By Brian Shannon, written with Kyna Kosling (@KayKlingson).
First published on January 30, 2026.
I don’t say “you get what you deserve from the markets” to be mean.
It’s tough love, borne from my mistakes where I “got what I deserved.”
I want 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.
True success in the markets means having a consistent methodology for your timeframe, with risk management as the cornerstone, and implementing it with discipline.
Your choice of timeframe is critical to your success. Professionals understand their reaction time and risk tolerance, then choose a matching timeframe and rules of engagement—because they understand that trading is an art.
The same approach doesn’t work for everyone. And I’m not just talking about repeatedly buying the dip—a mistake that cost me over $10,000 early in my trading career.
Even when you know for a fact that the strategy used is a winning one, and a professional is managing your money for you, it may still not work for your personality.
You can literally outperform and still have clients who are unable to handle the pressure of trading.
When running a small hedge fund (about $2.5 million at its peak) in 1994, I was managing a million-dollar account for a client.
In the 7 weeks that I traded the account, I was up about 2.8% while the index was down about 3%. So, I was surprised when my client called to say he wanted to close the account. When I asked why, he said: “I just can’t handle the stress.”
What stress? We’re outperforming the market!
It turned out that, even though I’d warned my client I was going to trade his account aggressively, he’d set up his home’s surround sound system to fire a cannonball sound every time I placed a trade.
Whenever he heard the sound 💣💥, he ran to his computer to see what I was doing. And since I’d buy large positions, then sell partials throughout the day, the poor guy was constantly being bombarded by cannon fire sounds.
I said: “You can’t do that—you’ve got to trust me. This is what you hired me for!”
But he couldn’t handle the uncertainty, even with a professional managing his risk.
Whether it’s me trying to trade a strategy that loses me money (buying the dip), or my client trying to stomach my aggressive trading style, the lesson is the same:
Success in the markets isn’t about finding a ‘perfect’ strategy with the optimal edge—it’s about finding the right strategy for you.
What worked for me was torture for my client. And while other people may enjoy managing a hedge fund, I do not. After several experiences like my ‘cannon fire’ client, I decided I didn’t want to manage people (and their emotions) as well as money.
Similarly, I also don’t care if I missed a major low, or the hot stock of the day. I really don’t. I can do great with the thousands of other stocks available that fit my strategy and risk profile.
Success doesn’t mean trying to copy someone else.
We all have different risk tolerance, timeframes, temperaments, and goals.
So, no matter how good a strategy looks on paper or in someone else’s hands, if you can’t handle it emotionally, it’s the wrong strategy for you.
Once you have a repeatable methodology that you can implement with discipline, you won’t even care about anyone’s opinion besides that of the market, told through price.
To get there, you need rules of engagement that reflect your personality and goals—which starts with identifying the right timeframe for you.
The next article gives guidance on the pros and cons of longer- vs shorter-term timeframes, and what questions you should ask to find your timeframe.
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