Trading Story: Trading Interviews, Tips & Inspiration For Newer Traders

Hope things have been going well for you guys. Hope you're progressing in your life and your side projects, especially if you're still tackling trading or real estate investing.

Trading and investing is a great gig if you can make it work and I'm hoping you guys are doing well in these and every area you're working on.

On my end, I just got back from a vacation to Disneyland with my family. It was the 2nd time my family has been there and a good time was had by all in Anaheim. We also visited Warner Brothers Studios and Hollywood on the Left Coast. I did like the weather in Southern California and it's always good to get out of the routine.

I'm feeling refreshed, but I was a little late in getting this podcast out to everyone this week. This will be the last podcast I plan to release for awhile on the Trading Story. I don't want to say this is the final podcast, but it could be. As you may know now, my attentions have already shifted away from trading into real estate investing. I may launch another podcast in the future. So make sure you stay subscribed to this podcast because I will update everyone if that happens.

For those who may be interested, I'm mulling over a Christian apologetics podcast. If you have any suggestions about it, feel free to email me.

Launching A New Project: REINomad.com

But for now, I wanted to share another side project I've been working on. It's not a podcast, but something a little more simple. In addition to helping with marketing clients and growing their businesses, I like to start projects where they seem to make sense. Since pausing my trading efforts, I've turned my attention to real estate investing. Though I'm just getting started and I only have one investment property working right now, I think real estate investing is the place for me for the long-term.

And I wanted to let my listeners know a few reasons why I think real estate investing is a good thing for you as well - assuming you want financial and location independence.

That's why I launched a new website called, REINomad.com.

This resource and email list aims to be a help to anyone who is interested in real estate investing "as a nomad". In other words, if you want to invest an opportunist and find the best real estate opportunities in the next town or across the country, that's what REI Nomad is about. The goal is for you to take advantage of real estate markets that are up-and-coming - since all markets are local - and profit while you focus on what you do best.

And to get you started, we put together a free resource for you called "The 10 Ways To Invest In Real Estate Like A Nomad" over at...

REINomad.com/TenWays/

With this resource, you can be equipped to understand the best ways people invest in real estate when they don't live down the street. So check it out today.

On Wrapping Up The Trading Story Podcast

So as we wrap up this chapter of the Trading Story podcast, I wish you guys the best in every endeavor. If you like podcasting and have any questions, shoot me an email. I've enjoyed interacting with everyone. Shoot me an email for anything for that matter at brandon (at) tradingstory.com

Do you know this podcast has been downloaded over 350,000 times! That means tens of thousands of listeners have found value in this information. And I'm glad to have connected with many of you. Appreciate all the support along the way and the encouragement. From where I sit now, I think this podcast has affected the course of my life and I hope it has been helpful to you too.

But before I sign off again, don't forget to download our free infographic, "The 10 Ways To Invest In Real Estate Like A Nomad" at...

REINomad.com/TenWays/

Until next time, all the best!

Joe Fairless is a real estate investor. Joe invests in multi-family real estate with his partners now but he used to work in a NYC ad agency as their youngest VP. Joe hosts the world's longest running daily real estate podcast, Best Real Estate Investing Advice Ever Show. Joe Fairless, welcome to the Trading Story podcast.

Final Thoughts on Joe Fairless Interview

We did it again - one more week of expecting something related to trading and you got to hear from another real estate investor. Not saying none of you guys can't be great traders, but there are other options for you. And Joe Fairless highlighted another possible avenue for you: real estate investing in multi-family properties.

But regardless of whether you want to be a trader, a real estate investor, or something else, there is something to Joe's mantra. I'll let him tell it to you again...

"My personal mantra is: "the secret to living is giving". I got that from Tony Robbins when he did a TED Talk. If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend doing so. He's a phenomenal story-teller and educator. And he mentions the secret to living is giving. I have that on my vision board and printed on my wall. That's the approach I take. And it's so obvious: you give one dollar and you get back ten in return. It might not be a direct cause and effect but over time it plays out time and time again."

It's really amazing what Joe Fairless has been able to do in a such a relatively short amount of time. He has grown a real estate investing portfolio that's well north of $100 million dollars and he only started back in 2013 - a little over 4 years ago. He's a regular guy except for one exception: he gives. He gives his audience a podcast episode for the past ~1,000 days. That's a lot of giving. And he's getting something back in return for his efforts. A very lucrative career in real estate investing. Kudos to you, Joe. Thanks for your time.

And thank you for your time listening to another non-Trading, Trading Story podcast. Some of you may be wondering if this will become a new habit - releasing more episodes. Sadly, probably not. But I thought I owed it to my audience to let you know what was going on and why I'm now sold on real estate investing over trading. If you're not, that's okay. Keep driving and something will stick and you'll do better than me. I'd love to see all of you guys succeed at trading, real estate investing, or something else where we're not working for the "man". 

Action Item: Keep Driving

The action item for this week is: keep driving.

There's a reason you turned on this podcast and hopefully it's to get a little inspiration in your quest for financial and location independence. You know it's out there. Me too. I've achieved a bit of location-independence with my marketing business, though I just got on the road through real estate investing. I'm still going and you can too. Keep going guys - we're not dead yet.

Until next time, all the best!

Resources Mentioned In Podcast

Joe Fairless Resources

Reachout to Joe: info@joefairless.com

InvestWithJoe.com

Tony Robbins TED Talk: Why We Do What We Do

Tony Robbins: The Secret to Living Is Giving

Rod Khleif is a 30+ year veteran real estate investor. He has owned over 2,000 single or multi-family units in his investing career. Rod is an an author, philanthropist and podcaster with over 1,000,000 downloads to his very popular podcast, The Lifetime Cashflow Podcast which can be found at RodKhleif.com.

