Hi, I'm Chris. I've been a trader for nearly 20 years, and interested in the markets even longer than that. I've traded stocks, bonds, options, futures, currencies and now cryptocurrency. I have traded in all market conditions you can imagine, bubbles, crashes, during rocket attacks (literally), power outages, while sick in bed, driving down the road (as a passenger of course), on an airplane and of course poolside.
Being able to trade for a living over that period of time is no small victory. Nearly 90% of traders lose money. Currently that doesn't seem to be the case in cryptocurrency but the time will come when we revert to the historical mean and easy money won't be so easy to get.
I've been writing about things that help me be a better trader, how I structure my life to trade 24/7/365, things I study, building trading systems and analysis of markets.
Today I'd like to discuss diet.
Being able to make great decisions at the right time without being stressed, rushed or foggy, is a very big factor that I optimize my life for.
Diet is one of those factors that helps tremendously.
"Hangry" is a thing!
How many times have you been sitting in a meeting, on a phone call, sitting in traffic or in front of your screen while stuck in a trade...starving?
This happened to me too often.
I'd be getting ready to go grab some breakfast at 8:30 (typical no-trade time of the day in California) and all of a sudden I can't leave because something whacky was happening in the market. 9am, 9:30, I'm starving, I'm angry, I can't leave my screen because the position is all over the place, new is coming out left and right and Im shaking.
Then I started figuring out that I can train my body to not get hungry until the afternoon.
Voila! Intermittent Fasting!
I didn't know there was a name for it, in fact it probably hadn't been coined online at that point in time, early 2000's.
Intermittent fasting simply put is restricting consumption of food to a specific eating window of 6-8 hours. There are many other versions as well, but fasting for 16-24 hours is the basics behind IF (Intermittent Fasting).
Another way to look at it is just eliminating one meal, breakfast for me.
Once I got control over my eating, that is that I was skipping breakfast, I discovered that I wasn't hangry anymore. I could even go to one meal a day, and really eat a good sized meal.
I used this to my advantage in a number of other ways as well..
By holding off on eating I could go to get lunch/dinner at odd times, when restaurants were less full, the long lunch lines and traffic were non existent.
I saved money as I reduced my food expenses by 1/3 by removing 1/3 of my meals.
But really the biggest benefit was the increased focus I achieved. I could get in front of my computer and crank out work steadily for prolonged periods of time. Even more so I didn't have to stop what I was doing, go find some food, consume it at a comfortable pace, return home, and go into a food coma. That alone could consume 2 hours of productivity.
Next I started eating much better. I had more money for my food budget so I could eat better quality foods, organic, I could buy the better steak, eggs, coffee and such.
This also made me feel better.
And this is when I discovered that if I didn't eat breads, noodles, rice, pastas, and such, that when I did actually go eat my meal I wasn't groggy (no food coma) after the meal. This lead me to the Paleo eating way of life.
Paleo was great but sometimes my energy levels would get a little bit too high. This isn't good for making good decisions, an sustained focus.
I was at a bit of a dilemma. I was enjoying the increased focus and ability to get long hours of work done, but I would usually crash pretty hard later in the day as my metabolism was through the roof.
At this point in time a high fat diet was the last thing people considered. "Fat makes you get fatter." "Fat causes heart disease." "Fat is horrible." It was literally accepted as religion in society.
So I was eating lean meats and vegetables, with as little fat intake as I could imagine. Of course my metabolism was high and I became hungrier after I eventually broke my fast. It wasn't the outcome I was after.
That's when I decided to try eating higher fat foods. Instead of lean chicken breast or fish I decided to get the really fatty organic Rib Eye steak, with a chunk of organic butter on top, sweet potato smothered in butter and a mountain of vegetables or a salad with olive oil dressing.
My metabolism went back to a normal level, that is I wasn't jittery after my meals, I wasn't hungry immediately after my meal, but really the big winner here was, I could stay in front of my computers and get work done with great focus and make better decisions while without having too much energy.
It was a slow steady burn of energy.
Turns out, this is because my body was using fat as fuel, not carbohydrates. AKA my body was in Ketosis.
Ketosis is the state of burning fat for fuel.
As a trader of cryptocurrency's I have to be monitoring the markets 24/7/365. This market never shuts down, there are no holidays and in fact holidays, evenings and weekends tend to be quite volatile times.
A typical day for me looks like this.
Wake up, drink a glass of water and make coffee. Coffee is organic and I hand grind my own and make espresso. No milk, no butter, no MCT Oil or Coconut Oil, no sweetener and no creamer. Just the coffee. I have and do from time to time Bulletproof Coffee (Coffee with grass fed salt free butter and MCT Oil) but sometimes it gives me too much energy and I try to keep from getting too much of a good thing!
Then lot's of reading, hours and hours, while occasionally sipping a little more coffee and more water.
Then workout, with weights or a bodyweight workout only about a 20 minute workout max.
Then 30-60 minutes of yoga, and if I can make it happen it's hot yoga.
Then 20-30 minutes of meditation (by far my greatest tool in the toolbox for being a good trader).
Then I write.
All the while I have quotes on my Apple Watch or on my screens in the room so I can monitor the markets.
After I've completed all that I usually start thinking about going for a walk. My walks can be short and brief or an hour or two with a podcast or audiobook in my ears.
The walking leads me to a restaurant or grocery store where I commence my feast.
This is usually somewhere between 3-7pm that I'm ready to eat.
The meal is usually some version of fatty meat, sweet potato/regular potato (if I'm feeling extra hungry) and a salad.
The macro breakdown I try to target is:
50-80% fat
20-40% protein
10-20% carbohydrates (usually in the form of vegetables)
Some days I only eat one big meal, other days I may have a second. Really just let my body tell me how it is feeling that day and act accordingly.
Along those lines, usually once or twice a week my body just can't calm down and I am extra hungry. If that's the case I may just add in a little pizza, pasta or sushi. Something with a high enough carbohydrate load that I'll feel full and replenished. It isn't every week, and sometimes, honestly, it's more than twice in a week.
It takes some discipline to get up and running with this style of eating.
The best way I've found to get going into ketosis especially if you are famished when you wake up in the morning is to replace your first meal with fat. Stay with me here! Bulletproof Coffee is a good way to get going on your first few days, and not have a meal until year lunch meal with the same macro's as I mentioned above.
After a few days you will be in ketosis and the qualitative measurement that I use to let me know is that I can go long periods without eating and not feel hungry.
Your body has moved from using carbohydrates for fuel to fat as fuel. And come one, who wouldn't love to feed your body that little spare layer of "skin" you have around your midsection.
Trading is a business. but I actually prefer to treat it as a sport. This makes me the athlete, any professional athlete out there gets by in the beginning on talent and hard work, eventually that hard work is table stakes, everyone works just as hard or harder. The game becomes how long can I stay in top condition and compete, diet, rest, meditation and exercise are some of the best tools I use and they have certainly been a strong factor in not only my trading success but also my duration.
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