Mike Bellafiore: principles of market trading
Mike is known as one of the co-founders of SMB Capital and the author of his own trading methodology. In addition to his financial activities, he has distinguished himself as a teacher, creating the SMB Trading School of trading education. Bellafiore’s books on his approach to trading have become bestsellers in several countries.
A career as a trader wasn’t always Mike’s dream. After high school, he decided to become a lawyer, but after three years of college, he realised it wasn’t for him. Bellafiore became interested in finance after a student party where an acquaintance told him about the high earnings in the sector. The opportunity to earn money attracted the young man, and in 1998, he got a job as a trader in a small company.
At the time, the financial world bore little resemblance to the modern, streamlined processes of technical indicators and constant internet access. But Mike still has fond memories of his first job and the experience it gave him. The young man was quick and hardworking, so he managed to earn a large sum of money quite quickly. Within a year of starting his career, he was trading independently.
Michael Bellafiore’s Trading School
Bellafiore enjoyed playing the stock market and developed his market vision over the course of ten years. At the time, Mike wanted to share his experience with newcomers, especially as there was no established system for training traders. The SMB Trading School was born.
However, his colleagues were sceptical about Bellafiore’s idea. They thought the training would make traders less productive because the students would distract them. However, the new venture soon began to generate revenue for the company. With each new enrolment, more and more people wanted to learn how to trade.
The basis of Bellafiore’s training system was providing students with a solid foundation for further activities. The trader taught students how to analyse market dynamics on their own and how to recognise and correctly identify trends and correlations. Mike allowed his students to watch him trade and find the logic in each action.
Avoiding perfectionism in the game is something Bellafiore strongly advocates. He believes that striving for perfection is detrimental to the player. It limits the ability to look at the situation from a different angle. It is important to be able to make mistakes and analyse their causes in order to eliminate the possibility of losing later on.
When it comes to his own trading, Bellafiore adopts a flexible strategy, changing his approach depending on the situation and where the market stands.
