The Stock Trading Reality Podcast

Who remembers dial up internet? Can you imagine trying to trade with it? Needless to say, us traders now-a-days sure do take a lot for granted. My guest from the community, Roger, began his trading journey back when the internet was becoming more and more mainstream. Roger has over two decades of experience in the market and he shares it all with us. A portion of that experience was not exactly the pleasant kind, but Roger shares the downs and what he learned from them. Specifically, he discusses the problems he had to admit to himself and the decisions he made that provided a solution. Roger has now been trading consistently and successfully for six years now despite having a full time job. If you are someone with a full time job but also wants to create another source of income, Roger is your guy! Let's go!

I came across an article recently which centered around "mental traps" that successful people don't allow themselves to fall into. While the article is not about trading in particular, the science based observations and discoveries 100% can be applied to us as traders. If you are new to trading you many not realize just how big of a mental challenge it is, so whenever you can get insight into how the human mind (and emotions) work, you can be better prepared to guard yourself. As many of you can relate to, the minute you let your guard down within your mind is the minute problems and mistakes will show up in your trading results. Let's use some science to help make keeping up our guards as strong as possible!

I love it! We now have yet another data point in regards to people "finding a way" rather than "finding an excuse". My guest today, Jermaine, grew up in Jamaica and immigrated to the USA and had to hustle and grind to get to where he is today. This includes working multiple jobs and my favorite part, in Jermaine's words... "living aggressively". I'm well aware that many gurus/teachers/mentors focus on selling the dream, we're not going to do that. In this discussion we will be digging deep into exactly why it is so important for you to have a passion for the market... because yeah, things are not always rainbows and butterflies.

As traders we should love the fact that we can not control how high a price rises. Why? Well, that means we can not control how much money we make in a trade! How cool is that? We have a perfect example of this principle with fellow member Orval (better known as 'Sandman' in the community). Orval updates us on his journey which has improved dramatically since the last time he was on the show. It's been a journey of hard work, dedication and consistency, but the time has been worth it. Orval has fully transitioned from paper trading to real money trading and yeah... I don't want to ruin anything, but so far so good! Let's get to it!

I'm pretty sure there is no one better prepared to become a trader than those who have military experience. In this day and age where people too easily get their feelings hurt, it's nice to be able to be blunt with someone and have them simply say, "thanks". If you are newer to the markets and looking at what it takes to actually be a good "learner", then look no further. My guest, Chad ('iamavol' in chatroom) has a military background and this has served him well so far. He's not trading with any huge amounts of money, but he's doing things the right way. He is starting small and then building from that point by focusing on good habits and scaling. Chad's certainly done some boneheaded mistakes as he'll discuss, and thanks to his openness, there are some great learning opportunities for us all.

This discussion is why I have a very hard time finding pity for people who seem to throw out excuses like candy. When you have a passion and drive for something, much is possible even when you may have many other "things" occurring. Community member Harmon tells us about his journey so far and how he's been able to get involved in the markets even while being a college student (along with a whole lot more). He had some misjudgments at the start of the journey that we talk about, but that's normal... the key is acknowledging them and then making adjustments. What adjustments needed to be made? How is his newly started live trading going? We talk about that and much more!

I'll be the first to admit the markets are an awesome place with oh so much potential and opportunity! The problem with this fact is it causes way too many people to rush in and get slaughtered. While there is no such thing as a perfect entry into the market, my guest from the community, Ken ('gaingreen' in the chatroom), walks us through his journey thus far. We once again have another encounter with Robinhood and how in all actuality, they're quite the savage company. Ken learned some valuable lessons upfront and has since gone about his approach to the markets and learning in a much more methodical way. I really enjoyed Ken's perspective on the markets (and life in general) and I'm sure you will too!

Have you ever done anything that when you look back on it in hindsight all you can say is, "what was I thinking?!?!"... I know I have! The financial markets truly are an amazing place filled with opportunity in almost all directions. The problem is, when you are new and ambitious... the ambition will be used against you in ways that make money for other people. My guest from the community, Kevin, talks all about his starting days with the "trading" app Robinhood and how it turned into a meat grinder of his money. Needless to say, it was a very rough start; however, to Kevin's credit he has not given up and has now put a new plan into motion. As the saying goes, it's not how you start, but how you finish and Kevin is well on his way to finishing strong. Let's get to it!

I'm aware. The title of this episode may seem like clickbait. I mean, how could making $500 be attributed to ruining someone's mind? It would seem that making money is a good thing; however, in this case it was the absolute worst result that could have happened. My guest, Jacob ("farmerj" in the chatroom), takes us through a very crazy journey that as one point reached him only being happy if he made $1,000 per day. How can someone reach this point? All I can say is the human mind is a crazy place and if you're not aware of the games it can play with you, you are at risk. His journey has been a wild ride and I enjoyed hearing about every minute of it (and so will you!). Let's get to it!

If I lost it all and had $0 to my name and needed to start all over… what would I do? There is a huge opportunity out there right now that could make you up to (maybe more) $65 per hour. Let’s talk about it.