The Stock Trading Reality Podcast

Imagine being entrusted with a piece of equipment that costs 10’s of millions of dollars to design and construct. You don’t entrust these sorts of things to just “any random person”. You would need to ensure this is an above board person who approaches life in a structured way. My guest this episode, Scott, is exactly that.. an airline piolet who has been entrusted with some very large pieces of equipment known as planes! How does someone of this caliber translate into the world of trading? What kind of mindset and approach do they have? Checklists! That’s one word that stands out to me about this discussion. If you’re going to fly a plane, you need checklists. If you’re going to put your hard earned money on the line, you need checklists! We talk about way more than just checklists, but this is an enjoyable conversation that is filled with an unique perspective that not many of us have. Let’s go!

Well… just when you think you’ve heard all the different approaches and attitudes about trading, you find something new! In this episode I talk Angele who looks through the trading lens in a very self ware way. She’s a younger woman who is very smart. How smart? She majored in physics! With that being said, just because you are smart does not mean trading is easy. Angele is well aware of this and is placing a huge amount of emphasis on her “energy”. She explains it very eloquently within our discussion and is very polite in humoring me with my, probably stupid, questions! I appreciated her viewpoint and can always respect the various ways people approach trading to “do what needs to be done” to get themselves under control to find consistency. Emotions play a massive role in trading and even more-so than the technical charts or anything else, Angele is all about focusing on emotions. Let’s get to it!

My data collecting has continued and now I’m to the point where I’m over 200 trades of what I call the Sniper Shot Strategy. At some point you need to draw the line and declare “this is enough data”, and that’s what I’m doing. I respect if you don’t think over 200 trades is “enough”, but I’d hope we can at least find a middle ground that is it no small number of trades either. While I’m not here to proclaim I have found a golden goose holy grail trading system, I do want to share with you the data I’ve collected. Unfortunately though, there was a train wreck that occurred near the end of the data collection. It was actually very disheartening and it caused me to stop looking at the data for a week (which is how I ended up with 207 trades instead of 200). Finally, I want to once again address the notion that “day trading is a coin flip and total gambling”. This is a topic I’ve covered a million times, but it’s one that can not be addressed enough because it’s a constant false narrative you see. Let’s jump into the data and see what we can learn about The Sniper Shot Strategy.

What would it be like for an investigative journalist to get into trading? We’re about to find out. My guest, Rosemary, is a retired investigative journalist and someone who has dedicated her life to the craft of finding the truth and researching a topic from all angles. She now finds herself in a the foreign world of day trading where, if you’re not careful, being eaten by “being overwhelmed” is a very real thing! She is definitely one of the more intelligent people I’ve conversed with, and it was a true pleasure! I loved her humility and ability to set aside her proudness and ego and simply discuss her journey: both the good and bad. I will say, although not perfect (but no one is), she made some very wise choices along the way which saved her from some potential massive headaches. Rosemary and I go down several rabbit holes that keep the conversation diverse and exciting. Let’s get to it and hear about our investigative journalist’s journey!

Have you been there before? Maybe you are in the spot right this very moment? “I can learn how to trade all on my own, why pay when it’s all on the internet and in books?”. It’s a fair objection and a more than reasonable thought process on your part. In fact, I would go as far as to say you would be somewhat irrational to think any other way. I mean let’s be fair, the internet is filled with information and a whole lot of free stuff! How does this translate into the real world of trading though? This will be an underlying theme through the course of this discussion. I’m obviously biased given I do sell trading education; however, I do my best to remain totally neutral and let our guest, Cory (”ckrager” chatroom alias) speak for himself. Like all of us who are honest, Cory has done several foolish things in his journey and he is totally open and transparent about it. I always enjoy the stories of stupidity as it makes me feel a whole lot better about myself to know I”m not alone! These are oftentimes the best learning lessons too. Let’s learn about what Cory has learned from his trading journey so far!

