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I love talking with the variety of traders I do. Some are brand new to the point they’ve never even traded with real money. Others are in valleys of desperation and frustration. Then we have those like this episode’s guest, Dale, who are doing fantastic. Of course it was not always fantastic for Dale, but he’s persevered through a whole lot and continues to only get better (and he’s already real good). Dale has some fantastic observations, especially about the threats of FOMO (fear of missing out). He’s done some really stupid things since he began (I say that as a compliment for being willing to publicly talk about it), but these are things you can learn from. How? Simply do the opposite of what he shares. I really enjoyed this conversation and I’m sure you will too! Let’s get to it!

I assume you are well aware that if you want to be a successful trader over an extended period of time, you need rules! Perhaps a more broad way of saying this is you need a valid strategy. This of course prompts the idea of “well, what makes up a strategy? How do you build one?” - the answer being, with rules! With all of that being said, are some rules more important than others? Or, are all trading rules created equally? In my opinion, not all rules are created equal and some are way more important than others. In this episode I want to spend a brief few moments talking about what I believe is a “must have” rule for all traders. I’m even willing to potentially go as far as claiming this rule is the most important one! What is this rule and what makes it so effective and powerful? Let’s discuss!

I’ve always been impressed by this episode’s guest. Joey (same alias in the chatroom community) has been a long time member and, from day one, has been very transparent about his journey. In fact, when I was getting more into options a couple years go, I had him come on a Tuesday night live webinar (for premium members) so I could ASK HIM questions. As the saying goes, “iron sharpens iron” and I consider Joey to be a solid piece of iron. Joey was kind enough to come back and update everyone on where he is in life and with his trading. He’s been an absolute master in leveraging his trading experience into some very worthwhile “real world” outcomes, including his current job which would make anyone who loves trading jealous! With that being said, his mastering of real world outcomes is something that I believe anyone can do, and we talk about just that! If you’re looking for pieces of iron to sharpen yourself against, look no further than Joey! Let’s go!

There are many challenges that come with being a trader. We are all facing different challenges at different levels. What do I mean by “different levels”? The worst level a trader can be at is struggling with their results and having no idea what is causing the issues. We’ve all been there! It’s truly a terrible and demoralizing level to experience. You know their is a problem, but you just know what what “it” is. My guest this episode, Trey (same name in chatroom for you community members), finds himself in annoying, but good spot. It’s annoying because he is really struggling with a certain part of his trading. How can this be a “good spot”? Because Trey knows what the spot is! He just needs to do what he knows he needs to do! Trey is not alone though. His struggle is one I can relate to and a struggle many other traders can too. Let’s talk with Trey and see what we can figure out and try and offer some helpful feedback!

The toilet man is back! For you long time members of the community and listeners of the podcast, you should remember Jeremy. If you are a member of the community and chatroom, his alias is “RemmyTheRookie”. He’s been on the podcast multiple times over the years. He was one of our first guests back in 2014 and is still alive in the markets with plenty of bruises. I say that as a compliment though. All traders have bruises, it’s part of the business. The key to, long term, success is avoiding those kill shots that knock you completely out of the game. It had been a couple years since Jeremy and I last spoke, so as usual, he was more than willing to come on and just shoot the breeze with me while we talked trading. He’s a person I have hung out now with, twice, in person and I can say with full certainty, he’s a fantastic human being. He’s always willing to help out and share his “stories of bruise obtainment” so that others can learn. Let’s get to it!

We’re all at different spots within our journey. This is why anyone advertising an “one size fits all” strategy is misleading you. Unless the person knows your exact circumstances and goals, it’s hard for them to have any idea what is best for you. In this episode’s situation, it is someone who wants to retire, but stay active in their retirement via trading. Community member Paul was kind enough to share with us his journey and reveal what has worked, and not worked, along the way. As a minor spoiler alert, Paul is in a fantastic place within his journey where he’s making money and his account is growing. What an amazing feeling! Knowing you are getting close to retirement while also knowing you have a skill that’ll allow you to still be making money! I put Paul to the test to see if I could poke any holes in his approach or strategy. Iron sharpens iron so let’s get to it!

It’s time for a trading challenge! I’m going to call it The Degenerate Gambler Trading Challenge #DGTC! In this video I want to explain why I’m doing the trading challenge and how it will work. I realize the title is a bit eye catching given what I preach on the channel; however, please watch the video so I can add in more context. This will be a challenge where I “think like a degenerate gambler but within a controlled and rules based way”. I recently had a premium member share their struggles in our chatroom and it sparked an idea for this challenge. I hope you prove to everyone that when you have the right mindset going into trading, behaving how you should (in regards to your trading strategy rules) will become way easier to do. This challenge is not about seeing how dumb I can get in regards to taking gambles, it’s all about following rules and proving it can be done. If you have any amount of trading experience, then I’m sure you know just how hard it can be to follow your strategy rules. You could have all the knowledge in the world, but if you don’t know how to think about your money, your knowledge will ultimately prove to be worthless. It’s time to be a degenerate and have some, controlled. fun!

