The Practice Companion: Trader Development Series
Introducing a spaced-practice layer for the four-part “Counterintuitive Shape of Trader Development” series.
Dear Practitioner,
Asymmetrist has always straddled two worlds: the practical demands of today and the exploratory work of tomorrow. In that sense, it mirrors the trader’s own path—half navigation, half construction—ever balancing what must be done now with what might become essential later.
The ‘Idea Index’ was one expression of this ethos: an open R&D laboratory designed to surface core insights early, allow readers to engage with them informally, and then build them into essays, interviews, and the broader Asymmetrist. It has proved its worth, and the publication would be markedly poorer without that experimental edge.
I would now like to explore an adjacent direction—one that focuses not on offering more material, but on enhancing your connection with the material already present. Less about increasing volume; more about increasing integration. The aim is simple: to strengthen the connection between reading and behaviour, understanding and action.
Why? Most of us dramatically overestimate how much we retain or apply from what we read. You may remember a line, an argument, or a moment of revelation from October’s Counterintuitive Shape of Trader Development series. But has it entered your actual practice? Has it shaped your perception when it matters?
Researcher Andy Matuschak has argued compellingly that reading does not reliably produce understanding, primarily because books and essays evolved without an explicit model of how people learn.1 They assume that if a writer explains an idea clearly, the reader will absorb it. Asymmetrist sees the same pattern across our own trading domain. Lessons packaged in story circumvent this—what Angus Fletcher, in Wonderworks, calls literature’s inventions: narratives as cognitive tools, designed to heal, embolden, and rewire how we think and feel. Essays, however—primarily technical or conceptual ones—rarely enjoy that built-in narrative scaffolding.
Not because readers lack discipline, but because the medium itself is static. A book or essay cannot check what you’ve absorbed; it cannot prompt you days or weeks later; it cannot surface an idea at the exact moment your lived experience would make it meaningful. Understanding requires retrieval, reflection, and—crucially—repeated engagement over time. Without these, even powerful insights dissipate quickly. The burden of structuring this process is typically left to the reader, yet most readers understandably have no intentional system for doing so.
In other domains, ecosystems of deliberate practice fill this gap. Dancers return to foundations; chess players replay critical positions; athletes drill fundamentals. Readers, more often than not, simply move on. There is no reflective or time-structured reading practice—few built-in mechanisms that help ideas mature.
With this in mind, I would like to experiment with a new layer for Asymmetrist: an applied and intentional practice designed to support retention, distillation, and re-entry into ideas. Not a test, but an aid. Not busywork, but a series of structured prompts and exercises that lower that burden and create a rhythm of engagement—something closer to focused practice than passive consumption.
You might recall the ‘Practitioner’s Postscript’ at the end of Traders of Our Time, which nudged readers in this direction. What follows is the next step: a structured return journey through this four-part series—a re-reading at whatever interval suits you, followed by a curated set of prompts designed to help those concepts take root and remain present across the coming weeks.
This is not a prescription, merely an invitation: to strengthen the connection between what you read and what you do; to approach trading—and learning—with greater intention; and to cultivate a form of engagement that does not end when the essay ends.
Below you’ll find the first version of this Asymmetrist practice. I look forward to seeing where it leads.
The Practice Companion For ‘The Counterintuitive Shape of Trader Development’
How To Use It:
NB: This is not a ‘classic’ article to be read entirely, but a resource to be referenced over time.
This is an applied companion to the series:
Part I — Start Narrow, Grow Wide
Part II — Tilting At Windmills
Part III(a) — Choice and Its Discontents
Part III(b) — Forcing Focus
Part IV — From Minimum Viable to Always Viable
Each section below has a link back to the relevant essay.
D = the day you read or re-read that Part.
D+1 = the next day.
D+10 = ten days later.
At the end, there is a D+30 whole-series reflection.
You are not meant to do this in one sitting. Take your time, but make sure to return!
Some of the prompts and themes will feel familiar as you move through Parts I–IV and the D+1 / D+10 / D+30 cycles. That’s deliberate. You’re returning to the same ideas at different times and from various angles, so you can see how your answers change once real trading weeks have passed. Treat that familiarity as a feature, not a flaw: it’s the point where you notice whether anything has actually shifted.
