AlphaMind Podcast 55: Dr Tara Swart; On 'Brain Agility' and being 'the Wendy Rhodes of London'.

This week we are delighted to have Dr Tara Swart on the Podcast. Tara is a qualified psychiatrist and neuroscientist. who left the world of medicine to set-up her own Neuroscience based leadership coaching consultancy and became a coach, working with leaders and increasingly with top traders in Hedge Funds. Tara also lectures in Neuroscience at MIT, is an in-demand speaker, and author of ‘The Source: Open Your Mind, Change Your Life', which has been has described very favourably as ‘The Secret' based on Science, and by some as Life-changing. The Source has become a UK best seller, and is now being translated into 36 different languages.

Tara’s work with Hedge Funds has seen her described as the ‘Wendy Rhodes of London’. For those of you unfamiliar with Wendy Rhodes, she was the Psychology Coach in the Primetime hit show ‘Billions’.

In this episode we had a great discussion about Tara's book ‘The Source’, and expanded this out to explore how traders can develop an ‘AlphaMind’ by developing their ‘Brain Agility’. Brain agility facilitates the mastering of your emotions, developing greater resilience, being aware of the brain-body connection, accessing your intuitive abilities, making good logical decisions, staying motivated and thinking creatively.

This conversation is laced with references to neuroscience, psychology, emotions and references to our cognitive abilities allied to how people think about and make decisions in risk, trading and investment situations.

One of the fascinating parts of this interview was a talk about a topic rarely discusses, but that we see often as a factor in people's behaviours as traders, inter-generational trauma. This is part of the field of epigenetics, which is the influence of the environment on the expression of our genes. The point of this is that trauma’s experienced by parents and even grandparents can influence and shape how we are and how we behave when taking and managing risk and plays out subtly in people's work as traders. Tara makes that point that we do have the capability through Neuro-Plasticity to override this and take back control.

We also discuss later in the episode how fear and anxiety play out and how there are behaviours which can allow us to better a get a handle on these elements.

Listen to a soundbite from this episode 

You can find out more about Tara on her website https://www.taraswart.com/.

You can also read the Spear Magazine Article which Tara refers to later in the interview at this link: https://www.spearswms.com/stop-work-killing/

Another great article worth a read mentioned by Tara was Ghosts in the Executive Suite : https://syncreticsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/Ghosts-in-the-Executive-Suite-2-26-16.pdf

Tara is married to Robin Bieber, one of the world’s leading technical analysts and a guest a few podcasts earlier.

Podcast Episode Links:
🎧Main Link
🎧‬iTunes
🎧‬Spotify

The AlphaMind Podcast

The AlphaMind podcast is co-hosted by Steven Goldstein and Mark Randall, market veterans with over seven decades between them in the financial markets. The podcast delves into the lives and stories of extraordinary guests whose experiences provide a fresh and powerful lens through which to understand the mental, emotional, psychological and behavioural challenges people face when encountering risk and uncertainty in financial markets. To find out more visit the AlphaMind podcast website. The AlphaMind Podcast is produced in partnership with 'The Society of Technical Analysts'.

The AlphaMind Trader Performance Coaching Programme

Our powerful Trader Performance Coaching Programme focuses on helping people develop and improve the key risk skills, abilities and mindsets which contribute to trading performance mastery.

This programme makes use of our unique and powerful ‘Human Alpha Performance Model’ which helps illuminate the human aspects of the risk process as people navigate their way through the Financial Markets. The model helps people make sense of their behaviours when taking and managing risk in the financial markets, whilst the coaching helps people to make key changes and adjustments which drives growth in risk capability and personal performance.

This programme has been delivered over the past 10 years to people at many of the world’s leading trading and investment firms.

Click here to find our more about the programme, or email info@alpharcubed.com.

AlphaMind partner with AlphaRCubed to deliver the Coaching Programme. - AlphaRCubed provide a suite of Training, Development and Coaching programmes aimed at Trading and Investment businesses. View their flip brochure here to find out more about their work.

The AlphaMind Project and Newsletter

The AlphaMind project is a collaboration between AlphaRCubed Ltd and the Mark Randall Consultancy. Its aim is to explore, understand, educate and inform about the key factors which lead to successful trading and investment performance at the human level.

We work with many businesses in the Trading and Investment Industry to help them and their people improve their 'Risk Capability'. Our clients are some of the leaders in the trading world, including names such as Bank of America, Cargill, RBS, Balyasny Asset Management amongst many others. If you would be interested to know more about us and how we could help your business. Please email steven.goldstein@alpharcubed.com. 

We will shortly be publishing a regular Newsletter. If you would like to add your name to the Newsletter subscription list, then just sign up at this Newsletter link. 

AlphaMind Podcast Episode 51: Steve Ward: Bullet Proof Trader

This week's podcast interview was with Steve Ward. Trader Performance Coach and author of a new book 'Bulletproof Trader: Evidence-based strategies for overcoming setbacks and sustaining high performance in the markets'

Every Trader would love to be bullet proof. To be bulletproof is to be able to survive the mental shots taken at us each and every day in the financial markets. When these shots hit us, they disrupt our thinking, corrupt our decision-making and inflict major damage on our trading and investment performance.

