Matt Choi is a seasoned trader with over 20 years of experience in the financial markets. As the founder and chief strategist of Certus Trading, a trading education company, Choi is committed to teaching traders how to achieve consistent profits across various markets, including stocks, ETFs, options, commodities, and FOREX.
Certus Trading is built on a career’s worth of insights earned by experience, particularly regarding the critical role of a winning mindset in trading success. Choi, who is also the co-author of The Winning Way, emphasizes the importance of psychological resilience and discipline in his approach to trading.
The Idea Behind Certus Trading
Certus Trading was born out of Choi’s personal experiences as a trader. Early in his career, Choi was repeatedly let down by his failure to find a perfect trading system, a quest he eventually realized was futile. He realized that success in trading doesn’t come from perfection but from finding repetitive patterns in the markets and executing trades based on a sound system. The word “Certus,” meaning “certainty” in Latin, serves as a reminder to him and his students that success in trading comes from mastering probability, not from expecting flawless outcomes.
A Day in the Life of Matt Choi
Choi’s approach to trading is as methodical as it is disciplined. His day begins with a workout, followed by breakfast with his son before the school run. Choi doesn’t believe in being glued to the screen all day, a common mistake many traders make. Instead, he spends his mornings reviewing trades and catching up with students, only revisiting the markets in the late afternoon to search for new setups.
Much of Choi’s day is dedicated to running Certus Trading. He conducts coaching calls, responds to student emails, and ensures the business runs smoothly. Certus Trading is focused on educating students to become disciplined, well-prepared traders. The company is selective about whom they teach, ensuring that only serious students are admitted.
Choi’s trading strategies are rule-based, and developing them requires extensive back-testing. Once a strategy proves effective, it enters his “playbook” for future use. This methodical approach ensures that Choi only teaches strategies that have been proven to work. He constantly asks himself whether the strategy is not only effective but also teachable and understandable to his students.
As an entrepreneur, Choi has scaled Certus Trading by automating processes and leveraging webinars, live coaching, and pre-recorded materials to reach a global audience. This approach has allowed him to help more traders while maintaining the quality of education.
The Winning Mindset
According to Choi, having a winning mindset is critical to trading success. His book, The Winning Way, underscores the importance of mental discipline, patience, and emotional resilience in trading. “Mastering your emotions is maybe the greatest challenge for any trader,” Choi says, emphasizing that fear and greed can easily lead to poor decision-making.
He teaches his students to approach trading as a process of continuous learning, stressing that losses are part of the journey. For Choi, the goal is not to avoid losses entirely but to minimize them through proper risk management and sticking to a well-researched strategy.
Matt Choi’s Certus Trading grounds students in a philosophy that combines technical skill with psychological resilience. His focus on creating a winning mindset and maintaining discipline has helped many traders achieve consistent results. Through his mentorship and educational programs, Choi has had a major impact on approaching the volatility of the financial markets.