The Stock Trading Reality Podcast

Humility is a great attribute to have as a trader, and our guest is a perfect example of this. We bring back former guest Mike ('HeyFordy' in the chat room) to discuss how his journey has continued to unfold since the last time we spoke with him. I don't want to offer many spoilers, but I will say his account has been growing and growing. Even with this being the case, Mike remains extremely self-aware of things he needs to keep working on in order to keep his eye on the prize. Being self-aware is the first step in remaining humble as a trader... if you have any amount of extended experience, you know pride truly does come before the fall, so staying humble is key and Mike is doing a fantastic job at it. Notes: Today we reinterview community member heyfordy. After joining CTU, Mike closed down his smaller accounts and consolidated into one larger brokerage. Mike went from utilizing Stocktwits and iHub daily to now completely avoiding them and scanning for his own trades. Unfortunately, he has been flagged for PDT a few times in the last couple of years which has forced him to focus on swing trading. Typical to many other trades, Mike has an issue with having a bias and will sometimes ignore a chart reversal because he thinks the fundamentals point in a particular direction. He likes to keep his trading pretty simple. There is no need to get fancy. The more people recognize a pattern or trend the more likely it will continue (the self fulfilling prophecy). He is exploring trading options but still going through the training for that. Mike has a long-term plan regarding his trading so that he will never be in a position where there is too much pressure to perform. He knows that this is a slow and monotonous process but that's how success is created. Quotes: All of them were just puppet trading penny stocks and I'd get lucky with a decent entry and bank on it. If my track record is still positive by the end of the year I will fund the account a little more. I'd like to be more patient and stick to my plan a little tighter. Even if I chase, it will usually come back to the zone I wanted. I just look for patterns or strong uptrends or downtrends. The more common it is the more people see it. Links: https://claytrader.com/podcast/episode099/

You can never get too much of the classic fool's gold syndrome. Most veteran traders have had this syndrome at some point in their journey (myself included), and most newer traders have it right now. The key is, the sooner they realize it is the sooner they can begin to improve away from it. Our guest, Roland, takes us through the beginnings of his journey where he had some success, assumed he was a diamond in the rough and had it all figured out. Of course, this was actually NOT the case and he had to get kicked in the teeth via Mr. Market before realizing he needed to change his tactics and strategy. Roland has come a long way and is now focused on being a swing trader due to his day job. The journey he's been on to get him to the point of, so far, 13% account growth on the year is one filled with nuggets of experience we all can benefit from. Notes: Today we interview community member Roland. After college, Roland ended up at a desk job and his father suggested that he look into the stock market. After doing some options trading investigation via Investopedia and Stocktwits, he opened up a paper trading account. Unfortunately, he was trading with an unrealistic size and saw a 40,000 dollar gain in just a few days so now his interest was really piqued. Roland caught a low float runner that made substantial gains. He did capture some of the moves but after that initial success, he had more confidence in himself than he should have. After that great trade, he had a string of losers that were an eye-opener. After speculating on TWTR earnings, and averaging down, Roland took a big loss but the difference is that he accepted responsibility for his mistakes instead of trying to blame others. With Roland's work schedule, he started to get interested in swing trading futures. He kept making deposits into his account and took it from 25 to 40 thousand dollars. This year from trading January to May he made 13% of his entire account value. Quotes: My dad said options were a great way to make a lot of money with a little money. Just buying calls and puts. I tried to learn on my own but everything seemed kind of jumbled and couldn't get a good grasp on things. I knew the whole 'let your winners win and cut your losers fast.' I sold everything at 6 with a stop loss but then it kept running. I didn't sell because of greed. I could not do any wrong. I was just going to keep going. I had a 40k account when I started trading futures more seriously. Just trading patterns and can make a trade plan that works for me. Links: Trading In The Zone by Mark Douglas http://amzn.to/1P1TRKP

