Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎

Ex-@TRLM Top Trader | Market Wizard 🧙‍♂️
Course: @SMBCapital | Founder @Impact_Comp

[Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎 @TheOneLanceB]

Years later, @JamesClear 3-2-1 is still the best newsletter in the game.

So much of the boom-and-bust cycle of trading is caused by inconsistent process.

[Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎 @TheOneLanceB]

I’m creating the most comprehensive overview ever made on risk management and I keep on coming back to this quote from one of the greatest philosopher’s to ever live.

“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” -Mike Tyson

[Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎 @TheOneLanceB]

THOUGHTS ON RISK MANAGEMENT

I started this discussion to make the point that risk management is far more nuanced than most on Twitter makes it seem.

Yes, part of great risk management is having rigid rules, discipline, and structure. But trading is also a game of uncertainty, changing context, and asymmetric opportunity. Not every situation cleanly fits inside a pre-defined box.

Good risk management isn’t just about protecting yourself. Good risk management also allows you to maximize pnl while minimizing unacceptable outcomes. For many conservative traders, the biggest weakness in their trading is actually NOT taking enough risk.

One needs to recognize that risk is inherent in our job. You can’t make money without it. In fact, many overlooked that sometimes even blowup risk should be an acceptable risk.

One question I pushed traders on in this discussion:

If you had a trade with a 98% chance of retiring your family forever… but it violated your risk rules… would you take it?

Many said no.

Personally, I think that for anyone out there grinding, you’d have to be out of your fucking mind not to take that trade.

Because the reality is: most traders already have some probability of blowup regardless. No matter what you think, you already probably have a .5% or 1% or 2% chance of blowing up over the course of a career.

Plus even if you didn’t, for many over the long run, strategies decay and edge disappear. Many traders will NEVER “beat the game” over a long enough horizon.

So if you truly had a massively asymmetric opportunity with overwhelming expected value… are you really going to pass on it because a rulebook said so????? Insanity.

At the same time, history is FULL of incredible traders who got overconfident, oversized, and eventually lost everything. So we also can’t fool ourselves into believing we are objective when emotions are involved.

In fact, the moments where we most NEED risk management are often the exact moments where we are the least capable of accurately handicapping expected value because we’re tilted, euphoric, desperate, exhausted, or emotionally compromised.

IMO, inaccurate handicapping of expected value is the biggest danger of any risk management system in practice.

Also… Risk management should always be subservient to goals. That’s why it’s personal.

If you have a $1,000 account and you’re young, maybe taking aggressive shots and occasionally blowing up is part of the learning curve.

If you’re managing 100% of your family’s net worth, the acceptable risk profile becomes completely different.

This is also where wiring out money and keep safe stashes of acorns is a whole other important discussion.

There is no universal framework. Only tradeoffs.

Many asked me my opinion on these topics. The truth is, I’ve broken risk management rules dozens of times. I’ve taken existential risk dozens of times. Sometimes intentionally so, other times not.

Should one be willing to violate their rules? Probably?

Should one be willing to take on existential risk? Depends the person.

I don’t have the answers, but I do think what is most important is recognizing that good risk management is:
1. Iterative
2. Never perfect.
3. Some level of rule-based.
4. Flexible enough to cover the complexity of trading as @Ksidiii mentioned as well.

Perhaps a topic for a future video.

[Alex Hormozi @AlexHormozi]

The worst thing that can happen to you is playing a game your entire life only to end up atop the winner’s podium with an award you don't even want.

[Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎 @TheOneLanceB]

I tell it straight: trading is hard, most fail, and I almost failed too. The truth is it never gets easy. I genuinely sacrificed my health and emotional well-being to achieve what I did.

I’m no longer willing to do that, so instead I just trade when it feels right and make content to help you all hopefully get what you’re seeking out of this career.

My sole goal has been to become THE trusted source for REAL trading knowledge in an industry full of scammers and frauds.

I don’t own a Lambo, I don’t live a cool lifestyle, and I don’t market one either. That’s fine bc I don’t want that audience anyways.

I’m not perfect, but I try to educate and motivate while spreading positivity. Especially when the online world can be full of so much hate and bs. Thank you all for caring what I have to say; it has been surreal becoming friends with so many of you all online and in-person 🙏❤️

[Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎 @TheOneLanceB]

GREAT GAMERS MAKE GREAT TRADERS!

For many in the trading space, videogames were the gateway into trading.

Myself, @CryptoGoo5e, & many of my friends in prop were all gamers. The strategic thinking, quick reactions, & competitiveness all translate.

Shoutout: @EternaLEnVy1991

[Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎 @TheOneLanceB]

THE FUTURE OF TRADING IS HERE

Imagine being able to trade any product 24/7 without needing to split your margin across multiple accounts.

That isn’t coming, it’s already here. My buddy @apaley of @riftapp explains.

https://t.co/oPHfyUeLo6

[Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎 @TheOneLanceB]

Perfect timing. Just recorded an exposé video on how Sci is one of the biggest scammers in the space… And I’m willing to put my money where my mouth is.

[Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎 @TheOneLanceB]

I have spent a ridiculous amount of time and money to learn from the top health practitioners in the world.

