The Stock Trading Reality Podcast

I wanted to take a step back from the normal format of the show to bring to your attention a situation that 100% pertains to the world of “trading”. As citizens of the USA, you know we have an election coming soon. While I may disagree with who you vote for, I can respect it and hopefully we can all agree on the central idea that “being educated about policy” is a worthwhile effort. If you are a trader or have ambitions of becoming a trader, no matter your account size, this is a policy that...

It’s amazing how a single three letter word can make such a difference. When you look at life through the lens of “how”, it opens up so many more potential opportunities for yourself. My guest from the community, Judd (“juddw” in the chatroom), is a shining example of just how powerful the word “how” can be. It has already served him well with life in general, but it continues to serve him nicely with his trading journey. Judd has been swing trading now for an extended period of time with...

The human mind is an awesome place… well… assuming it is being operated under the right circumstances and structure. What do I mean? The Near Miss Effect has been researched and studied quite significantly in the world of science and psychology and “why it exists” is actually pretty great. The downside is, it can turn into a savage and counterproductive mechanism to work against our goals is we are not aware of it. Given I have been working with traders since 2013 and combing that with the...

In my mind, there is nothing more inspiring than a younger person doing what they need to do in order to complete the mission. My guest, Anton from the community, has been a hustler and grinder since age 12. How much of a hustler and grinder? How about $50,000 sitting in his bank account by the age of 21… not $50,000 of debt, $50,000 of cash! If that doesn’t get you inspired and motivated, I don’t know what will. With all that being said, as ambitious of a person as Anton is, the market has...

I welcome back fellow member Ken (“gaingreens” in the chatroom community) to get an update on his trading journey. The last time we spoke was before the world went crazy with covid, so needless to say, much has changed for Ken in his personal life which of course affected his trading. How was his trading affected and what did he learn from it? Even more important, what solutions did he put into place to alleviate the issues that were arising? One of Ken’s biggest strengths I observed in...

It’s time to toughen up! If you want to survive in the financial markets, a “must have” requirement is being able to have thick skin. If you are someone who is easily offended or has an ego so big that as soon as someone says something that pricks it, stay away! My guest from the community, Marcus, is a shining example of exactly why this is the case. He’s been through a lot and his journey has spanned several years, but he’s hustling and grinding his way not only through trading, but life....

He’s back. Long time member and one of the first five guest I ever talked to on the podcast, Richard (better known as “RDTrader” in the community), is here to update us on his continued journey in the markets. Per usual we go down some deep rabbit holes that I’m confident everyone can benefit from. Even if you have years of experience, there is nothing more powerful than “being reminded” of certain pitfalls in the market, and you’ll certainly be reminded! For those of you that are new and...

I’ll be the first to admit, I had no idea there was such a science to learning. I think most of us realize that learning is important and something that needs to be taken seriously; however, when it comes to “how” to take it seriously, that’s where many (myself included) get lost. Whether you are wanting to learn how to trade or build a birdhouse, I think it’s safe to assume you want to learn as quickly as possible and adapt to whatever is thrown your way. I did some research on learning and...

What a great discussion this was! If you’re looking to pick up some nuggets of wisdom from someone else’s experience, look no further. I welcome back fellow member Matt (“msouza” alias in chatroom) to give us an update on his journey. Needless to say, it’s been a wild ride of stupidity and pain, but hey… if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ve all been there! Matt has made quite a few changes in his trading but most importantly, he’s experienced some “stress testing” of those changes to see...

Becoming your own boss as you take that step into trading full time is a dream that many people have. Does it need to be the end goal? It does not. In many cases, using trading as a way to diversify your streams of income is more than wise; however, for our fellow community member Johnny, this is what he wanted. He follows the trend of many people in his situation. He never really had the initial goal to “go full time”, he just wanted to get involved in trading to create a bit more cash for...

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “when it rains it pours” and that’s what happened to our long time member and guest, Pendar. I have nothing but respect for these kinds of people who get slammed in the face with a sledge hammer from life, but keep on grinding. As mentioned, Pendar has been a community member for several years now and reached out to me wanting to be a guest so he could update the community on his situation, but with a twist. He wanted to really focus on all the dumb things...

When you see potential in someone, one of the most impolite things you can do is to “beat around the bush” and not be blunt. We have a case of that here with community member Luis. As you’ll see, the conversation starts off a bit rough as I questioned him and pressed him on certain areas of his journey. While it may have come across as rough around the edges, it was all being done because Luis has great potential and I didn’t want to see one of the typical traps grab him. All in all though,...

I love me some science and psychology! I stumbled across an “effect” in the world of psychology and did more research on it… and wow, all I can say is it 100% (probably even more) applies to all of us in the challenging world of trading. In fact, it’s a phenomenon where if you are being honest with yourself, it has happened to you or who knows, may be happening right now. To clarity, just because there has been money spent at a university to do research and study a topic does not mean you...

If there is one word that I think most new traders can relate to, it would be “randomness”. When you are new and don’t know what you don’t know, everything can quickly become overwhelming because it all feels so random. This of course leads us on a bumpy road filled with twists and turns. This was the exact case for my guest, Andrew (“Kaizen” chatroom alias in community). To his credit, despite all the twists and turns, he stuck with it and then eventually stumbled into his “game changer”...

Brutal. That’s really all I can think of to describe how this journey began. The thing is, it all started off with scoring an $8,000 win in one of his first trades. From that point? Well… not good! I had a great chat with fellow member from the community, Michael, about his journey and he held nothing back. Because of this brutal opening experience within his journey, in my opinion at least, he has established himself as an authority give advice for certain trading behaviors. When you are...

When it comes to trading success (and in most areas of life), having patience is a big requirement needed. However, there are definitely some areas within trading where impatience can work in your advantage and once you realize this, good things can begin to happen! My guest from the community, Matt, shares his journey with us which started off in a very rough (and as he disclosed, “embarrassing”) way. How did Matt recover from this train wreck of a start? What choices and maneuvers did he...

Buckle up and get ready to do a deep dive into the human mind and the world of human emotions. Especially for us men, talking about our feelings and emotions is probably not at the top of our list of favorite things; however, as you will see within this conversation, it is a critical consideration that needs to be addressed. I had a great talk with long time member Nick (“KillerSwan” in the community) where he held nothing back and allowed us all into his journey, particularly his struggles....

One of the more common questions (and complaints) I see is people not having as much money as they’d like to have in their trading account. I have some great news though! Whether you want the responsibility or not, it doesn’t matter. The fact is this: YOU (yes you!) are a business owner and CEO. You might not think so given you don’t run a company that offers a product or service; however, this is a false understanding of reality. The reality of the matter is you 100% “do” offer a...

Time horizons matter quite a bit in the world of trading. Time can get a bit tricky when it comes to trading unfortunately; sure, you don’t want to be wasting your time but at the same time, you don’t want to be rushing either. My guest from the community, Kenneth, gives us a great illustration of somehow who is approaching trading in a time efficient manner, but not rushing. When you choose to take certain steps and surround yourself with the infrastructure Kenneth has, while there are no...

Trading and investing can be a very emotional game. If you’ve ever had a single dollar of your own hard earned money in the markets, you know exactly what I mean. This leads to the next logical question, “what can be done to remove the emotion?” There is certainly no perfect system to do it, but one way is to get so focused on the numbers and data, you almost forget to have emotion. In this episode I welcome back fellow member Sean who is all about the data. To his credit though, he admits...