Founder’s Note: It’s Juneteenth, and U.S. markets are closed. I’m turning it over to Senior Analyst Jason Perz for a think-piece based on an idea from one of my favorite investors of all time.
Enjoy. And enjoy the holiday. Here’s Jason.
By Jason Perz
A friend asked me the other day, “How do you know so much about so many different things? What’s your IQ?”
I didn’t list books. I didn’t name drop courses. I just said, “I’m not afraid to look stupid.”
It might sound like a non-answer. But it’s the only one that matters.
Charlie Munger said it best: “We don’t need to be smarter. We just need to be less stupid.”
That’s the game. That’s trading. That’s life.
JC and I talk about this all the time.
Trading isn’t about genius. It’s about edge.
And edge gets sharper every time you fail, every time you fall, every time you get up and do the hard thing again.
Growing up adopted, I didn’t have a blueprint. No emotional framework.
Just this heavy need to be perfect. Perfect kids get picked. Perfect kids don’t get left behind.
But perfection kills risk.
And without risk, there’s no progress.
Wisdom Doesn’t Come From Winning
When I was 12, I found BMX. My first love. My escape. My purpose.
Something I was willing to look stupid for. You don’t land tricks without crashing first. Into pavement. Into rails. Into yourself.
The same is true in trading.
You send your chart ideas to someone you look up to – they laugh.
Maybe they tell you the setup’s garbage. Maybe they don’t respond at all.
You stay up all night studying setups.
Then you wake up to a gap against you and realize you were sized 5x too big.
You blow up, you cry and you stare at the screen like it owes you an explanation.
It doesn’t.
This Is Our Edge
If you’re willing to fall, to be humbled, to look dumb over and over… you just might figure it out.
That was me, at the beginning of this trading journey in my early 20s.
On my knees, after I lost a year of gains in two days. No confidence. Just the stubborn belief that there had to be a way.
The market is the greatest teacher in the world – and the cruelest.
If you think you’re going to learn to trade without looking stupid, good luck.
You’ll need it.
Now I share what I’ve learned, not because I’m smarter than anyone else.
It’s because I’ve been willing to look stupid longer than most.
And I still am.
Buffett and Munger didn’t get wise by avoiding mistakes. Neither did I.
That’s the edge.
Save the bees,
Jason Perz
Senior Analyst, TrendLabs