Trader Goes From Good to Killer

How we added opportunity without adding risk, complexity, or burnout.

On Tuesday, I had a call with a trader who’s deep into Phase 2 of his strategy.
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The challenge?
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His single-instrument setup was working beautifully. Several strong months, solid size, consistent results.
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But, there were prolonged periods of no trades, and he wanted to kick things up a gear, without breaking what was already working.
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So, we jumped on a call and workshopped it through…

PHASE 2

After the standard British whinge about the heat, 😁 we got down to brass tacks and laid out a few possible paths:

  1. Tweak the strategy to trigger more often
  2. Add one or two new markets during the same execution window
  3. Trade another market in a different time window
  4. Increase size

🚫 More size? Off the table (for now). He was already pushing enough; £8k green days weren’t uncommon, and the margin requirements meant he would have to deposit a big chunk of extra cash into his account.

🚫 Adjusting the strategy for more frequency? Hmm, I didn’t like it. Could dilute the already working edge.

🚫 Trading in a different time window? Naa. He liked his current workflow and didn’t want to mess with it. As tempting as it is to add more work, remember that focus and energy aren’t infinite.

✅ So we settled on adding new markets in the same window.

Then he said something interesting:

“I only want to take shorts. I prefer shorting. I’m happy just waiting for the right setup.”

And I thought: perfect.

That’s what Steenbarger always says…

“Elite performers don’t just fix weaknesses… they double down on strengths.”

This trader was already good and had killer potential…
If he wanted to laser focus on what he was good at, then great.

So, we added two uncorrelated markets for short-only entries, and he left with a plan to run some low-R unit tests and build from there.

Ok, why am I telling you this?

  1. When you hit a challenge, take the time to map the options. The obvious path isn’t always the best one.
  2. Play to your strengths. If you’re better at shorts, focus there. If you trade best in short bursts, design around that.
  3. Then craft a plan, back it, and move.