A simple weekly tracker:
Week 1: Read Part I, then complete its D+1 and D+10 prompts.
Week 2: Read Part II, then complete its D+1 and D+10 prompts.
Week 3: Read Part III(a) → D+1 / D+10.
Week 4: Read Part III(b) → D+1 / D+10.
Week 5: Read Part IV → D+1 / D+10.
Week 6+: When thirty days have passed since Part IV’s D-day, do the D+30 whole-series reflection.
Part I — Start Narrow, Grow Wide
D: Read Part I — Start Narrow, Grow Wide. No notes, no exercises.
D+1: Do the questions below (20–30 mins).
D+10: Do the short check-in (5–10 mins), looking back at your D+1 answers.
D+1 · First Return (Part I)
Try to answer from memory first. Only look back at the essay afterwards.
MVT to AVT in your own words
In 3–5 sentences, describe the difference between Minimum Viable Trader (MVT) and Always-Viable Trader (AVT) as you understand them now.
– What changes in persona (mindset, habits, beliefs)?
– What changes occur in the kind of advice that’s actually suitable for you as you transition from MVT towards AVT?
Transition, not a switch
AVT is described as a guiding principle, not a box to tick.
– Why does that matter?
– How does it change how you think about “getting there”?
Start narrow vs start wide (your history)
One honest paragraph: where have you actually started wide, and what happened?
Where were you forced to start narrow, and what happened?
Dangers of early success
Imagine success while you’re still clearly MVT.
– What specific dangers come from treating that as licence to “go wide now”?
– Where in your life have you already treated a win as permission to drop constraints?
Why “start wide” is seductive
– Why is “start wide” psychologically attractive to you (if it is)?
– What version of “starting wide” do you quietly fantasise about (more products, size, markets, strategies, screens)?
Attraction and avoidance
Thinking back to Part I:
– Which idea or sentence did you feel instinctively drawn to? Why?
– Which idea did you swerve away from or mentally label “not my problem”? Name it.
Does this diagnose you?
In one–two lines each:
– Where does this section feel uncomfortably accurate about you?
– Where does it genuinely miss your situation (for now)?
D+10 · Second Return (Part I)
Re-open your D+1 answers before you do this.
Updated definition
– What would you now change in your original description of AVT?
– Which sentence from D+1 now feels incomplete?
Behaviour, not theory
Since D+1, what is one concrete way your behaviour has moved closer to your own idea of MVT or AVT?
What is one way you are still clearly behaving like the older version of yourself?
Part II — Tilting At Windmills
D: Read Part II — Tilting At Windmills. No notes, no exercises.
D+1: Do the questions below (20–30 mins).
D+10: Do the short check-in (5–10 mins), looking back at your D+1 answers.
D+1 · First Return (Part II)
Answer from memory first. Only check the essay afterwards.
Siege mentality & the antagonism
In your own words, describe the young Collector’s siege period and the “be up this month or you’re fired” ultimatum.
– What changed in his behaviour?
– How does this illustrate the antagonism between learning and performing?
Collector with 1 month’s runway
You’re told you have 1 month of runway to justify staying in the game. No extra capital, no extra time.
– As an MVT trying to guarantee a lifeline, what do you keep?
– What do you brutally cut (tools, markets, information, routines)?
– Describe your 1-month lifeline project in one sentence.
Collector with 24 months’ runway
Now imagine a different version of you with 24 months of runway, but no meaningful improvement in skill.
– What would you keep and cut in that scenario?
– Where does extra runway tempt you back into “tilting at windmills” (projects, learning paths, identities)?
T-shape & skill transplant
– List one or two skills you’ve already monetised (even modestly) or come close to monetising.
– For each, name one adjacent field or technique you could transplant that skill into (e.g. ladder > Market Profile, etc.).
– What would a narrow but T-shaped development path look like for you over the next 6–12 months?
Hidden curriculum: your unspoken rules
List 3–5 items that make up your current hidden curriculum about trading: unspoken rules, assumptions, or “how it’s done”. For each:
– Put it into your own words, as simply as possible.
