STOP SETTING SMALL TRADING GOALS transcript

Want to know the most dangerous mistake ambitious developing traders make when setting career goals? Hint, it isn't aiming too high. It's setting the bar way too low. Let us share a story from our prop desk. During a recent monthly review with team Max, one of our traders on his team announced his numbers. He pulled in 1 million in net trading profits in August. When he first sat on the desk, his lifelong dream was to make 1 million in a year.

Well, last month he did it in 21 trading days. Max had an even better month, and I wanted to get his reaction to his monster performance. So, I G-chatted him. "Hey, you ever think when you were starting you would make 2 million plus in a month?" Max, "Definitely not. LOL." This reminds me of an idea we scrapped at SMB that I'm so glad we did. A couple of years back, we actually kicked around the idea of publicly tracking Max for the trading community to see if he could break 1 million in a month.

Hey, we thought it would be fun. And at the time, he hadn't yet broken this level. Thankfully, we ended up scrapping that project because we were worried it would focus on the wrong things, placing too much of an emphasis on P&L, and not doubling down on the process that breeds great performance. Fast forward to today, Max cleared over a couple of million dollars last month alone, and is heading into his second consecutive eight-figure year.

For him now, a million-dollar month isn't even close to the benchmark he aims for. What if Max, who teaches an options class for SMB Inside Access members each Friday after the close, had set his goals too low? What if he merely aimed to hit that 1 million a month milestone? He'd be nowhere near as good as he is today. And there's more to learn from this team Max monthly review. During that same review, a couple of our younger traders who made solid six figures in a month bemoaned their month.

They felt dejected comparing their numbers to the desk's seven-figure producers. Three years into their careers, an outcome that would stun 99% of independent traders felt unsatisfying to them. Now, that's not right. And that psychology reveals three critical truths about trader development. Number one, arbitrary P&L goals are self-limiting. When you fixate on a dollar target early in your career, you anchor your ceiling to who you are today, the worst you're ever going to be as a trader with your current limited skills, risk tolerance, and playbook.

Number two, the process multiplier. When you double down and triple down on your daily process, build technology, trade alongside elite traders, collaborate, and push size on your A+ setups, your growth becomes exponential. Your early career goals end up looking comically small in the rearview mirror. Number three, happy but never satisfied. As Chris Mullin, former NBA Hall of Famer and my favorite college basketball player is from St.

John's when I was growing up in Long Island used to say, and as we preach to our desk constantly, happy but never satisfied. Even after pulling millions out of the market, happy but never satisfied, this desk spent the meeting dissecting where they left money on the table. Leaving 25% for example on the Bitcoin breakout. They were breaking down what worked for Moderna and focusing on pumping the brakes during low opportunity tape that drains P&L from other winning trades.

Don't let arbitrary dollar targets limit what you can accomplish. Double down and triple down on your process. Surround yourself with peers who raise your standards and aggressively press your A+ setups. Your ceiling is higher than anything you can picture today.