?” And then my son, with a huge grin on his face would follow with, “Yeah why not you Tyler Wade?”
When backup catcher Kyle Higashioka was thrust into duty and batting I would cheer, “Why not you Higa?” And my son would quickly follow, “Yeah why not you Higa?”
We have extended this cheer now to other players and time frames as these inside cheers tend to metastasize. But the genesis was rooting for up-and-coming players.
During my AM walk around the shore town we escaped to when Covid struck, a thought for the trading community hit me:
Why not You? Why not you Today?
I stopped, punched in my tweet, and continued with my walk.
But I kept thinking about this tweet. And while I thought it was sparked just by the inside cheer for our Yankees, it wasn’t.
I remembered that the true genesis is from the work developing new and junior traders on our prop desk. The true spark is from the communication to our traders on our desk, who have not yet become proven veterans.
(How this Senior trader Became a Consistently Profitable Trader (so you can too)
We are fortunate to have developed many elite traders on our desk. Since 2005, our work has focused on developing new traders into consistently profitable, and then star traders.
New and junior traders see who the star traders are at the firm. Most can see their PnL and the trades of these star traders in real-time. Or they hear from another traders at the firm who has access to the huge trades these elite traders make. They know about the Black Shirt traders (2 million plus in net trading profits for the year). And now even the Sapphire Shirt traders (10 million plus in net trading profits for the year).
They know and we often remind them of this important fact: those traders were developed at our firm and were once just like them.
We remind the new and junior traders about the times when those now Sapphire Shirt traders were happy making 4-8k a month consistently. We share with our new and junior traders how those star traders went from consistently profitable to elite. That those elite traders are only elite because they did the work. There is no better way to learn than copying role models who have become successful. There is no better way to become a successful trader than to copy the work of the traders who have become great.
You know that Yankees cheer we say an awful lot on our desk to our up-and-coming traders.
When a junior or new trader makes a terrific trade (but not yet a huge amount of money) often I will say to them, “Why not You?” What I mean by that is why can’t you, new and junior trader, make more trades like this. Why can’t you, new and junior trader, make more trades like this bigger. And then often I sprinkle in a story of one of our elite traders and how they were once small and how they became bigger and better.
(A New Trading Strategy from a Future Star Trader)
So when I tweet, “Why not YOU?”, I mean that many elite traders were once just like you. And they became great. And perhaps you can as well. And at our firm, we want our new and junior traders thinking they can. When they make a winning trade this is proof they can win more often and bigger. And we want those training in our trading community thinking they can. as well.
And when I tweet, “Why not you TODAY?” I don’t mean to get huge in your next trade. I don’t mean to force the next trade with size. I mean today should be that day you commit to doing the work that other elite traders have done to succeed. Today should be the day you do all the things necessary to succeed.
And not some of the things.
And not some of things on some of the days.
And not only on the days that you want to.
But today. And tomorrow. And the day after that. And Day 3456 from today.
There once was a time when Aaron Judge was an up-and-coming Yankee. Now he is a star. There once was a time when our top traders were up-and-coming traders. Now they are all star traders.
Why not YOU? Why not you TODAY?
*no relevant positions
Mike Bellafiore is the Co-Founder of SMB Capital, a proprietary trading desk, and SMB Training, which provides trading education in stocks, options, and futures. Bella is the author of One Good Trade and The PlayBook. He welcomes your trading questions at [email protected].