In this episode Trader Performance Coach Steve Ward talks about his latest book, ‘Bulletproof Trader: Evidence-based strategies for overcoming setbacks and sustaining high performance in the markets'. He tells us about the book and also what it means to become ‘Bullet Proof’ as a trader.

Steve also tells us about his journey of transition from Sports Psychologist to leading Trader Performance Coach and author of some of the best-selling books on trading mindset. Including one the most popular books of recent years High Performance Trading.

Steven has worked in the field of High Performance over many decades, he worked with Olympic Athletes, High Stakes Poker Players, Leaders in Business and with Traders and Investors in the Financial Markets. Steve realised the similarities between high performance sports and the trading world, and developed a performance practice which has helped many traders make lasting improvements.

Steven wrote his first book, 'High Performance Trading', a few years ago. It became an instant hit amongst traders and has seen his reputation in this world soar. Bulletproof Trader is the next instalment in a series of books Steve has written on themes related to mindset, performance and psychology in the similar world of trading and sports betting.

You can learn more about Steve at https://performanceedgeconsulting.com. Steve is featured in our list of Books on Trader Mindset, which you can view on this link.

Podcast Episode Links:
🎧Main Link
🎧‬iTunes
🎧‬Spotify

The AlphaMind Podcast

The AlphaMind podcast is co-hosted by Steven Goldstein and Mark Randall, market veterans with over seven decades between them in the financial markets. The podcast delves into the lives and stories of extraordinary guests whose experiences provide a fresh and powerful lens through which to understand the mental, emotional, psychological and behavioural challenges people face when encountering risk and uncertainty in financial markets. To find out more visit the AlphaMind podcast website. The AlphaMind Podcast is produced in partnership with 'The Society of Technical Analysts'.

The AlphaMind Trader Performance Coaching Programme
Our powerful Trader Performance Coaching Programme focuses on helping people develop and improve the key risk skills, abilities and mindsets which contribute to trading performance mastery.

This programme makes use of our unique and powerful ‘Human Alpha Performance Model’ which helps illuminate the human aspects of the risk process as people navigate their way through the Financial Markets. The model helps people make sense of their behaviours when taking and managing risk in the financial markets, whilst the coaching helps people to make key changes and adjustments which drives growth in risk capability and personal performance.

This programme has been delivered over the past 10 years to people at many of the world’s leading trading and investment firms.

Click here to find our more about the programme, or email info@alpharcubed.com.

AlphaMind partner with AlphaRCubed to deliver the Coaching Programme. - AlphaRCubed provide a suite of Training, Development and Coaching programmes aimed at Trading and Investment businesses. View their flip brochure here to find out more about their work.

The AlphaMind Project and Newsletter

The AlphaMind project is a collaboration between AlphaRCubed Ltd and the Mark Randall Consultancy. Its aim is to explore, understand, educate and inform about the key factors which lead to successful trading and investment performance at the human level.

We work with many businesses in the Trading and Investment Industry to help them and their people improve their 'Risk Capability'. Our clients are some of the leaders in the trading world, including names such as Bank of America, Cargill, HSBC, RBS, Balyasny Asset Management amongst many others. If you would be interested to know more about us and how we could help your business. Please email steven.goldstein@alpharcubed.com. 

We will shortly be publishing a regular Newsletter. If you would like to add your name to the Newsletter subscription list, then just sign up at this Newsletter link.

The AlphaMind Trader Performance Coaching Programme.

The AlphaMind Trader Performance Coaching Programme (TM) acts as a catalyst for significant improvement in trading and risk performance. 

The AlphaMind Trader Performance Coaching Programme (TM) is based on the same programme we have been running inside some of the world’s leading Hedge Funds, Asset Management Firms, Investment Banks, and Energy Trading firms over the past decade. 

The coaching programme is an opportunity for people to invest in themselves to cultivate improvements in their trading behaviours, processes, mindsets and related aspects. The programme helps people develop the key human processes which significantly increase the likelihood of success for traders when engaging in their trading and investing activities in Financial and Commodity markets.

Why Investing in Coaching?

When people invest in coaching they invest in themselves and their own performance. Quite Simply better performance equals more profits and great returns.

Many people enter trading with the fallacy that calling the market right is the step towards making more money. In reality getting your mindset, behaviours and attitudes right are more crucial to driving your success.

The programme is aimed at traders who are committed to improving their process, accelerating their performance and making or prolonging their career in trading. This includes people who have been in trading for many years and are looking to catalyse their performance to a higher level or move past a place where they may be stuck. 

The programme can be thought of as akin to how a professional sports person would use coaching to help them strive towards excellence: The analogy to sport is however limited to that comparison, the coaching is very specific to the needs of traders and investment professionals and is delivered by coaches with extensive trading experience and market knowledge who are also extensively trained and qualified in powerful techniques endorsed by some of the world’s leading coaching and psychotherapists. 

Who is the Programme Aimed at?

Individuals who participate in the AlphaMind Trader Performance Coaching Programme (TM) usually have a minimum of 3-4 years behind them, and often far more depending on what they are seeking.

Our clients include:

• Early career traders who have shown they have the potential but want to make their potential work for them on a more consistent basis.