I've talked to 100's of people on the podcast, and while I've enjoyed every single one of those discussions, this is one that will stick with me for a long time. Sure, our guest Ron got on my good side by being a fellow graduate of The Ohio State University; however, where he's been, where he's at, and where he wants to go is something that had me motivated to the max. The story about him dragging a mattress into his office was pure gold in regards to work ethic and not offering up excuses... such good stuff! It was an honor to talk with Ron and his story is one that should get people talking for sure. Notes: Today we interview community member Ron. When he was a child, one of his father's customers dealt with wheat and corn. He never forgot that interest in the market but waited until later in life to get involved. After recognizing that his job had no room for advancement, Ron got licensed to sell mutual funds so this forced him to learn more about the markets. He learned how to watch the various indexes that impacted the products that he sold to clients. Unfortunately, both Ron and his wife were diagnosed with cancer and this led him to focus full-time on taking care of her. This led to a lengthy delay in his trading but family first. Ron went looking around online for some trading education and after investigating a few different options, he settled on Clay's material. He did the research regarding what college credits cost versus all the material he would receive for Claytrader University and decided it was a great deal for the money. While he has absorbed the education taught in the courses, Ron is currently working through platform issues and trying to find comfort in both practicing and executing live orders. He has his business plan laid out for his trading and now it's just a matter of putting it into practice. Quotes: In 1946, there was a farmer who dealt with commodities. He traded wheat and corn. I was curious about that and never forgot it. We had plan B, plan C, and plan D and that has carried over into everything in my life, sometimes to my detriment. I got very interested in point and figure charts. I tracked the number of stocks every day. It took the noise out of the price action. Let this be a lesson when big life events happen. I was going through the material but some days I wasn't getting much from it. I don't need to learn everything. I need to focus on just the basic things to get started. There's value in getting your feet wet.

This interview made me laugh for sure. Not in a mean way, but rather in a "I can relate" type way. Did I ever go as far as our guest? No... he took things to a whole new level when it comes to going down the penny stock rabbit hole. Our guest is community member Jeff ("Crestronwizard" in the chat room) is an open book about his journey which reveals all sorts of nuggets of experience that can be used as learning points for us all... myself and Chezz included! Jeff is now a full time trader and the way he got there demonstrates an excellent talking point regarding WHEN and WHAT it takes to actually go full time in trading. From penny stock koolaid to now being a full time trader, it's been quite the journey! Notes: Today we interview Jeff a.k.a. Crestronwizard in the community. He installed and coded for some various audio systems and during a job, he met a successful day trader and started to watch over his shoulder. After his introduction to this gentleman, he started to meet other traders throughout the industry but it wasn't until quite a few years later that he got interested in utilizing charts. He didn't trade much from 2005-2007 while his trading was mixed at best. He decided to focus on his business strictly. When he came back to trading he actually traded some penny stocks and took some money out of the market (sort of). He actually 'drank the koolaid' so much that he became a distributor for this company and was selling it on his own website and Amazon. After Jeff's experience with penny stocks, he decided to learn options and while he had months of profitability, overall he ended up losing money because he wasn't consistent with his sizing. Jeff has a game plan on transitioning to full-time trading. There is a big difference between someone who takes the leap to go full time and has no savings or has taken no preparation. Jeff is on the opposite side of the coin. This has been coming together for multiple years, and his goal is multiple income streams. Quotes: When I get into some things, I get in big. I met a daytrader who turned a small sum into 50-60 million and that's what introduced me. One of the employees took 23 million dollars off the top and after they started investigating, the person in question took his own life. They had real products and I ended up becoming a distributor for this penny stock. I bought 2 pallets of this stuff. I was trading far out of the money and the other issue was 'stepping up to go big.' I went from 1, 2, 3 contracts to 20. Being able to know when something is going the wrong way and to get out. I'm not scared to do that anymore. It's your emotions versus 100 million other emotions that are in the market at the same time. It's a big chess game.

We're bringing back a former guest and hearing all about where he stands in his current trading journey. We interviewed Hamlet ("Crusader" in chat room) a little over a year ago and he's still going strong. I won't spoil the details, but all I'll say is that Hamlet (as far as I can remember) takes the top spot of all the guests we've ever had in regards to mastering his own "mental game". If you have traded in the stock market or even the cryptocurrencies market, you know that a huge part of trading is what goes on between your ears. As mentioned, Hamlet has taken the mental training to a whole new level and it was awesome to hear the passion he has to succeed. His journey has shifted a bit from where he started, but the core foundations are all still in place. Lots to learn from Hamlet's experiences! Notes: Today we re-interview Hamlet who goes by Crusader. We previously interviewed him on episode 79. Like many others, Hamlet originally thought the market was way too advanced for him but after further research, he invested in his education and realized that he could definitely trade the markets. While education is extremely instrumental for trading, there is always the personal struggle that all traders deal with. Managing our emotions is very difficult and anyone who tells you differently has not traded in the markets with their hard earned money. Similar to many other traders, Hamlet went through a rough patch. His competitiveness led to some large losses that made him recognize that he needed to step back and reevaluate the mental side of his trading. Hamlet is a big believer in multiple streams of income. He owns a business which is fully operational and his trading endeavor is his 'startup.' While he is not pulling profits out currently, he has a long term plan to achieve this. Quotes: Education is the first thing you should focus on before opening a trading account. It was just pure instinct to try to learn first. I can concentrate on a web of price instead of being exact. That's what I love the most about options. One day, 6000 dollar unrealized loss. I just kept averaging down. It was hard and painful but you have to stay mentally tough. I do strictly options. I trade futures options because they move slower. I look for opportunities there and in the equity market. I went away from my bread and butter (options). I stuck my nose where it didn't belong. It was a reality check. Links: https://claytrader.com/podcast/episode079/

