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Churning and Burning
Latest posts
Grievances
There was this trader named Tony at my old firm, back in 2011. He was an accomplished veteran trader and considered one of the core members at the firm. He was also extremely competitive and had no filter--he would say what was on his mind and not hold back, particularly if he was already on edge from the stress of trading. He cursed like a sailor and broke keyboards with the dramatic flair of…
What does resilience feel like?
In 2020, I traded every single day of the year. Not a single day off. That's the first time I ever have done that, for any calendar year. That's not like me. There's always a part of me that gets a bit flighty and needs to get away from the screen for a prolonged period. Usually when there's any kind of drawdown or adversity. I was fortunate to have a stellar year for my own standards and I…
The Yips
I started watching sports around 1996. Magic Johnson came out of retirement. Michael Jordan won his first title since his own un-retirement. Brett Favre won the Super Bowl. The Yankees won their first World Series in eighteen years. Oh those damn Yankees. The Yankees formed a dynasty and won 3 more titles... and I hated them more than any other team*. I fully bought into the Evil Empire narrative.…
Writing More // Social Aspect of Trading
I have been doing some reflection on why I don't write more. I think about what this blog could have become if I committed to writing daily or weekly to it and I honestly think it would have been one of the most greatest trading blogs (maybe ever?!). Instead, as it exists--it's the one good story ( the FNMA loss story ), a bunch of interesting niche subjects, and a few blurbs that paint me as a…
False Inspiration
I am currently reading the Jim Simons book, "The Man Who Solved the Markets". It's very good, I suggest you check it out. There's this throwaway line in there that stuck with me. "On Wall Street, traders often are most miserable after terrific years, not terrible ones, as resentments emerge—yes, I made a ton, but someone wholly undeserving got more!" Let me give you some context. I had a…
The CETC Situation: A Short Seller's Nightmare
Looks like I am in another unusual situation that is costing me money. I seem to have a knack for finding myself in these spots. And yet again I am the lucky one who gets to be the torchbearer for the cause. Let's get started. What is the situation with CETC? Let's first start off with defining the company. Hongli Clean Energy Technology Corp (CETC) is a Chinese reverse-merger company — these are…
Confession: I am a fraud
I have a confession to make. I am a fraud. People talk to me. Professional traders. Aspiring traders. Hobbyist traders. People just kinda sorta interested in trading. Crypto-fiends asking me about bitcoin. Regular people asking me about where the stock market is going. Analysts pitching me ideas, hoping to get a fee for winning trade ideas. Progammers pitching me their services for automated…
This is what you get when you act like assholes.
You ever been in a sorta-hostile situation where someone was throwing shade in a public setting but not quite crossing the line, so you couldn't quite escalate it? Maybe you just had to play along with it and parry away with words to stand your ground. But you couldn't make it too serious otherwise you look like the asshole or you risk getting your ass kicked. Well, I was playing poker on a cruise…
I'll Have One Dip Buy, Please.
Greetings everyone. I hope you're all having a fabulous holiday week. As I'm sure you are aware of, the S&P 500 is currently down 600 handles from the all time highs and this will very likely be the first year we close red since 2008. Gulp. That's a pretty bad candle. This is the daily chart: I hope this is not ruining the holiday cheer for anyone, but if it is, here's the good news: There's a big…
The "Should Have" Trade That I Will Regret Forever
You ever think about the one that got away from you? It could be anything. An amazing business opportunity. The partnership stake in a unicorn startup, that you sold for pennies on the dollar to fund a steady career in advertising. An amazing partner. The perfect college sweetheart you broke up with to "find yourself" on a year long trip to Europe. A grand achievement at the highest level. The…
Different Type of Edge
I have a bit of an edge to me--an angry edge. Had it ever since I was a little boy. If I were writing a screenplay lionizing my entire life, I would cast it in a positive light. It's the chip on my shoulder. It's the drive to be great. It's the fire within. There was that time in 6th grade playing pickup basketball during lunch. Sean McFarland was throwing elbows while posting up and giving me…
Button Pushing Fast Trader
So I posted a poll on twitter a couple days ago to see how many traders use hotkeys vs. mouse or touchscreen. I was curious because I don't see a lot of discussion on the mechanical side of trading. How do you execute trades? — Pete (@peterkto) August 29, 2018 I'm a bit surprised that--given that my audience is mostly "active traders"--only 21% use hotkeys. That means a whole lot of you are…
5 Interesting Trades I Made in College: Buying Gold Bullion
There are five trades I want to reflect on from my college days. Each trade represents a new trading phase. And I went through many phases, much like a student who kept switching majors. I want to do political science. No, maybe programming. Hmm, but what is all this hype I hear about eastern european gender studies? Nah, I'll do film and broadcast--I do love movies after all! But then I…
The Trade That Made No Sense
We were were in agreement that we had to find a better way. Clockwork and I started our trading careers as professional minimum wage traders. We meticulously manufactured small profits--all amounting to a low payout that, after being chewed up by commissions, profit split, platform fees, and the occasional compliance fine, would fail to sustain even a mediocre life quality in high-priced NYC.…
Stepper!
