Do less. Do it better. Do it bigger. At ASFX this motto drives our trading and our mindset. Let’s look at the message behind each statement and how applying it to your own development can lead to stress-free trading and potentially increased profitability and consistency.
Do Less.
Doing less directly addresses the need to remain disciplined and stay away from less probable trades (C setups for those that use our grading system).
You have likely heard Austin say at some point that you should generate a lot of ideas and only trade the best ones. You don’t have to (and shouldn’t) trade every setup you see. You don’t need to spend 12 hours a day at the charts to make money and you don’t have to trade everyday to be consistently profitable. Some of the best traders in our community only take a few trades a week and manage very few losses because they focus on quality over quantity. Being selective in your trades is one way to quickly level up your consistency and profitability.
Do it better.
Doing it better is about refining your edge. You can do this by completing chart markups regularly, adding more detail to your markups, studying your past trades, and focusing more on what works best for you.
If you have a knack for trading reversals, exploit that. If you find your trending trades are the ones where you make the most profits and give you the least amount of stress, then concentrate your efforts mainly on those trades. You can strengthen your strengths, strengthen your weaknesses, or develop ways to reduce your weaknesses (instead of getting better at a specific setup you get rid of it).
This also applies to mindset and routine. Do you trade better after you have completed a brief mediation? To be better with meditation could mean to be consistent with your practice, or increase the number of minutes you meditate daily.
Do you find more consistency in how well you manage your trades when you complete daily markups? Perhaps you feel less anxious at the charts when you complete a run before your trading session. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions to getting better.
Do better with your routines and managing your mindset and you will get better at trading (assuming you have a proven winning system).
Do it bigger.
As you find consistency in your trading you will gain confidence in your skills. This isn’t to be confused with the overconfidence created by feelings of euphoria after a winning streak (or a single winning trade). This is the confidence that comes from the hundreds to thousands of hours spent studying and actively trading the market.
Doing it bigger also correlates to the ideas presented by Mike Bellafiore in his books One Good Trade and The Playbook, which talk about getting bigger in your best positions. The traders at his firm are encouraged to find their A+ setup in which they are allowed to risk 0.30% of their intraday stop on a single trade (which is A LOT for their general trading style).
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
Of course, you should increase your risk slowly. At times you should push yourself to add a little more size. As a rule of thumb, you can increase your position size by 1-10% of the previous size depending on the size of your overall account. For example, if you normally risk 1%, you can challenge yourself by risking 1.01 to 1.1%. Continuing with this process can also help you overcome periods of stagnation to continue to push your limits.
You will also be able to size bigger as you grow your account. You don’t have to limit your account growth to only your profits. If your account is not the size you want then you should continue to make regular deposits as you maintain your consistency.
Check out Austin’s video on How to Grow a Small Account!
Now that you understand the ASFX motto you can use it to power up your trading results. Do less by being selective. Do it better by focusing on what works best for you and optimizing it. Do it bigger by challenging yourself to add size to your best setups and to continue to grow your account. Embody these concepts and you will be a stronger trader tomorrow than you were today.