– Where do you think you absorbed it (person, book, community)?
– Write one question which, if answered honestly in the next month, could test or challenge that assumption.
Identity and delusion
– In one paragraph: why are you doing this? What is your current “why” for trading?
– Is that why better served by staying in learning mode (research, simulator, prep) or by taking constrained, survivable performance risk?
– Where, specifically, are you pushing the can down the road by remaining “learner” instead of committing to MVT-style performance?
Method anarchism / method mercenary
– Name one method, framework, or “way of seeing markets” you currently treat as almost canonical (the way you ought to trade).
– Describe it in your own words. What would markets have to look like for this to fail badly?
– Design a small “method anarchism” test for the next 5 trading days:
– What constraint or experiment would let you loosen your conformity to this method (e.g. pure observation blocks, alternative execution rule, different lens) without going full chaos?
D+10 · Second Return (Part II)
Re-open your D+1 answers before you do this.
Hidden curriculum in the wild
Look at your list from Question 5.
– Which assumption did you actually see confirmed in the market over the past 10 days?
– Which one looked weaker, messier, or outright wrong once real market action hit it?
Learning vs performing in behaviour
Since D+1, name:
– One concrete action that was clearly learning mode (and appropriate).
– One concrete action that was clearly performer mode (and appropriate).
What, if anything, changed in how you split your time after reading Part II?
Part III(a) — Choice and Its Discontents
D: Read Part III(a). No notes, no exercises.
D+1: Do the questions below (20–30 mins).
D+10: Do the short check-in (5–10 mins), looking back at your D+1 answers.
D+1 · First Return (Part IIIa)
Answer from memory first. Only check the essay afterwards.
Abundance, constraints, and career strategy
In your own words, summarise the core argument of Part III(a):
– How does abundance undermine novices?
– Why is this described as a career strategy / design problem rather than a “how to construct trades” problem?
Head coach view: designing a squad
Imagine you’re responsible for developing a squad of young athletes in a sport, exercise or hobby you know reasonably well.
– Over the first 3 years, what constraints, rules, or structures would you impose to develop them?
– Now map this back to trading: what would the equivalent constraints look like for a group of novices in your community? For you?
Constraints in the rest of your life
Look at other domains (study, work, sport, music, people you know).
– Name two examples where constraints helped someone grow and where overcoming them shaped them for the better.
– Now ask as a “career designer”: where have you overthrown constraints too early in your trading, thinking you were helping yourself?
Single-tick thought experiment
Answer directly from the essay’s spirit:
“Given I can only trade a single tick, and must be profitable this month, what does that mean for everything else?”
Write a short list:
– What does it imply for markets traded, times of day, size, risk, tools, prep, and journalling?
– What does it force you to stop doing?
D+10 · Second Return (Part IIIa)
Re-open your D+1 answers before you do this.
Constraints and feedback loops in the wild
– Since D+1, what is one concrete way you actually tightened your feedback loop via constraints (limit, rule, structure)?
– Where did abundance creep back in despite your intentions?
Hidden curriculum & method anarchism
Look at your lists from Questions 5 and 7.
– Which hidden assumption or method looked weaker or more conditional once it met real market action over the past 10 days?
– What, if anything, did you actually change in your day-to-day trading because of that realisation?
Part III(b) — Forcing Focus
D: Read Part III(b). No notes, no exercises.
D+1: Do the questions below (20–30 mins).
D+10: Do the short check-in (5–10 mins), looking back at your D+1 answers.
D+1 · First Return (Part IIIb)
Answer from memory first. Only check the essay afterwards.
What is “fuzzy engagement” for you?
In your own words:
– How does the essay define fuzzy engagement?
– What does it look like in your trading (time of day, mood, market, typical setup)?
– Write one example from the last month where you caught yourself thinking: “I knew I shouldn’t have, but…”
Last bullets
Take this example and apply the rule of thumb:
“If these were your last bullets to save your career, would you take this trade?”
– Answer honestly: yes or no.
– If you still feel “yes”, explain why in one or two sentences.
– If the answer is “no”, what would have needed to be true in that moment to make it a genuine “yes”?
