15 Years of Trading Advice in 15 Minutes That Made Me $100M

It took me 15 years to become one of the world's top traders and earn over a hundred million dollars in trading profits. I'm here to help you speedrun

profits. I'm here to help you speedrun through the learning curve with the biggest lesson from each of my 15 years trading. I'm Lance Brightstein, exillium

trading. I'm Lance Brightstein, exillium top trader, mentor to seven and 8 figureure P&L per year traders. And yes,

I also sucked in the beginning. I

started trading in 2011 and my first lesson was that you need to trust the process and simply focus on improving every day. I had an awful start. Trading

every day. I had an awful start. Trading

in real time happened so fast and I kept on making the same mistakes again and again. I was hesitating on my entries. I

again. I was hesitating on my entries. I

chased after moves and I held on to my losers way past my stop. It wasn't until I took a step back and built a framework for how to get better as fast as possible that I started to see progress.

This process was based upon deliberate practice as well as systemizing my work.

Now, keep in mind that didn't mean I started to magically make money, but I did start to see my win rate increase along with my percent of positive days.

I was moving in the right direction even if I was still not making any paychecks.

Year two. 2012 was the year I coined my broken slot machine concept, where I learned it's better to focus on trading a select few standout tickers each day.

This came from recognizing that a couple plays per day represented the majority of the firm's profits. Meanwhile, most

traders were giving back P&L in the majority of other tickers they traded. I

started to drastically restrict my trading to inplay stocks and prioritize my study time towards only the best plays of the day and the week. Inplay

stocks are tickers that either have an exceptional chart setup with incredible volume and volatility or tickers with fresh breaking news on them. To this

day, I still largely only stick to trading inplay tickers. The lesson in 2013, year three, was my breakthrough year, and it was all about building a

playbook of a couple easy money trades in inplay stocks. I define easy money trades as the simple layups or free throws of your trading. Replicable

setups where you have well- definfined risk and can consistently put up a few hundred bucks in. It was two simple plays that I started to refine and focus on gradually sizing them up. One was a simple mean reversion play when certain

tech stocks had sharp moves off the open and the other was also a mean reversion play for when stocks moved too euphorically over the course of multiple days. It was being able to make these

days. It was being able to make these consistent small plays while minimizing my unforced errors that had an outsized impact on my trading. This is not only what finally allowed me to become

profitable and find some consistency in P&L, but I was making paychecks and they were growing fast. Once you catch your stride with a few layup chart setups,

that is when your newfound confidence becomes a feedback loop driving progress. If you're curious about

progress. If you're curious about trading playbooks, I cover the fundamentals of building your own in this video. It's linked in the

this video. It's linked in the description. You would think that my

description. You would think that my fourth year in 2014 would have been smooth sailing. Yet, towards the

smooth sailing. Yet, towards the beginning of the year, I almost blew up my whole career as my equity curve was starting to take off. I took a fat tail

fluke loss in Allergan on a crazy after hours headline that I was coincidentally short into. In minutes, I lost over

short into. In minutes, I lost over $100,000 so early on in my career. This draw down would have ruined most people, and I think most traders face a moment like

this in their hero's journey. I had

extreme moments of doubt, but I built a series of best practices and rules for handling draw downs. Trust me, my career has had many of them. Essentially, in

the times when it's the darkest, my draw down protocol could guide me towards the light and help ensure I dug my way out of the P&L hole and can continue on a

sustainable career path. An example of one of these practices is having strict daily, weekly, and monthly loss limits.

How much are you willing to lose before you cut yourself off? No questions

asked. I've used those lessons throughout my career and passed those lessons on to my trainee. I can't even imagine how many trading careers it saved by this point. By 2015, I had

built up a solid foundation of plays, confidence, and consistency in my fifth year. What I learned this year is

year. What I learned this year is something I now call the bobblehead concept. And the concept is what led to

concept. And the concept is what led to my parabolic growth. The bobblehead

concept has you imagine that each day you're trying to improve your expected value as a trader rather than obsess over your P&L. In other words, the more you learn and grow, the expected value

of you trading each day increases. This

is irrespective of your P&L. Adopting

this perspective forces you to judge your days based on whether you learned and grew as a trader, not whether your P&L was red or green. Too many traders that obsess over P&L get frustrated or

discouraged by red days rather than viewing them as amazing opportunities for growth. When those traders will get

for growth. When those traders will get frustrated and go to the bar after work, I'd be busy making my most important improvements. Ask yourself, did I learn