We have a pretty unique situation which up until this point, I'm not sure we've encountered. I'm always up for a new experience and you better be too! Shawn is back with us again (chat room alias "Dimliwitti") to update us on what has been going on in life and in trading. I mention "life" because this plays a role in his current situation. Not a bad situation by any stretch, but he decided to "pay himself" handsomely out of his trading account which has reduced him down to a smaller account than what he is used to trading with. How has this impacted him? What are the things he has discovered about a smaller account? What is his plan of attack? We cover this and much more. Notes: Today we reinterview community member Dimliwitti who has been featured in podcasts, articles and webinars. After a review of what we talked about on his last podcast, we see how he has been doing since. Dim has found a true comfort with his brokerage and that is instrumental in preventing errors with your order entries/exits. While we don't generally recommend some of these bigger brokerages since they charge more than others, with more competitive pricing it is pretty on-par in terms of cost. He decided to reduce his account size to keep his risk in check. This led to drastic changes in his trading because he had essentially reduced his account size by almost 90%. He had to focus on some lower priced stocks to keep his risk at a comfortable level. This definitely led to adjustments in terms of his choices on what to trade. Dim uses what we call the 'fourth dimension' where he uses some fundamental analysis in his top down analysis. While he looks at it, the time frame he ultimately chooses to trade will dictate how much weight he places behind that. On longer term swing trades, this information plays a key role. On shorter day trades, the chart will dictate the overall short term trend. Considering Dim trades full time for income, he treats this like a business in many different ways. One way is a performance review. While we believe profit targets are a dangerous game, he's looking at his performance averaged over weeks and months. He uses these metrics to make sure that this business is worth his time and it has been quite fruitful so far over the past 2 years. Quotes: I had some huge losses before I got educated. But after education, things really turned around and I had some major wins. When you have a large account and subtract a zero from it, suddenly it's not a very big account. Zeros matter. The biggest frustration for me was the sizes and the limitations of it. Kudos to folks who start with next to nothing and build it up. I'm looking at price and volume. If there is volatility in there, I'm really attracted to those. The frustration creeps in and you break rules. What happens when you break rules? You suffer the consequences. I did an analysis and found that my best hours were between 9:30 and 10:30. So lately, I just kind of disappear after 11AM. Links: https://claytrader.com/podcast/episode059/ https://claytrader.com/blog/buying-panic-3300-profit-10-minutes/

It's always enjoyable to bring back previous guests who we've had on the show, and that's exactly what we do in this "live coaching" discussion. I say "live coaching" because in the free-flowing format of these interviews, we stumbled down some fantastic rabbit holes that lead into assisting our guest with some annoyances and frustrations in his trading. Our guest, who goes by "Remy" in the chat room goes into open details about how his journey has been progressing and what hurdles he realizes still exist. If you take anything away from the interview, please see how being self aware and honest with yourself can lead to getting yourself onto a path with a clear cut goal that'll provide a solution to the problem. A lack of honest with yourself goes nowhere, but being honest, as you'll witness by being a fly on the wall can open up the doors of progress. Notes: Today we reinterview Remy who made his initial appearance in episode 39. His journey started by puppet trading a biotech trader but quickly realized that his beginner's luck ran out and he gave back all his profits and then some. Remy has had to trade from his phone for a long time but he explains the pitfalls of the Robinhood brokerage and why it doesn't work with the names he trades. While he excels paper trading, when he gets behind the wheel of his live account he struggles to emulate that success. The big problem he struggles with is his emotions that are associated with a small account. Clay recommends that Remy save up for a larger account so his 'account protectionism' won't lead him to making emotional decisions. Losing 20-50 dollars when trading a volatile stock like TSLA is completely normal but when you are operating with a 500 dollar account, you are much more emotional taking those losses. Quotes: I lost 200% of my winnings by puppet trading and I realized that was not a successful route for myself. In a split second, the thing dumps and I'm sitting there typing in my stop loss and hoping my wifi works. I have been trading with emotion. I've had poor risk management but I definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel. I started out with 5 contracts but needed to really scale it down. I had a poor entry and lost 50% of my account. I've been able to read the charts and recognize patterns. I'm ecstatic about that because it's come a long way. Links: https://claytrader.com/podcast/episode039/