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Resources Mentioned In Podcast

Rod Khleif's Resources

• Free Book on Multi-Family Investing: Text "rod" to 41411.
• 29 Fatal Mistakes Many Apartment Buyers Make: RodKhleif.com/29-Mistakes
• RodKhleif.com
• Tiny Hands Foundation

Brandon's Newest Real Estate Investing Project

• REINomad.com

• Thanks for joining me.
• Big announcement: This is the Finalish episode of the Trading Story podcast.
• This is an ad lib episode with minimal notes.
• This is a looking back & looking ahead podcast.

Scott Barkley is president and co-founder of ProAct Traders, a professional forex trading mentorship and home of the 1-year Fast Tracker program. He's been trading full-time for 14 years. He lives in the Austin, Texas area with his wife and he sometimes babysits his daughter's golden retriever. He is also my personal trading coach.

Justin Hertzberg is a currency trader and also President and CEO of Forest Park FX, a CFTC-registered introducing brokerage firm. On this episode, we're going to be discussing the mistakes people make when shopping for forex brokers. He lives in sunny Boca Raton, Florida with his wife and boy-girl twins.

Zach Hurwitz is an independent equities trader, trading coach, consultant to emerging hedge funds & proprietary firms, VWAP specialist. Founder of TheVWAP.com.

Joel Kruger is an FX trader and the founder JKonFX.com. He's been trading 10+ years and has come to specialize in global macro trading.  He has appeared on Bloomberg television and other financial networks. Joel's website received top honors by FXStreet for “Best Buy Side Analysis” and “Best Video” in 2014.

Justine Pollard is a professional stock and CFD trader. She's been trading for over 25 years, is a trend follower, and specializes in trading plans. Her book, Smart Trading Plans, is published by Wiley. She blogs at smarttrading.com.au.

Hope things are going well and progressing with you guys on the trading side. This week, I took 3 positions: all net losers. I had a deadline on another project so I didn’t spend as much time as I would like. Such is life.

But one thing I did was grab another book that I recommend. It’s not a trading book, per se. It’s more of a business success book that has plenty of application for those of us learning to trade. I’m about half-way through the book now to be up front. It’s a short read – 224 pages, but easy reading. I’ll finish the book by the time this podcast is released. But what I have picked up so far has been pretty good.

The book is called The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. I heard an interview with Jay Papasan a few months back plugging the book. What piqued my interest was the simplicity behind the concept. I like simple. Jay and Gary both also live in my hometown, Austin, Texas. So being the late-adopter that I am, I finally picked up the book. It was written in 2012 and I’m podcasting in 2016. So do the math, I’m late to The One Thing party.

David Frost is a full-time trader. He's a Wall Street veteran and has been trading for 20 years. When he's not trading, he's coaching his son's baseball team. He specializes in gap trading and publishes some of his results at lazygaptrader.com.

If you listened to last week’s episode – episode 102 – I bemoaned the fact that my trading results in February were less than to be desired. At the beginning of the month, I opened up my live trading account. To be open, it’s a small account ($500). But it’s enough to give me a taste for losing and gaining real dollars. It’s something my trading coach recommends, so that’s why I did it.

In addition, the point is to gain consistent pips. If I can’t make gains in a small account, then what business do I have trading mini lots or full lots? That’s the reason I’m only trading micro lots at this point.

John Richardson is a full-time options trader. He's been trading since late 1980s. He's traded stocks, futures, forex, and options. He's the owner of consistentoptionsincome.com and he resides in sunny, San Diego, California.

What do you guys do when things aren’t working out for you? Whether that’s in a relationship you thought was supposed to be great, but it isn’t happening. Or maybe you tried a church or religion and it didn’t meet your expectations. Or perhaps a supposed dream job turned into a nightmare.

And what about your trading? What do you do if you’re trading isn’t working as advertised. You bought into a system, but the system is generating negative returns. What do you do when that happens?

Something like that happened this month in my trading. This episode of the podcast is about what I did when that happened. Take it for what it is. I’m a developing trader trying to make this trading thing work and podcasting along the way. But you may find something to help you along in your journey as well.

Houston Truong has been trading for about 10 years. He runs a trading blog http://thetradingedge.org, where he focuses on trading setups and trading psychology. He hails from Montreal, Canada, where he lives with his wife and two children.

I really appreciate Marko taking the time to interview me for the podcast. He was pro and I’m glad we had the chance to connect. As Marko mentioned, he’s a ‘face in the crowd’. And Marko may represent many of you guys out there interested in hiring a trading coach. Admittedly, this is one guy’s opinion. But hopefully it gives you another perspective as you’re thinking about going with a trading service or coach.

As for the takeaway of the podcast – that would sound a little strange. Me pulling a quote from me. So instead of that feature, here’s your takeaway:

"Take action already. If you’re just starting out, pick up a trading book. If you’ve read a book, go read up on stocks at Investopedia, or forex on BabyPips or anything on Tradimo. And if you’re ready to go beyond that, then some definitive steps in that direction."

Brett Steenbarger has been involved in the financial markets since the 1970's. He is a futures trader and is a performance coach with various hedge funds and proprietary trading firms. He earned his PhD in Clinical Psychology and is a Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at SUNY Upstate Medical University. He is the author of Trading Psychology 2.0.

Metaphors are very helpful things.

Metaphors can really cement ideas into our heads. The best teachers are the teachers who can take an abstract, but real concept and give it some form with an accurate metaphor which aptly describes that idea.

Some of the most well-known metaphors, also called ‘word pictures’, are: ‘beating a dead horse’, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’, ‘elephant in the room’, ‘kicked the bucket’, or ‘800-lb gorilla’. None of these expressions literally mean what is said. These metaphors all point to something beyond themselves.