• Mid-career traders looking to up their game and progress towards great levels of risk and productivity or move on past levels they are stuck at.

• Seasoned traders, some into their second or even third decade of trading, looking to adapt or adjust or to stay ahead of a changing game. 

We Coach the Person Behind the Trader.

The AlphaMind Trader Performance Coaching Programme (TM) is not specific to any form of trading or any asset class. Participants come from all backgrounds including private and retail traders, hedge fund portfolio managers and investment bank traders, market-makers, proprietary traders, asset managers, analysts, systematic traders, quants, day traders, spread traders, swing traders, relative value traders, long-term macro, options and vol traders, equity, forex, rates, fixed income, credit, energy, commodity traders, etc. We cover the entire spectrum of method, approach, style, market, asset class.

Programme Benefits and Outcomes:

Our clients have reported many powerful outcomes and benefits which the programme catalysed for them. These include:

• Significantly greater performance and results. 

• Improved and sustained consistency.

• Less volatility in profits and performance.

• Finding and sharpening trading edge. 

• Developing ways of working which are more congruent to personality and values. 

• Making changes, transitions or transformations with a positive impact. 

• Far more self-aware, risk aware and market aware.

• Greater market savviness.

• Development of self and presence and the ability to bring the best of themselves more often to the game. 

• Improved risk intelligence, more able to think probalistically about markets and risk.

• Sharpened techniques and analytical practices.

• Adjusted to, or adapted to, changes in their environment, circumstances of new market realities. 

• More disciplined and focused approach to work.

• Revealed blindspots and hidden causal behaviours of sub-optimal practices. 

• Cultivated better habits and reduction in sub-optimal behaviours. 

• More aware of strengths and how to leverage these for their advantage. 

• More aware of the impact of ego and negative outside influences. 

• Reduction in ego-driven trading behaviours. 

• Less emotional, more balanced and the development of greater resilience. 

• Less fear-based and more objective decision-making. 

• Working in ways more conducive to the environment of risk, better able to deal with loss, failure and setbacks. 

• Created development plans they were able to follow which had a significant impact.

• Reduced stress and anxiety in taking and managing risk.

• Able to increase risk size and more fully optimise capital. 

• Cultivate money management practices more optimal and personal for oneself and one's growth.

• Improved reading of the market, development of intuition and sensemaking capabilities.

• Created a more business-like mindset to trading and investing.

• Construction of process and practices which drive better behaviours and reduce impact of biases.

• Improved work-life balance, better relationships with loved-ones, family and friends.

• Significant career advancements in organisational environments.

• Adapted to new roles, e.g. Market-making and Execution to Taking and Managing Risk. Promotion to desk manager/head. Sell-side to Buy-side.

• Supported to make a more robust system and to work with systematic approaches. 

These are just some of the many and often multiple benefits. We do not make any promises on outcomes, it is very much up to the client to use the coaching and make it work for themselves. The onus is always on the client

In you are interested or would like to know more please email: steven.goldstein@alpharcubed.com or info@alpharcubed.com 

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: Is the the Programme delivered globally?

Coaching is delivered face-to-face if based in London or via audio-visual conference call facility if based outside London or overseas. If the overseas clients involves multiple individuals, (E.g. In an organisation, then we will travel for some of the delivery).

Q: Is the the Programme akin to a Mentoring Service or Training Programme?

No, the Programme is NOT Mentoring NOR Training or Teaching and is thus NOT ideal for New traders.

Mentoring differs from coaching in that it is more about 'showing a person the ropes', and usually delivered by someone currently active in a role. Mentoring is essential for new traders, whereas coaching is more suitable for the various stages beyond initial development. 

As for training and teaching, we do not produce source material or interactive content, the programme is not teaching or instruction. We do run workshops which would be considered as teaching/training, but these are separate classroom/seminar style programmes.  

Q: Do you work with new and novice traders. 

This programme is not intended or ideal for new and novice traders. New/novice traders require mentoring and teaching of basic practices and principles, systems, methods, forms of analysis or system development, risk and money management practices, tools and techniques. 

Q: Would I be suitable for the programme, these are my challenges.

We talk to clients before a programme to check out their suitablity and whether it is viable for them. 

However we would not consider:

• People with under two years active trading experience. Clients must have learned the basics and be committed to trading for the long-haul.
• Traders who we deem as undercapitalised: No amount of coaching will help people who are trading with amounts relative to their risk which are not viable.
• Those who seek instruction or are looking to learn about methods, systems, analytical techniques.

Q: What is the cost, can I pay in installments, can I stop if the programme does not turn out to be suitable for me.

• We do not publicise the cost, since costs vary depending on the client. E.g. We have different fees for people in organisations which require extra work, and may have a different price structure due to the additional amount of work required. We will inform you of the cost on a direct inquiry.
• We do offer installment payment to clients.
• Clients can cease or leave the programme at any time. We are aware people's circumstances change, or they may find that the programme is not conducive to their needs. There is a small admin charge for early termination.

To listen to Steven Goldstein, creator of the the AlphaMind Trader Performance Coaching Programme (TM) and lead deliverer, talk about his work on the AlphaMind podcast, click on the advert below.