improvements. Ask yourself, did I learn something new? Did I make an improvement

something new? Did I make an improvement to my trading? Did I improve in a certain area? That mindset allowed me to

certain area? That mindset allowed me to better ride the emotional ups and downs of the job while steadily pushing toward mastery. 2016 was the year I helped

mastery. 2016 was the year I helped build out Trillium's new Chicago office, and I realized just how much the environment around you can make or break your performance. Most traders think of

your performance. Most traders think of trading as an individual sport. But when

you're surrounded by traders who are all pushing each other, sharing ideas, and keeping each other accountable, it becomes a team game. I became obsessed with creating a culture where everyone

felt like they had skin in the game. We

emphasized a focus on the process. We

helped each other spot more trading opportunities, and we learned from each other's losses and each other's wins.

That team culture produced some of the fastest growth I've ever seen and proved that optimizing your environment and having a trusted group of people to trade with and learn with leads to real

positive results. That is why I urge all

positive results. That is why I urge all traders to attend meetups or traders for a cause events to help find traders to trade with. Not only will the job be

trade with. Not only will the job be less lonely, but you will be a better trader for it, too. In year 7, 2017, I came across the concept of the daily

report card from Dr. Christine Berger and SMB Capital and it completely changed how I reflected on my trading each day. Instead of vague notions of I

each day. Instead of vague notions of I think I did okay, I began grading myself in key categories and focusing in on a single goal at a time. The end of each

day, I'd write out what I did well, where I slipped, and what I'd improved tomorrow. This one simple habit of

tomorrow. This one simple habit of writing my daily report card forced daily reflection and created a feedback loop where I could rapidly iterate on my performance. Trading is one of the

performance. Trading is one of the hardest games in the world. Why wouldn't

you treat it like a professional athlete reviewing game film every day? This is

arguably one of the biggest lessons that took me to $100 million in profit, which is why this topic has its own video. I

highly recommend watching it after this one if you aren't doing this yet. On to

year 8. 2018 was one of my most transformative years because of a concept I coined the right side of the V. This was the year I stopped trying to

V. This was the year I stopped trying to catch falling knives. And while I didn't know it at the time, I was paving the way for my stratospheric success in 2020 when markets panicked. Too often I was stepping in front of moves, trying to

call tops or bottoms. What I learned instead was to wait for the right side of the V. In other words, I was waiting for the move to exhaust, for the turn to come in, and then I would enter. By

waiting for the backside of the move after this turn is in, I could risk less and size more. My draw downs shrank and my win percentage went up. I realized

that the best money wasn't in being early. It was in being right. Rather

early. It was in being right. Rather

than fighting the trend, I was waiting to ride the counter trend. And that

change alone bolted me higher in the Trillium top 10 standings. My favorite

book ever, Atomic Habits by James Clear, came out in 2019. So in 2019, year 9, I embraced the idea of relentless 1% improvement. I started each day with a

improvement. I started each day with a question. What improvement can make my

question. What improvement can make my trading 1% better? Whether it was a tech improvement, a new tag in my journaling software, a trade idea, or a new catalyst to research, all of it compounded. I refused to leave the

compounded. I refused to leave the office until I took action to be at least 1% better. Over time, those small tweaks added up to massive improvements in my edge. It's easy to chase shiny

objects or try to reinvent yourself every few months. But mastery is built through atomic habits stacked day after day after day. And before I get to my next lesson, if you're serious about

trading, check out my course, No Pressure. I'll have a link in the

Pressure. I'll have a link in the description. Okay, so now we're in 2020,

description. Okay, so now we're in 2020, now a full decade into my trading career. If you recall, 2020 was a year

career. If you recall, 2020 was a year of unprecedented opportunity. Co is

here. Volatility was through the roof and setups were lining up everywhere.

But what separated my performance from others wasn't just seeing the trades. It

was sizing into them exponentially bigger. When I saw my edge was extreme,

bigger. When I saw my edge was extreme, I went big. Really big. I had already built a deep playbook and years of execution discipline. So when the moment

execution discipline. So when the moment came, I pressed the gas. Most traders

scale their bet sizes linearly. But the

real outlier performance comes from identifying when you have an A+ setup and absolutely maximizing it. That is

not advice for beginners. You need to master your setups first. But every

elite trader I know utilizes exponential bet sizing. You make it to the real big

bet sizing. You make it to the real big leagues by swinging hardest when you have the most edge. If you don't know your edge or are still building it, you're in the right place. I'll be

sharing different strategies and how to find your edge on this channel. So,

subscribe and turn on notifications to not miss these videos. By my 11th year in 2021, the technical skills were dialed in. What mattered most was

dialed in. What mattered most was psychology and performance optimization.

