The Stock Trading Reality Podcast

I love people who have ambition and follow through with it to the maximum potential. I'd argue that our guest, Peter from our community, takes this to an entirely different level. You'll see what I mean when he talks about his photography passion…. Wow! I'll just leave it at that. I bring that up to give you the overall context of Peter's personality and approach to life. I found the discussion very interesting to see how someone with so much hardcore passion would implement that into the world of learning the markets and becoming a trader. Peter does not disappoint and we talk about a variety of topics and considerations that all traders (new or old) need to remember to factor into their trading approach. Notes: Today we interview community member Peter. His wife was given a bonus but it had to be paid out in stock. They could then decide how to diversify it. Peter didn't want to be bothered with it so he put it on the 'middle of the road' risk parameter and let it grow on it's own. Peter has a passion for photography so this led him to move to Iceland from Hungary. Since he left the company he previously worked at he was required to cash out the stock's he had threw them. He did take an introduction to the stock market course but wasn't very impressed so he didn't continue with this initial source. After going through many Stock Trading Reality Podcasts, Peter knew that this was the place he'd like to learn. After trying to find what timeframes worked best for him, he realized that he did not excel on shorter periods. The good thing is that he took the time to figure this out on paper instead of blowing up multiple accounts to find out. Peter is taking a very slow and methodical approach to the market since he has heard many stories about what happens when you jump in head first without the proper training first. Quotes: I thought the stock market was a playground for the rich people, that's it. I just wanted to get a broker and I just wanted to start. But I decided to listen to podcasts about it first. I did try shorter timeframes. I killed myself with a noose. I tried to trade those and you know how it is for a beginner. If I started earlier I would have run into it full force and it would have definitely burned me. If you trade the plan it means you have a strategy. If you trade the plan it means you are patient and disciplined.

It's been requested for quite some time, and here it is (I guess now is better than never?), my personal journey. I do my best to remember everything and start at the very beginning. At the end of the day, all I can really say is DO SOMETHING. Notes: Clay's interest in numbers has been around since he was a child. From an early age, Clay's family noticed his entrepreneurial talent and helped nurture that. It also helped that he is competitive and wants to win. A big moment in Clay's life was happened he was a cart retriever at a grocery store. One time they were overwhelmed with work and one of the millionaire sons of the business offered to roll up his sleeves and help out. This opened up Clay's eyes to the fact that you're never too good to do the work required to grow/expand a business. If you couldn't tell by now, Clay has been focused on making the numbers and math work in his favor. He worked multiple jobs and started his own business to bring in extra revenue while he was in college. Instead of going out and partying like most of this classmates, Clay decided to focus on the growing the business. It only took Clay one time to 'fall in love' with a penny stock and unfortunately take a 75% loss. However, this was a great learning experience for him and led him to investigate trading the market further. After putting out video charts on various tickers, he quickly became the most followed person on InvestorsHub. As time went on, Clay decided to see who was serious about learning technical analysis and launched the website. As time went on and the site grew he hired on a friend from his church who is now known to the community as IT-Nate. Shortly after, Chezz joined the team as well. Even after producing courses regarding the stock market and real estate, Clay's true passion has always been the field of personal finance. That's where the idea of www.MoneyWithClay.com came about. Quotes: The money just happens to be the scorecard of how well you are doing at this game of figuring out how the numbers work. It's taught me that you're never too good to do anything if something is going to help grow your business. I didn't live the normal college experience because I chose to go down the path of working hard. I thought, the stock market? That's for dweebs! That's for geeks! That's boring. I'd walk into a meeting and Don would say 'Hey! Claytrader!' That's where the alias came from. Because I did something. Just do something. I don't know what your something is but just do it. You never know where it may lead. My true passion is personal finance. I think the reason is that it is something everyone and anyone can do. Make sure you have control of your life. If you don't have control of your own life, how are you going to control trading? Links: MoneyWithClay.com

