“The 6 Inches Between Your Ears” @Coys997
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 @Coys997 has to say!
What brought you into trading?
It’s probably a tale folks have heard before since the start of the COVID pandemic, honestly. I’ve always had a bit of an interest in the financial sector despite being in high tech, but most of my experience trading was simply selling vested RSUs to supplement income while living in Silicon Valley. I had a desire to try something new during the pandemic while I had free time working from home and found myself intrigued by intraday trading. I started off trading equities and quickly realized I didn’t like the constant hunt for new tickers and trading so many different instruments.
A friend suggested I look into futures, particularly the ES, and it made much more sense to me to learn a single market and trade that. It was a couple of years of really spinning my wheels before I found Convergent and started making actual progress towards doing this as a profession.
What do you like most about Convergent?
The education and community. Everyone is incredibly supportive and positive, with the sole desire to help each other learn and grow. There is a massive wealth of information available in all the webinars, the Trade Right program, and each individual member, from the Mavens + FT, through everyone who contributes in the forums and chat. Furthermore, the accountability partner program is fantastic, and I appreciate that FT and the company went through the effort to match people up.
How have these aspects helped you grow as a trader?
Without the provided education, I feel I would still be spinning my wheels and wondering if I’m going down the right path in my journey. Instead, I’ve gained a deeper understanding of the market, the auction process, and thinking statistically, which has helped reinforce the direction I’m taking each day. The community builds a sense of what an online prop shop would be like, with regular meetings, chats, and accountability partners that help us all grow and support each other in our trading and learning. In particular, the accountability partner program has been hugely beneficial in keeping me on track and providing someone specific to answer to in my trading. I was hesitant at first to sign up for the program but can say I’m incredibly glad I did because even just a few sessions in, I’ve already found a lot of value in having someone else there who understands the daily process and struggles that come along with it. As folks say, trading can be lonely, and Convergent helps to alleviate that feeling.
Do you have a favorite community quote or webinar?
Something I’ve been thinking about lately, particularly in the difficult environment we’ve all been dealing with, is something FT said a while back, and I may be paraphrasing slightly, so forgive me:
“Your job is not to go out and find trades as though you were someone actively trawling for fish. Your job is to know where to fish and wait to drop your line.”
One of my biggest struggles is with forcing trades and looking for something where no edge exists. This quote is something I try to remember when setting up my plans for the day and when feeling like I need to make something happen. It’s a good reminder to step back, look at the bigger picture, and be patient for MY trade.
On the webinar front, I’d be hard-pressed to pick just a single one, but I really enjoy the AMA sessions as well as CT-Jaguar’s Trader Journey webinars. The AMAs have a ton of great information, and most of the time, members ask questions that we’re all thinking. CT-Jaguar’s webinars have been great too; he’s full of great insight and constantly provides new ideas for me to incorporate into my own processes.
Do you have any advice for new members?
I would say the biggest piece of advice is that this game is not won or lost by how much technical knowledge you have or how much you study auction theory. Rather, the best thing you can do for yourself in trading is to figure out what is going on in the 6 inches between your ears. I’ve never learned more about myself or my emotions than by trading day in and day out. I’m constantly learning about my emotions, how they control my actions, and how to consistently overcome that obstacle. Don’t ignore the mental side of trading; in my opinion, it’s really the key to unlocking your potential.
What is your favorite non-trading activity/hobby?
Most of my activities outside of trading revolve around sports and cars. I play ice hockey and golf weekly, and if a TV is on at my house, it’s almost guaranteed to be tuned to hockey or soccer. I also enjoy finding fun roads to drive on the weekends.
Have you participated in the #TradeRight program/challenges? What discoveries have you made?
I participated in the Trade Right program a couple of months ago. A primary goal I had going into it was to improve my consistency and focus on doing the ‘unsexy’ work each day, particularly journaling the day session and my trades. The more I worked on it, the more I tweaked and improved my daily process to capture the most necessary information. Furthermore, I enjoyed testing with the coin flip challenge. It was interesting to see how my results changed just by adding a scale to my trade to help mitigate risk. This theory was lost on me for a long time as I tried trading with only a single contract or an all-in, all-out style. As risk management is of utmost importance to us traders, scaling out of a position helps reduce our risk drastically, and seeing that result on paper helped me truly understand that and adjust my trading style accordingly. Scaling out of positions has significantly helped reduce my risk while still allowing me to capture the move.