If you care curious about our method, approach, or the programme structure, please continue reading. 

Method:

Our approach is based on a style and method which we have developed, evolved and finessed over many years working with traders and investment professionals.

This approach has delivered significant success in helping catalyse major improvements in personal trading and risk performance.

The approach involves coach and coaching participant engaging in a series of ‘dialogical’ discussions over several months which explore various aspects of a person’s work as trader.

We use various high levels techniques, many taken from psychotherapy, to help uncover the factors which are subtly and often unconsciously controlling the levers on a person’s decision-making.

We term our approach ‘non-linear development’. A ‘non-linear’ approach is neither directive, instructional, nor agenda based. Instead it involves a collaborative exploration of all areas of how a person works. This includes understanding the impact of their working environment, the markets environment, their relationships, their values, belief systems and philosophies, their financial situation, how they relate to others, how they cope with risk and uncertainty, their fears and desires, and many other factors that influence their decisions, behaviours and actions. 

Whilst the programme is not agenda based, we do look to set objectives which provide a direction of travel for the coaching. However, focus is on process rather than outcomes. We term this a 'process orientation'.

The coaching’s power is in how it helps the participant to become more self-aware and brings unconscious and hidden aspects of how a person works and functions to the surface. Clients find huge benefit in talking aloud about their work to a neutral person who understands what they are going through, their challenges and nature of the job. We say 'the coach does not come with solutions but with questions which helps people find the solutions which suit them and work for them'. This catalyses a person to start making subtle but powerful adjustments to their working behaviours, processes and practices.

The coach supports the person through this process, holding them to account to ensure they are making use of these new discoveries and applying them to their work.

Typical Performance Coaching Process:

Pre-Coaching chemistry meeting or call. This allows the participant to assess the programme before deciding to commit and helps ensure they are comfortable working with the coach. - If and once the person decided to proceed a non-refundable deposit is required. 

Pre-Coaching Analysis: Questionnaires, Psychometrics and Third-Party Feedback.

• A short reflective online questionnaire.

• An online risk profile (Risk Type Compass)

• Objective 3rd Person Feedback (Optional): We seek to obtain discrete 3rd party feedback from reliable references. These may include colleagues, friends, spouses or partners, managers. – The purpose of this is to gain objective perspective on the individual being coached.

Coaching Delivery

• 8 face-to-face sessions between coach and participant lasting 90 minutes.

• Sessions take place away from where the person is trading. If it is in person, then they occur in meeting rooms away from the trading floor. If the coach and participant are in different geographical locations, then the session takes place via a secure audio-visual connection. 

• Sessions 1 and 2 occur a couple of weeks apart, other session occurs approximately 1 month apart. – Earlier sessions may be closer together; latter sessions may be further spaced apart.

• Often the last 2 -3 sessions become well-spaced apart. This allows time for the participant to internalise aspects and changes explored in their coaching. It also enables them to apply them to their work and to assess and reflect on how they are progressing with the coach. 

• Allowing for holidays, the typical programme is held over an 8 to 10 month duration.

• All coaching sessions are private and confidential. 

• The coach will provide occasional email support, subject to time and availability, plus they are available for up to two 20-minute scheduled calls if the participant would like. (These are not mandatory).

The AlphaMind Trader Performance Coaching Programme is administered by AlphaRCubed Ltd. AlphaRCubed is a coaching business which provides coaching and learning services to Financial Market organisations. You can learn more about AlphaRCubed's services, programmes and philosophy in their brochure here or on their website. 

One-to-One or Group Coaching

The AlphaMind Private Trader Performance Coaching is typically offered as a one-to-one programme. The one-to-one approach is direct, personal, and recommended for a more powerful outcome. We also offer group coaching to pairs or small groups. The group coaching involves up to 3 participants on AV, or up to 8 individuals for in-person coaching offered, which can only occur in or close to London. Larger groups of 4 to 8 would be co-facilitated with an additional coach and would involve a different structure to that described above. 

The benefit of group coaching is it provides a more economical option for people. It also offers the chance to learn with and from others, which adds an additional and valuable element. 

Programme Investment Fee:

We have different price structures depending on the type of programme, aspects of delivery, needs of the clients, whether it is private or organisational, amount of time needed to devote to the clients. Please contact us and we can arrange an interview or conversation to provide you with more information. 

In you are interested or would like to know more please email : steven.goldstein@alpharcubed.com or info@alpharcubed.com or visit alpharcubed.com

How Performance Coaching Leads to High Performance in Financial Markets.

Britain used to be considered a minor player on the international cycling scene. this all changed in the early 2000s when British cycling adopted a professional coaching culture. Within a few years Britain was winning world championships, dominating the Olympic cycling medals, and producing a string of Tour De France winners.

In 1976, Kermit Washington feared his career with the LA Lakers was on a downward path. At that point he decided to seek private performance coaching. This move was unheard of for a pro NBA player. Over the subsequant months Washington saw continued improvements in every aspect of his game. By the end of the decade he had become an All-Star.

Delivering Excellence in Performance?

The above stories demostrate the power of coaching to transform performance. In sport, executive leadership, and elite military combat, coaching aims to help support the development and maintenance of performance excellence. 

