Another Form of Deliberate Practice: Writing
In-depth Qullamaggie stream notes and writing your own books
Audio available at the end of this post.
When I first stumbled across Qullamaggie’s streams (in 2021), I did precisely the wrong thing.
I studied his setups, and just categorised charts as ‘yay’ or ‘nay’.
I listened to Kristjan say stuff like:
‘Surfing the moving averages’
‘Making higher lows’
Etc.
And I wrote down these types of comments in a notebook (just for myself, at the time).
My idea was that by collecting the criteria of a good setup, according to a top trader, I could create a checklist that’d improve my stock selection and daily plans.
In fact, I didn’t just do this with Kristjan’s streams.
Before finding Kristjan, I took similar approaches based on Mark Minervini’s books, and David Ryan’s Market Wizards interview. I wrote down their quantifiable criteria, thinking that if I scanned/filtered for them, I’d do well in the markets.
If only it were so simple.
In hindsight, I should have known better
Such high-level and easily accessible information could never be enough to consistently turn a profit. And my notes added little value to them — I was just writing down what other people said, more or less verbatim, without questioning or thinking deeply about them.
In other words, I didn’t consider the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the setups Kristjan was pointing out.
By extension, I wasn’t learning the principles behind these setups, limiting the depth of my understanding and my ability to rate opportunities in real time. Not to mention that I was missing all sorts of nuances — like their sector/theme, and overall market environment.
To make matters worse, I didn’t adapt the information to suit my own tendencies. My own personality. At this point, I hadn’t yet realised — as Tom Dante always says — that “the edge is in you”.
I hadn’t yet appreciated that this is a necessary step in finding your edge.
Qullamaggie stream note progression
First stream notes: published 24 May 2023
I did moderately better when I first started publishing stream notes, here on Substack. The fact I published them online helped:
I took extra care to avoid mistakes.
They had to be clear to someone else.
I took the time to frequently pause the stream recording to really study Kristjan’s screen — the first time I’d ever done that. This helped me notice details I’d have otherwise missed.
However, that third point simply helped me document certain details (like all the tickers of his AI/quantum list at the time). I still spent little time thinking about the ‘how’ and ‘why’.
Essentially, I was doing what AI will be able to do — only slower. And with limited benefit to me as the note-taker.
Fourth stream notes: published 28 May 2023
In my favour, it didn’t take me long to realise I was missing out on those benefits.
Early subscribers helped with this: they were asking me questions I struggled to answer off the top of my head. Questions that, if I wanted to get to the level needed to consistently outperform, I had to be able to answer.
So, within days of my first stack, I was adding a lot more detail to my stream notes. Most notably:
I started adding my own thoughts, and connecting insights from one stream with insights from another.
I was adding more information to the examples (charts) covered during the stream. Specifically, information about the stock itself, as well as more detailed catalyst information.
Later stream notes
I won’t bore you with too detailed a timeline, but suffice to say that I continued adding to my notes in the ways described above, which — in hindsight — reflects my own growth as a trader.
As I went along, I was increasingly joining the dots.
Within the space of a few weeks, never mind months, I understood things about trading and the markets I never previously had. The prior years of more passively watching (or even just listening) to streams gave me far less ‘bang for buck’ on my time than the days I went deep into individual streams.
That’s deliberate practice for you!
A couple of weeks ago, I looked at three areas in trading where I believe manual effort beats automation:
Of course, as Kuba Koziej pointed out to me on 𝕏, this list isn’t exhaustive. He added:
During weekends, looking at hundreds of charts; not just screening for stocks
Analysing past leaders bar by bar
Labour-intensive notes of quality resources are, to my mind, another good example of useful deliberate practice. Think about what Marios Stamatoudis said during his TraderLion interview: the books you write yourself — intended to teach yourself — are the ones that “truly save you”.
Not because they’re better than the ‘classics’. But because the process of putting them together gives you a level of understanding that mere reading or watching cannot.
Particularly for part-time traders, deliberate practice should be an essential part of your routine.
Why?
If you’ve got a day job and potentially also dependents, time is extremely limited. So, you must make it count.
It’s not so much about getting more done in less time, but about making sure you’re doing the right things in the time you’ve got. The types of things that move the needle.
So, what’s the catch?
This automatically means doing the stuff that’s hard to do. It’s intended to stretch your capabilities — but it’s also time-efficient. You can make significant progress in relatively little time.
How can a part-time trader incorporate deliberate practice into their routine?
This is a question Clement Ang (@Clement_Ang17) is going to answer next week in his guest post.
Clement is a part-time trader (and USIC competitor) based in Hong Kong, juggling the markets with his day job and family time. As such, many of you should find the challenges he’s had to overcome relatable: how can you keep on top of the markets while juggling the commitments of everyday life?
In his guest post, he’ll be sharing his routine with you, which will hopefully spark some ideas for you. He’ll give insights into pragmatic and consistent ways you can combine trading with a day job.
I’ve already read (and copy-edited) his stack, and love it. I hope you will too!
Quick personal note
I’m going on holiday for a week, which is why Clement kindly agreed to help out with a guest post, and why today’s stack is shorter than usual.
I hope you still found it valuable! As ever, if you did, please like and share it. If you loved it, maybe even consider buying me a coffee.
And if you want to receive future stacks — including Clement’s guest post — straight to your inbox, why not subscribe? It’s free!
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You have an amazing voice Kyna! I have found so many posts of yours helpful but this made me comment. Thank you for your generous sharing
Very very valuable post! Thank you so much for writing this