Later today we are having a firm-wide trader meeting at @smbcapital. A few teams and a couple handful of traders have been struggling. This aligns with what I’m hearing from other desks as well as those on the retail side. Only fair for me to highlight both the successes AND the struggles of the traders I work with as I try to convey the authentic truth of being a trader. On the SMB call we will discuss what has been working well, what hasn’t been, and how best to adapt. Soliciting feedback across teams and individuals. Here is the main message I will be conveying to their traders which I think is useful for all to hear: IMO, the most common issues I’m seeing is that traders are getting overly involved and over-allocating risk to situations that had potential but never unfolded optimally. $BWET is a name that got extended, but never enough to take a real stand. The breakouts in $QQQ or certain single-stock names had solid charts but the breadth beneath the market was awful. We still had yellow lights flashing in certain areas. The recent AI sell-off was extended and had its moments, but it lacked the intraday flush or intraday setups to size into anything. When these setups have unfolded suboptimally, traders have continued to stay involved and allocate risk in a refusal to acknowledge that the setup is not as good as it had the potential to be. I’d argue this comes down to maintaining an objectively high level of subjectivity. Selectivity is staying in your lane and waiting for the setups in your playbook that match the current regime. Unlike w poker, nothing is forcing you to play or to take a subpar setup. Essentially, you have a good hand and want to place a bet, but if the flop pans out suboptimally, you fold. A lot of traders have not been emotionally willing to fold and not play the hand. Good trading is recognizing that there might be some positive signs, but then avoiding or sizing down when it doesn't fully line up.