“Process over Profit.” @Jesse592
In Members in Profile, we interview stand-out members that show strong aptitude and work ethic. Our goal is to highlight different folks so that you can see the effort that our members are putting into their trading and hopefully learn from their experiences of the Convergent Trading Community.
We hope you enjoy hearing what @Jesse592 has to say!
What brought you into trading?
Like most Americans my age, I spent my quarantine time in 2020 learning to bake bread, build stuff with wood and trade stocks. My interest in markets started with optimizing my IRA and then shifted to day trading equities on the Think or Swim platform.
This phase converged (pun intended) with a transition in my life from full-time to part-time work. My wife and I were planning to foster and adopt kids and our work schedules were just too demanding. Trading became my long-term professional goal because of it’s potential to contribute to my family’s stability on a relatively flexible schedule.
What do you like most about Convergent?
It’s a combination of consistency and community. I appreciate how FT sets a tone during the Trader Bites that holds consistent through all CT material. Every message from a Head Trader or Maven is focused on process and education. Every market comment made is based on homework and statistics. I like people who practice what they preach. Despite all that high quality guidance, the accountability partner program has actually been the most impactful aspect of the Convergent experience on my trading.
How have these aspects helped you grow as a trader?
The consistency from leadership has helped me stay on track and away from bad influences in the trading world that always want me to abandon my process, buy a new indicator, look for easy solutions, etc.
The accountability partner program has been great in several ways. The personal connections boost morale, of course, and the experience has helped me lean into my development in a way that just wouldn’t have been possible on my own. Earlier this year my accountability partner (rkg123) suggested we do a daily video conference at the close, and those meetings have completely changed my mindset as a trader. Talking through my process while giving/getting feedback makes me helps me grow on a daily basis and that growth has compounded over time.
Do you have a favorite community quote or webinar?
I feel like my favorite market quote from Warren Buffet is in the spirit of the CT community: “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” It paints a perfect picture of how the 2020 bull market fooled everyone with a smart phone and brokerage account into thinking they were natural day traders. Now the tide has gone out and it turns out risk-management matters after all.
Honorable mention to FT’s analogy about the mind being a windshield that we must clear over time and acknowledge when it’s not allowing us to see the road ahead clearly.
Do you have any advice for new traders?
Process over profit. Every new trader is urged to ignore their P&L and focus on process, and most ignore that truth until they’re forced to accept it. I feel like learning this truth the hard way is a right of passage among traders that achieve sustainability.
Have you participated in the #TradeRight Program? What discoveries have you made?
Yes. Participating in Trade Right felt sort of like being an elementary school student in college. The four stages of competence hit me like a ton of bricks, and I was embarrassed to realize that unconscious incompetence characterized most of the trading I’d done until that point. Going back to my favorite quote, the tide had gone out and I was exposed for swimming naked.
My main discovery was learning what it felt like to be in a process-driven state of mind. I honestly do not look at my P&L on a day-to-day basis anymore and I’m 100% confident that I’m on track as a trader. Despite plenty of rough days and times I fail to execute, I know exactly what my objectives are when I sit down to work. That feels very different than the state of mind I was in as an uneducated beginner.
What is your favorite non-trading activity/hobby?
I’ve played ice hockey most of my life and done some coaching. It’s been a great source of community for me and it’s helping stay in shape as I get older. Volunteering as a coach inspired me to pursue a career in sports and recreation as a program director with the YMCA, so I can honestly say my life would not look remotely the same without being involved in hockey. I currently moonlighting as a referee because it enables me to contribute to my family finances on a relatively flexible schedule (which I hope to do one day through trading).
I’m a big Kings fan. Red Wings fans can stay out of my DMs. Just kidding (or am I?). I am (sort of).
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