There is zero doubt in my mind that many people will be able to relate to this trader's journey. Thanks to the openness and honesty of chat room member "Luna" (same name in chat room), we were able to go step-by-step through a journey filled with many struggles; however, at the end resulted in a spot that many new traders fine themselves in. The this "spot" is a problem, the good news is the solution is very straight forward. Sure, hearing what Luna realized he needed to focus on is not the most attractive and sexy thing from a marketing perspective, but it's the truth and is something that EVERYONE and ANYONE can do. Notes: Luna has been a member for many years and got interested in trading in 2012. He got involved when a bank said that they would add a small amount of their own funds if he made a large enough deposit to start an account. He planned on being a buy and hold trader. He began to buy shares of companies he was familiar with/used often in everyday life. In the next few years, Luna got interested in penny stocks based on penny stock newsletters primarily. Unfortunately he usually ended up buying in the 'dump phase' of a pump and dump. Luna got hosed on one trade and blew up his account so this led him to the rebuilding phase. After learning about options he decided to focus specifically on them to trade larger names that moved less on emotion. To avoid the ticket charge at his brokerage, he ended up trading 5 contracts at a time which was much larger size than he should have used. He is currently paper trading to solidify his strategy while he saves up to build up an account. He has opened and gone through multiple 100 dollar accounts so he would like to build up a larger account so that he didn't have to go all in on every trade with a small account. He is building his account with a good old fashioned JOB. Quotes: I was completely blind to the market. I thought you had to work for a company to even buy shares of that company. I blamed myself. I was completely uneducated, throwing darts and not knowing what I was doing. I did a whole week of paper trading and then I went live. I didn't keep it realistic either. I was greedy. Trying to build the account a little higher. I've come to realize I need to start with more than 100 dollars. I am passionate and persistent to figure this thing out and not give up. I will learn how to do this. Links: https://claytrader.com/videos/trade-penny-stocks-steroids/ Books: Trade Mindfully, The Inner Voice of Trading, and Trading in the Zone

