Veteran trader Mike Bellafiore of SMB Capital shares a question-and-answer between him and a trader about how many trades to make—on average—per trading day.
First of all, I would like to thank you for everything that you do for us traders. I've just started to read The Playbook and I'm sure it will help me develop as a trader. I've one question though, in Playbook you write that we should archive trades in our playbook that makes most sense to us. Well, I need to tell you that I'm happy if I catch one trade daily, even though I'm an intraday trader and here is my question: how many trades (daily) can you or your guys at SMB find and trade on average?
Thank you for your time and best regards.
Mike's Response
Yes, you should archive one play each trading session that makes sense to you. This does not have to be a trade that you made. It can be one that you spotted and should have made that makes sense to you. This is a best practice to help internalize your favorite trades and perform optimally in real time.
How many good trades you see each trading session depends on your trading style. A scalper will see many intraday, even every hour. We have not taught traders primarily to scalp since '09 but this is still an effective strategy for the best scalpers.
Our traders swing trade intraday. They hold trades for the real move intraday. How many they catch depends on their skill level. Those in our most recent trading class who just went live, might see one really good trade a day. An experienced trader might find four to eight.
You only have to catch one good swing trade a day to perform well.
Learn more about Mike Bellafiore at SMB Capital
