Most players go through it at least once. If you play the game long enough, it finds you.

Robin Ventura —

Robin Ventura is a former Professional Baseball player. He’s referring to what baseball calls a “slump” when a player goes through a streak without a hit at the plate and this is what similarly can happen to best of traders.

As a kid whose parents grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey, I easily became a Yankees fan following my dad and uncles. Baseball was arguably my favorite sport at the time especially during the 90s, when baseball was probably at its peak as America’s pastime.

My favorite player, without question, and the first athlete I ever idolized, was Derek Jeter. He is still my favorite athlete of all time next to LeBron. He was consistently a top ten hitter year in and year out for average throughout his career, so I’ll never forget the year in 2004 where he went through a slump of going 0-32! I was in disbelief that this could happen to a player of his caliber and I remember watching SportsCenter every night during this terrible streak of his to see if he just got at least one base hit to end it.

This can happen to traders as well, ones just as good as Derek Jeter was at his profession. If you’ve read any good book about someone who excelled at trading, usually there’s a part of their story where they went through a series of losses or a drawdown in their account. My personal mentor himself, Micah Brooks, spoke to me about a few occasions where this has happened to him and even the time he lost over $100K in a single day. Matt Justice used to talk about a time in his earlier years of trading where he took one of if not the biggest drawdowns of his career over a course of a month, trading emotionally, trading what he believed what would happen versus what he saw.

Look, with all that said, the intent isn’t to scare you, but to let you know that there is a chance something like this can happen but always know that you have the control of how you react or respond to this situation. What you can do in these situations is simply take a step back, walking away and evaluate what you’ve been doing.

Secondly, your attitude is pivotal in situations such as this because no one comes out of any rut in life with a negative one. Reaching out for advice is probably one of the best things you can do as I have once before to Tim Justice while I was trading crude oil futures last winter. It was definitely a tough time for me personally because I felt like I took a step back when I was in rhythm with my trading.

Lastly, reminding yourself why you want to trade is a great way to keep you motivated through these rough patches.

In Derek’s first at-bat in Yankee Stadium after weeks of struggle, he hit a home run against the Oakland Athletics that ended the 0-32 slide. His teammates and players from the opposing team admired Jeter for his mental attitude throughout the entire streak. Being at the top of the dugout when someone gets a hit, never dodged the media once after every game.

Jeter knew he had to stay positive and help himself to move forward and this is a no different approach that we must have if we happen to find ourselves in these situations.

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Marques Johnson. Full-time Trader.

I’m from Virginia and I grew up in a military home where I was raised by two parents who provided me the best of both worlds from how to be a good person and how to be self-sufficient in life. I’ve been trading for three years now and each year there’s always something significant I learn because the markets are changing all the time. I particularly focus on trading stock and futures options but trading isn’t the only thing I’m passionate about. Fitness is a significant aspect of my life and personal training is what I do throughout the day, so the balance of trading and fitness is a great mix for me mentally and physically which keeps me motivated every day.

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