Let’s take the last one, ‘800-lb Gorilla’. Chances are you’ve never seen an actual 800-lb gorilla in the wild. But if you did, you wouldn’t want to challenge his supremacy over the lady gorillas in his clan. No, you would want to leave that alpha alone to his harem and mosey on down the mountain. 800-lb gorillas do what 800-lb gorillas want to do.

In the same way, some companies are known as 800-lb gorillas. For instance, Google – now called ‘Alphabet’ is an 800-lb gorilla. Google can pretty much do whatever they want within the law and within reason. They are the 800-lb gorilla of the online search business. They’ve proven their supremacy by acquiring major businesses like YouTube, Motorola, Postini, and many more. They have the cash and they it deploy at will. They are an 800-lb gorilla in tech.

But enough about metaphors, already, what does this have to do with trading?

I’m glad you asked.

The whole reason I bring this up was something my trading coach brought up in his training program. I take no credit for this, I’m simply relaying what he told all of the students in my training class.

The Iceberg Metaphor in Trading

Learning to trade, and really learning to do anything worthwhile, is very similar to the concept of an iceberg. In other words, a successful trader is like an iceberg.

Aaron Fifield is a developing algorithmic trader from Down Under. He's also the host of the popular podcast, Chat with Traders. We cover lessons he's learned chatting with over 50 traders and how his trading has shifted over the past few years.

Who among us hasn’t had that well-meaning soul try to steer us clear from day trading?

I remember working at Dell in the early 2000’s. I had a fairly easy job at the time. It was an internal support job where we took calls from sales people and tried to answer questions that they didn’t know. At times it was the easiest job I ever had. These were the early days of the internet. And sometimes, for hours on end, I would have 1, maybe 2, three-minute calls per hour answering simple questions about some internal policy. Easy stuff. The rest of the time I was ‘surfing the net’ with my colleagues. One guy got so comfortable he got fired for bringing his video game to work a couple times. The fact is, he could do that and still answer his calls because the queue was so dead most of the time. At least I thought so. Unfortunately for him, our manager didn’t agree. So he was canned and none of us brought video games up to work again. Such was my life at Dell in the early 2000s.

Day Trading is for Fools?

Anyway, I remember chatting with one of the team leads about my desire to get into trading. I had just met a couple traders at church and was interested to get started in their program. Being a more cautious person than yours truly, he recounted his ‘friend’ who tried day trading and failed miserably. He didn’t know how anyone could make it as a day trader. Nevermind how bank traders make a living day trading. Forget also how a host of other day trading jobs pepper the financial services industry. But he was in tech and they were in finance and never the twain shall meet. At least until the tech guys need money. Then they know who to call.

Of course, that wasn’t the only person tried to steer me clear of day trading. There was my dad, then a client with his tale of a guy who killed himself after losing big in the market. Then there was a former boss who told tales of a former college athlete at our alma mater who swindled donors out of millions in a Ponzi scheme. Aside from my dad, none of these guys were that interested in trading. But they distrusted ‘day trading’ vehemently. It’s got a bad rap.

Don’t get me wrong.

Day trading can end pretty badly for some people. The most famous of those bad endings came in the postscript to Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, probably the most well-known trading tale in the industry. In the end, the protagonist, killed himself. That man was a day trader. True story. Yes, some day traders meet a horrible end. But does that mean, dear logic students, that ALL traders blow their brains out? I don’t think so. So despite your friends’ well-meaning advice, chart your own course in life. The road to day trading doesn’t always end at the mortuary…sometimes…but not usually.

That was easily the longest introduction to a Trading Story podcast episode to date. But you guys didn’t download this episode to hear about day trading naysayers in my past. No, you want know something about day trading. So here goes…

Definition: Day Trading

Toni Turner is president of Trendstar Trading Group and runs ToniTurner.com. She is the author of a best selling book, "A Beginner's Guide to Day Trading Online, 2nd Edition." as well as other books. She's been a guest on CNBC, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox Business and has contributed to numerous financial publications including TheStreet.com and Weiss Incorporated. She speaks regularly on trading and investing topics throughout the country.

A couple days ago, I had the privilege of speaking with another podcast listener. This guy, who will rename anonymous and who happens to be from Germany. I have a special affinity for Germany. I’ve only been to Germany one time, way back in 1990 just after the Berlin Wall fell. My family and I were visiting Austria and we were in Saltzberg. We had the chance to checkout Berchtesgaden, just over the Austrian border in Germany. That was where Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest was located. Being a history buff I was pretty stoked about going and the visit did not disappoint. The trip up the mountain was pretty foggy, so I didn’t see all the spectacular views that I’m sure were there, but it was a great experience for a teenage kid enamored with anything related to European history. I haven’t been to the cool cities yet like Berlin or Munich yet. Maybe one day.

Anyway, this listener had a great comment about learning how to trade. He said ‘learning to trade is a bumpy journey’. Like me, he’s been at it a few years and still aiming for consistent profitability. We think we get this trading thing down for a week or so only to be knocked back to breakeven. It’s far from smooth sailing. It’s a rough road. There are many twists and turns on the path to trading success – or what we hope will be trading success. The fact is, none of us can see the future. That knowledge is reserved for the Divine. Us earthly folk are struggling along with our incomplete information and whipsawing markets. I agree with my new German friend: learning to trade is a bumpy journey.

Mark Dannenberg was a senior executive at a Fortune 500 company. He has 26 years of experience in trading options. He's also an author and speaker and loves teaching newer traders about options at OptionsMoneyMaker.com. When he's not trading, he's hanging out with his family, and riding his motorcycle along the Pacific Coast Highway.

Three things or three ‘goods’ to look for in your trading coach. These are things that I look for in a trading coach and things that you may want to consider if you’re at the point of hiring a trading mentor.

