The Stock Trading Reality Podcast

A common theme around these parts is the importance of risk management. Thanks to chat room member Jeremy's openness and honesty, we get a perfect real life example on why we preach risk management so much. Jeremy's account got off to a booming start as he grew it over 200%; however, in a matter of only one trade, he gave up all the gains and was right back to where he started. What did this teach him? Where did his journey go from here? That's what we learn about in this week's podcast. Notes: Jeremy’s introduction to the market was in 2012 when a financial advisor wanted to put his money in mutual funds. He decided that he would learn how find opportunities himself to generate larger returns. Being on a smaller account, Jeremy was trading lower priced names in an attempt to own more shares and generate larger returns. He also had a friend who turned 3k into 300k over a few years and this friend was the one who pointed out to him that he needed to expand his education first before diving headfirst into the market. He decided to puppet trade a biotech trader friend of his. While he grew his account from 2k to 6k, one bad trade took 66% of his account and put him back at even for the year. Since he decided to trade options, Jeremy is capable of trading much higher cost names for a drastically lower price and simultaneously manage his risk based on how he structures his option spread trading. Utilizing the advanced options techniques, Jeremy has found his place in the trading world to generate weekly profits based on probabilities while adhering to the agreement he made with his wife about not adding to the account. He is growing the account naturally based on a solid trading plan. Quotes: “I just realized that number 1, I cannot predict the stock market and number 2, you had to hold shares for a long time.” tweet this quote “We did a spit handshake agreement that I could not take any other funds from our account to add to my broker account.” tweet this quote “75-80% of my spreads expire worthless on Friday's and it has been awesome to do with a small trading account.” tweet this quote Links: Course: Advanced Options Trading

There are three words that many of us have experienced when first getting started in trading (well... at least I have), "this is easy." We make our first trade, it is profitable and we think that we have it all figured out. Chat room member Nate ("etan") tells us about this very relate-able start to his trading journey and where it has gone from there after reality smacked him in the face. Notes: Etan got his introduction to the stock market in high school while doing some paper trading for a finance class. After seeing the exponential nature of penny stocks from various message boards, Etan decided that he was going to park his money in a few very low cost names. Early in 2015, Etan did some investigating regarding options so that he could trade the larger names without putting up large amounts of capital. Realizing that he would need to be more consistent in his trading, Etan decided to invest in education to help solidify good trading practices. Etan decided to go back to paper trading and solidify his strategy and risk management before putting real money back on the line. The important part of this is that he is keeping his paper size realistic and inline with his real account size. Quotes: "After Ralph suggested I make my money work for me, I funded an eTrade account the following week.” tweet this quote “I had somewhat of a plan but I didn’t have the knowledge of why I should be buying here or selling here.” tweet this quote “This is easy I thought. The next week I was losing thousands of dollars each day.” tweet this quote “There is a lot that is involved in options. It’s not just pick a price and pick an exit. There is other stuff to take into account.” tweet this quote “Losses used to make me want to rip my heart out. Now I close my loser's quick.” tweet this quote

We've already interviewed a member from Denmark, for this interview we head south of the equator to chat with a member in Chile. Jose is an extremely successful business man, so I am honored he was willing to take time out of his day to tell us about his trading journey. I truly enjoy hearing from people who are successful in their own personal fields as they always bring fantastic perspectives based of previous experiences, and Jose does not disappoint. Notes: Jose had a friend who made some big money buying various names during multiple crises and this is what led him to get interested in the market. He set money aside and started his stock trading adventure. After finding limited success, Jose got interested in penny stocks and started to follow some newsletters for ‘hot stock picks.’ Jose stumbled upon ClayTrader based on an advertisement on the side of a stock message board. Technical analysis and the ability to read charts appealed to him and he wanted to learn more. While Jose still holds a full time job, he is applying what he has learned to a larger time frame and his trades generally take around four days. Quotes: “My strategy was buy and wait for a couple years and then this will turn into millions.” tweet this quote “I invested in 1 ticker. No stop loss, no risk management. I took a trip to Columbia for work and when I got off the plane it was all gone.” tweet this quote “I wanted to speed up my retirement but without a strategy it was all based on hope and luck.” tweet this quote “My biggest weakness is risk management. Managing my head and managing my heart.” tweet this quote “You don’t need to go to Harvard to make money in the market. You need to be focused. You need to study and be true to yourself.” tweet this quote Links: Video: 10000 Calorie Challenge

