Marco Prado went through the open outcry trading pit, is a consistent trader, and today accumulates 26 years of market experience. However, he traversed a long and rich path of learning.
Curious? Then follow along as he evolved into a trading floor operator and how he became a High-Performance Trader today, with an enormous wealth of knowledge, all while remaining the humble individual he is.
The Beginning of Kim
Marco Prado, known as Kim, makes it clear that his start was a work opportunity, and he didn’t know much about the financial market at the time.
“I had no idea what the market was like before, I started as a trading assistant. After that, the brokerage needed a top-notch operator, and I fit the profile. After I got to know this world, I realized I identified a lot with the open outcry trading pit,” he says.
His learning was constant. “There were 300 people in each trading pit circle, in other words, 300 teachers,” he says. After 6 years, Kim became a scalper, but the money was still tight. “The biggest challenge was not to lose. I managed this phase well; during that time, I had no quality of life whatsoever. I worked all day from Monday to Friday, and rested a bit on the weekends. My energy was always focused on the market,” he recalls.
Beyond the Market
It was when Kim became a trader that he truly began to understand the market dynamics. He also shares that he learned a lot about people themselves.
“The learning is unique. Besides learning how the market behaves, you gain vast experience in human behavior. What I would usually do is take the good characteristics of people to add to my own profile and be cautious with the bad ones so as not to repeat the same mistakes,” he remembers.
Additionally, he warns about something that is especially relevant for beginners: the difficulty people have in understanding themselves and finding their own profile in the market. This is essential if you want to achieve consistency. Furthermore, the desire to dive into this world solely for the lifestyle, without being willing to learn, happens often and is exactly what you need to avoid.
“No one took me by the hand and guided me; I learned because I had the willpower. When we think we should idolize someone just because that person has good results, remember that they are mere mortals,” he says. It was a lesson in how to be inspired by the more experienced ones but never losing your own essence.
Emotions in Trading Operations
We all know that emotions play a big role, especially in day trading. Kim talked about this shortly after he began to share his experience over all these years. He believes that nowadays, people attribute too much of their trading outcomes to emotions, more than they should, which is irresponsible towards the market itself.
“There are some issues today that I can observe. The first is that people don’t take this profession seriously. In the United States, for example, there’s more respect, and it’s a country where investing in stocks is much more common than here in Brazil. Therefore, they have much more liquidity than we do. Here, you have a market where people don’t quite understand what it takes to start, and educators put too much blame on emotions,” he says.
Kim also comments, “When you become an expert in a technique, you improve your emotional side. The balance shifts from being 80% emotional to 50/50.”
And he never stopped trading. “There were ups and downs, but I always managed to deal with them and prepare myself on very tough days,” he says. This owes a lot to his background. The open outcry trading pit provided him with that consistency.
The Current Market
“This profession is wonderful, but it’s still a profession,” he says. He made this statement and then went on to mention that he knows only a few people who solely make a living from trading today, and how difficult it is to understand that there needs to be a maturation period and proper financial planning.
“I’m averse to how the market is being conducted today, but I also know that we need to understand that these people communicate differently. The market has changed, just like the way people relate has changed. People lack sensitivity. The most challenging phase was when everything went electronic,” he stated.
Working close to his team, in the same room, side by side, helps recapture some of that open outcry trading pit atmosphere.
“Seek people who do the same things to exchange experiences with and look for the essence of someone who has been in this field for a long time,” he said.
How Nelogica was Essential
“I used another platform, and I was invited to use Profit in 2007. It was always lightweight, and I got used to it quickly. After that, I never thought about using another one again,” he says. Kim always highly valued the relationships he was able to nurture throughout his journey and found that feeling within Nelogica as well.
“I’ve always had a great relationship with everyone in the company, and for me, Profit is more than a platform, and Nelogica is a place of friends,” he shared.
Kim mentioned something that is evident from afar and is part of his character. “The biggest lesson I learned in the market was always to be humble. Those who aren’t humble don’t have a place here,” he affirmed.
“This is the best profession in the world!”
Liked it and want to learn more about Marco Prado and understand his approach? Then watch his episode on the High-Performance Traders Web Series.
