The Stock Trading Reality Podcast

Chat room member Ricky (from Pittsburgh) has a journey that, if you're honest with yourself, I'm sure you can relate to in one particular way. That is, being a total innocent guppy at the beginning of his trading journey swimming in shark infested waters. There is nothing wrong at all with having a history of being a guppy, but the key question is, have you begun to transition into being a shark? Ricky has, and he tells us what he has been doing to transform his trading into that of a shark, rather than that of a dumb guppy. Notes: Ricky’s introduction to the market was in 2007 when his friend and himself witnessed an IPO skyrocket and they thought about how much money they could have made. When Ricky first began trading he was very good at cutting his losses immediately. As time went on and he was drinking the Kool-Aid of the tickers he was trading, he was more open to taking much larger losses by holding bad positions. After doing more research over the years, Ricky decided to join CTU. He saw folks finding success in liquid options that would prevent the liquidity trap that penny stocks present. Ricky has actually made more money flipping penny stocks vs. trading options, however, he continues to work toward finding consistency in options. Quotes: “I drove down to the Scottrade office to try to get shares for the next IPO. I didn’t even know there was a wait time for that.” tweet this quote “Everyone has an agenda. I have even been caught up in pumping stocks without even realizing it.” tweet this quote “I just started watching some charts. Took 2-3 weeks before I placed a trade. It was like starting over brand new.” tweet this quote Links: Video: Penny Stocks vs Options... Which Ones Better?

We've talked with over 25 traders thus far, but for one reason or another, we have never ventured into the world of ETF's. Thanks to chatroom member Mark ("Zman" is his alias), the podcast has now officially interviewed someone who specializes in ETF trading. Mark never planned on trading ETF's the way he is at this point in time, his journey started in a much different place, but after some bumpy roads, he's found success focusing on the ETF market. Notes: ZMan is one of our younger students who has been trading for less than 2 years. He originally planned to be a ‘buy and hold’ investor but became more active after his first trade. He began to check out various finance boards online to find where the Kool-Aid was. It only took a few occurrences for him to realize the importance of liquidity. ZMan was searching YouTube in an effort to learn more about trading and stumbled across ClayTrader. He enjoyed the short term trading he saw and decided to invest in his education. After going through some courses, ZMan was actually kicked out of another chat room because he called out some people for ‘pumping’ a stock that obviously in shambles. ZMan is currently trading leveraged ETFs that track commodities. He does strongly emphasize that this is not a product for beginners and we completely agree. Quotes: “I was familiar with GPRO’s CEO and I had the product. I liked it so I decided to park my money there.” tweet this quote "I decided I didn’t want to be puppet trading and I needed to learn how to fish for myself.” tweet this quote “Your parents tell you to dream all the time but a dream in the market will get your money taken.” tweet this quote “I look at all my losses as a learning experience. I just try to keep them small. Everyone’s going to have some losing trades.” tweet this quote Links: Video: The High Risk Of Free Education

We've talked to traders of all age ranges, but in this episode we hear from someone a bit younger in years. Chris (known as "cubs" in the chat room) tells us all the things he has already experienced in trading, along with what he has learned in what many would consider a relatively short amount of time. This includes turning $3,000 into $25,000 and then losing it all... ouch! That stings to just type that, but what has Cubs done since then to bounce back? The answer to that and much more, including what Cubs is currently doing to profit in the markets, in today's interview. Notes: Cubs got interested in the market during an economics class stock market picking game. While caddying as a summer job he saved up some money and bought 3 stocks to which he is still holding today. Once he got through school with a finance degree he joined a finance firm and has continued to buy good dividend stocks for his long term portfolio. During the pot stock boom, Cubs decided to gamble with some penny stocks and got very excited from the large returns. He took 3-4k to 25k before losing it all. He tried day trading while at his full time job but decided it wasn’t worth the risk of possibly losing his job. Cubs decided to take a swing trading approach after this attempt. Now Cubs is utilizing options to swing trade with an edge. He can take a neutral position and profit from the passing of time. Quotes: "I wasn’t using what I learned in college… it was more the gambler in me when trading penny stocks.” tweet this quote “I maybe lost a few hundred dollars day trading but it was just too much stress while working full time.” tweet this quote “I like being the casino and selling people sucker bets that have low probability of success.” tweet this quote Links: Course: Advanced Options Trading Strategies Explained

