Baby Steps

I had the pleasure of spending the last couple weeks with Kunal and the Bulls Team. The first day I met Kunal, he approved me for live trading. I showed up 6am in the morning and, most days, stayed well into the night. I tried to absorb as much information as possible within these couple weeks and here are a few things that I took away from the experience.

1. If there is a female living in the house. Put the toilet seat down after you're done.

Apparently, they can fall in.


2. More hours do not necessarily yield greater results.

My first week in Los Angeles, I spent about 15 hours a day doing something stock related. I reviewed hundreds of trades and drew lines on  thousands of charts. I read books, watched documentaries, and even watched my recorded-self explaining trades (this gets annoying fast). During trading hours, I was often glued to the trading screen the whole day without food until Kunal would force feed me his goat cheese, salami, Sriracha special. Even on the weekends, I woke up early to re-play previous market days.

It seems that I had followed the blueprint towards success to the letter. Unfortunately, my health declined, I was constantly exhausted, and my mind burned out. Kunal suggested that I take a day to "veg out". I spent a day in bed watching Seinfeld and eating beef jerky. The next day, I was ready to work.

I had to do more in fewer hours. I re-evaluated my regiment and narrowed down my studying to two main parts:
                           Trades that I took that I should not have taken - Why did I take them?
                           Trades that I should have taken that I did not take - Why did I not take them?

I found that this is the most efficient way for me to study. Instead of looking through countless charts and reviewing random trades, I focus on the mistakes I was making and work to eliminate them one at a time.

Working smart trumps working hard.


3. Make Friends

Trading can be a lonely business. Most traders, including myself, are lone wolves. They trade better when they are alone and focused. Unfortunately, being a full time trader alone in a room can lack human interaction. It was quite interesting watching the Bulls team and their shenanigans throughout the day. They were all friends from long before and work as a team. Kunal had to wake up to catch the market open at 6am on the west coast, but Omer and Tim also woke up early every day to work.

While I was in Los Angeles, I had the pleasure of meeting a handful of fellow Bootcamp students. We exchanged ideas and discussed our trading paths. I learned that it is much easier for an outside person to see what you are doing wrong. These fellow traders are a support group, a collective adviser, and even a cheering section. We are small time traders and we all want to see each other succeed.


4. Enjoy the fruits of your labor

We are all trading for a variety of different reasons, but a major reason for many of us is to the enjoy the freedom and comfort that can come from being a trader. It is easy for us to quickly forget this as we start to make money. We grow the desire to make more and forget the reason we wanted to trade in the first place. I read a lot about master traders who never take a day off and stay at the computer through the whole trading day. As many of you know, Kunal often calls it a day early to go to the beach or to just hang out with his friends. He travels around the world with his friends, hopping from city to city.

Remember that there are more important things in life than money. The reason we make money is so that we can enjoy those things.


5. Park's BBQ in Los Angeles is pretty damn good

Nuff said


6. Do not get discouraged.

Trust me, you are making progress. It it easy to see a string of losses and think that you have completely forgotten everything you learned. Some days, it even seemed like I was taking steps backwards. Learning to trade is a process. There is so much going on in the market that it takes time for us to absorb things. Win, lose, or draw, playing the market exposes you to the subtleties of the market.

Progress is not shown in a linear fashion on the P&L. Some people want to see the P&L increase a little bit every day but this is not how it works. I felt like every day, I was learning something new. I was eliminating mistakes and taking better trades. Still, my P&L did not reflect the progress that I felt. One day, things just started to click and the P&L took a turn. This is not a time in my career to focus on the P&L but to focus on learning. Every day, regardless of my P&L that day, I can pat myself of the back knowing that I am a better trader today than I was yesterday.


7. Have fun

Trading is fun. Look around you and realize how lucky you are. You are not stuck in a cubicle. There is no boss to report to, no one looking over your shoulder to micromanage you. You do not have to wear a suit or even pants for that matter. You can work butt-naked if you want! When I first got to the house, I was probably the downer in the group. Kunal is having the time of his life singing along to Cher and having fun with people in chat while I'm hunched over a computer tap tap tap-ing away.

Ironically, I found that I am better at trading when I am blasting music, watching tv, eating, and enjoying every other "distraction." This probably does not work for most people, but it eliminates my nerves and lets my instincts shine through. This might not be your cup of tea, but find what makes trading fun for you. Being happy and enjoying trading will yield better results than stressing over the P&L.