A Million Dollar Trader

When I first met her, she had just blown up her first account

It was the summer of 2000, the Dot Com bubble had just burst and she was one of those buy the dip people who made millions only to give it all back and a lot more

She had no idea what she was doing up until this point, but she was very good at coming up with unique perspectives on things and creating very successful outcomes

She was also an attorney, this is a unique skills that attorneys tend to have

They can see a problem and fuss around with it until they figure out some completely out of no where solution that no one else even considered and run laps around everyone

Back to our story

At this time the trading world wasn't as remote as it is today, there still was a big focus on going to offices. So we would all meet up for breakfast after the opening session and share ideas to get that human interaction

She was very inquisitive on what strategies people were using, asking a lot of questions and doing a lot of research

When she asked a question you could tell that she had spent time thinking and researching the subject of that question

One day she told us that she was going to use $5,000 from credit cards to fund her new account

Of course to most people this seems like a crazy idea, going in to debt to fund a trading account after you just lost millions of dollars but in the trading world this seems normal

For the next six months she continued to ask very focused questions but at the same time it moved to us asking her more and more questions

It was obvious that she was mastering the domain she was focused on with her trading

Within six months she had taken $5k to over a buck

That's $5,000 to over $1,000,000

This happened during this ugly bear market

One day I sat down with her to ask what she was doing and how she made this happen

And it has been something that has guided me in my life ever since

This is the first person I knew who took a small account to a large account systematically

This is what she told me:

• My day begins the night before
• I take a hot bath/shower right before bed I go to sleep at 9pm at the latest I sleep in a room 70 degrees or less
• I don't eat anything after 6pm I sleep with an eye mask on and earplugs in
• I wake up at 5am (California)
• I then immediately go outside and walk for 30 minutes
• I breath deeply while walking and recite a mantra in my mind
• I visualize my trading day ahead, the patterns, the mouse clicks, updating my journal
• Then return home and stretch
• I get on my stationary bike and sprint for as long as I can then rest an equal amount repeatedly for 15-20 minutes
• I drink 1 quart of water I drink 1 green tea
• I repeat positive trading affirmations before I walk through the door of my trading office
• I sit down, take a breath
• I again visualize my trading day
• I turn on my monitors
• I update my watchlist, my charts and my key levels
• I put headphones on listening to slow Baroche music And the trading day begins
• I have my trading checklist next to my keyboard and follow it religiously before every trade
• I don't eat until the trading day is over (after 1pm in California)
• I only sip water or green tea during the trading day,
• I have a kettle next to my desk If I'm in a trade
• I don't take phone calls, I don't go to breakfast meetup,
• I don't interact with anyone until I'm flat
• I update my journal before during and after every trade
• When the trading day is done
• I update all of my spreadsheets
• I write my new account balance on the whiteboard above my desk next to my overall goal
• Example, $126,271/$3,5799,192 so that I know how much farther I have to push
• When I'm within striking distance of my goal I double it
• I then close my eyes and replay the trading day in my head reviewing mistakes, successes and look for opportunities
• I then replay my trades, scrolling back on the chart, noting what I did and what I should've done
• Now I workout, 20-60 minutes, beach run, hike, gym, yoga, surfing or even a walk
• Then it's time to eat I eat a lot of steak and chicken, some salad, rice and a glass of wine
• Then I spend time with friends, family or maybe go to a movie
• The rest of my day is getting ready for the wind down again at 9pm
• Another glass of wine and repeat the same schedule

That's the notes I took from about 20 years ago

She is still one of the best traders I've ever met or heard of