The much anticipated Part 2 of the "Paddy" interview is now here. The feedback for the first part has been extremely positive, and it's time to see where the journey now heads. The enthusiasm from Paddy does not dwindle in the least as he tells us about where his journey headed after locating ClayTrader.com. His first impressions of me are not the nicest, I will say that as a little spoiler - haha. Notes: Paddy discovered ClayTrader.com after coming across him on StockTwits. After comparing what Tim Sykes had to offer, Paddy decided to try the Inner Circle for 1 year. After 3 days in the community, he decided to join CTU. After testing the water for those few days he knew that he could benefit from the educational training. He went through almost all of the courses, got his computer all setup for trading and decided to ‘get romantic’ with AAPL for the future. He wanted to get to know the stock while applying his new found information acquired from the courses. Paddy has done a great job realizing his strengths and weaknesses. Hesitation, forcing trades, taking revenge trades has got him in trouble in the past but he has put those bad habits to bed. Quotes: “I knew what these indicators were for 10 years and in one weekend I finally understood what they were for.” tweet this quote “I don’t want to work for the man. I want to work for myself. The whole idea here is so I can get my freedom.” tweet this quote “Losses are part of the game. To not expect losses would be unreasonable.” tweet this quote “I used to think ‘go big or go home.’ I’m much better at managing my position size now.” tweet this quote Links: Link: ClayTrader Resources Video: Getting Romantic With Options Trading

I get short of breath just thinking about this interview. I promise I'm not exaggerating either, in fact, this was such a whirlwind of a journey that Chezz and I decided to divide it into two parts! Chat room member Patrick ("Paddy") delves into all the nooks and crannies of his journey, and with such enthusiasm, it was easy to just sit back and listen with enjoyment. It took us a while to get him to agree to be interviewed, but wow... thank goodness he finally agreed! We've heard some crazy journeys already, but this journey has plenty of twists and turns to make your head spin. Brace yourself... Notes: Paddy’s introduction to the market was his father’s reaction the 1987 stock market crash after he suffered a substantial loss. He began trading in 2005 puppet trading options via a trading educator he found multiple years prior. Throughout the next 9 years Paddy would find various ‘gurus’ to help find trade ideas. While he did find some success he gave back all his gains and more. That is when he realized he needed to get educated. Quotes: “I never traded penny stocks. Every advertisement for penny stocks was a typical, skeevy, snake oil salesman approach.” tweet this quote “I have no concept of positions size so I’m making 30, 40,000 dollar trades because I had 4x margin.” tweet this quote “By the end of 2014 I went from 153k to 107k at eTrade. Almost half of what I lost was in commissions.” tweet this quote

We heard it all the time as kids: "Stay away from drugs". As we discuss in our interview with chatroom member Jeff ("Doc"), if you are not careful, the stock market can act as the ultimate drug. While I understand this may sound dramatic, it is a dynamic that I can certainly relate to during the time when I was first getting into the markets. When you allow the markets to corrupt you like a drug, the decisions you make as a trader are not good for your trading health... sit back and enjoy yourself through a journey of some major ups and downs. Notes: Doc’s first introduction to the market was when he was 16 years old. He purchased 25 shares of PNC with money he earned from being a paperboy. He took substantial losses during the various market sell offs. While he was utilizing option strategies that had 66% probability to profit, that 66% started working against him. While he did invest in education, his old methodologies did not work in application. He became a CTU member, rewired his entire outlook on actively trading and is now bringing in consistent gains with his new found knowledge. Quotes: “I had no clue. I was jumping into stocks from the high dive. Little did I know that I was diving into cement instead of water.” “If I have a good paper trade I missed an opportunity to make money. So lets just go balls to the wall and make money.” “I was educated but I was educated wrong. And I needed somebody to reprogram my wires.” “I was driving down a road at 100 mph throwing handfuls of cash out the window. That was my trading life.”

It's easy to talk about success as a trader. Telling people about all the "ups" in a journey does not take courage. While success stories are without question motivating, hearing about the "dumb" things people do is where the true learning occurs. This is the focus of our discussion with chat room member Alex. I truly respect the transparency and courageousness Alex displayed in his candid talk with us. What are some of the major pitfalls in the markets? Where do the dangers lie? These are just a few of the things we discuss. Notes: During a lunch with some friends, Alex decided that he wanted to trade stocks for some additional income. He opened up an account the next week and started trading penny stocks. He took a break after getting bored trading tickers that didn’t have much liquidity/movement. He returned in 2013 to trade penny stocks once again. Alex continued to refill his account as he would deplete it. A friend approached Alex and let him trade his 30k account. He found early success trading the morning and then would lose it all and more by lunch time. He started trading options and while finding some fools gold at first was quickly wiped out in 1 trade. Alex decided to step back and invest in his education before coming back to the market. Quotes: “I got bored and quit in 2009. One day in 2013 I decided to just get back in the market.” tweet this quote “I rushed into things so bad. I didn’t stop playing penny stocks. I didn’t listen and learn from my previous experience.” tweet this quote “I had the desire to learn but I couldn’t get myself to step back and slow down with my trading.” tweet this quote “I wasn’t even counting how much I averaged down. I had a 10,000 share position and a $50,000 position.” tweet this quote “I lost 10,000 dollars of that man's money in one day. One day.” tweet this quote

