How Micheal Jordan Helped My Trading

Growing up in London, England, basketball was not one of the most popular sports a child would play - but the majority of humans would have heard of Michael Jordan, at a bare minimum, you would have owned a pair of $NKE Air Jordans.

Michael Jordan was one of the greatest basketball players ever to grace the courts, some would argue that he is THE best of all time. He achieved his elite celebrity status without the help of social media as it didn’t exist then. He reached the upper echelons on merit, he was not a quick fad or an overnight success, he outworked his competitors and was the driving force behind his team's success but how did his ‘Airness’ help yours truly with his trading? Allow me to explain:

I stumbled across an article that was timely published alongside the $NFLX documentary “The Last Dance” In the fall of 1997, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls allowed a film crew to follow them as they went for their sixth NBA title in eight seasons. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend it.

The paper was comparing Jordan's stats from 86’ Season to 94’ season. In 1994 Michael Jordan's 3pt shooting average was 50%!! He scored 1 in every 2 shots from the 3pt line (I am assuming that this is the correct terminology, if not forgive me, I am British). The mind-blowing fact for me was that he ended the season with his 3rd lowest points per game in his entire career. Now, when you compare that to his 1986 season where his point average was 37:1 he only made 42% of his shots but he ended up with more points in that season than he did in the 94’ season.

The fact that followed was the changing factor in my trading career. When comparing the two seasons, Jordan threw DOUBLE the amount of shots in 86’ than he did in 94’. So even though his points per game ratio was lower in 86’ he scored MORE points.

When trading credit spreads, you risk more than you can win BUT your win rate is HIGH (85%-95%). So there I was taking one trade per week making some steady gains and boasting a 95% win rate but the money wasn’t anything special, maybe 6-8% return a month.

I decided to take more trades. I gave myself a task to take a minimum of three trades per week. I had to trade like my bills depended on it. I looked at trading same-week expiration, two weekly expirations, and monthly expirations. The thing was I got into a habit of looking for my setups based on my plan and just placing trades. I started to make 5% per week! My win rate dropped by 10% to around 85% BUT Before I knew it my account had doubled.

Micahel Jordan consistently took shots, he did not dwell if he missed. He would focus on the 20 plus game-winning shots he missed, he didn’t buy into the short-sighted mentality - he had a long-term plan and he was persistent and consistent at executing it.

Also, did you know in his 8 years with the Chicago Bulls he never lost three games in a row! That is how trading should be, believe in your system, stick to it and be consistent.

Trading is POSSIBLE.

Cheerio Team

Dean