The best practices all come down to crushing the basics of sleep, exercise, diet, & stress. Supplements and peptides were afterthoughts.

Bryan’s list is a great start, but maybe underemphasizes impact of stress (-) & community (+).

If curious, check out this interview I did after working w Andy Galpin & Chris Perry: https://t.co/XxwvvnQxz3

[Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎 @TheOneLanceB]

Q: WHY RETIRE FROM TRADING? WHY STOP COMPETING AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL?

Because, for me, elite trading comes at a cost no longer justified by the monetary gain or by the intangibles.

There is a real cost of health, presence, gratitude, and opportunity cost of building community and skills elsewhere.

When trading intensely… I don’t get outside, I don’t see friends, I barely move or eat. I get sucked into a virtual world and lose perspective of what really matters.

How many days or weekends have I spent pissed off and depressed over my performance? How many times have I felt “less than” bc somebody performed better than me?

I always put in full effort and I played to win. Perhaps I lost the love of the game by doing so. Quite hard to reprogram one’s self otherwise though.

Meanwhile, I’ve really enjoyed building a “personal brand” and developing a new skillset that I rarely stress or lose sleep over. Learning marketing and how to scale a business gets me so excited.

I get to work together w my friends rather than compete against them. I get to help thousands of traders and impact so many lives around me. I get to be more present for friends and family. My bad days now from “work” are few and far between.

The only true struggle I face is the opportunity cost of the impact I could make with my foregone trading profits. If I stuck to full-time trading, I’d arguably one day have become a billionaire. You can change the world big-time with that, but I’m not willing to do it at the cost of my sense of self. That is the only aspect that eats at me.

I don’t miss full-time trading whatsoever.

[Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎 @TheOneLanceB]

Trading is a world many find impossible to leave behind.

When one surpasses their own goals, reaches the knife’s edge of their craft, but finds no answers to the bigger questions in life… does one stay or walk away?

I still have no answer even though Simon found his.

[Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎 @TheOneLanceB]

IF CLAUDE/AI IS SO USEFUL, WHY ARENT PNLS GOING UP?

I just made an important point on the @smbcapital call. You can’t go a day without reading tweets about traders using Claude. For 6 months now, Claude has been the talk of many trader calls. Yet from what I’ve seen, it’s not translating to pnl for most traders.

Why?

Because almost always, more data and information is NOT the constraint. The traders that outperformed in April did so because of their systems and execution.

It isn’t that Claude and AI shouldn’t be used or isn’t at all useful. But AI and Claude can become a distraction AWAY from the actions and changes that actually matter and translate into PNL.

If I were a betting man, Claude might have improved workflows for traders, but net, it has probably reduced trader pnl through distraction away from what matters.

[Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎 @TheOneLanceB]

WHEN SHOULD A TRADER QUIT?

The @Qullamaggie chapter of the upcoming Market Wizards book has been making the rounds. In it Kristjan discusses how he blew up multiple times. Many great traders have.

But that begs one of the most important question of all: when should a trader quit? When should one persevere?

Most traders fail, so how do you avoid sticking around forever if you don’t have what it takes?

[Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎 @TheOneLanceB]

THE TIMELESS TRADING STRATEGY THAT MADE ME MILLIONS

With SpaceX coming up in 2026 and last year’s incredible opportunities in IPOs like $CRCL, it seemed appropriate to share my timeless IPO trading strategies.

https://t.co/gx43UtnkLM

[Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎 @TheOneLanceB]

ODDS ARE... YOU SHOULD NOT BUY A TRADING COURSE!

Most people should NOT buy a trading course. Doesn't matter whether it's my trading course or someone else's.

In fact, I feel that I ethically can't sell my course to the majority of my audience. I explain why you should save your money instead.

[Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎 @TheOneLanceB]

15 YEARS OF TRADING PSYCHOLOGY CONDENSED INTO 13 MINUTES!

Talk about return on investment… I condense down the biggest psychology lessons from each of my 15 years trading.

https://t.co/bqGhp8L1xE

[Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎 @TheOneLanceB]

The 3 Scalping Strategies That Made Me Millions

IMO, scalping is the best beginner-friendly strategy there is bc of how many reps you get and immediate feedback.

Do you scalp? Why or why not?

https://t.co/IVAxUkuM4O

[Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎 @TheOneLanceB]

From $2k => $2.9m Trading Small Caps!

This is the story of my good friend @edu_trades. We share his small cap strategies, the highs, and the lows of his trading journey.

https://t.co/m8MWrkUI2E

[Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎 @TheOneLanceB]

WHAT @ALEXHORMOZI TAUGHT ME ABOUT TRADING

Alex is one of the smartest minds in business and one of my fav role models.

Here is what I learned from him and how it applies to trading.

https://t.co/D7sQq7wlcK

[Lance Breitstein 🇺🇸🌎 @TheOneLanceB]

EXCLUSIVE: SHARK OF @SMBCAPITAL

In this rare interview, we discuss Shark’s evolution as a trader, his options hedge strategy, mindset, & more.

Thank you Shark for making me a better trader & your friendship whenever I’ve needed you🙏❤️

https://t.co/8snCKB4Qan