1. Good trader
2. Good teacher
3. Good person
Bonus: Good Life
(Are they living the life you want to live?)

Charles is a trading coach at Trade Empowered and is currently a part-time trader. He's also the President and Head Trader at Trade Katz based in Lenexa, Kansas, USA.

Algorithms are everywhere.

Algorithms are running grocery stores like Walmart with air conditioning controlled from corporate in Bentonville, Arkansas. They’re help determine what you’re likely to buy next on Amazon.com and serve you relevant ads just before you buy that trading book. Perhaps the most ubiquitous algorithm is Google’s. Google’s algorithm, in theory and according to their engineers, attempts to provide the best search results for their users search query and even un-typed intent.

So algorithms are everywhere.

It should not be surprising to find algorithms at work in the markets. But it may not be something you think about much. That said, it is something you should think about because those same markets where you and I trade are affected by trading algorithms every day. Sometimes dramatically.

Bert Mouler is the founder and CEO of Profluent Capital where they manage funds using algorithmic trading strategies. He also works in cryptocurrency mining, currency hedging, and more.

Sometimes on these shorter episodes, I get personal. I start that uncomfortable (at least for me) naval gazing and let you into the inner sanctum of a developing trader’s mind. Hopefully it’s not too personal, but my intent is for it to be real. And then at other times, we review a particular area of the market or an area of life as a newer trader – be it something about forex or goal setting or how to pick a trading market.

This episode is more of a hybrid between the two: this episode is both personal with a hint of belly gazing. But hopefully it’s practical as well.

Robb Reinhold is a full-time trader and a principal at Maverick Trading. He’s been trading stocks, options, forex, futures, etc. since 1997. He’s a published author of Maverick Trading: Proven Techniques to Create Generational Wealth and he also runs the training at Maverick Trading, a proprietary trading company that helps train new traders in the markets.

4 things to expect from the podcast in 2016: Weekly awesome trading interviews, helpful tips for newer traders, personal trading updates from Brandon, and useful email updates along the way.

Michael Lamothe is the founder and CEO of Chart Your Trade, a website dedicated to providing traders/investors with an array of robust tools, analysis, webinars, and forums to assist them in their trading journeys.  His vision for ChartYourTrade.com is to not only teach fellow traders his trading methodology, but to also inspire them to work toward achieving financial freedom.

On Monday, we introduced our podcast’s first sponsor, K Capital Advisors.

If you haven’t heard Kyle Fisher’s interview on Monday, you probably should. This episode is a follow-up to Kyle’s trading methodology. But even if you don’t hear Kyle’s interview, you should get some value out of this episode.

Kyle’s approach to the stock market is swing trading. And it perfectly aligns with the target audience of the Trading Story podcast audience. Our audience is smart, they believe in the dream of trading, and have some time (though not enough to join a full-on mentoring program yet) to devote to learning more about the markets. I believe swing trading is the perfect vehicle to step further into the world of trading.

So without further ado, here are 6 reasons you should swing trade stocks in 2016.

1. Investing 2.0
2. Method trades the most popular market – stock market.
3. Learn to trade stocks by doing.
4. Doesn’t take much time (using a picking service).
5. To understand first-hand why professionals use stops.
6. Great for someone with a full-time job with little time to trade.

Kyle Fisher has been trading for 10 years. He runs KCapitalAdvisors.com, a stock trading advisory firm where he provides small cap stock signals for swing traders. He focuses his practice on swing trading which is one of the reasons I wanted to chat with him today. He has earned his MBA from University of Massachusetts and is working on his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is a full-time trader.

Here we are at the end of another year. Lots to be thankful for, much to look forward to. If 2015, wasn’t what you had wished for or even if it was, the end of the year is a good time to reflect. And it’s also a great time to think ahead.

That’s why I wanted to dedicate an entire podcast episode to goal setting…with a twist.

• First off, it’s about goal setting. No surprise there, you’ll see a lot of podcasts about that.
• Second, it’s specifically about goal setting for traders. You’ll see fewer of those.
• Thirdly, it’s about goal setting from a developing trader. This is probably the only one.

Peter Davies has been trading for 10 years. He specializes in a different sort of trading than most are familiar with - order flow - and also teaches it to other traders. Originally from the the UK, he now hails from Thailand. 

So this podcast episode is sort of like that trip to Colorado for me. Except, it’s a more public reflection on my past year. These are my reflections about my year, especially as it relates to trading and this podcast.

So maybe you’ll have a chance to learn from my experience. Some of this will be a repeat material from a few other podcasts, but some of it is very new. But I want to get you guys caught up on my personal trading from January until December in 2015.

Étienne Crête is a forex trader and a fellow trading podcaster. He blogs and podcasts over at DesireToTrade.com where he interviews other traders and business owners about success. He has a great perspective on what it takes to become successful in trading and he’s still in college.

On the last episode of the podcast, I spoke with Roger Davis on his book, Wall Street’s Just Not That Into You.” I read most of the book in preparation for the interview, and it was a helpful perspective for us as traders.

I thought the book was good enough to showcase some of Davis’ extended thoughts from the book for the benefit of the Trading Story podcast listeners.

There are a couple of extended quotes from the book in this episode. But they are worthy excerpts. So without further ado, here are the takeaways…

Takeaway #1: Buy-and-Hold is for the Uninformed

Takeaway #2: The Financial Media Is NOT There To Make YOU Money

Takeaway #3: Wall Street’s Just Not That Into You

Roger Davis is a former Wall Street broker and he's now the CEO of Woodridge Wealth Management. He's also the author of "Wall Street’s Just Not That Into You", where he highlights an alternative approach to investment management. He now lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife and two children.

Maybe this year you want to be brave. Maybe you want to broach the trading topic with the uninitiated. Maybe you want to talk about your dream of becoming a successful stock trader, options trader, forex trader, or whatever. Or maybe not. As you probably already know, there are certainly costs associated with each new topic we bring up in our conversations. Regardless of what you decide to do, this episode is all about talking to your friends and family when trading comes up.

