A senior SMB Capital trader on what makes good traders great.
Garrett Dryen on team culture, time frame mistakes, and why most discretionary traders are systematic in denial.
On this week’s Line Your Own Pockets we had Garrett Dryen, senior trader at SMB Capital, talk us through how he went from touring musician to running automated earnings strategies on one of the most respected prop desks in the world.
A few things stuck with me.
He said the people who didn’t grow up playing team sports kept thinking about themselves too much when they joined bands. That carries straight into trading. The traders who grow at SMB are the ones who remove ego, lean into other people’s strengths, and stop trying to be the soloist on every trade.
He also called out the time frame mistake. Most struggling traders don’t have a setup problem. They have a time frame problem. They see a setup but trade it on the wrong horizon. Garrett used to scalp breakouts that were textbook 10-15 day daily-chart trades. Once he started holding a small piece for the bigger move, his P&L meaningfully changed.
And he made the same case Dave and I keep making. There’s no such thing as a fully discretionary trader. If you have variables that grade a trade A+ or B, you have a system. The only people trading on pure vibes are the ones losing money.
17.30% max drawdown over 25 years while the S&P drew down 57%. That number is the reason removing ego matters. The systems don’t have one.
Free 25-Year Backtest PDF: https://www.statsedgetrading.com/the-25-year-backtest
Stats Edge Pro at $149.99/month with a 30-day money-back guarantee, or $1,499.99/year. Founding tier at $3,000/year for traders who want a 1:1 onboarding call.
— Michael Nauss, CMT, CAIA, CDMS