If you’re looking for an episode where the guest has done a whole lot of, wrong, things, look no further! These are the discussions which I believe help the most people. Don’t get me wrong, hearing from someone who is super successful certainly brings with it motivation and inspiration to keep on fighting; however, that can also be hard to relate to. We’ve all done dumb things in our trading and have ongoing struggles. When you hear about someone else’s dumb decisions and struggles, it reassures us that we’re not alone. That’s what we have with fellow community member, Brian (”BrianSchmelzle” in chatroom). Thanks to Brian being so transparent and honest, we have an invaluable lesson how just how important being patient is. When you are not patient, it’s a domino that gets pushed over which causes everything else to spin out of control. Brian gives one of the most confusing answers I’ve ever heard, but in doing so it totally makes sense as it proves the point of the power of patience. Let’s get into it!

It’s never too soon to start crushing it in life! In our culture today, there seems to be a narrative that younger people are at a massive disadvantage and have no hope. While I fully agree and understand that it’s tough being young (we were all once at that point), to go along with the general narrative is false. My guest, Jackson, is one of several data points I’ve collected over the years disproving this narrative. Jackson is working hard and making some great decisions that will be giving him an edge within the long run. Jackson first got into stocks back in high school; however, his focus and devotion has really kicked up a notch now that he’s out of high school. He’s been finding some solid success in the future’s market, but, as he admits, he’s taking it slow as he understands the dangers of getting overconfident. For you younger people who listen, know this: Jackson is the type of person you want to make friends with. You’re often the result of who you choose to hang around with, and Jackson is the type of person who will make you better! Let’s get into it and learn more about Jackson!

After 16 years, I’m making a change! Is it some kind of earth shattering change? To me it is, haha, but to you it might be a bit anti-climatic. With that being said, I still think there is a lesson to be learned no matter where you are currently residing in your trading journey. I’ve been a trader for almost 20 years now and I’m constantly learning new things about myself, with this episode pointing out a new thing I’ve learned. I’m a firm believer in being a coachable person and I can admit I’m not always perfect at it. I sometimes get stuck in my ways and don’t care to acknowledge the realities staring me right in the face. On the very practical side of trading, this episode could be a pretty ground breaking piece of information, particularly from the “cost of running your trading business” side of things. Let’s dig into this big change I’m making, why I’m making it, and how it just simply makes sense.

I welcome back a great friend of the show and community, Michelle. This is her third appearance, including episode 400 which has been one of our most popular. In this discussion we go down some fun rabbit holes that turn out to be very fruitful. One of those holes in regards to “being calm” and the importance of doing whatever needs to be done to “find the calm” is something ALL traders better be aware of, and doing. We then spend a good amount of time talking about prop trading firms. I will be the first to admit I am quite skeptical of them; however, over the past few months have lowered my guard. Why? Because people like Michelle (who I trust) and others have been digging deeper into them and in some senses, serving as lab rats. As of now, they’re all still alive so I wanted to learn amore about this and hopefully learn alongside all of you as listeners. As always with Michelle, you’re in for a treat, so buckle up and let’s go!

For those of you long time listeners, “HeyFordy” should sound familiar to you! He’s been around the community for several years now with this being his fourth podcast appearance. I’ll be upfront. Has anything really changed for “Fordy” since we last spoke around 18 months ago? It has not. He’s still doing the same types of trading with the same approach. With that being said, is there value in listening to someone who has “found what works” and just continues to grind with it? Yes, absolutely! “Fordy” has taken many lumps along the way and done many dumb things (as we all have!) and he continues to remind himself and us why certain behaviors and attitudes towards trading are must haves. On the career front, he’s also beast-moding things as he climbs up the hospitality business ladder. He’s a shining example of how “starting somewhere” is required in order to get to where you want to go. He started at the bottom and has worked his way upwards in very impressive fashion. We talk about that and much more! Let’s get to it!