The best trader at SMB who I had the luxury to sit beside, hang out with, and learn a ton from does this, so you probably should too.

His name is Max.

He’s a couple of years younger than me and one of the fastest-growing traders the firm has ever seen.

From the outside looking in, it seems like he’s good at everything. A really good momentum trader. A great overnight momentum trader. A phenomenal higher time frame mean reversal trader. A sharp point and click imbalance trader (he doesn’t code). A very good limit up/limit down trader. A solid breaking news trader. Great at reading auctions. Incredible with options. And even a capable macro trader.

And despite doing all of this, which is probably a hell of a lot more than you or I are doing, he still makes time for one thing.

Every day, without fail, he hits the gym a few hours after the open.

When things slow down and his filters go quiet, he makes the executive decision to grab his gym bag, take the elevator down, and cross the street to Equinox.

He loves lifting. He loves bodybuilding.

But more than anything, he values the break. He would constantly remind us how important it was.

And even though we’d see his P&L and just how good he was, we’d still find ourselves grinding away in the office, usually punting away thousands of dollars while he was across the street at Equniox somehow curling 70s.

He’d come back refreshed as ever, usually with a bag of sour candy, a protein shake, and often Chipotle, then hop on voice chat and start discussing overnights.

That one consistent habit—stepping away to train—is part of Max’s MO. He loves the gym, and he loves that one to two hour break away from the market to reset.

If it works for Max, it’ll probably work for you.

If you want to speak with Max, he hangs out in this group chat alongside the majority of other SMB Capital traders. It’s worth the small cost. You can sign up here.