Also, starting a daily Instagram. Markets, life, being a dad, some jiu jitsu. Short and unfiltered. If you're on IG, give me a follow. Something for the first few hundred followers. More on that soon.

You know I tweeted something with this the other day but deleted it, and this afternoon decided it deserves a post, because there is a lot that is right about it. I'll start by saying a friend of mine had a 9 figure trading week this week, and I couldn't be happier for them. There's been a lot of debate lately about whether talented traders are better off trading their own capital or working at a firm, and I think the people arguing in favor of the latter have a pretty legitimate point. This conversation comes up a lot actually, and is often coupled with the conversation about retail traders going pro / independent. Some might be statistical anomalies, but many will die trying, and while you might give up your time trying to go pro at soccer, you can set yourself back years financially trying to make it in markets. If you're genuinely talented, access to significantly more capital, better infrastructure, and the ability to operate at a scale you couldn't reasonably achieve on your own can make an enormous difference in your earning potential. Think about what I said above again, a close friend of mine just had a $100+ million p&l week. Chew on that. There are extraordinarily talented independent traders who will never come close to producing that kind of money, not necessarily because they lack the ability, but because they simply don't have access to that kind of capital or risk budget. And there's something to be said for taking risk with someone else's money rather than putting your own accumulated wealth on the line. Obviously, firms have risk limits and other constraints, but the economics can be very different. I trade my own capital now, and I've been fortunate enough to build a portfolio that allows me to do that comfortably. It is a lot easier after you have a big stack. I can think of a few periods over the last decade+ that helped build that. I have complete independence. I work from home, spend a tremendous amount of time with my family, and don't answer to anyone. I do what I want, buy what I want, and don't think twice. I've also built other businesses around what I do. Those things matter to me, but they don't somehow invalidate the financial argument for trading at a firm. The truth is, when you are on your own, have kids and a family, you need to be in survival mode a lot more. I simply can not take the same risks I used to at the same scale. It would be negligent on my part. In fact, if I were younger still, had limited capital, and had a genuine edge, I would be pursuing that path again. Where I think the argument goes wrong is when people take a perfectly reasonable observation about earning potential and turn it into a blanket judgment about someone's trading ability. There are plenty of reasons someone might choose to remain independent, just as there are plenty of reasons someone might prefer the institutional route. But I do think independent traders should be willing to acknowledge something: if you're exceptionally good at what you do, there's a very real possibility that you're leaving a tremendous amount of money on the table by trading exclusively for yourself. Whether that money is worth what you'd have to give up to pursue it is an entirely different question. More than anything though, if you have dream, storm the gates of hell for it at least once.

Anyone want to get extra parasocial? follow me on instagram at @churning_burning_blog ! I will post never before seen things about myself. 100 followers and I’ll post myself eating an authentic NYC pizza! 1000 followers you can watch me drunkenly shoot pool on league night!

Also, starting a daily Instagram. Markets, life, being a dad, some jiu jitsu. Short and unfiltered. If you're on IG, give me a follow. Something for the first few hundred followers. More on that soon.

Yesterday's action compared to some other bottoms for a bit of perspective. It was ugly, but not unprecedented. This is all from the $SPY Friday's newsletter call for caution and bearish lean was dead on.

I used to cringe at some of Threadguy’s stuff, but my opinion of him changed a long time ago. I think he’s one of the few personalities in this space who has what it takes to build something well beyond crypto. His appeal is bigger than the niche he’s in.

Some thoughts on today’s carnage and hopefully a little tip to help you from getting ran over when a sell program is underway. I will be sharing these to instagram and youtube daily starting next week.