Author: thiccy, Co-founder of Scimitar Capital

Compiled by: Felix, PANews (this article has been edited)

Jordi is a true gaming master. In his youth, he participated in international chess and bridge competitions, often winning medals, and in 2024 he also won a bracelet at the World Series of Poker. In addition, Jordi is the founder of Selini Capital, a cryptocurrency trading firm that focuses on market making, proprietary long-short trading, and venture investing. Over the past 13 years, he has achieved an astonishing 100% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), with his net worth actually doubling every year. The following is an excerpt from a Twitter spaces interview.

When did you start taking poker seriously?

I started taking poker seriously in 2003, when I was still in college. That was the peak of the Moneymaker era. He had just won the World Series, and it was a sensation. Poker was one of the few areas where smart young people could make a lot of money, like a money ball. Now it's Altcoins.

How much money did you make playing poker in college?

I would say enough to pay tuition and live a comfortable student life. Maybe $50,000 a year. Now it doesn't sound like much, but at the time it was a significant amount. I majored in economics, which is not as hard-core as computer science or pure math. Economics is a bit loose, but I did take a lot of courses specifically on game theory, and I wrote a thesis. I also studied psychology. I never wanted to be a pure mathematician. I like the social aspects of life. So I chose a dual degree in psychology and economics.

After graduation, I didn't intend to become a professional poker player. It was just a side job during my studies. So I moved to New York in 2007. I found a job at a big bank, doing some very boring work, mostly administrative and some asset management. I did that for about nine months, and then the 2008 financial crisis hit. I would sometimes play poker on weekends. At that time, I decided that instead of waiting for the financial crisis to resolve, I might as well take matters into my own hands. I was more inclined to become a professional poker player at that point.

What was your biggest realization during that period?

On the one hand, I built confidence, believing that I could hold my own against the best players. When I played against Scott Seiver and other top players at the time, I wasn't defeated. But on the other hand, I saw my lack of emotional resilience. I'm not an emotionally volatile person, but I needed to learn how to handle swings and stay calm. You can imagine, if your livelihood depends on your wins, and you have a bad month to start, and you have no savings, the pressure is immense. You start facing your darkest fears.

I've noticed that many great traders who trade Altcoins have played poker before. They were able to overcome emotional dysregulation in poker. I've seen some people who had an edge, but a small mistake made them emotional, and they escalated it into a bigger mistake. Before they realized it, they had lost 50% of their capital due to emotional trading.

When did you start getting into cryptocurrencies?

I started getting familiar with crypto technology because the company was in the Bay Area, which was a very unusual place, the only place in the world in 2016 where you could casually chat in a coffee shop and hear people talking about cryptocurrencies. I think Bitcoin was around $1,000 at the time, and I remember thinking it was expensive, so I bought some Ethereum because it looked cheap, and then I made my first cryptocurrency trade. I realized Litecoin was going to skyrocket because it was only a few dollars. I don't remember what it was, but I realized this heuristic bias. So I bought a bunch of tokens like Litecoin, and eventually sold them at $250 when it went crazy.

What were your initial thoughts when you first encountered cryptocurrencies?

In 2013, I heard the news about Bitcoin and thought the chances of it becoming a base currency were slim, it seemed very far-fetched. So in 2013 I didn't buy, I didn't see Bitcoin as a store of value at that time.

Your "multi-faceted" trading style reflects your personality

My advantage is that I'm very curious and don't get bored. I can sit in front of a computer forever, and there are too many things to capture my attention. I have to force myself to exercise and get things done. Immersing myself in things, finding the nuances that others find boring, I find it very interesting.

Since 2022, the casino narrative around cryptocurrencies has been amplifying. How do you incorporate that into your long-term vision for cryptocurrencies?

Given my background, I've spent most of my life in real casinos. I was shaped by it, born into it. Personally, I'm quite comfortable with it. I do believe that as the US government holds Bitcoin, the importance of institutionalization will grow in the future. That's fine with me. But I don't mind being in the midst of it.

How do you see the development of the crypto market in the next few years?

The market needs new Ponzi schemes. For example, this cycle didn't see an NFT cycle. Players have tried, but it didn't work. Then they tried meme coins, because there was some story about how they could be more liquid. So maybe that will work. But it probably won't work now.