Coaching works with clients outside of the field of battle, to help them to be more effective and more productive when engaged in the field of battle.

Anyone who has ever sat in the hot seat at a bank, a hedge fund or used their own money to trade is aware that Trading is a performance activity.

On the sell-side, skill is required is to optimise and monetise client flow. On the buy-side, or in private trading, the skill is far more individual, with sustained success coming to those able to master their game.

Developing Performance Excellence in Financial Markets

At Alpha R Cubed, we have been delivering specialist coaching services to individuals, teams and business in Financial Markets over the past 10 years.

We have our own Kermit Washington and British cycling team stories: Traders who raised their levels of performance adding millions of dollars to their bottom line. Portfolio managers wo have been able to attain outstanding performance at a sustainable level. Managers who develop new capabilities needed for the complex world they work in. Teams able to work more constructively and collaboratively to produce significant improvements in bottom line and client relationships.

The financial markets have been through a major change over the past decade. New rules, regulations, technology, competitors have transformed the environment. Yet at the human level, little has changed. Room for improvement is significant: Where we have worked with leaders, teams and businesses as part of a performance strategy, we have seen significant performance improvements, yet this remains at the margins.

Trading and financial markets, despite the money at stake, are decades behind sport. Ironically, the challenge is not that hard. It only requires a few micro improvements to add up to major macro improvements, this is what happened to British Cycling.

When the playing field is relatively level, it is micro edges that make the difference. This is how the British came to dominate the world of cycling in such a short space of time. This Harvard Business Review article explains how 1% performance improvements led to Olympic success. The story could be the same for the financial market business which takes the equivalent steps.

Steven Goldstein is a leading Performance and Executive Coach who helps people, teams, leaders and businesses in the financial markets to cultivate better, stronger and more effective performance.

Steven has worked as a coach since 2009 with many significant trading and investment businesses. Prior to that Steven worked for more than 20 years on the Rates and FX desks at some of the world’s leading investment banks.

See Steven's Full Profile.

At Alpha R Cubed we work with people and businesses in the financial markets to help them explore how they could help improve and develop behaviour to catalyse stronger and more effective performance.

We run coaching and development programmes for individual and teams engaged in Financial Market activities. In addition we help Financial Market businesses develop 'Organisational Effectivessness.

If you are curious about how we could help you or your business, please email us at info@alpharcubed.com. or call +44 (0)7753 446097.

(c) Copyright AlphaRCubed Ltd, April 2019. Copyright in this blog and any accompanying document created by us is owned by us. Exeption are stock images which have been acquired on license. 

FOMO (Fear of Missing Out): Is it killing Your Trading and Investment Performance?

FOMO is a label for an ‘irrational’ fear of – 'what a person will miss out-on’ or ‘regret’ if they fail to take a particular action.

FOMO can lead to sub-optimal levels of performance, and can be extremely detrimental to a person’s trading and investment practice. Paradoxically FOMO can result in creating the very situation a person is trying to avoid: They 'Miss out'.

Some typical effects of FOMO include:

• Traders can feel overwhelmed and paralyzed by markets, they then lack an ability to focus and orient themselves in a productive way. This may be seen in people staring endlessly at screens, unable to tear themselves away for more than a few minutes.  

• Subjugation to the crowd, always giving into, and following the crowd.  Loss of independence of thought. (See this article too: Following the Crowd: Why we do it?)

• A false ‘illusion of control’: Many traders feel they have more control over the market than they really do, and that being by the screens actually increases that control. The effect of this has been highlighted in studies which have shown that the ‘more control’ traders think they have over the market, the lower their actual levels of performance. 

• An inability to exit trades: Traders fear the market will turn in their favour if they are in a losing trade, or they will fear it will move further in their favour if they take profit, thus they remain longer int he trade than they should. The real fear is that they will come to ‘regret’ whatever they do, thus they avoid doing it. 

• Impatience: This can be seen in repeated poor ‘market-timing’. – Market entry and exit is not an exact science, but allowance should be made for the natural ebb and flow of the market. 

• Overloading: A tendency for traders and investors to take on too much work, too much risk,  too many views and positions, to run overly-complex portfolios. 

So what is Occurring? 

Too often ‘Behind the curve’: - Missing out is ‘inevitable’, we can not have it all. However the ‘Fear of Missing Out’ is an ‘emotional reaction’ which results from the attitude of having multiple options open to us, and a lack of a clear idea of what we want or how we will proceed to get it. Most people have a fear of missing out to some degree, however FOMO is far more pervasive and becomes a strong negative driving force. FOMO may be a sign that people feel they are too often ‘playing catching up’, or ‘risking getting left behind’. It is far better to want to succeed as a primary goal or urge (A positive goal), rather than wanting to succeed for fear of being left behind in some way (A negative goal). 

Lack of Balance: - Balance is a vital component of working performance in a complex environment. This is true whether one is involved in trading or investment, management or leadership, or any other profession for that matter. Too often people ‘over-focus’ on matters considered ‘urgent and important’, such as the market price action or news, and fail to focus enough on matters considered ‘not urgent but important’. ‘Not urgent but important’ include process, money management, risk management, head-space and professional development. Steve Covey, in his best-selling business book ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’, used the following matrix to emphasise this. 

