Traders Mastermind

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If you're a developing trader, should you focus on day trading or swing trading?

It's the question everyone asks early on... and my thinking on it has shifted over the years.

In this one, I go through the definitions, the usual pros and cons, and then the bit most people skip: the psychological cost. Fast decisions, fast damage. Why beginners fall apart day trading and what that actually does to your account.

I get into the asymmetry problem too. Why it's so hard to find a true asymmetric trade intraday in normal conditions, and how holding for a few days changes the maths.

Then my honest take on what I'd do if I was starting again now. It's not clear-cut. But on balance I land somewhere.

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Would you get hired by a hedge fund?

The traits funds screen for before they let anyone near a book are the same ones that keep a retail account alive. No billions or trading desk required... it's behaviour, discipline and self-awareness.

We go through what they look for at hiring, what they demand once you're managing a book, and the honest question underneath it all: would you hire yourself?

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A rapid-fire episode. 10 questions traders have sent in over the past few weeks, answered as honestly as I can in under 10 minutes.

In this episode:

How much money do you actually need to start trading
How long until you're consistently profitable (and why the answer is longer than you want)
How to tell if your strategy is broken or just in a drawdown
Should you go full-time
Stopping revenge trading after a loss
Sizing positions properly
Whether prop firm challenges are worth it
Dealing with people who call trading gambling
RSI vs Stochastics (and why it probably doesn't matter)

Got a question for the next one? Reply to the daily email.

🔗 Spread Bet Risk Per Trade Calculator

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Most traders are doing the same thing. Same charts, same lines, same indicators. And if everyone's doing the same thing... where's the edge?

In this episode, Mark digs into what actually separates the trader who's stuck spinning their wheels from the one putting up the numbers. It's not discipline. It's not risk management. Those are table stakes.

It's something else. Something the traders we admire all seem to have, even if they describe it differently.

This isn't a silver bullet episode. You won't walk away with a strategy. But you might walk away with the right question to start asking yourself.

What's the thing you see that others don't?

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Why can't I run my winners? It's one of the most common questions I get from traders. And the obvious answers (be more disciplined, walk away from the screen, trust the trade) usually don't work.

So in this episode, I borrow an idea from Rory Sutherland, the Ogilvy behavioural economist: "the question is a lazy formulation of the problem." And I apply it to running winners.

Turns out the reason most traders never solve this is because they're asking the wrong question. We work through better ones, and what changes when you do.