Here are some tips that have helped me when I talk to my family about anything a little unusual. In these cases, my family is less familiar about a particular area that I happen to be interested in. These tips should prove useful in your upcoming holiday conversations in case trading comes up.

Andrew Mitchem has been trading forex for 11 years. He's a podcaster, a YouTuber, and has a very cool domain theforextradingcoach.com. When he's not trading, he's practicing karate, flying a helicopter, or hanging with his wife and 5 kids in New Zealand.

Trading can be confusing for a new comer. There’s so much to consider when you first start off. All the mechanics of buying and selling, trying to make a million bucks – or just a positive return, understanding what a P/E ratio is, and a host of other unnamed things.

But one of the biggest areas of concerns is just getting started: trying to find the right market to trade. How do you know what market you should target, especially when you’re just starting off.

Defining a Trading “Market”

First off, we should define what a trading market is. What is a trading market?

For our purposes, a trading market is a broad category or financial instruments. Most people become interested in trading because of stocks. Stock trading is a probably the most popular form of trading.

But what are other types of trading?

According to an Investopedia article about the question, these are several major markets to trade for retail traders like us. 

1. Stock Market (equities)
2. ETF Market
3. Forex Market
4. Options Market
5. Contracts for Difference (CFD)
6. Commodities
7. Bonds
8. Physical Assets (gold, silver, etc.)

Mercedes Oestermann van Essen is a trader and trading coach. She specializes in trading psychoology has written several books including The Buddhist Trader. She also runs the website, theBuddhistTrader.com.

You’ve got this side project going on? You want to trade. And you know that trading takes time, especially at first as you’re trying to dig through a bunch of definitions you  haven’t heard before and you’re trying to understand things like ‘Shooting Stars’, and trendlines.

You want to make this trading thing work but you don’t want to neglect your family.

• What do you do with your kids when you think you should be studying charts?
• What you do with that guilt when you’re stuck in the office and they’re knocking on the door?
• How do you handle your spouse’s concern or criticism about your latest project?

I’ll be the first to say, I haven’t figured this parenting or marriage thing out completely. We have three children now, one is out of the home and two are in the home: a middle schooler and a elementary student. I love my kids. Though I’ve been doing it for a while, my wife and I still make mistakes along the way. I can confidently say my mistakes are fewer now than they were even 5, 10, or 15 years ago. As in anything, you get better with experience.

Secondly, I’ve put together multiple projects. Trading, to me, is another project. A pretty intense one, but not unlike my first major career shift back in 2006.

So here’s one guy’s opinion as you’re learning how to trade while staying connected with your family.

John Pugliano has been a trader and investor for over 30 years. He's the founder and money manager at Investable Wealth an investment advisory firm in the state of Utah. He's also a podcaster - been podcasting since July 4, 2014 - at the Wealthsteading Podcast.

First off, I have to make an apology for this personal podcast. Last week, I gave you guys a review of my results from my trading strategy. And this one will be a little more of the same. We will get back to some practical aspect of trading and I won’t bore you with another self-indulgent monologue next week.

Nevertheless, this is one of the core features of the Trading Story podcast: to keep you posted on my personal trading journey. And that’s what this is: part 2 of a personal update.

Yvan Byeajee started trading in 2007. He's a full-time trader, has lived in France, Canada, and now is now on 6-month visit to the Island of Mauritius off the coast of Madagascar. He wrote a couple of books, including 'Zero to Hero: How I Went from Being a Losing Trader to a Consistently Profitable One". He also blogs at TradingComposure.com.

It’s been a few weeks since I gave you guys a more detailed update of my personal trading. If you’ve been listening to this podcast for a couple of months, you know I’ve hired a personal trading coach / mentor in September 2015 – about 2 months ago from the recording of this podcast. It’s Mike Gould over at the Forex Winners Academy.

In episode 58, I gave a rather tepid review of Mike Gould’s forex training program. The documentation was lighter than I expected and the time on screen and behind the computer wasn’t as much as I would have liked. So the initial rating of his program was a sideways thumb. Not up, not down. Just waiting until I saw more confirmation.

So it’s almost been 2 months of paper and demo trading the method that I learned from Mike. And I can say my thumb is tilting up these days. Unless something changes in the next few months and then afterward when I start trading with real dollars, I plan to sing a ringing endorsement of Mike’s strategy and coaching program.

Daniel Garnier started trading in 2012. He's focused on the forex market and has been consistenly profitable about a year ago. He's 21 years old and is now broadcasting his Periscope on uploading trading videos on YouTube @DanielGarnier.

When Dominic D, the options trader from episode 21, a fellow trader and one of my mastermind members turned me onto his favorite book, The Slight Edge, it took me about 5 times of him mentioning it before I took notice. But I did take notice and I finally bought the book. According to “Dom”, it’s his single favorite book ever, and he rereads it once a year.

So I finally bought it. As I mentioned before, The Slight Edge is NOT a trading book. It’s a personal development book written by Jeff Olson. It’s one of those books in the ‘success’ niche. The author is responsible for building several multi-million dollar businesses and his book is about his story and his success philosophy. And I’m starting to think Dom is onto something with his recommendation. It’s so good, I thought I’d dedicate this episode of the podcast to the book.

So here goes.

Tim Grittani may be one of the most well-known mentees in the stock trading world. Tim is one of Tim Sykes penny stock trading students. And now the student is becoming the teacher. He is a full-time penny stock trader, turning $1,500 into $2.6 million in 3 short years. And he's beginning to teach others how to do the same.

