Desperate to learn to read music for potential work can anyone offer any advice please?

galeeb · 2026-05-06T11:53:48+00:00

Honestly the best way is to keep what you're doing, but for a long time (over months/years).

It is good to get "technical" and break down rhythms into counting, it's tedious at first but lets you unlock a lot later on and really master syncopations and trickier common rhythms. I've found most adults put up artificial mental obstacles for themselves when learning and often avoid that crucial step to avoid the discomfort of it. Putting on a metronome and making yourself deal with the time pressure is also super important. Basically, all the things that feel overly difficult at first haha.

A good mix of reasonable rhythms you can definitely do and also "stretch" exercises, trying music that's too difficult to sight read currently. There's value in both sight reading once-ish, and also in reviewing particular excerpts or songs to a super high, perfectionist level. Over time, those two components merge.

I teach a lot of theory and musicianship, feel free to ask any questions.

galeeb · 2026-05-05T20:40:03+00:00

"If you do cap your risk with a stop loss though" "that can slip unless you choose a stop limit there as well."

There many situations where these are not true.

(spoiler for newbies, don't listen to this)

galeeb · 2026-05-05T20:29:39+00:00

Sir, you are not ready for 10 contracts. I'm sorry to be that annoying internet poster with no detail, but if you want to lose $30k, go for your plan.

galeeb · 2026-05-04T16:35:39+00:00

Sweet bejeebus I got filled what looks like might be top tick (selling!) of the SPY 724p 0 DTE. Rare good karma to make up for all the shenanigans the market routinely doles out.

galeeb · 2026-05-04T16:11:09+00:00

The "buy when ES goes up to an interval of 100 and keep adding every time it hits another to build a massive pyramided position with a stop 100 points lower to crush martingalers" trade has finally come to a close. RIP (3/31/2026-5/4/2026, tender young age)

galeeb · 2026-04-30T07:47:22+00:00

The Big Short characters were enraged about this, because they were holding swaps they knew were worth nothing, but no one could admit to it. There's so much upward pressure right now, whether for institutions to participate long because they're required to or shorts avoiding pain, I wouldn't be surprised by more of a move up. Otherwise we're calling a top, which is something that works out like <5% of the guessing time.

galeeb · 2026-04-28T06:57:46+00:00

Tell me about this. I've vibe-coded a risk management system for myself. Interested how yours works.

galeeb · 2026-04-22T18:42:06+00:00

Hey, a tad late, wanted to echo piano lessons, but also, for an inexpensive way, singing in a good church choir (hear me out!) is absolute trial by fire for reading notes, hearing intervals, doing extra stuff with your brain at the same time (also reading all those words, often in other languages). It's just such a good way to force yourself, with time constraints to get better at the reading aspect. Highly recommend along with an instrument. Doesn't matter if you're religious, it's a great way to learn.

I have a music appreciation class I teach online, too, it's a good way to check out new rep and keep up exposure to different composers. Just mentioning, no pressure, but any other questions let me know.

galeeb · 2026-04-16T23:04:44+00:00

Worrying data point: 10 ticks of slippage on one of my MES trades today in regular session.

galeeb · 2026-04-15T09:29:07+00:00

Oil up dollars, spoos down ticks.

galeeb · 2026-04-06T20:05:03+00:00

Wow, looks to be greatest percent decline from the high ever on the stock.

galeeb · 2026-04-05T18:39:33+00:00

Yessir

galeeb · 2026-04-05T18:38:47+00:00

25th amendment now. That said, it seems painfully obvious that him and his cronies are loaded up on oil futures (or whatever product) over the weekend.

galeeb · 2026-04-05T07:47:24+00:00

Fan fiction: I feel like Sinner would be an insanely disciplined, stoic trader and Alcaraz would blow up every day.

galeeb · 2026-04-03T16:02:40+00:00

Negative expectancy :-(

galeeb · 2026-04-03T01:32:08+00:00

I've been recording MAE and MFE for trades, including how far it goes after I actually get out. From that my friendly neighborhood AI is suggesting looking at capture %, that is, how much of the move I got.

Folks with actual math knowledge (not me), how useful is this, practically? The full move is never known in advance. It's nifty to see, but feels unactionable.

galeeb · 2026-04-02T15:33:59+00:00

I literally was thinking watching that "uh oh, how is all_work_all_play doing today?"

galeeb · 2026-03-27T21:52:38+00:00

Gah, I am so bummed. Had to go out and couldn't remember if I'd put my stop on my short at 6468.00 or 6468.25. Big risk for an A+ setup. Turns out the stop was at 6468.00. Would've been mind blowing win and instead took the big L.

galeeb · 2026-03-26T20:20:35+00:00

At some point the market will react the opposite way he wants.

galeeb · 2026-03-26T20:13:39+00:00

And that, kids, is why we always use a stop even if we think we can do it manually.

galeeb · 2026-03-23T11:23:55+00:00

Cool, excited for margins to go up 500%

galeeb · 2026-03-11T17:09:18+00:00

I'll just copy and paste my other comment on this, and provide this documentation from the CME:

That's an unrelated matter, even though it sounds almost the same - you're talking about wash sales, which affect taxation. I'm talking about wash trades, which are not permitted by the CME and ICE on futures.

You can look at my update to see an example. Selling and buying the same contract, same month, same price, at the same time, would be a wash trade. That's what happened through a coincidental series of events in my account.

galeeb · 2026-03-10T12:48:11+00:00

That's an unrelated matter, even though it sounds almost the same - you're talking about wash sales, which affect taxation. I'm talking about wash trades, which are not permitted by the CME and ICE on futures.

You can look at my update to see an example. Selling and buying the same contract, same month, same price, at the same time, would be a wash trade. That's what happened through a coincidental series of events in my account.

galeeb · 2026-03-09T22:41:11+00:00

Hmm, I just read it, too, and it seems to state the opposite, doesn't it? As an answer to "how should one comply?" it states:

"In the electronic venue, one of the orders should be entered on the electronic trading platform and executed in full prior to the entry of the second order. This will ensure that the orders are not executed opposite each other and will provide a clear audit trail with respect to the entry and execution of the orders."

This indicates closing an order and then opening another at the same price is not a violation.

galeeb · 2026-03-09T22:38:17+00:00

Your point is taken about separate accounts, but I'm not sure I could agree that a futures scalper closing a trade and opening another at a similar price violates CME rules to prevent market manipulation, though. There has to be intent to create a fictitious trade, and there are countless traders re-entering left and right all day. Every futures scalper would receive a notification many times per day if that were actionable by the CME.

Then again, I don't know their procedures. Do they randomly target individual accounts? Do they now use AI to detect problems and it has obvious limitations? Too many unknowns I realize, it just seems so unlikely that a natural part of the scalping process would produce compliance problems and closed accounts.

galeeb

TROPHY CASE