This conversation is with Brian Dao. He is an equities trader at SMB Capital, and he shares his journey from starting to day trade in the cold and early mornings on his college campus to now becoming a full time trader at his dream company. We dive into what his experience is like being a day trader and working a fully commission-based job, the motivation he had to keep pursuing his dream through months of market losses starting out, the quote he received from a peer that changed his life, goal setting, prioritizing your time, engineering luck, managing expectations, and much more.

He also shares many book and podcast recommendations that have helped him as a day trader and in his life. You can find the links to these recs in the resources shared section near the end of these show notes.

-----

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

3:47 Trading at SMB Capital

11:26 Working in a commission based job

14:17 Brian’s start into day trading

19:19 Motivation through market losses & “Take every risk you can”

25:52 Having perspective on your accomplishments and time

30:29 Making goals that are in your control

33:17 You have to really love it

36:54 Working full-time while at school

43:10 Feeling after landing the job

46:16 “We’re going to be traders at SMB one day” & Facing doubts

51:23 Engineering Luck & applying 80/20

58:20 Skills Brian’s developed that are necessary for day trading

59:38 Managing expectations

1:09:47 Find the “play” in your life that works for you

1:13:58 Brian’s podcast and book recommendations

1:17:28 Allmighty Question & Outro

-----

Resources Shared

Favorite Podcasts

• Chat With Traders
• Lance Breitstein on Chat With Traders
• The Michael Singer Podcast

Favorite Books

• Volume Price Analysis by Anna Coulling
• Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke
• One Good Trade & The Playbook by Mike Bellafiore
• How I Made $2 Million in the Stock Market by Nicolas Darvas
• Market Wizards & Unknown Market Wizards by Jack D. Schwager
• The Man That Beat the Market by Jim Simons
• Reminiscence of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre
• Untether Soul by Michael Singer

-----

If you would like to connect with Brian, you can reach out to him on LinkedIn.

If you enjoyed this conversation, have any feedback, or simply just want to chat, you can reach me via Twitter or connect with me on LinkedIn.

This podcast is fueled by coffee. If you enjoyed the conversation and want to support the show, consider fueling the next conversation by buying me a coffee!

-----

In this show, Alex has conversations with ambitious individuals about their continual journey toward personal success. These conversations hope to inspire you to realize that it's not about having everything figured out, it's about striving to be the best version of yourself everyday and embracing your lifestyle of growth through the journey.