Career objective & stage
– In one paragraph, state your current career objective as a trader (be concrete: income, account size, runway, timeframe).
– Which description fits you best right now:
(a) Building / rebuilding an account (MVT mentality).
(b) Pushing boundaries, growing size/opportunity (AVT direction).
– Given that stage, what is your primary job for the next months: survival, expansion, or something else?
Stage-dependent decisions
Using your own account and context:
– When would it be correct for you not to run a big winner, and to simply “take the money”?
– When, if ever, is it appropriate for you to run a trade that may give back a chunk of unrealised P&L?
– Write a one-line rule which links this to your stage, for example:
“As long as I’m [MVT / rebuilding], my job is X, not Y.”
Hard floor & bullets count
– Choose a new “zero”: a positive account number you will treat as the hard floor for the next month (as in The Adventurer’s quote).
– Above that floor, decide: how many “bullets” do you realistically have per session or per week?
– For the next 10 trading days, each time you consider a trade, ask:
“If this were one of my last bullets above that floor, would I still take it?”
Write that hard floor and bullets rule in one clear sentence.
Framework vs freestyle
– Describe your current implicit framework in one paragraph:
“I tend to trade [markets] at [times], using [broad approach], managing risk by [pattern].”
– Where does fuzzy engagement most often slip through this framework? (Entry? Add-ons? Exits? “Bored trades”?)
– Name one guardrail you could add this week to make fuzzy engagement structurally harder (time filter, no-trade zone, size cap, mandatory checklist, etc.).
Immediate guardrail design
Turn everything above into a simple guardrail set for the next 10 trading days:
– When to trade.
– What to trade.
– How to size / manage (with your hard floor in mind).
Keep it to 3 bullet points you could hand to a risk manager or pin above your screen.
D+10 · Second Return (Part IIIb)
Re-open your D+1 answers before you do this.
What actually happened to your fuzziness?
Over the past 10 days:
– How many trades would you classify as fuzzy engagement? (Estimate is fine.)
– In how many of those moments did you remember the last bullets rule or your hard floor before entering?
– Did your guardrails reduce the number or severity of fuzzy trades? How?
Career objective in practice
– Looking back, did your actual behaviour match the stage you claimed in Question 3 (builder/rebuilder vs boundary-pusher)?
– Name one decision where you clearly honoured your real stage.
– Name one decision where you behaved as if you were in a different stage, and what you’d do differently next time.
Part IV — From Minimum Viable to Always Viable
D: Read Part IV. No notes, no exercises.
D+1: Do the questions below (25–30 mins).
D+10: Do the short check-in (5–10 mins), looking back at your D+1 answers.
D+1 · First Return (Part IV)
Answer from memory first. Only check the essay afterwards.
Map the three phases & the trap
In your own words, describe the three phases Part IV outlines:
– Besieged MVT
– Transitional trader (launched, not yet enduring)
– Always-Viable Trader (AVT) as direction, not state
Then: what, specifically, makes the middle phase so treacherous?
Re-explaining the difficulties to yourself
Imagine you have just launched: you’re withdrawing from your account, size is up, you have real runway.
– List the top three traps this phase creates for you personally (comfort, freedom, identity, environment, etc.).
– For each trap, finish the sentence:
“If I’m not careful here, I will start to… [concrete behaviour].”
Pre-commitment: not being undone by success
Staying in that “just launched” image:
– What constraints and guardrails would you deliberately keep from your siege period?
– What new constraints or design decisions would you add as a coach of your own career?
– Write three short rules you would want your future self to obey after a strong run-up.
What this tells you about MVT vs AVT
– After reading the whole series, what does “MVT” mean to you now beyond “small size and survival”?
– What does “AVT” actually describe in practice (day-to-day), rather than as a romantic label?
– In one line: how would you explain to a younger trader why MVT must expire, but its mentality can’t?
Lifeline fantasies: what success tries to hijack
Imagine your trading gives you a moderate financial lifeline: your basic lifestyle is covered from trading.
– In your trading and in your life, what is your first burning desire to satisfy (bigger trades, more risk, different style, leaving the floor, changing your routine, etc.)?