This week’s Monday episode with Tim Sykes was all about penny stocks. And if you haven’t listened to that episode, you gotta checkout episode 63. Stop the tape. Download Tim Sykes episode and come back here  later. It’s that good.

That said, it got me thinking about penny stocks. It’s an interesting group of stocks. Though I’m not a penny stock trader, I’ve got a certain affinity – and some apprehension – about penny stocks. And if you’re in the same boat, this is a good episode to hear.

Here we go: 7 Facts about Penny Stocks

Timothy (Tim) Sykes maybe the most well-known guest we've had on the program. His name has become synonymous with 'penny stocks' and if you literally Google 'penny stocks', or 'trade penny stocks', his site will show up in the top results. He's been on CNN, CNBC, Fox News, and has been the top trader out of 60,000 traders at Covester.

On Monday, we aired the episode with Phil Davis from PhilStockWorld.com with lots of great info about stocks and trading. And it got me thinking about stocks a little more than usual. I got my start trading stocks back around 2000 and before that my introduction into the markets came from a stock options book back in the late 1990s. So I’ve got a special affinity for stocks though I don’t actively trade them.

Historically, most people have become interested in trading because of stocks. With the growth of forex trading, that’s not always the case anymore. From what I can tell by researching Google search volume, interest in ‘forex trading’ and ‘stock trading’ is about even these days. But with so much current and historic interest in stocks, it seemed natural to look into stock trading.

Most people in stocks aren’t traders. If they’re in the market they’re usually investors, not traders. And there’s a difference between trading stocks and investing in stocks. That’s what we’re discussing today.

Phil Davis is a widely followed stock and options strategist. He's a serial entrepreneur, has been involved with several software companies including the precursor to eHarmony, a matchmaking service. He's been featured on SeekingAlpha, has a over 1 million Twitter followers, and runs the successful stock trading blog, PhilStockWorld.com.

“Everybody loses, but take us back to your most painful losing trade.”

Or so asks the host of a certain podcast out there interviewing successful traders. And these traders know losing. Because every trader loses.

There should be a philosophy of losing, at least a philosophy of trading that incorporates losing as a fundamental aspect of that trading philosophy. Any trader who doesn’t incorporate those ‘losing thoughts’ into their trading, well, they will eventually wake up. And it may be a painful awakening.

As I’m considering this part of trading – I’ll let you know why in a short bit – I had three observations about losing in trading. Nothing too unique or novel. But something we all have to wrestle with as traders.
The fact is: losing is a part of trading.

Steve Burns has been trading since 1995. He's the founder of NewTraderU.com, "the best online resource for new traders" and is the perfect fit for the Trading Story podcast where we aim to help newer traders. He's the author of at least 10 trading books, including New Trader 101.

This week I wrapped up my initial training with my trading coach. Again, it’s Mike Gould at the Forex Winners Academy. The total trading time was about 10 hrs. Less than I initially expected, but I will be continuing the training via the 2-3 weekly webinars he offers to all his students. So the training isn’t completely done. Actually, I don’t expect it to really be done for another year or so. We’ll see how all this goes.

Jason Graystone is a UK-based business owner and a recently profitable forex trader. He came from humble beginnings, became a successful business owner, and then caught the trading bug. Investing in various trading systems, he was down an estimated £30,000, before clawing his way back into the black and has been consistently profitable for nearly a year. It was a great discussion with a nice guy.

I wanted to go meta with you guys for a bit. I just crossed the 6-month mark on this podcasting venture. As you may be aware, I’ve been doing digital marketing for a bit, but have never delved into podcasting until mid-April 2015 – 6 months ago. Launched the Trading Story podcast and it’s been a fun journey with you guys so far. I’ve learned a ton and hopefully you guys have enjoyed it too and got a little educated about trading along the way.

And it seems like a good time to step back and reflect on where we’ve gone together so far. I’ve got five lessons I’ve learned in the past 6 months of podcasting about the markets.

Dr. Barry Burns is trader, a business owner, a podcaster, and runs the very popular TopDogTrading.com. He’s the author of Trend Trading for Dummies. He runs a popular YouTube channel and a podcast also called Top Dog Trading. He holds a doctorate in hypnotherapy. It was a fascinating discussion with a great teacher and a nice guy.

On this week’s episode, there’s a little peek into my trading education. As I told you guys last week, I hired my trading coach. I’m aiming at the forex market. By the time this episode is released I will have been training with my trading coach for about 3 weeks. The entire course takes around 6 weeks or so – so I’m about half-way through now.

One of the things my trading coach did – what every good teacher does – was assign me homework. That’s what I’ve been doing when I’m not learning from my coach either in person or on the webinars. I’ve been researching the market that I’m focused on, the forex market.

And if you want to trade the forex, there’s a ton of free information online for the taking.

For this podcast, I want to highlight 3 free resources that I think are perfect for learning to trade the forex. 

Joshua 'Josh' Martinez is a professional forex trader and educator. He's known as the FX Pathfinder at the Market Trader Institute. He's one of the most followed analysts on MarketTraders.com and can also be found at ForexTips.com. Their firm has been featured on CNBC, Fox Business, Bloomberg Television, & FXStreet.com.

So by the time this episode is released, I will be about a week-and-a-half into a new chapter in my trading story.

Here goes…

I Hired a Trading Coach

Nothing too dramatic yet, just something that was a good next step on my personal trading journey.

I’ve been talking it up for a few months now, ever since I launched the podcast back in April. So here we are, August 2015 – 4 months later – and I’ve taken the next steps in becoming a consistently profitable trader.

Robert Grebe is full-time trader, a veteran business owner and CEO. His experience spans from broadcast journalism to running a successful video game company. Most recently, he's the founder of traderztv.com, a collection of forex trading educators.