Warning! This is Part 2 of a multi part interview, so if you want the best experience, then be sure to listen to episode 161 first. I know Part 1 left on quite the cliff hanger, but you don't have to wait any longer. We continue down the road with Phil (chat room alias "phl1") on his journey and venture down all kinds of nooks and crannies in the market. We do a little bit of live coaching as we talk about an actual trade that took place as we were speaking (the benefit of doing these while the markets are open). All in all, if you enjoyed Part 1 then there is no doubt in my mind you'll enjoy this second part just as much, if not more. Let's get to it! Notes: Phil is very process oriented. He makes a great distinction between a mistake and an error while explaining how it impacts his confidence going forward. Phil reminds us how our body reacts to fear and the unknown which essentially shuts off our logic in the moment. Clay and Phil do a live lesson on CLSD during the interview. The big thing to remember when scalping is that sometimes you need to let the trades form and give you an area of opportunity. Phil has created an in depth business plan for his trading business. While he thinks this is completely normal, he falls into a very small category of people who actually treat trading as a business, not a day at the casino. Since Phil has prepared himself by saving multiple years of living expenses, he is prepared to continue to practice every day and continue to work on increasing his trading size. He will not get himself into a position where he can sustain a catastrophic loss. Slow and steady wins the race. Quotes: I've been in chat rooms where I want to go long but they're going short so I change my strategy but I was ultimately right! When I think I'm not getting anywhere in trading and I see I've mastered another section, reminds me that the practice pays off. I have a paragraph about why I trade, then a paragraph about who I am as a trader… If I would have realized I could have done this for a living years ago I would have approached it differently.

This is a great one that could have went on for hours. It kind of did considering it turned into a two part episode. Part 1 takes us down the rabbit hole with Phil (chatroom alias, "ph1l"). Phil is a beast with a plan and while he still has lots to learn, there is no question in my mind he is taking this all as serious as it can be taken. From writing out a personal business plan to saving up a huge hoard of cash to get him going, Phil is being realistic and sharpening his axe to the fullest. What I enjoy the most about Phil is his brutal honesty (he doesn't really like other people – haha!), yet, he is willing to share so that other people can learn from his mistakes. It's sort of an irony, but definitely in a good way. Let's start the journey! Notes: Today we talk with community member Phil who goes by ph1l in the chat rooms. His father had become ill and this led to Phil getting a hold of his father's brokerage account to manage. After probing him about his purchase decisions, he decided to rework the strategy in hope for more consistency. As he got more serious about trading, he invested over 15,000 dollars in his education but had come to realize that regardless of how many different schools he went through that he needed to stick with just one and give it a chance. Phil paid off all his debts and was able to accumulate 4 years of living expenses before ever attempting to become a full time trader. He was still in the process of figuring out where he fit in the market in regards to strategy and markets. He pulled the trigger on Claytrader University within the first 5 minutes of 2018 and went through the courses as recommended within the first month and a half. After taking some initial losses, Phil decided to reduce his trading size and take it slow just to get into the groove. He can scale up as time goes on but he is not in any hurry. Quotes: I took the account from 50 grand to 150 grand in a few years but now it's just kind of plateaued. I went from the top of the world to losing everything. My cash flow was negative, my savings were gone… I now have 0 debt. I put away 4 years of overhead into a savings account. I knew that was the only way. I said I was going to be the first one to sign up for CTU in 2018. I was enrolled by 12:04am. This is the rest of my life. This is my new career.

It's time to bring back a long time member of our community, Mark. He's much better known via his alias of 'AlphaThor' within the community. He was originally on episode 96, but I wanted to sit down with him and hear how things have been going. We discuss several topics but the one that I could relate to quite well is his current strategy of depending on high win rates to tilt the risk vs. reward into his favor. This topic is one that many people don't quite understand, so I'm confident it will be helpful to those who need to grasp the "full range" of how risk vs. reward can work. Lots to learn thanks Alpha, so let's get to it! Notes: Today we reinterview Mark who goes by alphathor in the community. To recap, Mark started in penny stocks before discovering Clay. This led to him getting educated which ultimately led to his desire to trade options. Mark has structured his job so that he has the opportunity to trade every morning and work in the evenings. He was smart enough to lighten up on his trading as he tried to find what trading worked the best with his personality and strategy. Even though he didn't find much success day trading to start, he changed up his entry criteria. He would wait for too much confirmation and miss the move. Now he mainly focuses on overextended moves into important support or resistance levels. This is also a high win rate strategy so while the risk versus reward isn't what you typically think of, this modified version is typical for scalping. Quotes: I tried swing trading options. That didn't work out too well. I've always had a passion for day trading options. I was struggling trying to find my way so I was just coasting and taking it easy over the summer. Since I'm trading against the trend, I would have rather got out for the quick 50 bucks than have it go against me. I'd like to start with 2 contracts then work my way to 3 and building up to 9 in the future. Links: https://claytrader.com/podcast/episode096/

