A Work in Progress | STR 147

01/08/18 • 60 min

We try our best to keep things as “real” as possible on the show, and in this episode I think we do a great job of that given our guest’s strategy. In most instances, the topic of technical charts come up given many in our community use them; however, that’s not the case with fellow member Aaron. There is still lots of fine tuning going on within his strategy, especially in the trade management department, so who knows.... maybe one day charts will find a place. As it stands now, Aarron is looking to improve with each passing week and keep his account in the green. He was open and honest which we can all respect him for. Notes: Today we interview community member Aaron who is relatively new to trading. After realizing he was making next to no return keeping his money in savings, he decided to look into the market. Aaron likes to research sectors and individual companies he believes will have future growth. Considering his 9-5 job, he choose industries and companies in that space that he believes will grow. Something Aaron picked up very early on was that most people who use financial social media are generally unable to accept responsibility for their actions. After watching a few of Clay’s videos and seeing the information conveyed, Aaron decided to join the community. Aaron doesn’t utilize charts to validate his investment choices. He uses the news and fundamental information he comes across. However, he hasn’t bet the farm on any of his trades so even if they were all go to zero, he would be fine. Quotes: One thing I regret is that I haven’t taken a lot of risks in my life. I realized that my money has sat around and done nothing. When there’s a profit to be made, you have to take it. That’s the discipline I have to adhere to. The idea of short manipulation is very misconstrued. It’s like betting against the dice in craps and the odds are reversed. For me, that’s a car payment. Wow that’s a better Christmas for everyone. Don’t be ashamed of profits.

Previous Episode

Investing Into Education Pays. Here’s Some 6 Digit Proof. | STR 146

The impacts of a quality plan can lead to big things. How big? How about a six figure gain within your trading account? What I love about the podcast is the many shapes and forms the motivation and inspiration can take. This time around, the motivation is that of sheer numbers and size of just what is possible. As our guest Stan (‘PapaBear’ in the chatroom) discloses, nothing happened over night or without a lot of hard work; however, it did happen and continues to happen! It honestly still inspires me and gets me fired up to know that by only using 30% of his account, he was able to double his ENTIRE account. This is the power of a plan and approaching this business we call trading in a logical and realistic way. Come along for a very inspirational ride! Notes: Today we interview community member Papa Bear aka Stan. Back in the 70’s, Stan saw an episode of The Brady Bunch when they had an episode about the stock market. This led to an interest that he carried until much later in life. Stan unfortunately suffered a decent loss when one of the mutual funds he was invested in got too heavily invested in a stock that plummeted. This led him to pull his funds into a Roth IRA and start controlling his money himself. After putting together as much as he could from free education, Stan had a big fear about ‘what do I not know yet.’ This led him to investigate some structured education for trading. After looking around the industry, Stan joined the University program. Stan went through the courses and decided to focus mainly on options. The big emphasis he wants listeners to take away is that position sizing is absolutely crucial in long term survival trading. He has never needed to utilize traditional margin since he is never using the entirety of his account and he has generated a fantastic return only using 1⁄3 of his account. He mainly focuses on candlestick formations and keeping himself involved in multiple sectors as not to be too concentrated. Quotes: Everyone and their janitor was getting in the market during the dot.com boom. I started getting scared. What is it that I don’t know is what really scared me. All these different traders trade differently. You rather eloquently showed me that I was wrong and rather than getting offended by it, I deeply appreciated it. Paper trading was good for learning mechanics. Unless you get the adrenaline of having money on the line, the lesson doesn’t stick. My first year after CTU I made 100% only using 30% of my account. We’re talking 6 figures. The last thing you ever want to do is turn a day trade into a swing trade. They are two different philosophies. Links: https://claytrader.com/videos/the-surgeons-delemma/

Next Episode

Highly Competitive? That’s Good.. Kind of… | STR 148

This discussion certainly got my blood boiling. As someone who is in the coaching/teaching/mentoring business, it truly drives me insane when I see others creating a bad name for everyone. We have a shining example of this thanks to our guest today John (‘FatherOfBear’ in the chatroom) and his experience with another “coach” in the business. Even if you never spend a penny on my site, please just realize and be aware of some of the glaring red flags that many of these “I want to see you succeed” people out there display. To give John fully credit though, after the rough start due to the bad experience in attempting to learn, he didn’t give up and he continued to grind onwards and upwards. Like many of us, John has taken several bumps and bruises along the way, but the great thing for us as listeners, we can learn from them and save ourselves some money in the process. I had a great time chatting with John and I’m sure you will too. Notes: Today we interview community member John who goes by FatherOfBear in the chat rooms. John was intrigued by those who traded in the market and spent some time looking around the internet in an effort to get educated. He came to the realization that if he wanted to do this successfully, he would need to seek out quality training. Unfortunately, he decided to get training via someone who put a time limit on their program and John learns best by a high amount of repetition. A 3 month time limit is not realistic to go from knowing nothing about the markets to a proficient trader. Even without a proven track record on paper, John funded an account and started trading live. After finding some initial success, he eventually dwindled that account down to scraps. John does not like to lose and in most aspects of life, it’s a fantastic attribute. But in trading, it can be detrimental. After finding out the material in University was available for LIFE, John dove right into the program to rebuild his notion of trading. He is currently working through the foundational courses before he beings trading again. Quotes: I watched YouTube videos of people explaining what candlestick means. I would watch hours of videos. It was generic at best. I didn’t grasp how dangerous it was to trick myself paper trading. I was trading with large size since there was no risk. I get my first big win. I was thinking, I’m not over trading... I’m doing what my teacher is doing. I must be a prodigy. I started learning all about margin calls. It really hurt my account being stubborn and holding. Reinforcing those bad habit muscles. Honestly, I’m not sure I would re-do anything. I’ve eaten a lot of humble pie. Education is paramount and is worth paying for. Links: https://claytrader.com/videos/big-red-flag-world-trading-educators/