Joe Ross has been trading for a long time. He put on his first trade when he was 14 - and he's 80 now. That was 66 years ago. Since then he's been an employee, a business owner, and a full-time trader since the early 1980's. He's authored 12 books and teaches traders in his periodic seminars. He runs Trading Educators and has lived all across the globe thanks to his trading prowess. If you've been around the futures markets for awhile, you may have heard of Joe. Today, everyone gets to hear Joe Ross's trading story.

Sean Emory trades stocks, blogs at The Market Meter, and is responsible for managing over $1,000,000,000. That's billion with a 'B'. His posts have been picked up at Yahoo! Finance, Seeking Alpha, StockTwits, and more. This episode was fascinating because it was a peek into the world of a real-life institutional trader. Helpful to new and experienced traders.

So on the last episode, I had a fascinating discussion with Dr. Gary Dayton. Dr. Gary is a trader with a real-life earned doctor of psychology (Psy.D.) degree and a practicing psychologist specializing in trading psychology. And if you haven’t listened to it yet, I think it’s worth your time.

But it got me thinking about trading psychology even more than before. The fact is, trading psychology is a hot topic in trading circles. Every trading coach, teacher, or mentor I’ve heard from deals with trading psychology. Though most trading coaches are not trained psychologists, most coaches see the value in trading psychology. It’s that important.

So who are these trading psychologists – or those who practice trading psychology?

And who are the best guys who teach psychology in trading?

Brett Steenbarger

Gary  Dayton

Van K. Tharp

Alexander Elder 

Mark Douglas

Dr. Gary Dayton is a psychologist, a trader, and author of the book, Trade Mindfully: Achieve Your Optimum Trading Performance with Mindfulness and Cutting Edge Psychology.  In our discussion, Dr. Gary tells his trading story and reviews several aspects of trading psychology including the area of 'mindfulness' in trading. It was helpful discussion and valuable to both newer and experienced traders.

Hack #1: Manage your Schedule by Cutting Unnecessary Activities
Hack #2: Manage Your Work Through the Pomodoro Technique
Hack #3: Manage Your Energy by Slaying Vampires

A few weeks back, I had an email conversation with a newer trader about the podcast. He seems to be getting some value out of this podcasting effort and I’m so glad he reached out.

One of the things this listener shared was a great idea for a podcast. He was interested in how these experienced traders managed their time. And that is a great question to ask some of these traders.

But before I delve too deeply in these traders’ lives on how they manage their time, I thought I’d throw out a few ideas that I’ve been using personally as I’ve been ramping up my trading again. Take em or leave em, but they seem to be working for me.

Boris Schlossberg is the managing director at BK Asset Management. He has over 20 years of trading experience. He's the author of several books, one of which was "Millionaire Traders: How Everyday People are Beating Wall Street". 

In episode 43, I spoke with Jon Frohlich about proprietary trading at Maverick Trading. In Episode 29, I spoke with Mike Bellafiore about another proprietary trading firm, SMB Capital. So we’ve been covering this area a few different times. And I think it’s an important area for newer and aspiring traders.

In episode 43, I spoke with Jon Frohlich about proprietary trading at Maverick Trading. In Episode 29, I spoke with Mike Bellafiore about another proprietary trading firm, SMB Capital. So we’ve been covering this area a few different times. And I think it’s an important area for newer and aspiring traders.

So talking with Bruce Bower got me thinking about the title of his book: Peak Performance Trading & Investing.

“Peak Performance” is sort-of a buzz phrase in personal development circles. It’s closely related to a couple of other terms in psychology that many trading psychologists have picked up on like “in the flow” or “in the zone”. Mark Douglas, a trader whose name has become synonymous with trading psychology entitled his book “Trading in the Zone”. And that book is probably the most famous of all trading psychology books.

Bruce Bower is an emerging markets trader who has plied his trade in hedge funds in Moscow and London. Now he's trading his own account. And he's written about it on his blog, How of Trading and how to do it yourself with his book, Peak Performance Trading & Investing. We had a very useful discussion for newer traders, especially on trading psychology.

Hello again – and welcome to this week’s more personal update on the Trading Story podcast.

This week’s episode is going to be a little different from previous episodes. This will not be a tutorial about the market. This will not be a reflection on previous episodes – sort of like the flashback episodes you’d get on every 1980’s comedy we used to watch with the screens fading from present to past.

Nope, not today.

This week’s episode is an ask for the interested podcast listeners who are trading.

A little background if you will.

Jeff Weber started out his investing career learning an obscure stock trading strategy as a soldier in a run-down hotel 10 miles from the Korean DMZ. And for 30-years, he’s been trading that strategy with double-digit returns nearly every year since. It was great discussion from veteran investor.

So last week, I let you into an unfolding drama on my end that directly related to my trading. I told you guys I was quitting my full-time job to focus on my marketing clients and trading. What I realized later, I didn’t give a lot of details related to the transition.

I haven’t stopped working at the job yet. But that’s coming soon.

In this episode, I speak with Seth Freudberg, a former CEO turned options income trader. Seth made a major career switch into trading just a few years ago and he offers some great advice for anyone looking to to the same. Lots to learn on this podcast about the trading process as well as trading options for income.

In Episode 20, we explored the other needs of a trader. Number 3 on that list was goals. Recently, something happened on my end that will affect my personal trading. More on that later in the podcast. But it drove home the point that I needed to assess some things in my life.

So I started to think about goals again. Not the whole ‘what am I supposed to do with my life’ question (though that’s pretty important). But more the ‘what I am I supposed to do right now’ question.

I think that’s a helpful topic for a trading podcast too.

I had the opportunity to speak with Akil Stokes. When Akil is not trading forex as the chief currency analyst at Trade Empowered he's coaching track at Millersville University. We talked sports, forex, and trading - a helpful conversation whether or not you want to trade FX. 

Options trading one of those less popular forms of trading.