There is always a first, and that's what chatroom member "JC" gave us in this interview. Thanks to his brutal honesty, he let us know that he was at a pretty rough patch at the exact time we were conducting the interview. This was very unique in the sense that Chezz and I were able to give him some "real time" feedback and suggestions to help guide him through this rough spot in his journey. I am very thankful JC was honest enough to share this as it gave us all a chance to truly witness the realities of how trading is not always sunshine and rainbows. Notes: JC’s dad was the first person to introduce him to the market. Another interesting fact is that his dad was interested in penny stocks so that is where JC started also. Unfortunately, JC blew up his account in the first trade he took. He ended up going back to work and refunding an account after a few months to try his hand at the market one more time. JC decided to investigate into education options and found a well known source but after finding out that their package cost around 18 thousand dollars, he decided to look elsewhere and eventually found Clay. After going through some courses, JC decided he wanted to keep practicing during the evenings after work. This led him to get interested in the forex market since it trades for almost 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. While he works full time, he is finding where he fits in his swing trading. He has now traded equities, forex, and options. JC tells us an interesting story about an options trade that goes bad and what subsequently happened to his forex account. Quotes: “My dad said if you just buy sub-pennies they got nowhere to go but up.” tweet this quote “My very first trade and I dump my entire account into this ticker before it dumped. I was all in and it was all gone.” tweet this quote “You’re just some regular guys. You’re not some overwhelming power of Lamborghini stock traders that say ‘this is the way it is.’ “ tweet this quote “The reason I traded forex was because it traded 24 hours and I could actively practice. It was more of a practicing tool to me.” tweet this quote “I was so emotional I could not make a rational decision.” tweet this quote Links: http://investorshub.advfn.com/ClayTradercom-27618/

If you've listened to any of the podcasts before, you know a huge theme is always having a trade plan. Chatroom member, Matt (known as "Dirt Wolf"), gives what I would consider to be one of the better overviews of what it truly means to have a trade plan in place before putting any money at risk. For those of you trading penny stocks and wanting a better way, I'm confident Matt's perspective on this area of the market can open your eyes to other possibilities. Notes: Matt went to college to become a math teacher but soon realized a profession in the finance industry would better fit his personality. He was worried about not having enough capital to trade larger more well known names so he dove into penny stocks that had endorsement from various sports figures. Matt won the penny stock lottery. One of the tickers he was holding was taken over and rode the marijuana boom up exponentially. While he gave back about half his total gains, he finished with a healthy profit and decided to use the money to get educated in an effort to become consistent. After taking a break from trading, Matt decided he wanted to come back head first and accepted that this was going to be a lifelong journey, not a get rich quick scheme. Being well versed in options from his previous job, Matt now employs advanced options strategies which give him a much higher probability of profit. Quotes: “I didn’t really think I could trade the big board stocks. That’s why I got into the pennies. You could buy a ton of shares.” tweet this quote “I had a buddy who took out a line of credit on his house and put a couple hundred thousand into a ticker.” tweet this quote “I’m just counting all the dollar signs in my head, thinking about what I’m going to do with all my money.” tweet this quote “Options trading and technical analysis go hand in hand.” tweet this quote

For those of you who are members of the chat room, you've seen that our guest, Curtis, has been doing extremely well for himself. There have been some days that are flat are crazy (and I mean that in a good way!). Many have wanted to hear from Curtis, so that time has come! Unfortunately though, the "secret sauce" that Curtis shares with us is not going to be something that many people want to hear. While it is 110% honest/good/realistic advice, it is what I call the unpopular key to trading success. Notes: Curtis started trading by doing dollar cost averaging pre-1999. He was able to cash out for a nice gain from these strategies. Curtis knew an in-person pumper that would promote various penny stocks that himself and his coworkers would trade. He was fortunate enough to have a large life event happen that caused him to sell near the top of the run. After a 10 year break, Curtis was following an ex-trader who was able to retire at an early age and travel the world and decided he wanted to try his hand at the market one more time. While he tried to follow various traders and modify their techniques, the strategies they were employing did not fit with his personality and led him to lose money. After blowing up his account during a stock halt, Curtis decided to go back to paper trading and really find his strengths. He bought a good notebook and wrote down his daily trades for over 6 months before applying the same strategies to the live market. Curtis then started at half his paper size and slowly scaled up into the same size he was trading on paper. He now is confident in his methods and able to consistently generate more profits relative to losses. Quotes: “I had those dreams of mansions and everything but I was buying a house so I cashed out.” tweet quote “I would try to trade these ridiculous option spreads and there’s just no way unless it’s a freight train.” tweet quote “If I could automate it and backtest it, I could say ‘ok computer, go do it’ and not be in the way.” tweet quote “Your mind gets in the way all the time. I try not to do two things at once. I lose money when I try to.” tweet quote Links: Video: Stock Trading 101 – How to Paper Trade Video: How To Paper Trade With A Purpose

I'll be honest. I was a bit nervous to do this interview. I was big into playing sports in high school, and our guest from the chat room, Dan, is currently a college coach. As you will hear, Dan is an awesome guy who has a great perspective on life and who has been through quite a bit in his trading journey. I personally think he's being too hard on himself in regards to the awesome progress he has made, but I guess that's what you'd expect from a college coach who expects the absolute best from his players. Notes: Dan started to get involved in trading and investing while his son was in a finance class. He funded his account but unfortunately his son ultimately lost all the money in there. After not finding too much success in blue chip stocks, Dan started to focus on small cap stocks with lower share prices to control more. While Dan is still trying to determine if he is a better day trader or swing trader, he is starting to apply more focus to risk management techniques to improve his overall consistency and profitability. Options provided Dan the opportunity to trade higher ‘quality’ stocks that provide daily volatility. Dan is fully aware he is still on the journey to finding where he fits best in the market. That recognition alone puts him ahead of the curve by helping him realize that there is not just one way to make money in this market. We all have to find where the market meets our personality and risk tolerance. Quotes: "I thought I was going to be actively trading with stocks as an investment. Lesson, that doesn’t go together.” tweet this quote “I had to lay down on the floor after that trade because I was so nauseous.” tweet this quote “Without a plan you end up bouncing all around. I didn’t know if I was a day trader or swing trader.” tweet this quote “Trading without a plan was the number one problem I experienced.” tweet this quote “Paper. Trade. Learn what you are doing before you put your financial future at risk.” tweet this quote

