By Brian Shannon, written with Kyna Kosling (@KayKlingson).

First published on November 14, 2025.

January 2001 was a terrific day trading environment.

At the time, I was heading up a proprietary trading department. And my trend-following strategy was working great! Every day, I was grinding out consistent profits until the close.

However, the guy sitting next to me (let’s call him Darin) was easily making 2–5 times more money than me, and left every day long before I did.

Working twice as hard as Darin for half the results was infuriating!

Darin’s strategy involved looking for stocks that were down the most in the first half hour of trading, then buying 1,000 shares every half point down until the stock eventually turned higher. Day after day, I watched him do this—and every day, the stock bounced, Darin cashed in, then left the office well before market close.

As a trend follower, repeatedly buying in a downtrend seemed insane to me.

But I watched this strategy work 10, maybe 15, days in a row for Darin.

So, one fateful morning, I sat down at my trading desk, turned to Darin, and asked him: “What are we buying today?”

Darin looked at me quizzically and asked: “We?”

I responded: “Yes, I’m going to trade your strategy with you, but at half size.”

As a genuinely nice guy, Darin was delighted to help his friend. He excitedly told me: “We’re buying $ALXN—it’s already down over 3 points.”

I bought my first 500 shares, and within a couple of hours, I was the proud owner of over 7,500 shares as the stock kept sliding lower. Darin assured me the stock looked like they usually do right before they turn around and urged me to step up my buying. In for a dime, in for a dollar, right?

So, I bought 2,500 more shares, bringing my total position to 10,000 shares.

By the end of the day, I owned 15,000 shares and was down well over $10,000!

I knew I’d never be able to sleep that night leaving such a big losing position open, so I sold all but 1,000 shares.

(I hung on to those remaining shares just in case the stock gapped higher in the morning.)

The next day, tired from a sleepless night of obsessing over how stupid I was, the stock gapped down another dollar, and I sold the remaining shares in disgust.

I didn’t lose everything on that trade. Not even close. But the emotional damage from that loss was enormous and long-lasting.

As to Darin, he ended up losing six figures on that trade, and eventually quit trading as he kept trying to pick bottoms in what was a brutal multi-year bear market.

I recovered my losses over the next couple of weeks by trading my own plan and style.

The lessons should be obvious:

⚓ Trade your own plan.

⚓ Ignore what others are doing.

⚓ If your plan works, you’ll profit on your terms. If it doesn’t, you lose on your terms.

While I’m generally disciplined, I still sometimes break my rules, then get what I deserve for breaking them—I suffer losses.

The reason I tell people “you get what you deserve from the markets” isn’t to be mean. It’s tough love. I’m not here to sugarcoat things, but to teach you what works in the market, without telling you what to do.

I want you to become an independent trader and create your own success.

Everyone needs to find their own way in the market.

For example, I might tell Alphatrends subscribers something like:
“We’re now pulling out of this dip and starting to see some strength as we get back above the daily VWAP. Your risk is clearly defined below the day’s low. You know the strategy—do what’s right for you.”

I don’t say: “Buy at $50 and put a stop at $49.”

Not because I’m afraid the trade won’t work, but because I want subscribers to think and put the pieces together themselves. I want you to plan your own trades and develop your own strategy. I don’t want you to think: “Hey, Brian bought it, so maybe I should too.”

No matter the source, make the trade your own.