Best of Tom Dante compiled by @kratosbtc
COUNTER TRADING PEOPLE - Dante used to work at a prop firm where an extremely
profitable trader shared his strategy with Dante. Turns out he had a little black book in
which he recorded all the details about every trader he knew, which setups they were
looking for, how they traded, which trades they lost and won money on. Based off that
information he would counter trade those traders based on nothing more than the
position taken in the market and intended direction. He did extremely well financially with
this strategy without starting at charts at all.
PURSUIT OF MASTERY - Dante tells us a story about a guy who was making huge
profits at the firm where he worked, consistently bringing over $100,000 per week. One
day he hit a home run and rake in significantly more than his average week. Everyone in
the office congratulated him and left at the end of the day. Dante also left but discovered
his keys were left at the office and had to return. He came back to the office at 9PM and
discovered that this man was still there and he was the only one. When everyone else
went home, he stayed after to analyse his day and record everything in his diary and
prepare for the next day. People that are pursuing mastery are intensely focused on the
process and they enjoy forcing themselves to be disciplined.
THE 0.01% - If you are under 30 and you are not spending at least 10 hours a day of
refining your edge and trading system, you can bet your ass somewhere across the world
is doing this. Their time is compounding and in several years the gap in experience and
skill will be an impassable void that’s harder and harder to catch up to. An expert is a
person who made all of the mistakes in a field.
SEARCH FOR HUMOUR - This is one of the most stressful jobs in the world. If you plan
on playing this game for the long term, you have to cultivate an ability to laugh and find
the humorous in different market situations. Post memes, banter around and keep your
vibe up with music!
TRADING BLUEPRINT - Dante has created a visual diagram of his trading process
broken down into a simple process to evaluate the current setup to make sure that he
performs consistent analysis where he doesn’t miss anything and which allows him to
make an easier decision whether a trade fits his criteria.
YOUR EDGE - You are the edge. Your beliefs, attitudes and ways of looking at the market
and ability to perceive and execute on opportunities all contributes to what we call ‘the
edge’. The more clearly you know your edge, the higher chance you have of becoming
consistently successful. You have to do what others aren’t willing to, take yourself to the
edge of your ability and keep pushing further.
EYE OF THE DETECTIVE - When you are looking into the charts, tap into the Detective
Archetype. Try to read the psychology of the market to see what people are feeling. Look
at each swing as buyers interacting with sellers. Where are the areas that people
got placed on the wrong side of the trade? Who is winning right now?
INDICATORS are DOGS = Indicators are like hunting dogs, you use them to help you
with things you cannot see during the search. But you don’t give the dog the gun.
STATE AWARENESS - As a trader you have to consistently watch your emotional and
mental states. It’s your job to make sure you don’t get affected by the previous days
performance. If you are not working on making yourself more mentally resilient - someone
else is. Train yourself by focusing on the right activities and wake up with an attitude of
looking for opportunity.
MARKETS ARE SEDUCTIVE - The market is always advertising to you and attempting to
entice you like a succubus for you to abandon your rules and to punt a trade like a cunt
instead of trading your edge like a ledge. The main seduction weapon of the market is
greed. You need to have a plan in place for what you consider great opportunities and
only execute trades that match your criteria.
MARKETS ARE CURIOUS - The markets always probe for interest of buying or selling.
For example, a price may break through a resistance just enough to test if enough buying
power comes in to drive the market further. A price may break down a support just
enough to see if accelerated selling will occur.
MARKETS ARE UNCERTAIN - The market is like a game of hot potato, we don’t want to
be left holding the potato when the music stops.
TRADING SUPERPOWER - Most people don’t do what they know they should. Some
things you can get away with, others you can’t. One such example is journaling. if you are
not journaling all of your trades and breaking them down - you have no chance of
becoming truly great, it’s simple as that. Now, there is a difference between crap
journaling and great journaling so let’s explore this further:
What can I make more money from my winners?
ACTIVE MANAGEMENT vs WALKING AWAY: Which strategy is more
profitable for me?
OPPORTUNITY MISSED: Why did you miss a trade? Outside a timezone?
Cancelled trade? Stopped out?
OPPORTUNITY CAPTURE %: How much of the opportunity did I capture on
this move? (key metrics to evaluate trader performance in a prop firm)
OPPORTUNITY IMPROVEMENT: How can you capture more next time?
MAE (Max Adverse Excursion): How far do your winning trades go off side
before they move correctly? - You need to know this to develop a strategy
for stops.
RISK ALLOCATION: Don’t randomly change size. Always keep the risk the
same on every trade. Find entry, exit, stop loss and evaluate your position
size backwards.
How can I lose less money from my losers? (very important, losing trades +
correct analysis = winning trades in the future)
Is there a certain time of day I shouldn’t trade?
Is there a certain day of the week I shouldn’t trade?
use DEMON FINDER to find out your worst mistakes (simply review along
with your trading journal)
How can I get more trading ideas?
Dante blocks out 1 hour every day to test new ideas and find new ways of
looking at the market.
Coming up with ways to become a better trader should be keeping you up
at night.
BEAR TREND = RITE OF PASSAGE - If you’re new and you survive then you get the
opportunity to plant the seeds of accumulation for the next harvest season. Most OG’s
had to experience pain and persistence before making life changing amounts of money.
TALENT - DISCIPLINE = 0 // Good traders are not always successful. if you are
undisciplined and deviate from your trading rules you will lose money. Some traders will
make the same mistake over and over again and the only thing preventing them from
making it again is when their account is out of money.
RULES + DISCIPLINE = MONEY - In this game, there is a direct link between personal
performance and compensation. Trade well, follow your rules, make money. Trade poorly,
lose money. Blaming spooky, market makers, big institutions and manipulation is victim
mentality. The only person to blame or praise in this game is yourself.
’SHOULD’ MAJORITY —> ‘MUST’ MINORITY = All of the information about how to
trade is already available. Only a few people will apply the concepts they learn, even
fewer will apply the concepts properly. Trading is a profession that only rewards the best.
There is no room for mediocrity and that is why such a large % fail.
EXPERT? = An expert has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.
TRADE LIKE TINDER = You should be extremely selective with the setups you decide to
execute. You know exactly what you like in girls, but what you do you like to see in
charts?
ANXIETY & REGRET = No amount of regret can change the past. No amount of anxiety
can change the future.