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The Dow dropped close to 300 points today. Zions Bancorporation (ZION) fell 13%. Banking stocks are getting demolished, and everyone's asking the same question: "Is this 2008 all over again?"

But here's what CNBC won't tell you while they're interviewing another "expert" about credit risk...

Only 22% of professional fund managers are beating the market this year.

I'm up 60% in my million-dollar challenge account. My Trinity Trade portfolio is up 35%.

We are retail…

And we've been taking it to the man.

The Great Performance Flip
 

You know what's wild? 

The same people calling us "dumb money" just had their worst performance year in recent memory. While they're panicking about regional bank exposure they should have seen coming, the most heavily shorted stocks—the ones they bet against—became this year's biggest winners.

This isn't luck. This isn't a fluke. This is what happens when conviction beats committee thinking.

I spent years in this industry listening to the same broken record: "You can't time the market. It's impossible. Nobody can do it consistently."

But I kept seeing traders obviously doing exactly that. Showing their accounts. Proving it worked.

"No, no, they're not really doing that," the institutions would say.

Just because you deny something exists doesn't mean it's not there.

What They Don't Want You to Know

The average person doesn't want diversification into 100 names with 1% position sizes. 

They don't want to "match the market." They want to beat their neighbor. They want to go to cocktail parties and brag about crushing Wall Street.

And you know what? They should want that. Because it can be done.

The professionals are more focused on assets under management than actually making money. 

When you're managing billions, your incentive is to not lose clients, not to outperform. That's why 78% of them are getting beaten by index funds.

But when it's your own money? 

When you have real skin in the game? Everything changes.

The Tension Test
 

Days like today separate the pros from the pretenders. Can you hold the tension? Can you avoid making yourself look like a dork?

It's like those first couple dates with your spouse. Can you stay cool? Can you stick to your plan when everything feels chaotic?

I've got positions taking heat today. My portfolio was spinning the wheels this morning. But I'm not a day trader focused on every tick. I care about serial outperformance over time.

The conditions are there for a bottom. Tech and semiconductors are leading while everything else sells off—exactly what you see coming out of important market lows. 

We just hit three straight days below the 20-day moving average for the first time in 80+ days. Historically, that's followed by gains 80% of the time one week later.

The Real Secret
 

Here's what Wall Street will never admit: The average retail trader has advantages they don't.

No committee meetings. No style box constraints. No pressure to "diversify" into mediocrity.

When you see a setup, you can act. When conviction builds, you can size up. When the tape changes, you can pivot.

That's not "dumb money." That's smart money without the institutional baggage.

Tomorrow's Plan
 

While the "smart money" panics about regional banking and holds emergency meetings, here's exactly what I'm doing:

Nothing.

I'm 45% cash in my Trinity Trade portfolio. Why? Because I'm not desperate to be in every move. 

I can wait for the setups that actually matter.

This is how you beat the 78% of fund managers who can't beat an index fund: patience when the setup isn't there, conviction when it is.

No committees forcing me into positions. No pressure to deploy capital just because I have it. No panic selling because of headlines about credit stress.

The conditions are setting up for a bottom. Tech and semiconductors are showing strength. But I'm not chasing. I'm waiting for my pitch.

Because while they're desperate to be right today, we're positioning to be right over time.

The scoreboard doesn't lie.

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