The Stock Trading Reality Podcast

Let me say this upfront. I have no problem if you don't like prop firms and believe there to be better ways of going about growing as a trader. With that being said, I've seen some pretty bad critiques of prop firms that I would argue are arrived upon with logic filled with blind spots. While I'm not going to argue for prop firms per-se, I do want to make sure you, as a listener, are thinking through these choices with a full picture and understanding. I do admit, this critique is on the tricky side given the trueness of the critique. Perhaps you are now thinking, "Wait Clay... how can a "true" critique be "bad"???". A more than fair question, and that's what I want to address! Let's get to it.

In this episode, to those of you who are beginners and just getting started in the world of day trading, I want to introduce you to someone you will, without doubt, experience in your day trader journey. Who do I need to introduce you to? The dirty dog! Over my years of coaching other traders and running the YouTube channel, I’ve found that while it may not be the most popular way to go about growing an audience, setting expectations in line with reality is the best way to give someone a chance at success. If you show up in the market expecting something that is not reality… when “the thing” happens to you, you’ll be caught off guard and not know what to think or do. When this occurs, the self-doubt arises which can lead to uncertainty and unnecessary changes to strategies and overall market approaches. The fact of the matter is, no strategy can avoid the dirty dog and that’s exactly why I want you to meet the dirty dog as soon as possible as a beginner. Let’s get to it!

I don’t mean to be mean, but there are times where genuine care is just being blunt with someone… and that’s what I need to do in this situation. I’m not sure how else to say it other than I am seeing some very stupid people out there in the trading world. Are you one of them? Be honest. No judgements on my part as I used to be King Stupid back in the day when I first got started. The awesome (and freeing) fact in this situation is if YOU are stupid, then guess what? YOU are the problem. But if YOU are the problem, then YOU are also the solution! The first step though in fixing the problem is to acknowledge a problem exists in the first place. So let’s get to it: are you stupid???

The daily max loss. A risk management rule that has a whole lot of opinions surrounding it. I recently made a YouTube video discussing how a futures prop firm eliminated this rule. In sharing my thoughts, I received some interesting comments and wanted to address one in particular as I believe it opened the doors to explain a deeper reasoning for my logic. Whether you are trading stocks, options, future or anything else, considering where/if the daily max loss rule fits into your strategy is a wise choice to make for yourself. There are some lines of logic that do make really good sense on the surface (as the YouTube comment suggests); however, digging a bit further reveals something else that from my experience, many traders lose sight of. Let’s discuss!

Throughout my years as a trader and coach/teacher, I’ve come to discover a very simple (yet very powerful) question. When people ask me one of the most common questions ever, “Should I hold or sell?”, I respond with something that exposes several issues. In this episode I hope to accomplish one of two things. Either you are the person who needs to be, politely, smacked in the face with this question, OR, you can use this question for someone when they ask you “should i hold or sell?”. If you are someone asking this question, then take a few minutes out of your day as I'll give you some valuable information to consider!  

If I were forced to give a one word arguement for futures trading, it would be this: flexibility. Futures trading is not a Holy Grail area of the market where you money begins to rain down from the sky; however, it is an area of the financial markets that give a whole lot of flexibility. This flexibilty can be explained via three reasons on why you should at least consider learning more. No worries. I'll give you some practical tips that you can use to both begin to learn about futures and enter into their world in a very risk friendly way! Let's get to it!

Are you thinking of getting into trading or have been struggling? Perhaps you’ve had a form of logic cross your mind via your own thoughts or via the input of someone else that, quite frankly, is really low grade and bad. To be fair, under certain circumstances and contexts, the logic used by some is totally accurate and applicable; however, if you are operating under the proper context of a responsible trader, you’ll be just fine! There are many choices we need to make as day traders and swing traders. In many cases, the majority of the battle is ensuring we are using good logic to think through our decisions. I see the logic I talk about in this video time and time again. It’s bad logic, but it’s very common place among beginner traders and people who (to be blunt), have no idea what they’re talking about. Let’s make sure you are not allowing this bad logic to influence your trading decisions. 

While I can't make a guarantee, I can say there is a high probability you will be faced, at some point in your journey, with the question: should I change my trading platform? Let me be the first to tell you, changing platforms is a hassle. You will do dumb things. I am currently experiencing the hassle right now as I have switched to a new platform to trade futures. This is not the first time I've switched trading platforms; however, it's been a long time since I have done it. I wanted to offer up a few tips and tricks that will make your life easier and more efficient as you go through the transition. I also want to offer up the way in which I am doing all this in a very "risk wise" way. Given you're bound to do dumb things as you learn a new platform, we need to make sure our risk profile isn't way out of sync. Let's talk about it!

I’ve recently moved to Iowa and started to attend a new church. Why am I telling you this? I’ve had a couple people at the church take interest into trading and they are now members of my community. Because they are “friends in real life”, I have an insight that I’ve never really had before. They have a great and genuine interest and are working hard at the craft. I recently had an interaction with both of them that was an eye opening experience for them both, but in particular, Jim. I’m confident that you can use what Jim realized to position yourself in a better spot as a trader. It’s nothing complicated, but it’s something that can (and should) be leveraged to motivate yourself in the right ways as a trader. What was this experience and how can you use it? Let’s discuss!

I’ve been talking about prop firms recently, particularly because I am now giving them a try. As I’ve quickly gained experience, I want to point out a trap that exists within the framework of how they work. Prop firms offer a whole lot of upside potential and require very little risk on your end monetarily speaking, but whether it is intentional or not is irrelevant, there is a trap that can create all kinds of pain and headaches. The good news is, the fix to this trap is very straight forward and can be prepared for if you approach all of this in the right way. What is the right way? What is this fix? I’ll walk you through this and more in our episode. Let’s get to it!