I recently got an entire new trading computer that was a custom build. The person I used to build it is the "techie on staff" - itNate as we call him. He is essentially like Batman as he usually is operating in the shadows of the site doing all the behind-the-scenes stuff..... however, today he's stepping into the light to talk about computer stuff and why/what he chose for my new computer. Our esteemed cohost Chezz is also quite tech savvy, so him and itNate has plenty to talk about as I listed and asked newbie questions. If you are thinking about getting a new trading computer or perhaps doing a bit of upgrading, this discussion will please you I'm sure. Notes: Today we interview our IT guru, Nate. We discuss the logical order for building a Computer. Step 1: Pick your processor. Nate recommends a Core i7 7700K but remember, there is always updated processors every few months. The big emphasis would be to focus on an i7 over an i3 or i5. We are big advocates of Intel over AMD based on our personal use. Step 2: Pick your motherboard. Things to focus on include making sure your socket type is compatible with your processor (CPU). You'll need to forecast how many video cards you may need and this will be based on how many monitors you plan on having. 2 video card slots is pretty standard and will cover almost everyone's needs. Nate purchased a MSI Arsenal Intel Z 270M board for Clay's most recent build. Step 3: Monitors. We have a deep discussion on how many monitors you think you will need. We are firm believers that less is more. Clay and Chezz rarely use more than 2 monitors for trading. Monitors are also the easiest thing to upgrade and add in the future so if you're budget is tight, start with 1 and expand later. Nate picked out Dell 4k 27" screens. Model # P2715Q Step 4: Video card. Nate picked a PNY Quadro K1200 which handles all of Clay's 4k monitors. While you don't need a gaming graphics card to handle trading, you just need to do some long term forecasting regarding what you will be using the computer for. Workstation video cards will be absolutely fine for trading. We also highly recommend Nvidia cards over AMD. Step 5: Memory. Your motherboard will determine what specific speeds you need for your RAM. We recommend never going below 8 gigs of RAM and 16+ will set you up for 'future proofing' the build. The new standard is DDR4 and it is also recommended if you ever upgrade in the future keep it the same brand, same model. You want complete compatibility when it comes to memory. Step 6: Storage. We recommend solid state drives (SSD) since they make programs and windows load many multiples faster. While traditional hard drives (HDD) are a good amount cheaper, they are more prone to crashes and as stated above, much slower in terms of loading programs. Step 7: Case. These typically don't matter as long as you get the size that your motherboard requires. Nate used a micro ATX motherboard so he got Clay a micro ATX case. Step 8: Power supply. PCPartPicker can help you estimate what the power draw will be based on your components so as long as you get one that sufficiently meets the needs, you will be fine. Ex. Your components use 400w of power. Buying a 500W power supply would be more than enough. Step 9: Operating System. You will want to get a 64bit operating system as that is the new standard. We are content to recommend Windows 10 since it has been out for a while and has patched any major issues. Trading platforms are mainly focused on Windows over Apple since a majority of their user base uses Windows. Additional: Uninterruptible Power Supply. This is what we call an insurance policy. If the power goes while you are actively trading and your power goes out, you're out of luck and better hope you can get on the phone to call a brokerage to close your trades. We prefer to have power supplied from this power supply (UPS) to give us 15 minutes of battery power to close our trades and not have to deal with the headache of literally being in the dark. Computer Parts: Processor: Intel Core i7 i7-7700K – http://amzn.to/2tsWuoB Motherboard: MSI Z270M MORTAR – http://amzn.to/2ttaTkT Memory: Ballistix Sport LT 16GB – http://amzn.to/2tti7Fq SSD: Samsung 960 PRO Series – http://amzn.to/2usGrUC Optical: ASUS DRW-24F1ST – http://amzn.to/2tyA7yF Video: NVIDIA Quadro K1200 – http://amzn.to/2sKzuCc Power: Corsair CX430 – http://amzn.to/2ttbovh Case: Antec VSK3000E – http://amzn.to/2tyjhzT OS: Windows 10 – http://amzn.to/2tsWKnz Links: Video: How To Build A Trade Computer https://www.cpubenchmark.net/ http://www.pcpartpicker.com/

An open and transparent book. That was certainly the overall theme of this Welcome Back interview. Our guest has not only been on the podcast before, but I've also hung out with him in person on two occasions so I wasn't shocked by his honesty... the guy is a quality individual without question. Stephen (chatroom alias, "PH") shares his continued quest to gain solid consistency in the market as he trades and goes through many situations most people can relate to. He still has things to work on, but he's overall in an uptrend and that is what matters. Higher highs and higher lows. He also revealed a new venture he is undertaking that is designed to help all new traders. Be sure to stay until the end as we talk more about it. Notes: Today we are speaking with Stephen a.k.a. PH. His original podcast is linked in the notes below. Stephen started off mainly investing in companies he was familiar with when he just started. While Stephen went through many different strategies starting out, he had to go through that to find what exactly he is comfortable with and excels at. Now he primarily focuses on trading gaps which has led him to a high win rate and much smaller losers than winners. Stephen has utilized the concept of R, which is initial risk. This ties directly into Risk vs Reward and the big emphasis Stephen makes is the fact that it is dynamic. While he accepts the risk on entry, if he sees a more logical location to move his stop loss and lose less, he always will! If a trade doesn't meet his determined targets vs risk, he passes on the trade. He has rules that he sticks to every trade but there is a need to have some flexibility. Considering Stephen is an entrepreneur, he launched https://www.stocktradersjourney.com/ to document his journey through education and his trading. He offers reviews of various trading education, trading signals and anything else that pertains to trading the market. He is doing this without any affiliation compensation. We truly enjoy these follow up interviews to really show the progress our community members have made. Learning to trade and trade well is not an overnight process but with hard work and dedication, any one truly can learn how to do it. Quotes: It's the evolution of the journey and trying to find the strategy that most fits our individual personalities. The R is your risk value. Every single trade I'm willing to risk 1R to make 2 or ideally 3R. I don't just set it and leave it though. You want to have rules but need to remain flexible. The market isn't a rigid thing. It's a living, breathing thing you can't control. The purpose of this website is to share with people the mistakes I've made so they can learn from them. Links: https://claytrader.com/podcast/episode015/ https://www.stocktradersjourney.com/