I realized that how I managed my mental game determined how consistently I could execute at the highest level. Once you

have edge, your mental state is what determines how consistently you stick to your system and capture the opportunities in front of you. Strong

mental game allows you to avoid FOMO, rage trading, and other bad habits that leech our P&L. Each day, I'd reflect.

Was I well slept, focused? Did I stay centered after a big win? Did I avoid tilt and keep trading my plan under pressure? I started working with

pressure? I started working with performance coaches, health coaches, and making sure I was in a state to execute at my best. This wasn't fluffy wellness.

This was the work required to stay in peak state at the elite level. and

trading the time frames I was trading required me to be razor sharp every minute of the trading day. And that's

why I'm also sharing ways to optimize your mind and health on this channel because in the end, your success is determined by the decisions you make and the speed at which you make them. For

many traders, 2022 was a cold shower after the incredible highs of 2020 and 2021. The market slowed down and many of

2021. The market slowed down and many of the patterns we'd feasted on in prior years stopped working. I watched trader after trader cling to the old playbook, refusing to change and dial back.

Meanwhile, I focused on speed of adaptation. I audited what was no longer

adaptation. I audited what was no longer working, ruthlessly cut plays with diminished edge, and built new systems for the emerging environment. I realized

that survival in trading isn't about always being aggressive. It's about

adaptability and trading based on what the market requires of you. The best

traders don't try to force the market to fit them. They fit their trading to the

fit them. They fit their trading to the market and evolve faster than everyone else. By 2023, the 13th year, I had

else. By 2023, the 13th year, I had accomplished everything I needed to prove with active intraday trading. But

I wanted more balance. I started

allocating more energy towards swing trading, holding positions for days rather than seconds or minutes. This

coupled with selling options premium gave me the space to step back, zoom out, and build a more sustainable lifestyle. I was no longer glued to the

lifestyle. I was no longer glued to the screen 10 hours a day. It reminded me that trading is a means to an end. The

goal isn't just more P&L. It's also

freedom. I still day trade, but swing trading allowed me to trade with less stress, more patience, and greater clarity while only trading the absolute best setups. Incredibly, my P&L didn't

best setups. Incredibly, my P&L didn't take a hit. In the 14th year, 2024, I pushed myself to go beyond stocks. I

dove deeper into options, futures, and overnight trading. Each new product came

overnight trading. Each new product came with its own quirks, nuances, and edge opportunities. Learning these

opportunities. Learning these instruments wasn't just about more tools. It was about building a truly

tools. It was about building a truly diversified and adaptable trading approach that maximizes your expected value based on the situation. At the

elite level, the more markets and products you open yourself up to, the more opportunities you have to profit and the more mediums you have to express your trade in the most effective way

possible. That brings us to today, 2025.

possible. That brings us to today, 2025.

Even after 15 years, the biggest lesson I keep relearning is this. The moment

you think you figured it all out, you've already started declining. In 2025, I've spent more time than ever networking with top traders, asking questions, and mentoring others. I'm still refining my

mentoring others. I'm still refining my systems, my routines, my strategies.

There's no finish line in this game. The

best traders stay curious. They stay

hungry. And no matter how good you get, if you're going to stay relevant in markets, you need to always be learning.

Looking back on these 15 years, what stands out isn't just the money or the accolades. It's the evolution. From lost

accolades. It's the evolution. From lost

rookie to seasoned mentor, every year brought a breakthrough, often inspired by a setback, and it resulted in a shift in mindset that shaped who I am as a trader today. This journey has never

trader today. This journey has never been about chasing shortcuts or easy wins. It's been about mastering the

wins. It's been about mastering the craft brick by brick. The learning never ends. Markets change, you change. The

ends. Markets change, you change. The

edge shifts. But if you stay committed to growth, to reflection, and to pushing your ceiling every single day, the rewards, both financial and personal, can be extraordinary. I'm Lance

Brightstein, and if there's one final lesson I can leave you with, it's this.

Greatness in trading isn't found in one moment. It's earned through relentless

moment. It's earned through relentless refinement over time. Thank you for watching, and see you in the next one.