I got my start in entrepreneurship when I was 9 selling the fruit in my parents backyard to neighbors around the neighborhood which I parlayed into buying and selling golf clubs on eBay in later years. It taught me how work hard, embrace risk head one and to look at the numbers.

Eventually, I found my way to public markets as a freshman in college at the Harvard of the west: Arizona State University. 

I spent my first two years working 40-50 hours a week at Charles Schwab making about $45K a year and taking 16 credit hours learning everything I could about this business. From there, I spent my twenties on Wall St. - first on a desk as a futures trader, then an analyst in equities and finally as a PM at a L/S hedge fund. 

Not your “normal” Wall Street career path but one that has taught me invaluable skill-sets, humility and helped to build my approach.

Today I manage my own money and money for clients through Bustamante Capital Management.


Here's what I've learned along the way.

Have a process.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a short-term trader or long-term investor having some process is a must. The markets are filled with uncertainty but having a process that’s repeatable helps you focus on the things you can control so that the things you cannot control have less affect on your investing.

Have a plan for every investment.

When I was on the first trading desk in my early 20’s I learned this. On any position I get into I underwrite it and understand where I want to be out at, before taking the position. This helps me to weigh the RoR and decide how much capital I want to put into it — I do the same for short-term trades.

Understand what you own and why you own it.

Not every investment for me is the same: some are long-term ideas I want to hold and some are what I call trading sardines (aka short-term trades). If I own a turn-around I have expectations of how long it will take, realistic ones. If I own a short-term, event-driven trade, I have different expectations — defining the trade has helped me to not only size it correctly but to have aligned expectations.

Learn trade/bet sizing.

There’s always a time to shove the chips in the middle (for the poker players here) but it’s usually rare and I would rather focus on building out a portfolio of ideas v. betting on one idea because no matter how much work you do, there are things you can never account for. Bet sizing is larger for me on long-term, value-driven ideas v. a short-term trade where I size it smaller — defining this in some way usually helps.

My hope is that the research here helps you to become a better investor, to ask the right questions, dig below the surface and to find objective truth.

There will be winners and there will be losers but maximizing those winners and minimizing those losers is significantly improved with a process.

Yours in profits,

Daniel X. Bustamante