The Firm Next Door There was another prop firm sharing the building floor with us. Let's call them Lemmings Capital. Lemmings Capital was a small outfit run by a rotund bear-bodied Russian, Ivan, and Bob, a balding, bespectacled man who always sported an worn-out adjustable cap. Supposedly, they were both "traders back in the day" i.e. the SOES bandits era . I would pass by both of them in the…
Podcast
https://chatwithtraders.com/ep-098-peter-to/ I recorded a podcast. It's about trading and stuff. Thanks to Aaron for reaching out!
The Best Trade I Made in October
... was trading DeAndre Hopkins and Jeremy Hill for Dez Bryant in my $200 fantasy football league last week. It was that kind of a trading month. 9 months of hugging the highs of my equity curve and then the first prolonged dip. It's becoming a pattern on this blog, every time I hit an iceberg, that's what the next post is all about--about how lost I feel and how it sucks and how I'll never, ever,…
Reflections
It's been a year since my last blog post. This is the cycle I've been going through: "I should write another post. I have so many ideas!" --> Sit down to write... --> Go face to face with the toughest obstacle for any writer: lack of writing flow ---> give up I decided to write a little bit about my trading year so far... something easy instead of getting stuck in trying to craft any bigger…
Weekend Ramblings: Confidence, Mispricings, and Trying Too Hard
I need to to free-write. Write without worrying about creating a narrative, drawing, editing, or simplifying in-the-know concepts to outsiders. I need to let myself spew words and create a habit of updating this blog, otherwise I'll go on radio silence for another half-year. Maybe this becomes a weekly thing. The Value of Confidence One intangible value to being at a (good) prop firm is being able…
Two Mornings in August
I have to write about today... have to get something off my chest. August 8th, 2011 I remember the first month of live trading at my prop firm. We (myself plus 11 others) were all trainees pikering around with a few hundred shares, risking no more than $150 for the entire day. We spent our morning prep sessions going over stocks gapping up/down on news. Nobody really considered trading market…
$20: Going bust.
Changing Up Maybe limit just wasn't my game, or so I reasoned. I had a cynical outlook-- it was all just a fucking crapshoot . Playing solid tight-aggressive poker pre-flop wasn't sufficient enough for anything more than a small edge. There was zero nuance or creativity in post-flop play* because nobody paid attention--they just played their hand and smashed the call button if they had a non-0%…
$20: Nickels and Dimes
Starting From The Bottom I had read about all these stories of college students making money on Party Poker and Stars--18-23 year old turning $100 deposits into $1000, $10,000, $100,000, and live WPT/WSOP appearances. Some would rise from micro-stakes all the way to the nosebleed stakes, from $5 pots to 5 figure pots. I didn't see any reason why I couldn't do the exact same thing. I had a mission…
$20
How I Turned $20 into... the subheading for my future E-Book title Sometimes when I'm indulging my ego and I want to feel good about myself, I like to think of how I would want to be described in a book or on an introduction on TV. That's what I do. I crop together specific life moments to create a narrative that shines on the best aspects of my life, and then I craft an entire identity around it.…
What can a prop trading firm offer you? Guide 1.0
So this is a question that I receive a lot, which I briefly addressed in my FAQ, and deserves its own lengthy treatment. This is a guide addressing the pro's and con's of trading on your own vs. trading for a firm. This is NOT a guide on how to get a job at a top notch prop firm (the answer to that is easy: A) develop a track record, B) if you are a student, get a degree in quantitative sciences)…