Compared to stocks, forex, and even futures, options seem to be the ‘lesser-loved’ financial instruments  for most traders. But it does not mean there’s not money to be made there. By no means!

I have some experience paper trading some stock options. I even went through an extensive options trading class, so I know something about it.

For those of you who are interested in options, I thought it would be good to provide a brief overview.

Tim Biggam has been trading in Chicago since 1985. He earned his stripes in the Crash of '87 when he had the cash to stay in and keep trading. And he continues to do it to this day. I learned a lot from this veteran trader and I think you guys will as well.

In this episode, we focus on the most popular of the markets to trade: the stock market. We review some of the ways that traders tackle these markets - and things to consider if you use any of those methods.

When most newer trader think about trading, they think about stock trading. That's why I'm excited to bring to you a conversation with Jason Leavitt. Jason is our first stock trader on the program and it was a good one. He's been trading for almost two decades through bear and bull markets and he has a great plug for trend trading.

Virtual trading rooms have become a staple for the trading education space over the past so many years. And there’s a lot to like about them. Here’s a brief introduction to trading rooms and how they may be beneficial to newer traders.

Mike Bellafiore is a New York City trader. Mike co-founded SMB Capital with a some trading buddies. SMB is a proprietary trading firm focused on helping newer traders become successful traders trading their system. In fact, some of his traders now make $600,000/year after trading three short years. If you're interested in learning more about proprietary trading or prop trading, this episode for you.

Consistently profitable trading is hard.

If anyone tells you differently, they probably haven’t done it very long (if at all) or they’re lying. And forget about taking advice from someone like that.

In my own trading I’ve had streaks of winners and streaks of losers. The winners can lull you into thinking you’ve got this thing figured out just before the next trade wipes out all the wins (or more) of those winning trades. That gives me a lot of respect for anyone who can turn in 20+% returns every year.

It’s a tough business.

So why is it important to stress the difficulty in trading?  Because it’s worth the effort to overcome the difficulties. Not only do I think it’s worth it, but if you’re listening to these podcasts, you probably think it’s worth it too.

You have this unexplainable drive to trade consistently: you’re staying up late looking at charts, buying trading books, attending conferences, or hiring coaches. The goal is worth the price paid for in time, energy, and dollars. Dollars spent both in losing trades and education.

But why? Have you ever laid out the exact reasons you’re trading?

This episode focuses on exploring the various motives behind people trading the markets – I’ve got 10 main reasons. As we go through these, think about where you find yourselves in the process.

Hunt Holladay is not a trading coach, a blogger, a StockTwit, or a YouTuber trying to promote his trading channel. He's just a trader. And a fairly new full-time trader to boot. He turned on his full-time account in January this year - about 6 months ago. At the time of this interview, Hunt had already booked 20% gains on the year, and was trending to have a year that most fund managers would kill to have. I think newer traders out there will get a lot of value from Hunt's story traveling the trading road to where he is now.

In this episode, I outline four reasons you should consider demo trading, also known as paper trading. Those reasons are practice, testing, learning a new platform, and building confidence. In addition, there’s also a couple of related things to consider as you’re demo trading.  

In this episode, I chat with Sebastian Kuhnert. Sebastian is the co-founder and managing director at Tradimo Interactive, a free trading school based in Denmark. Sebastian interacts with hundreds of traders in the Tradimo community so it was great to get his perspective on strategy, trader mistakes, and trading psychology. Plus, he reveals an easy Fibonacci strategy that any new forex trader can use.

In this episode, I catch you guys up on my trading journey. I’m getting closer to putting on some real trades and wanted to let you know where I’m at. Plus, I give you guys some of my takeaways so far in the podcast that should be helpful to you guys as well, especially if you haven’t had the chance to listen to all the podcasts. 

Larry Gaines has the coolest last name for a trader. In his 30+ year trading career, the markets have taken him from his  home state to places like Bermuda and Singapore, until he finally settled down again in Austin, Texas. Larry is also a good teacher. I think you guys are going to like his story and his options strategy that newer traders can use.

In this episode, I talk through why I chose to specialize in the forex. Three reasons why I think it’s a great market to trade. But I also take the flip side and discuss why you may not want to trade it – three reasons to avoid the forex. 

Dominic ‘D’ , or ‘Dom’ for short is a smart and dedicated, part-time trader. He has a finance background and even traded professionally for a time. But now he’s focused on trading just his personal account on the side. He’s grown his account from a modest sum and now has a net worth of over $200,000 – and he’s only in his 20’s.

Dom’s story is encouraging to some of the younger traders among us – he even targets a younger audience at his very active and entertaining blog, GenYFinanceGuy.com. It was a fun and practical conversation.

In this episode, we talk about things that all traders need. Things that I need, and things that you need as a solo-trader: time, energy, and goals. It’s a bit more personal, but hopefully helpful as you and I take on the markets. 

In this episode, I speak with Jeffrey Kennedy. Just because you're a good trader does not make you a good teacher. But Jeff Kennedy happens to be both. A natural teacher and a consistently profitable trader for over a decade, he walks us through the Elliott Wave for newer traders. He also provides some practical tips if you never use Elliott Wave. He is the co-author of Visual Guide to Elliott Wave Trading and has a host of industry designations you'll hear about in the introduction. I personally got some great tips for my trading and I think you will as well.

Tips to finding a good trading coach, mentor, or trading service. Six simple steps for shopping for trading help. But before we get into that, something happened in Houston a few years ago...

I had a fascinating conversation with Jarratt Davis. Jarrett is a London-based forex trader. He's been trading for about a decade, for his personal account and clients at SMILe Global Management. He also teaches other forex traders. Jarratt specializes in news-based forex trading and he's making it available to forex traders interested in that style. He's a quoteable guy and succinctly guides us through some the pitfalls of the markets.