The Stock Trading Reality Podcast

It’s been a long time since I’ve met up with community members in person. There was this thing called Covid that made these sorts of “meet ups” a bit challenging. With Covid now behind us, we finally were able to set up another event in Arizona. I wanted to walk you through the experience and from my point of view and hopefully give you an idea of just how awesome/normal our community is. Maybe you’re a member and thought about joining us in Arizona, but then decided against it. As a shy person myself, I can understand your thought process. I hope to offer you some encouragement of what can be expected and hopefully convince you to come hang out at the next one. Perhaps you are not a member of the community, but thinking about officially joining. I hope to demonstrate just how normal of a group it is. No egos. No Hollywood stereotypes of what traders are like. Come with me on my journey to Arizona and the great time it was!

Don’t have the time to trade? Sorry. I’m not buying it! The amazing fact of the financial markets is if you have a great enough desire to trade, you can find a way! My guest, Vinny, is a prime example of this fact. He is the owner of a small family business, yet, has still found the time to learn to trade. Not only has he learned to trade while running a pizza joint, he has now begun to find some solid success. Vinny is all about multiple streams of income and trading has opened up another one of those streams. With all this being said, Vinny got started with no actual plans or strategies. Sure, things are going very well for him at the present time, but wow… he was in total moron mode when he started (like we all are!). Vinny is totally open and honest about his journey and holds nothing back when it comes to sharing his mistakes and regrets. In other words, if you want to give yourself a head start in your own personal journey, just do the exact opposite of several of the choices Vinny made when starting. Let’s get to it!

This episode takes a bit different shape than normal. Our guest, Jason, has been on the show before and he’s back to update us on his journey. As a minor spoiler alert, Jason’s journey so far has still been pretty rough. He’s not back telling us how he is now making millions of dollars or anything of the sort. Because of this, I would call this episode more of a “coaching call” than anything else. This does not mean the episode is of any less value than others, it just has a different “vibe” to it. I think it’s a great thing when you can mix it up a bit, and that’s what we have here. I have a very confident guess that many listeners will be able to relate to the problems Jason has had. His journey and ongoing problems are nothing new and are very normal. Our discussion (I hope) should shed some light on some of the very same issues you may be having. If anything, it will offer up a warning of what you need to be aware of and avoid as you continue on your own journey. Let’s get to it!

The journey of any successful trader in regards to their rules is pretty universal. The first stage being imagined rules, the next being loose rules and then finally, tight rules. As you veteran traders know, you can’t have a viable and consistently profitable strategy if you don’t have rules in place. When you have loose rules, well… that’s where our guest from the community, Taf, comes into play. Thanks to his candor and willingness to be open about his journey, you’ll hear a great description and account of what loose rules can lead to. Taf is a humble and self aware person (both key attributes) so he eventually was able to look in the mirror and realize the problem. What sort of decisions did he make? How is he now implementing his new rules and ensuring they stay tight? We’ll get into that and way more in this episode! Let’s get to it!

In my opinion, one of the most productive aspects of doing this podcast is the opportunity to gain insights into certain perspectives. When doing so, I certainly benefit and hopefully… you do too! My guest, Rick, has a mind for numbers and systematic thinking given he teaches math. I realize many people have a love/hate relationship with the subject of math, but I would hope we can all agree, it takes a certain type of “mind” to excel within the subject. This is why I was excited to be able to probe Rick’s mind and gain insight into his thoughts and rationale behind certain decisions he has made and is currently making within his trading journey. Rick has been very solid at “cutting loses” and he gave me a very simple, yet powerful, explanation of what makes it so black and white. His response reminded me that despite being a trader for going on 20 years now and talking to 100’s of people via this podcast, you can always gain a new perspective. Even if you are someone who despise the subject of math, I’m confident you’ll still gain plenty of value from what Rick was willing to share! Let’s go!

Signal software, have you seen it? There’s a variety of software and programs being sold that promise to show you da money! A simple search can yield an overwhelming abundance of results. But, what’s the truth behind these signal software? Does it work? This is where we my guest, John (chatroom alias “JohnSwift”), brings great value to the discussion. He self admittedly has been using a signal software for the past several years, so he certainly has some worthwhile perspectives to consider (and spoiler, what I agree with). He’s someone with a whole lot of life experience, so he’s seen the evolution of trading and technology from a super interesting point of view. I dig into John’s strategies and cover the various aspects of psychology that come along with using a signal software as part of a strategy. I enjoyed the conversation very much and I’m confident you will too. Even if you have zero interest in ever using a signal software, there’s still plenty of discussions that will offer value to you! Let’s get to it!

I know I’ve covered this topic before, but as long as the media pushes such narratives driven by insanely biased “studies”, I will be here to explain reality. This is not a matter of whether or not I believe you understand how things work, but rather, I want to share with you a simple explanation process to share with those you come across who believe these lies. According to a new Oxfam study, lots of the money being made is “unearned” and it should be taxed at higher rates because of this. Have you ever heard this argument from someone? “Those people aren’t even doing anything and yet they’re making more money! AND, it’s taxed less???” That’s theft! That’s why the system needs to be ripped down! I wish I could say I was throwing up a strawman argument, but as you’ll see as I read from the study, this is the exact argument being made. Let’s take a stop back (along with a deep breath) and walk through why this line of reasoning is such a lie and therefore, easily, explained/debunked.

Data. A very boring word no doubt. When I hear the word “data” I think of geeky scientists in their white lab coats typing away on their calculators. For me, as someone who is by no means a genius, the word carries with it a bit of intimidation because I’m not smart enough to be some geeky scientist in a white lab coat! Whether you are a beginner trader or someone who has experience but is still fine tuning your journey, if you are not using data, you should be! We welcome back community member Matt (chatroom alias, “brigbills”) who updates us on his journey and how things have been going. If you have not connected the dots already, data has and continues to play a huge role in Matt’s current journey. While I don’t want to sound overly dramatic about it, the data has been a total game changer for him and opened his eyes in ways he would never have imagined. I love Matt’s passion for the world of trading and the seriousness in which he is treating everything. If you aren’t inspired to do a deep dive into your trading data after this episode, I’m not sure if there is anything that will convince you. Let’s go!

If you enjoy a good mystery, you’ll love this episode. I say this with all seriousness, but if you can figure out the “why” behind the actions from our guest, we’d love to hear from you! In this episode, we welcome back Nick (”SecondChance” chatroom alias) and catch up on what has been going on in his personal journey. We spend quite a bit of time focusing on “Nick moments” and I find myself stumped. The good news is, there is a pretty clear solution to his problem (which I hope he tries, but he never committed to it). As far as the “why is he doing it, randomly?”, I don’t know! So, I’ll repeat myself, if you do have any idea of what is going on and why he’s doing it, tell us! Having a conversation with Nick (like the first time) was a fun and packed with several quality talking points. Put on your detective hat and get ready for some critical thinking and mystery solving thinking!

Ready for a wild ride? This has gotta be the first time that acid and shrooms lead someone into the world of trading. No, that’s not a joke! My guest, Robert, held nothing back in sharing his story with us. It was shocking at times, but it was raw and honest! I don’t want to say much here as I’d hate to ruin anything. All I can and will say is, if you like wild rides and dramatic stories, you’ll have all of that here. Robert is an inspiring guy and someone who has certainly been through a whole lot. Let’s get to it!