On the ‘Urgent-Important’ matrix, too much time was spent in Zone 1, at the expense of focusing on activities in Zone 2, undermines people's effectiveness. People who display FOMO spend far too much time Zone 1, and virtually no time in Zone 2.–  It is crucial that people find the balance, taking time off the screens and focusing on planning, money-management, discussions with colleagues and others, headspace. 

The FOMO Paradox: FOMO can create the very thing one fears – ‘Missing out’.

FOMO can only detract from performance, either suppressing gains or exaggerating losses. Eventually that becomes part of one’s own private race to the bottom.

I have seen a number of the trading and investment professionals I coach display signs of FOMO. They may still be profitable, but the FOMO is suppressing their level of profitability, eventually if unchecked this will turn into losses and continued sub-par performance. One Investment Bank client of mine, who I coached a few years ago, had seen his performance levels drop sharply, after what had been some very strong years. During the early coaching sessions with this client it was clear he was displaying signs of FOMO. He was glued to his screens, staying behind long after his colleagues left. He had also stopped going to the gym during the day, and was often finding excuses to pull out of client visits with his sales team. He was at times even suppressing toilet breaks. His trading had become erratic and nervous, he was failing to hold trades, buying tops too often and selling near lows, and quickly grabbing profits. This FOMO was being echoed in his broader life, fearing that he was not going to be as successful as other friends and colleagues. There were no signs that this was the case, but the fear was making it seem real, and this was proving a major source of stress, thus further undermining his performance. The danger, and the paradox, was that if he carried on like this, he may end up creating the ‘missing out’ of the very success he desires.

As a coach, I worked extensively with this client to help him transform his behaviours and attitudes. Over the next few months he started to make a number of improvements and changes. The effects were startling, he was no longer glued to his screens, he was able to start going to the gym again during the day, which had the added benefit of further improving his mindset. He started taking days out the office to visit clients with the sales team, and felt more comfortable taking time off work. The biggest change was his attitude to work, rather than constantly playing catch-up with the market, he was now pre-empting the market. The performance improvement was staggering. At the start of the assignment, 5 months into his year, he had been flat for the year in a market that had proved productive for his colleagues. By the end of the year he came in well above budget. – The following year he was one of their top performers. Even now, some 4 years later, his performance is still going strong. 
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Beyond the Hype: The 10 Behavioural Traits of Highly Successful Traders.

Click here to view _____________________________________________________________________________
Final thoughts.

Trading and Investment requires ‘Behavioural Mastery’. The market will find any ‘Behavioural’ weaknesses you have and exploit them. FOMO is a destructive behaviour which will if not tamed leads to sub-par results. This may not be obvious to you, you may still be profitable, but you will not be achieving the level of profits you are capable of. Overtime, if not addressed, your confidence levels, self-trust and self-belief will be impacted. Ultimately, your performance may continue to drift and wain, to the point where it is no longer viable for you to continue. Addressing ‘Behavioural’ matters should be a priority for any trader looking to improve and enhance their performance. 

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Click on the above advert to find out more about the exceptional Alpha R Cubed 'Behavioural Performance Coaching Programme'. This powerful programme is  used by many leading Hedge Funds and Investment Banks to help develop and improve their peoples risk taking capabilities. Alternatively email info@alpharcubed.com.
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If you have enjoyed reading this article and would like to know more about our 'Behavioural Performance Coaching' work with Traders and Investment Professionals, please click on the above image. Alternatively email at: steven.goldstein@alpharcubed.com or visit the website www.alpharcubed.com.
 
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‘Billions’: Why Top Hedge Fund Managers Use Coaches?

Why do so many of the most successful people in trading use coaches? and why do so few of the rest? - Perhaps this is a question which answers itself!!!

Last week saw the first episode of the hit US TV Series drama ‘Billions’ airing on Sky TV here in the UK. ‘Billions’ is based around a fictional US Hedge Fund ‘Axe Capital’. The programme revolves around Damian Lewis as hedge fund boss Bobby "Axe" Axelrod. Another lead character is performance coach Wendy Rhoades. At 'Axe Capital' just one session with Rhoades is all you need to transform your performance.

‘One session’ may seem a little far-fetched, but then this is TV. However, several sessions with a performance coach can really make a huge difference to your trading. As a trader at a large German bank in London back in 2001, I was fortunate enough to be the beneficiary of coaching from a leading performance coach. Both during and following the coaching, which involved 6 face to face meetings over a 6-month period, my performance saw a dramatic improvement. Since 2009, I have been working as a ‘behavioural performance coach’ myself, and have witnessed significant transformations in my client’s performance. Just this week I was delighted to receive feedback from a senior FX trader who I had been coaching over the past 18 months. In his opinion, the work with we had done together contributed to around a 50% improvement in his performance. His PnL over that period was around $10,000,000, thus he attributed the coaching with an additional $3.33mio for a relatively modest investment. As an ROI, that is someway over 50,000%. And yes you did read that correctly. 

'Wall Street’s Heavy Hitters have a Secret: The Performance Coach.'