Let's go!!!! I'm sick of excuses! I swear… the more people I interview on the podcast the more crustier and grumpier I become when it comes to people playing the victim card and crying foul with all kinds of excuses. I don't want to spoil anything, so all I'm going to say is that thanks to our guest, Rick ("mollardr1" chatroom alias), I've become that much more of a jerk to those who walk around with the victim card. If you are looking for some inspiration in regards to putting the axe to the grindstone to go from Point A to Point Z, I guarantee you will get that in this discussion. Let's get to it! Notes: In today's episode we interview community member Rick. Since Rick grew up on a farm he was familiar with commodity markets such as corn, cattle, etc. He also participated in a paper trading competition for school and while other people went all in on some penny stocks, Rick took it more serious. Starting at the age of 17, Rick had started to put in monthly contributions to mutual funds hoping for 10% growth over 5-10 years. He eventually closed those accounts out and used the proceeds to buy his family a home. This led to a trading hiatus while he rebuilt up an account. Rick went to a seminar that discussed the importance of multiple streams of income so this was his main focus. This helped him pay off his home in full and generate additional revenue every month which led him to be able to fund a trading account again. After looking at the various education sources out there, Rick decided to join Claytrader and started the formal education that is involved. He enjoys trading longer term time frames as this fits his life best. Even with a high win rate trading strategy, Rick is not prepared to go full time to trade yet. He realizes there is much more to learn and that takes time and experience. Quotes: I walk into Morgan Stanley and told them I wanted to purchase stock. He told me that I couldn't because he wouldn't get a commission. I went on a hiatus for 3 years because I didn't have more money to throw into a trading account. It would be cool to quit my job but I want to know the numbers before hand… because that's a big jump. I paper traded from July '17 until Nov-December. Now I'm slowly starting to build actual positions with real money.

We're going on a journey with a member that begins back in the 80's! I don't mean to insult your intelligence, but that was 35 years ago! Our guest from the community, Fred ('FredSC' in the chatroom), takes us from the start when he used to get physical newsletters his mailbox to present day where technology has changed the game quite a bit for him. He's traded several asset classes and discovered much over the years and he doesn't hold back in sharing the ups and downs that we can all learn from. I always enjoy these discussions as they present a unique viewpoint from someone who has seen a whole lot more than myself. Come along for a stroll through the past 30 plus years. Notes: In today's episode we speak with community member Fred. He ended up using multiple newsletters in the 1980s which contained various strategies. Fred actually ended up buying near the bottom of the market crash and got a great entry. He was not impressed with brokerage recommendations at the time so he continued to focus on putting money into his 401k. Eventually he opened a self directed brokerage account and decided to focus on gold miners. After hearing about the Robotic Trading course, Fred decided to join the community and start his education journey. He quickly realized that there is more to the puzzle of trading than just one course so without much hesitation, Fred joined University. Fred paper traded forex for a while but had trouble dealing with the spreads from TD Ameritrade. This led him to take a look at options. He gave himself some time off from work to also try day trading. Something Fred needs to continue to work on is his stop loss placement. This is something that takes time to develop especially if you're going to focus on a basket of stocks you'll be trading often. Quotes: Somehow the idea got in my head 'now is the time to think about buying.' I just kept plugging money into the 401k. This buddy of mine said he made 1000 dollars in a day with this Robotic Trading thing! I went home and up comes Claytrader. First I'm up then I'm down. Then it comes down and hits my stop loss. I had FOMO going on big time. Back to paper trading. You put it together, look at what happened and then you tune it or you say 'no that worked' and leave it alone.

It's always good to have a variety of journeys and experiences as it brings a true all around view of the markets. Thanks to our guest this episode, Dan, we certainly hear about a strategy that is unique. While we've had past members discuss such strategies, it is view and far between. I do not personally use Dan's approach or anything of that nature, but that doesn't mean Dan is wrong. It doesn't mean I am right. It just means that there are many pathways up the profit mountain within the world of the financial markets. As long as it works and there is a sense of personal risk comfort, that's the key. With that being said, let's get out the blender and blend together some fundamental and technical analysis into one. Notes: Today we interview community member Dan. He utilizes a more fundamental approaches to trading. One way to define his style would be contrarian value investing. After doing research on a company and monitoring it for at least a month, only then will Dan look to purchase a stock. His general timeframe for a trade is up to 2 years. Dan uses the volatility of a stock to help determine potential targets. Since he is buying things that are possibly 50% off their highs, it's not out of the question to target 40-60% returns on them. He has always taken the Option Trading Simplified course to help expand his trading. He mainly goes long stock but he has no problem utilizing options to synthetically short if his thesis agrees that a move down is probable. Dan enjoys utilizing the advice of veteran traders because he believes they have more intuition about overall market direction since they have been involved for so many years. Quotes: I think the first chapter for wealth creation should start with 'how to save.' Let's say you want to buy 1000 shares. Start with 100. Watch for another month then buy another 100. I bought Robotic Trading years ago and go through that 3 or 4 times a year to stay fresh with technical analysis. I have 11 tickers I'm trading. Six of them are down so I'm a loser … but I'm up $818 dollars. You have to be a good loser.