We all have bad habits. Whether it is biting our nails or some other, “disgusting”, habit, we’re humans… we have them. In other words, if there was something that we all as humans could find common ground upon, it would be bad habits. Unfortunately, the world of trading does not insulate us from our human tendencies with habits. In this episode, fellow community Dave is an absolute open book about his journey. He warned me upfront his journey was “filled with stupid”, and to his credit, he didn’t disappoint! I don’t say that in judgement, I say it in admiration and respect for him being willing to share. We’ve all been there and are still there in many ways.. where? Constantly fighting the desire to allow bad habits to take over in our trading. Perhaps you are a beginner and think I’m exaggerating when it comes to habits, I understand. Give this journey a listen and you’ll see just how hard bad habits are to kick!

While I admit that every episode certainly has some common themes, which in and of itself is valuable (if you keep hearing the same things, maybe it’s something YOU should be aware of!), every episode also has its own flavors. At times I speak with people who are completely brand new and have never traded with any real money. In other situations, I’m talking with people tossing around large chunks of money. In other cases, we’re right in the middle. This is what brings us to this episode’s guest, Micah. I enjoy these episodes because it’s always fun to do a little in person coaching and talk through various aspects of a person’s goals and strategy. Micah is doing well, but at the same time, there is some fine tuning requirements that revealed themselves. Yes, if you’re brand new, we do get into the weeds quite a bit with what may seem like trivial matters, but please trust us that when it comes to building consistency, the small (and seemingly trivial) dynamics matter! Let’s do some fine tuning with Micah!

A simple, but extremely annoying word within the trading realm: rules. You absolutely need to have them if you want to survive in the markets. At the same time though, following the rules can create all sorts of headaches and frustrations. Here’s the thing though, as I talk about with our guest Eric, when you have rules and follow them, you’ll do less. For you longer term listeners of the show, you’ve heard this theme arise on several occasions: less is more! It’s a seemingly illogical concept, but it carries with it a whole lot of proof of being effective. Eric has been through quite a bit on his journey already. He was kind enough to volunteer to be a guest so he can share with all of us and offer up some fantastic insights into the realities of trading. I always enjoy these types of conversations where the person just shoots straight and doesn’t hold anything back. I had a great time and I’m sure you will too. Let’s go!

It’s been a long time since I’ve met up with community members in person. There was this thing called Covid that made these sorts of “meet ups” a bit challenging. With Covid now behind us, we finally were able to set up another event in Arizona. I wanted to walk you through the experience and from my point of view and hopefully give you an idea of just how awesome/normal our community is. Maybe you’re a member and thought about joining us in Arizona, but then decided against it. As a shy person myself, I can understand your thought process. I hope to offer you some encouragement of what can be expected and hopefully convince you to come hang out at the next one. Perhaps you are not a member of the community, but thinking about officially joining. I hope to demonstrate just how normal of a group it is. No egos. No Hollywood stereotypes of what traders are like. Come with me on my journey to Arizona and the great time it was!

Don’t have the time to trade? Sorry. I’m not buying it! The amazing fact of the financial markets is if you have a great enough desire to trade, you can find a way! My guest, Vinny, is a prime example of this fact. He is the owner of a small family business, yet, has still found the time to learn to trade. Not only has he learned to trade while running a pizza joint, he has now begun to find some solid success. Vinny is all about multiple streams of income and trading has opened up another one of those streams. With all this being said, Vinny got started with no actual plans or strategies. Sure, things are going very well for him at the present time, but wow… he was in total moron mode when he started (like we all are!). Vinny is totally open and honest about his journey and holds nothing back when it comes to sharing his mistakes and regrets. In other words, if you want to give yourself a head start in your own personal journey, just do the exact opposite of several of the choices Vinny made when starting. Let’s get to it!

This episode takes a bit different shape than normal. Our guest, Jason, has been on the show before and he’s back to update us on his journey. As a minor spoiler alert, Jason’s journey so far has still been pretty rough. He’s not back telling us how he is now making millions of dollars or anything of the sort. Because of this, I would call this episode more of a “coaching call” than anything else. This does not mean the episode is of any less value than others, it just has a different “vibe” to it. I think it’s a great thing when you can mix it up a bit, and that’s what we have here. I have a very confident guess that many listeners will be able to relate to the problems Jason has had. His journey and ongoing problems are nothing new and are very normal. Our discussion (I hope) should shed some light on some of the very same issues you may be having. If anything, it will offer up a warning of what you need to be aware of and avoid as you continue on your own journey. Let’s get to it!