The above line is not mine, rather its stolen from an earlier article in the Guardian newspaper. Yet despite this, it is still rare to find many traders being coached. Why is this? - There seems very few fields left where people working in complex and challenging environments don’t have coaches. Sport led the way, business leaders followed; most senior business leaders have an executive coach. Now many surgeons receive coaching, as do elite military soldiers. And yet trading seems largely to have avoided it. – Some of the exceptions being those at the very top. The big hitters. – However, as we know, they prefer to keep them their secret.
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Read the article getting all the hype: The 10 Behavioural Traits of Highly Successful Traders.

Click here to view __________________________________________________________________________________

To try and understand why this is one has to try and understand a bit of a paradox. – One of the principal reasons why many traders do not hire coaches, 'is because to do so would be tantamount to them admitting they need to'. - There you are, I said it. - Just to repeat, but slightly reworded - 'One of the principal reasons behind why most traders and investment managers do not work on improving and enhancing their skills and abilities as risk-takers, is because to do so would be tantamount to them admitting they need to.' - That is one horrible self-destructive loop. – However , if you understand the world traders inhabit, then you’ll understand what I mean. Managing money and trading is not easy, one’s emotions and mental state is being constantly battered, and in a whirlwind of uncertainty, people’s ego can take a pretty serious bruising on an almost daily basis. For many traders, admitting they need coaching would represents a huge 'Cognitive Dissonance' and would be a major dent to their 'Ego'. In a world where 'self-belief' is almost as vital an asset as real physical capital, admitting that you need help seems like one sure step away from destroying that precious 'self-belief'.

I have been sometimes been frustrated in my attempts to sell my coaching services by people who tell me they don’t need coaching. One example of this related to an individual on a team of five at a major investment bank. The following is part of a response the team’s manager wrote in an email following an inquiry about the coaching from his head of HR.

‘One trader who has refused to take part in the 'coaching' has turned out to be the lowest revenue producer for the past two years having been consistently the highest for the previous five.’

Fortunately, there are exceptions I’m glad to say. It does not surprise me that so many of the world's top traders employ coaches. They are themselves enlightened people, which is what took them to the top in the first place.

One final note, the 'Return on Investment' figure mentioned above (Over 50,000%), it is more than likely that it will grow, the improvement does not stop when the coaching finishes. If previous history with many other clients is anything to go by, the improvements are sustainable. Hence it is quite possible that this ROI will be significantly higher in years to come.

If you have enjoyed reading this article, and would like to know more about our coaching work with Traders and Investment Professionals, please click the above image, or email steven.goldstein@alpharcubed.com. Alternatively visit our website www.alpharcubed.com.

You are also welcome to join our 'Behavioural Trading' blog here, and follow us on Twitter.

Trader Performance Coaching: If its good enough for Wall Street’s heavy hitters, then its good enough for you.

Last week saw the first episode of 'Billions', a major new TV Drama which aired in the US. The programme revolves around Damian Lewis as 'Axe Capital' hedge fund boss Bobby "Axe" Axelrod. One of the other lead characters in this programme is fictional performance coach Wendy Rhoades. At 'Axe Capital' just one session with Wendy Rhoades is all you need to transform your performance. You may spot a little 'dramatic license' being used here; surely one session is far too quick to make a difference to trading performance! Well yes it is. And can a 'Performance Coach' really make such a difference to trading performance? Well actually yes they can, that much is true. 'High quality' performance coaching can make a huge difference to a trader's performance. I know this because as a trader at Commerzbank back in 2001, I was fortunate enough to be the beneficiary of coaching from one of the world's leading performance coaches. My performance as a trader saw a dramatic improvement in the wake of that coachng. And since 2009, I have been working as a performance coach myself with traders, and have witnessed significant transformations in performance amongst traders whom I have worked with.

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'Wall Street’s Heavy Hitters have a Secret: The Performance Coach.' - This line is stolen from an article in today's Guardian newspaper. - Yet despite this,it is still rare to find many traders being coached. Why is this? 

'One of the principal reasons behind why most traders do not work on improving and enhancing their skills and abilities as risk-takers, is because to do so would be tantamount to them admitting they need to.'

There you are, I said it. - Just to repeat - 

'One of the principal reasons behind why most traders do not work on improving and enhancing their skills and abilities as risk-takers, is because to do so would be tantamount to them admitting they need to.'

That is one horrible self-destructive loop! For many traders, admitting they need coaching represents a huge 'Cognitive Dissonance' and would be a major dent to their 'Ego'. In a world where 'self-belief' is almost as vital an asset as real physical capital, admitting that you need help seems like one small step away from destroying that precious 'self-belief'. An example of this features in a previous article which can be seen here. But there are exceptions: Perhaps it is not surprising that so many of the world's top traders employ coaches. Often these people are able to divorce themselves and their trading from their egos. That is one of the characteristics which makes them great at taking and managing risk in the first place. Once you can separate yourself from your ego, at least metaphorically, then instead of saying 'whats wrong with me', you can start saying, 'How can I get better?', 'How can I improve?', 'How can I stay ahead of the rest of the pack?', 'How can I start to move from 'Good' to 'Great'?'.

Moving from ‘Good’ to ‘Great’.