Even if you don't trade Forex, realize there is still plenty of great stuff in this discussion from a general trading experience perspective. Our guest today, "MJ" as he goes by him the community, has been through much on his forex trading journey and he is still going strong! One of my favorite parts (and a great example/reminder for us all) of the interview was how the voices in his head tricked him into practicing in a very irrational way. Sure, maybe you or I would never do something like that, but it brings up the valid thought of, "maybe I'm doing this somewhere else in my approach to the markets?" This of course is just a sampling of one of the many rabbit holes we venture down, and I assure you there are plenty of other valuable conversations too. Give it a listen, you'll be glad you did. Notes: Today we interview community member MJ. His grandfather traded in the market and offered to teach him. Unfortunately this did not work out too well for him but he attributes that failure due to being unfamiliar with the emotions attached when money is on the line. While analyzing the strategy in depth, MJ realized this did not work best for him. He went back to paper trading but was doing it in an unrealistic way that utilized hindsight and cherry picking why he would pass on losers and take winners. After discussing with his wife, MJ joined the University program and got through many courses multiple times. He also decided to move from futures trading to forex trading. After trading on a very short tick chart for futures, he is really enjoying trading the 4 hour chart for forex. This also works well considering he has a full time job. He monitors 20 major pairs but does not trade them all. MJ has found that the spreads are more favorable throughout the US session and generally avoids the European and Asian market hours. Quotes: My grandfather actually traded. He mentioned how effective his system was and it could replace my income so that's where it started. I paper traded and paper traded and paper traded however I was lying to myself because I'd start at the far right edge and work backwards. If I can't afford to put this money in the trash can and set it on fire then I can't afford to trade with it. I keep my risk so small that if I lose the trade it makes no difference. Having money on the line makes me focus. Often I look back and realize I did not screw up my analysis. I was just wrong. When you take a loss it's the cost of doing business.

This story is crazy. It's hard to believe the truth of it, but given the market he used to generate the gains, the volatility was certainly available to grow money at quick rates. I do want to throw out this disclaimer though… while I find this interview extremely inspirational and motivating, all of that is derived from something outside the money. Let's face it, these results are not typical and should not be the reason you venture into all of this. Of course, you should want to make money, but if you are only going to be happy with the amounts you'll hear.. the odds are HIGHLY likely you'll be disappointed. What I found most interesting and motivating with out guest, "Zentaro", is how after an unfortunate career experience, he was left in a rough spot. He could have used it as a crutch and excuse but he didn't. He put the axe to the grindstone and took matters into his own hands. I don't want to say anything else at risk of spoiling, so let's go! Notes: Today we interview community member Zentaro from the Netherlands. He tells us about his time as a policeman before he was honorably discharged. This led him to try to find another form of income. A friend had suggested he start trading CFDs. After a week of trading on demo, he was profitable and thought all he needed to do was fund an account and he'd be rich. In the first week of trading on a funded account, Zentaro made 50% of his entire account value and thought he figured it all out. Unfortunately that is not how it would work out. After losing a few thousand Euros, it was suggested that he start to trade cryptocurrencies. This was around the time of the US elections and speculated on TrumpCoin and PutinCoin. These trades eventually went to zero. Cryptocurrency was something that made more sense to him though. He continued to have an interest and ultimately turned 12,000 Euros into over 800k. Now he risks less than 5% per bitcoin on trades while still trailing his winners. Zentaro has been diversifying his income by purchasing rental properties and owns a drone business where he is the official Dutch distributor. He has also started to utilize the Grow Rich course by focusing on dividend stocks to help set up his retirement accounts for the future. Quotes: They said I couldn't operate in society. They gave me a little welfare support and that was it for me. I was only 35 years old. In this chat room you were just a robot and pushing the button. A puppet. If you do your homework correctly, you've got some real coins that will go up over time. I'm looking for second homes to buy to put up for rent. I also started the Grow Rich course. I'm accumulating dividend paying stocks. For me it's only charts. I use price and volume as leading indicators.