The journey of any successful trader in regards to their rules is pretty universal. The first stage being imagined rules, the next being loose rules and then finally, tight rules. As you veteran traders know, you can’t have a viable and consistently profitable strategy if you don’t have rules in place. When you have loose rules, well… that’s where our guest from the community, Taf, comes into play. Thanks to his candor and willingness to be open about his journey, you’ll hear a great description and account of what loose rules can lead to. Taf is a humble and self aware person (both key attributes) so he eventually was able to look in the mirror and realize the problem. What sort of decisions did he make? How is he now implementing his new rules and ensuring they stay tight? We’ll get into that and way more in this episode! Let’s get to it!

In my opinion, one of the most productive aspects of doing this podcast is the opportunity to gain insights into certain perspectives. When doing so, I certainly benefit and hopefully… you do too! My guest, Rick, has a mind for numbers and systematic thinking given he teaches math. I realize many people have a love/hate relationship with the subject of math, but I would hope we can all agree, it takes a certain type of “mind” to excel within the subject. This is why I was excited to be able to probe Rick’s mind and gain insight into his thoughts and rationale behind certain decisions he has made and is currently making within his trading journey. Rick has been very solid at “cutting loses” and he gave me a very simple, yet powerful, explanation of what makes it so black and white. His response reminded me that despite being a trader for going on 20 years now and talking to 100’s of people via this podcast, you can always gain a new perspective. Even if you are someone who despise the subject of math, I’m confident you’ll still gain plenty of value from what Rick was willing to share! Let’s go!

Signal software, have you seen it? There’s a variety of software and programs being sold that promise to show you da money! A simple search can yield an overwhelming abundance of results. But, what’s the truth behind these signal software? Does it work? This is where we my guest, John (chatroom alias “JohnSwift”), brings great value to the discussion. He self admittedly has been using a signal software for the past several years, so he certainly has some worthwhile perspectives to consider (and spoiler, what I agree with). He’s someone with a whole lot of life experience, so he’s seen the evolution of trading and technology from a super interesting point of view. I dig into John’s strategies and cover the various aspects of psychology that come along with using a signal software as part of a strategy. I enjoyed the conversation very much and I’m confident you will too. Even if you have zero interest in ever using a signal software, there’s still plenty of discussions that will offer value to you! Let’s get to it!

I know I’ve covered this topic before, but as long as the media pushes such narratives driven by insanely biased “studies”, I will be here to explain reality. This is not a matter of whether or not I believe you understand how things work, but rather, I want to share with you a simple explanation process to share with those you come across who believe these lies. According to a new Oxfam study, lots of the money being made is “unearned” and it should be taxed at higher rates because of this. Have you ever heard this argument from someone? “Those people aren’t even doing anything and yet they’re making more money! AND, it’s taxed less???” That’s theft! That’s why the system needs to be ripped down! I wish I could say I was throwing up a strawman argument, but as you’ll see as I read from the study, this is the exact argument being made. Let’s take a stop back (along with a deep breath) and walk through why this line of reasoning is such a lie and therefore, easily, explained/debunked.

Data. A very boring word no doubt. When I hear the word “data” I think of geeky scientists in their white lab coats typing away on their calculators. For me, as someone who is by no means a genius, the word carries with it a bit of intimidation because I’m not smart enough to be some geeky scientist in a white lab coat! Whether you are a beginner trader or someone who has experience but is still fine tuning your journey, if you are not using data, you should be! We welcome back community member Matt (chatroom alias, “brigbills”) who updates us on his journey and how things have been going. If you have not connected the dots already, data has and continues to play a huge role in Matt’s current journey. While I don’t want to sound overly dramatic about it, the data has been a total game changer for him and opened his eyes in ways he would never have imagined. I love Matt’s passion for the world of trading and the seriousness in which he is treating everything. If you aren’t inspired to do a deep dive into your trading data after this episode, I’m not sure if there is anything that will convince you. Let’s go!

If you enjoy a good mystery, you’ll love this episode. I say this with all seriousness, but if you can figure out the “why” behind the actions from our guest, we’d love to hear from you! In this episode, we welcome back Nick (”SecondChance” chatroom alias) and catch up on what has been going on in his personal journey. We spend quite a bit of time focusing on “Nick moments” and I find myself stumped. The good news is, there is a pretty clear solution to his problem (which I hope he tries, but he never committed to it). As far as the “why is he doing it, randomly?”, I don’t know! So, I’ll repeat myself, if you do have any idea of what is going on and why he’s doing it, tell us! Having a conversation with Nick (like the first time) was a fun and packed with several quality talking points. Put on your detective hat and get ready for some critical thinking and mystery solving thinking!

Ready for a wild ride? This has gotta be the first time that acid and shrooms lead someone into the world of trading. No, that’s not a joke! My guest, Robert, held nothing back in sharing his story with us. It was shocking at times, but it was raw and honest! I don’t want to say much here as I’d hate to ruin anything. All I can and will say is, if you like wild rides and dramatic stories, you’ll have all of that here. Robert is an inspiring guy and someone who has certainly been through a whole lot. Let’s get to it!