In virtually every other field of human endeavor or skilled profession, people are employing outside help from coaches to help them up-skill their capabilities and abilities.- Elite athletes and top sportsman utilize a coach or even a team of coaches. In the military, ‘Special Forces’ personnel receive extra 'special' coaching. Surgeons spends thousands every year up-skilling. Most senior executives in large corporations receive ‘Executive coaching’.

In our work as coaches we work with traders, investment managers and trading businesses, helping them refine their skills and abilities to help them attain excellence in their trading performance. We see it as equivalent to the transformation elite athletes and top sports-people go through to make that jump to the very top of their game. In trading and investment, the field is the market, the ball is uncertainty, and the enemy is yourself.

Developing ‘Human Alpha’ through powerful Risk Performance Coaching Programmes.

‘Human Alpha’ = The extra return generated through developing stronger human risk-taking skills. Our risk performance coaching and development programmes have been used at some of the worlds leading financial market businesses to help them develop their 'Human Alpha'. Our programmes utilize powerful coaching techniques, and draw on years of experience of working in financial markets and having provided high level coaching. They are further informed by a deep understanding of the behavioural factors which impact trading performance and risk decision-making, and are often supplemented by analysis of bio-metric data and advanced 'mindfulness' techniques for greater focus and concentration.

Overcome your Ego and start considering how Performance Coaching can help you transform from 'Good to Great'.

• First: Remove any negative or defensive thoughts along the lines of ‘Why would I have a coach, there is nothing wrong with me’.
• Second: Dispel any ideas that coaching is something that novices and juniors receive. Juniors receive teaching and training, Those who make it to the top in any field receive coaching.
• Third: Look at it in a positive light: If it is good enough for the big hitters on Wall Street and at Major Hedge Funds, then its certainly good enough for you
• Fourth: Join the success stories: Countless traders and investment professionals who have been through our coaching programmes have seen some huge improvements in their performance. Some examples of which can be seen below:

The Extraordinary 'Returns on Investment' from Coaching for Professional Traders and Portfolio Managers.

In a recent article, which can be seen here, we highlighted the return on investment on our coaching based on feedback received from several of our clients. Some of the examples in this article included:

• A hedge fund portfolio manager who went from virtually flat performance to over almost $50mio in year 1 and beyond that in years 2 and 3.
• An FX bank trader who had been running annually at $2.0 to $2.5mio profit consistently for many years, who increased his p/l to $4mio in the first year of coaching and to over $6mio in the following year.
• A team of 10 FICC traders at a small European bank who had seen their profits as a group jump by $15mio, a significant percentage increase whilst in the same year global FICC trading returns declined by an average of 7%.
• A bank swaps trader, with nearly 20 years experience, who's trading had led to him being at a $2mio loss, but by the year end and with the support of the coaching, had turned his performance around, and in the following year produced his best ever performance.

These examples are not isolated one-offs but are quite typical, we could have included many more. In fact we can draw on outside help by referencing a research piece by Citi Prime Finance, from 2013. This piece highlighted how Hedge Fund firms who focused on the people aspects of performance (Including Coaching) saw average returns some 200bp per year higher over the three year period of research, than other firms who scored far lower in terms of the people aspects of performance. For a mid-size hedge fund with $3bio of AUM, that equates to around $60mio extra income per year.

The benefits of the coaching often goes way beyond the additional monetary gain. Traders display far greater levels of confidence and self-belief, and these are based on real performance capabilities, not self-serving mind-games. They also display greatly improved levels of motivation, as well as lower stress and anxiety levels, and greater job satisfaction. -  For trading businesses, they get far more deeply engaged employees, experience far better team-working and improved collaboration, cultivate stronger client relationships, and see an overall  improvement in risk culture among those coached.

Join some of the world’s leading Trading and Investment business in using our services. 

At Alpha R Cubed we work with many of the world’s leading investment banks and hedge funds, with clients in the US, Canada, throughout Europe, across the Far East, and in Australia and New Zealand. Clients include leading firms such as Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Societe Generale, HSBC, National Australia Bank, TD Securities, SEB, Swedbank, Gazprom, ENEL. We also work with several leading hedge funds (though confidentiality precludes us from mentioning their names).

Time for you to make the difference that will make a difference.

To find out more about us and our work, please call  or email us
+44 (0)207 993 5362 / +44 (0)775 344 6097
info@alpharcubed.com

Or visit our website at  www.alpharcubed.com

We look forward to talking to you.

Steven Goldstein
Managing Director
Alpha R Cubed Ltd
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Steven Goldstein is a leading Performance and Executive Coach working with Traders, Banks and Hedge funds: He is Managing Director at Alpha R Cubed, which works with banks and investment firms to improve their human capital within financial risk businesses. To know more about Alpha R Cubed, visit their website www.alpharcubed.com or email Steven at steven.goldstein@alpharcubed.com.

Steven also runs the 'Behavioural Trading' blog and newsletter. - To visit the blog and sign-up for the newsletter, visit http://traderbehaviour.blogspot.co.uk/

Follow Steven on Twitter and Linkedin. Join the flourishing LinkedIn group Trader, Trading & Risk Psychology.

To view our recent Webinar on How Understanding Risk Type Can Impact Trader Performance - Follow this link: http://traderbehaviour.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/how-understanding-risk-type-can-impact.html