I really enjoy today's interview due to the honesty portrayed in regards to the first impressions that were given from our trading community. Tony from the chat room originally showed up, and to be polite, really was not too fond of our trading group. To his credit, he did not give up on us and over time eventually realized that our group was not actually as nasty as he had originally thought. The amount of lessons that can be learned through this experience are some that can truly benefit you as an overall trader. What matters? What doesn't matter? What should you actually be focused on? We'll discuss all these key components of trading. Notes: Tony had a friend who found some success trading stocks and told him to contact him if he was ever interested. Fourteen years later, he started to get interested in the market as he started to have more income to use. Tony was under the impression that trading penny stocks was the key to real wealth. He joined a well known chat room, found a ticker, tried to do some fundamental research, and even went as far as buying the actual product. He was that drunk on the Kool-Aid! While he managed to make a nice gain on one ticker, he eventually lost it all slowly trying to trade other tickers. This is when he realized he needed to look into furthering his education. After going through a few courses Tony realized that there are many better choices instead of penny stocks. He started to paper trade options after his eyes were opened. As time has passed, Tony now understands the importance of risk management and that has really turned his trading around in regards to minimizing those losses and hanging onto those winners. Quotes: "This stock is legit. Their CEO is legit. I maxed out my account and bought all the shares I could.” tweet this quote "I was up 10k and I thought this was it. I imagined quitting my job the next day. Then it crashed back down.” tweet this quote “I bought some technical analysis book but they didn’t make too much sense to me.” tweet this quote “Every time I took a loss I thought to myself that this isn’t for me. It’s for someone with more patience and discipline.” tweet this quote Links: https://claytrader.com/videos/buy-sell-alerts/

I will be the first to admit, hearing anything about "needing to take a break" can be extremely annoying... especially when it pertains to something as fun and intriguing as the market. At times, the most annoying stuff is the most beneficial for you. Chat room member "Moppy" discusses his journey with us, in which a huge factor of how his now consistent success is due to stepping back and taking a break. Notes: Moppy’s grandfather made his money from buying and holding stocks. As Moppy aged he realized that there might be a better way. After going through a college textbook on trading, Moppy decided to use options to leverage his small amount of capital to hopefully make some large percent returns on what little he had. A few years later Moppy heard about the marijuana boom that was happening in penny stocks. While he missed this particular ‘boom’ he wanted to have an account funded for the next hot sector. Moppy blew up a few small accounts trading penny stocks and he eventually stumbled across ClayTrader. It was after this that he decided to take a break for 6 months and focus on education while he saved up to fund a new account. Quotes: “I jumped into options because I didn’t have a lot of money. I had a young family and not much money.” tweet this quote “I didn’t know how to plan my own trades so in essence, I was gambling.” tweet this quote “I just got my platform... flashy lights, pretty buttons. Had some money and thought this is it. I’m going to work it.” tweet this quote "It was either put money toward education or put money into the slot machine and I felt the education was a better value.” tweet this quote “I reduced my position size a bunch. I thought I was playing Texas Hold Em and go all-in and hope for the best.” tweet this quote

Out of all the members we've interviewed so far, I don't think we've talked to anyone who has had as good of timing as Adam ("Yountske" in the chat room) in terms of market timing. This is where the interesting part comes in... even with the impeccable timing, as you will hear about, Adam still struggled to make trading work. His journey truly goes to show that there is much more to trading than simply getting a good entry point. Notes: Yountske’s introduction to the market was in an investing class when they paper traded some tickers. He placed near the top of his class. After having some success bartering, he decided to open up a trading account and started trading penny stocks. He subscribed to some newsletters and picked one at random to trade. Yountske saw the potential for the marijuana boom prior to the actual pump of the sector. He became a walking/talking pumper adding to his profitable position on the way up. A well known twitter trade essentially scared him out of his position (for a nice gain). After achieving mixed results for multiple years, he joined the Inner Circle and eventually The Trading Freedom Pathway to help achieve more consistency in his trading. He also left penny stocks and moved to options to avoid the pattern day trading rules with a cash account. Quotes: “People were willing to take a loss and then I would turn it around into a gain for myself.” tweet this quote “Averaging down was just basically stupidity. I held for 2 years and then sold for around break even before it really ran.” tweet this quote “I basically become a walking/talking pumper. I was telling all my friends that they wouldn’t want to miss out.” tweet this quote “MJNA started to trickle down past my entry point. I was still living under the Warren Buffett model of ‘never take a loss.’ “ tweet this quote “It was just a constant up and down… make a bunch of money, lose a bunch of money.” tweet this quote