At my old firm we had hundreds of traders. One trait I noticed all the successful traders I've known was they all were EXTREMELY competitive. Didn't matter what the competition was...poker, golf, trading, etc. ...just another game.
I invited a trader to come play golf at a local public course on a Sunday (just to hang out for the day). He lived more than 100 miles away. When I walked into the pro shop with him Sunday morning, the guy behind the desk said "back again today?" to my friend. Found out later, he came up Friday night, stayed in a local hotel, and played 54 holes on Saturday before we went out on Sunday.
During slow summer months we often had putting contests down the aisles of our trading floor. I used to practice putting 2 hours a night in our family room just to get ready for work. (I wasn't the only one).
One year our company decided it was going to do a wellness campaign for the summer. Checkups (weight, blood pressure, chol. levels, etc.) at the beginning and end of summer. A desk created a pool for many categories to see who could go in the worst direction by end of summer. Things like total weight gain, gain as a % of initial weight, blood pressure increase, etc.
We had guys having the trading assistants running out and getting all kinds of junk food during the day so they could win the contest. Guys used to come in with 5 lb. bags of chocolate covered nuts to munch on during the day.
We used to also have paper airplane distance contests. One guy built a launcher with a board, some nails, and rubber bands. All had to be standardized before the contest to ensure every plane got the same sling shot. In the end, most guys that lost would blame it on their position of shooting the plane. High position (rubber bands not loosed up ...too stiff), low position (rubber bands too loose ...worn out).
The markets don't let people rationalize (gains and losses are material...not perceptual). I think that's one reason why only extremely competitive people remained for more than a year.
Even today, I need to use models as a straw hat to trade against. I worked hard to build good models. When I see them trading in realtime I use it as a competition to see if I can stomp on the results of the model as the day goes on. I need the competition to keep me motivated.
I invited a trader to come play golf at a local public course on a Sunday (just to hang out for the day). He lived more than 100 miles away. When I walked into the pro shop with him Sunday morning, the guy behind the desk said "back again today?" to my friend. Found out later, he came up Friday night, stayed in a local hotel, and played 54 holes on Saturday before we went out on Sunday.
During slow summer months we often had putting contests down the aisles of our trading floor. I used to practice putting 2 hours a night in our family room just to get ready for work. (I wasn't the only one).
One year our company decided it was going to do a wellness campaign for the summer. Checkups (weight, blood pressure, chol. levels, etc.) at the beginning and end of summer. A desk created a pool for many categories to see who could go in the worst direction by end of summer. Things like total weight gain, gain as a % of initial weight, blood pressure increase, etc.
We had guys having the trading assistants running out and getting all kinds of junk food during the day so they could win the contest. Guys used to come in with 5 lb. bags of chocolate covered nuts to munch on during the day.
We used to also have paper airplane distance contests. One guy built a launcher with a board, some nails, and rubber bands. All had to be standardized before the contest to ensure every plane got the same sling shot. In the end, most guys that lost would blame it on their position of shooting the plane. High position (rubber bands not loosed up ...too stiff), low position (rubber bands too loose ...worn out).
The markets don't let people rationalize (gains and losses are material...not perceptual). I think that's one reason why only extremely competitive people remained for more than a year.
Even today, I need to use models as a straw hat to trade against. I worked hard to build good models. When I see them trading in realtime I use it as a competition to see if I can stomp on the results of the model as the day goes on. I need the competition to keep me motivated.
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