The Stock Trading Reality Podcast

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

We preach it all the time on the show. Trading is a business of hard work, NOT "get rich quick" despite how some conman out there market it. Our guest for this interview, Andrew ("Ava"), is a shining star of what hard work and dedication looks like. Better yet, he provides a perfect case study example of why "I don't have the time" is not a valid excuse. As you will learn, Ava is a busy guy with all sorts of stuff going on in his life, HOWEVER, he still makes time to better himself as a trader. I have little doubt this interview will motivate you to stop using silly excuses on "why" you haven't attempted trading or aren't being successful at it. Notes: Ava was involved in a workplace injury and found himself with time on his hands. He decided he wanted to put his money to work for him and invest in the stock market. When he began he would just follow whatever the most popularly talked about tickers were on iHub. He even went as far as trying to find individual stock pumpers that had a high success rate to find some trades. Ava has always treated trading as a business. He had no desire for excitement (realizing that this is not a casino). He wanted to learn to trade so he could build wealth and increase his income. His business approach led him to decide to get educated so that he was better equipped to deal with the market. Quotes: "I was trying to figure out how to get rich trading something only worth a penny." tweet this quote "I was still really blind to what was going on. I hate losing money and that led me to purchasing courses on technical analysis." tweet this quote "Averaging down, it's a killer. The worst part is that it does work but that one time it doesn't will take you to the woodshed." tweet this quote "The gains from my options trades were so much larger than my straight up equity trades so it made sense to just trade options." tweet this quote "You can make decent money scalping but you will make the majority of money off of those runners if you let them work for you." tweet this quote Links: Video: Live Trades

Bad starts. If we're all being honest with ourselves, I'm sure we can relate to getting involved in something and then having things not go very well. That is the spot today's guest found himself in after attempting to get into the stock market. Chat room member, Nick, shares his experience of the tough start he had, but then, more importantly and inspiring, "what" he did to bounce back. As the saying goes, "it's not how to start, but how you finish" and Nick's story is very applicable to this. I was quite inspired by it. Nick got knocked down pretty hard, but he didn't let the beginning experience keep him down. Notes: Nick started with penny stocks based on what was popular on iHub. He thought it was a good idea based on the fact that it required a small amount of capital and people always talked about how extraordinary the gains could be. He had lost a good amount of money due to lack of liquidity and inability to sell out of his losers. Nick put in a few orders to close those positions and shut off his platform for a few years until he made his way back to trading in the winter of 2014. Nick ventured back into the market now armed with education. He found what strategies work best with his risk profile and personality. Treating trading as a business is certainly a requirement for long term success in the stock market. Quotes: "I started holding some bags at one point. Had a bad experience and quit trading for a few years until I came back December 2014." tweet this quote "I was a little bit jaded. I kind of felt entitled to a 100% gain on every trade since that's what happened with my first trade." tweet this quote "I don't look at any indicators. They are all lagging and are all derived from the chart unfolding in front of your eyes." tweet this quote

I'm sure you've noticed: many stock trading sites out there like to focus on all the glitz and glamour areas of life. Sure, if you are trying to sell people products and services, why not turn your advertising into a late night infomercial? A sucker is born every minute. Today's guest, Alex, gives us the truth and realistic side of trading and the markets. Hard work. Trading is possible, but it doesn't happen overnight and Alex shares all the ups and downs of his current journey in a very open and honest way. Notes: Alex's father used to look at the stock prices in the newspaper every Saturday and that was what sparked his initial interest. He did some light trading with a few friends in high school but completely stepped away from it after he graduated. His interest was sparked with the rise of the marijuana stock boom. After watching ClayTrader profit on almost a daily basis, Alex decided to invest in his education and stop the bleeding his account was suffering from. Quotes: "We took $300 we made from selling collectable cards and bought 3 shares of $AMZN with it. It was great." tweet this quote "We would check the price everyday and it would go up a dollar then down a dollar. It wasn't doing anything." tweet this quote "60-70% would have a sudden jump up and I'd feel like I missed the boat. I wasn't accounting for the gap up and trap." tweet this quote "I spent my entire Christmas break going through every course. Especially RvR Trading. That one was revolutionary for me." tweet this quote "I was getting paralysis by analysis. I was trying to find the holy grail but there is no holy grail." tweet this quote "This isn't a journey of money. This is a journey of emotions." tweet this quote Links: Course: The Trading Freedom Pathway

When you decide to get into world of trading, it's important to take your time and go through the necessary steps; however, at the end of the day, you need to just do it! That's the attitude of our guest today, Pendar, and we'll learn how this attitude has both helped and hindered him in his journey. This is certainly a great outlook to have, but it can get you into trouble if it is not focused on the right paths as you will see. Sit back and enjoy the interview as we learn about the pros and cons of "just doing it." Notes: Pendar was driving under the Chicago Mercantile Exchange when the thought occurred to him that trading might be of interest to him. He jumped in headfirst and invested in his education. He got his feet wet right away and traded penny stocks before trying to trade options. Pendar employs various options strategies while utilizing the charts and the quantitative data to put all the factors in his favor for his trades. Quotes: "Trading to me was like another video game. Just to learn the ropes, click on all the buttons. That's how I learn. Just do it." "I never paper traded because it didn't feel real. The real emotions just wouldn't kick in." "If you guys have any debt, you should not trade. Pay off your debt first, pay off your credit cards, and then trade." "My stop loss was like a police officer right behind me telling me to pull over and I wanted to get away."

Today we have a conversation with Stephan about his current goal to reinvent himself into a trader. Like the markets, life can take many unknown turns, and today we'll learn about how the Great Recession forced Stephan to reevaluate his situation from both a personal and financial perspective. At age 49, needing to pivot in life and do some reinventing probably is not the most preferable thing to do, but Stephan has jumped in with both feet in order to once again place him in a successful spot in life. Come with us on this wild ride which includes a very interesting dynamic regarding Stephan's wife and her field of employment. Notes: Stephen had worked with many large tech companies whose stock prices were growing exponentially. This was when he jumped in buying many well known tech companies. While riding up the tech bubble and riding it back down, Stephen had sat on a pretty large unrealized loss before taking his broker's advice and unwinding his losing positions. He redeployed his remaining capital to launch a business which was very successful. The recession had a delayed onset and reduced his revenue by 50% when it eventually caught up. Stephen decided to get educated and approach the market once more but with full control of his portfolio (not using investment advisors). His initial interest was in penny stocks but he soon realized the benefits of trading options. Stephen's support system was the Inner Circle as his spouse works in risk management and sees many traders who fail but she is slowly coming around after recognizing his risk management techniques. His recognition that trading needs to be treated as a business is a key element to takeaway from this podcast. That really is the key to longevity. Quotes: "I rode the tech bubble all the way up and rode it all the way down. I made big mistakes not taking profits when I should have." tweet this quote "At the height of all this my account value was around 250k but of course I did not take any profits." tweet this quote "I was at a crossroads. I had to reinvent myself once again. And at 49, that's not ideal." tweet this quote "I approached trading as a business. I wasn't about to jump into something without getting educated and develop skills." tweet this quote "I was making money but I wasn't consistent. I was making all the rookie mistakes… not honoring stop losses, averaging down, etc." tweet this quote "Don't think that just because someone has a designation after their name that they know more than you." tweet this quote Links: Course: The Trading Freedom Pathway Video: The Trade Plan Destroyer Video: Is Stock Trading Gambling?