John ("ESVA") has been a member from the very beginning. When I first started my service, he was one of the first people to sign up and has been a valuable asset to the community ever since. With 20 years experience in the markets, ESVA has been through many ups and downs, but one thing has remained constant... his never ending journey for continuing to improve himself and get better. From starting in the markets needing to call a broker to place a trade to now having excessive technology at his finger tips, this is a journey that is extremely interesting. Notes: ESVA (John)was introduced to stocks relatively early on in life through his father. Later in life he decided to revisit trading and investing and start his journey. He decided to try a penny stock picking service but decided to find other chat rooms and message boards after being involved in a few pump and dumps (and losing money in them). John was one of the first 300 people to join the Inner Circle and that is when he transitioned into trading small cap stucks (under 10$). Once Clay put out Options Trading Simplified, John decided to continue investing in his education and see how he could utilize smaller amounts of capital to amplify gains exponentially. Quotes: “In your early 20s you really don’t think about investing. You get away from it because you’re young and doing different things.” tweet this quote “Some traders told me you need to start learning, don’t trust anyone, and you need to do your homework. That was my turning point.” tweet this quote “You can have fun trading but you have to treat it like a business. Nobody wants to just throw their money out the door.” tweet this quote “Sometimes getting in at the lower price isn't better. It’s better to have the chart setup and pay a few cents more.” tweet this quote Links: Chat Room: Inner Circle

As someone who enjoys the topic of economics, it was a boatload of fun to interview "Arch_Steve" about his trading journey. Steve has a PhD in economics and is a college professor... in other words, a real life economist! With this being the case, "how" exactly does having a vast knowledge of economic markets translate into trading markets? Out of all the interviews so far, this interview truly gives a unique perspective on trading as a whole and what should be focused on. Notes: Steve has had an interest in markets economics from a very early age in high school. He decided to pursued a PhD in economics because of this interest later in life. He initially was a buy and hold investor to begin with and didn’t do too bad. It wasn’t until he had a large unrealized gain go back to zero that he recognized he needed to get educated to be better equipped to trade the markets. Steve now applies his technical knowledge to his swing trading and now has the independence needed to find stocks that he wants to trade instead of whatever the street thinks is a “hot pick.” Quotes: “If you’re an economist it doesn’t mean that you can manage money. I always had this pressure to learn the market.” “If there is no monetary gain on a gamble then your incentives will be tons different than when there is money on the line.” “The stock market will be there the next day and if you have the right tools you can play in any kind of market that’s out there.” Links: Course: Risk vs Reward Trading

Today we speak with a Viking. Yes, you read that right... a Viking! Our guest, "Norse", comes to us all the way from across the Atlantic Ocean in Norway. The interview and insight into this trader's journey is one I'm confident can provide inspiration via the many moments he jokes about having experienced. Buying when he should have been selling, selling when he should have been buying and many other amateur mistakes. Despite the pitfalls, Norse is now a full time trader mainly focusing in the Forex markets. He started in penny stocks, so how did he end up trading currencies full time? Listen and find out! Notes: Norse competed in the Norwegian Stock Trading Championship and this coincided with the booming penny stock marijuana bubble. He realized that with technical knowledge of charts, you are much more capable of making modest gains more often instead of always going for home runs in penny stocks. Norse became interested in the forex markets based on the recommendation from a friend. He is now trading full time and his success can be attributed to treating this as a business. He has set hours and hard data to look back on and ensure he is doing what is in his best interest to profit over the long term. Quotes: “I just went in and bought because I was going to be rich from this no matter what. I didn’t care. I just bought.” tweet this quote “Clay used fibs in one of his videos. That to me was like black magic and I thought I have to learn this. You can have an edge.” tweet this quote “Forex was a whole new environment. A chart is a chart but I treated it like it was something else.” tweet this quote “I took my losses personally. I was partially educated, I had a strategy, and couldn’t figure out how I could lose.” tweet this quote “Be more patient. Let the trade come to you. You can’t chase price because price will whip you in the face.” tweet this quote