Quote from s0mmi:
Currently at the start of my career... 2 years in...
To become consistently profitable I did the following:
> LONG HOURS: I first started with 8-hour days in the prop shop. This wasn't enough, so I bumped it to 12-14 hour days.
After about 9-months of this, I soon figured this too wasn't enough to achieve the most success and be the absolute Best. So now I comfortably sit with a shift from 8:30am to about 3am.
It's about 18-hours a day that I'm on watch. Monday to Saturday morning (I don't live in the U.S.A or Europe).
I also have an app on my phone which lets me control my home computer. I'm at the gym 3-4 times on the weekdays during midday so if I am in a slow-trade I still watch it from there. There's no relaxing at night or going out and enjoying yourself during the week, but that's the sacrifice I am willing to make just to get ahead.
(Note: The biggest and the best traders at my firm have multiple guys whom they PAY to watch their positions/markets for them while they sleep. I can't afford this yet, so I have to do the grind.)
> JOURNAL: The journal was one of the best things I started doing, and I still apply it very well.
I use the journal to review months, review weeks, and I always make a log after a big loss. You must write:
1. What your weakness was, and what went wrong
2. (Most important) What is your IMMEDIATE change and plan to make sure this doesn't happen again in the future
Every once in a while I will start slumping, so what I do is go through my previous 3-5 months of results and I write down, in detail, the worst trades that affected my PNL and I analyzed them. And then, of course, I re-write a plan for the future to re-tweak things (its usually simple such as making a rule where if I go down 2-days worth of wins, then I will work the session back towards a scratch immediately and stop being loose).
> TALKING TO OTHER TRADERS: There are many people at my firm who are a lot better at trading than me. I am constantly asking them questions about their execution, their process, what they look for, what they did in certain scenarios, how they're going for the day etc.
You eventually know who trades well and who doesn't. Who follows the fundamentals versus who is just in it for the brokerage/rebates game? Follow the fundamentals.
Also, when new trainees enter the firm, I always make an effort to get new friends and talk to people. Always approach with a humble attitude, you'll be surprised how much info other people know. I have learnt a lot of new things from talking to new guys. Many of whom have been at other prop shops, and were taught different styles, and have friends who taught them different things. Sometimes you may discover new products, new ways of thinking etc.
Summary:
I didn't wanna bore you guys with more so I just listed the 3 main important things that I personally do and that I can attribute 100% certainty that it benefits my trading and helps me progress more aggressively.
It's probably important to mention again that these things I do are a by-product of having lots of passion, motivation and ambitious drive to succeed at the competitive game of trading.
I'm happy to answer any more q's as well !