Some things will change, it won't be the same as before, it's always evolving. I think we'll continue to see more gaming cycles, but it will be different. Maybe at some point, we won't have new Ponzi schemes, but people are very creative in that regard. AI is expected to play an important role in the future of cryptocurrencies. I've always publicly stated that I'm very bullish on the convergence of cryptocurrencies and AI. I think that's the trend of the future.

Many traders say that AI will take over their jobs in a few years. Do you think that applies to your current work?

No, I think the AI tsunami will eventually sweep everyone, the entire world. I do feel like I'm on a peak with the water level constantly rising, but it will take some time before the water level reaches me. The data I use is not the kind that is easy to train and replicate, especially now, it's more like combinations that can generate alpha in my brain. Alpha may not necessarily be in trading, but in running a business and adding value. I feel my approach and knowledge are quite specialized and not easily trainable in a general way. So I'm not personally concerned.

What was the worst trade you've ever made?

The worst trade was shorting Altcoins at the end of 2020. By then, Altcoins had already gone up 10x. Then you think it's just pure shit, Cardano or Dogecoin, some of which I shorted. In Tradfi, at least some people care about fair value. People try to trade around this fair value. But for these Altcoins, I had to learn the hard way that there is no fair value, just pure greed, and the level of greed was far beyond my imagination. I did have the expectation that if a token went up 3x, the players would exit, and then there would be some selling. But the players here are more greedy. I've shorted Dogecoin a few times, from 1.5 cents down to 1 cent or 0.5 cents. Then one day, Musk announced that he would adopt Dogecoin. When it spiked to 10 cents, I suffered massive losses. I made the same mistake multiple times on Cardano.

This was a weakness for me, and now I've turned it into something I can manage and actually be profitable. But I would say shorting Altcoins has been my biggest flaw over the years, and now it's one of my most profitable trades. You really have to understand the game you're playing when you're shorting Altcoins.

What advice would you give others to improve their trading skills?

This is just internal psychology. Many things are like this, but even more so for traders. If you become self-righteous and your judgment becomes blurred, then it will become increasingly difficult. Almost everyone is like this. Many people will associate their identity and the whole self with certain aspects. To become a world-class expert in a certain field, you must ensure that your judgment is not affected by anything. This usually means letting go of the self. I think it takes years for some people. For some, it's easy.

How do you think your views on trading are different?

For me, risk and return are the way I construct trades. Other people have different ways, they just keep exploring alpha. I always have a probability distribution in my mind. We also talked about this the other day, you don't have a position most of the time. You just go to sleep, you want to wake up refreshed and do some trades, and then go back to sleep when the trading is done. I have this rolling position distribution. Many assets don't need to have any fair value. Fair value basically means where is the risk and return balanced within the time frame I'm trading? That's the position of not holding, because if the risk and return are balanced, there's no edge. I have risk-return balance points for all these different assets. When they start to deviate from the balance point, I start to add positions, keep adding, until I reach my maximum position, and my maximum position depends on how much of my assets I can still afford to lose if a catastrophic mistake occurs. So I calculate my scale this way. Then I adjust around this risk-return.

Of course, the difficult part is determining the balance point of risk and return. There are a few ways to do this. At the end of the day, you have to summarize five to ten things. You have to consider the cost basis of short-term and medium-term buyers. I used to be very good at this. When I was doing high-frequency trading, I sat at my desk all day with nothing else to do but stare at the charts. I became very good at day trading. In a very short period of time, I can look at the risk-return for the next few minutes or hours and trade around it.

Also, it's a bit strange in my career, I try to limit the net worth growth I have each year. I try to limit it to... a maximum of 3 times.

So how do you deal with the remaining money? Donate it or?

I spend time training myself. Imagine you're a poker player, you make $100,000 a year. Then the next year you make $2.5 million, and you don't play for the rest of the year, but go into learning mode, you're laying the groundwork for the next improvement. Concentrate all your time and energy on that, rather than making more money that year. I've been doing this since the start of my trading career, for 13 years. My goal is to make 2 times a year. I've stuck to this goal. So it's been 2 times for 13 years.

Related reading: The 2024 "Cultivation Sutra" of a Veteran Trader: How to Capture Opportunities from Volatility and Protect Profits