– Which of those desires feel like legitimate evolution, and which look like fantasy or identity-chasing once you read them back?
Staying adaptive instead of ossified
– Name two practices from your siege/MVT phase you must keep to stay adaptive (e.g. certain review, observation blocks, debriefing style).
– Name two things you will allow to change as regimes and account size evolve (markets, tools, style, time horizon).
– How will you repurpose old skills into the now? Give one concrete example of a skill you already have and how it could be applied differently in a new environment.
Environment change protocol
– List three signs that would tell you the environment has shifted enough that your current edge is at risk (volatility, news flow, structure, fills, your P&L distribution, etc.).
– For each sign, write one action you will take when you see it (e.g. cut size, change product, observation-only days, seek out specific peers).
Keep this as a simple protocol you could actually follow in real time.
D+10 · Second Return (Part IV)
Re-open your D+1 answers before you do this.
Mini-transition check
Over the past 10 days, did you experience any mini-version of this transition? For example:
– A strong run-up, a painful drawdown, or a noticeable market shift.
– New freedom in size, time, or products.
For one such episode:
– Which trap from Question 2 showed up in your behaviour (even slightly)?
– Did any of your pre-commitment rules from Question 3 actually influence what you did?
Success vs strategy
– Looking at your “burning desires” from Question 5: did you act on any of them, even a little?
– Were those actions aligned with your career strategy, or did they pull you towards fantasy?
– What one adjustment will you make now—constraint, habit, or framework update—to keep success from quietly unmaking what launched you?
If you’re finding value in this reflective work, you may enjoy the fortnightly streams where we read ‘Traders of Our Time’ together—chapter by chapter, with the same deliberate pace.
D+30 · Whole-Series Reflection
D+30 = roughly 30 days after you completed the Part IV practice.
Before you start, skim your answers from Parts I–IV (D+1 and D+10).
The goal here is to see what actually changed.
What stuck without help?
– Without looking at the essays, list 3–5 ideas or phrases you still remember clearly from the series.
– For each, note where in your actual trading you’ve seen it show up (even faintly).
Behaviour audit
Since you began this practice:
– Name three concrete ways your behaviour has changed (before/after comparisons are ideal).
– Name two important things that have not changed at all, despite the reading and exercises.
Where you are in the arc now
– Given your recent experience, which phase best describes you today:
– Besieged MVT
– Transitional (launched, not yet enduring)
– AVT direction-of-travel
– What evidence (P&L structure, risk behaviour, routines, opportunities) supports that assessment?
Constraints & abundance check-in
– Which constraint, guardrail, or rule from the practices actually survived 30 days?
– Which one eroded the fastest? Why?
– Write one new or updated constraint that feels appropriate for the next 30 days of trading.
Hidden curriculum updates
– Looking back at your hidden-curriculum answers, what is one belief about markets or trading you now see as more conditional, local, or wrong?
– What new “unwritten rule” have you quietly picked up from direct experience in the last month?
Career design, now
– In one paragraph, rewrite your current career objective as a trader, incorporating what the last month has shown you.
– In one sentence, describe the single most important design decision you intend to make in the next quarter (constraint, environment, product focus, learning project, etc.).
MVT mentality, AVT direction
– What is one way you will keep the best parts of MVT mentality (focus, constraint, survival) over the next 3–6 months?
– What is one way you will honour the AVT direction—deliberately widening opportunity sets—without abandoning that mentality?
Final: compress your answers from this page into a single “Evergreen Note” or card in your journal titled My Current Career Design (Counterintuitive Shape, D+30). Revisit it whenever you feel lost, euphoric, or stuck.
C’est tout!
Andy Matuschak, “Why books don’t work”, https://andymatuschak.org/books, San Francisco (2019)
Acknowledgements, Permissions & Disclaimer
Grateful acknowledgment to AXIA for granting access to their London trading floor and to observe and learn as “writer-in-residence.”
The photograph, provided by Axia Futures, is used with their permission, and they retain full ownership and copyright over the image.
Disclaimer: Do Not Do Stupid Financial Decisions. This Is Not A Game.