Chat With Traders

What happens when a teenager growing up without TV in rural Canada stumbles across CNBC in a college dorm and sees people making $100,000 in a day? For Chris Vermeulen, that moment changed everything—and kicked off a 25-year journey of trading triumphs, painful losses, and profound strategy shifts.

In this episode, you'll meet a trader who’s lived through the tech bubble, the 2008 financial crisis, and everything in between. Chris doesn’t chase headlines or hype—he follows price, momentum, and something most traders overlook entirely: vibration and cycles.

From blowing up accounts to walking away from day trading altogether, Chris now rides the market’s waves with a calm, calculated edge—making just 5 to 12 trades a year, knowing exactly when to sit still and wait for the right wave. His approach might challenge what you believe about risk, emotion, and even diversification.

About Chris Vermeulen:

Chris is a seasoned position trader with over two decades of experience navigating market cycles—from the tech bubble to the 2008 financial crisis and beyond. He’s the author of Technical Trading Mastery and the newly released Asset Revesting, where he introduces a disciplined, momentum-based strategy for managing risk and maximizing returns. He also founded The Technical Traders.

Rejecting traditional buy-and-hold thinking but also having moved away from day trading, Chris believes that true portfolio growth comes from owning assets in confirmed uptrends and rotating out of those losing strength. His approach emphasizes technical analysis, price action, and timing over diversification, aiming to protect capital while achieving above-average returns.

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●      How to reach Chris – Visit The Technical Traders

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Dylan Maltman, an intraday futures and forex trader and founder of Apex Capital, must have had exceptional clarity starting at a young age. Introduced to the markets in a high school presentation by a prop firm, Dylan caught the passion for the potential of the markets and persuaded his way into a position at the firm. Learning about back testing, he became obsessed with dissecting every nuance of past data so as to create a system with high returns with minimal drawdowns by understanding where edge can be found, as evidenced in the performance of the algorithmic strategies. Emphasizing the significance of order flow analysis and robust back testing, he offers important insights for algorithmic, systematic, and discretionary traders.

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●      How to reach Dylan – Visit Apex Capital Website:

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Trading futures involves the risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor.

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Erik Smolinski returns to Chat With Traders after his first appearance on episode 272, joining Tessa for a trader-to-trader conversation about the intricacies of options trading, a topic Erik is deeply passionate about. In this episode Erik digs into one of Tessa’s own options strategies, offering thoughtful feedback and sharing his expertise and experience from years in the game. With so many myths floating around about options, their discussion clears up some of the biggest misconceptions and gives listeners a practical perspective on how to approach this trading style.

About Erik Smolinski:

Erik is a Marine veteran, options trader, and investor in both real estate and startups. It started when a high school teacher introduced him to investing in 2007, which then changed the direction of his life. Over the years, he’s put in more than 30,000 hours to master his craft and became a first-generation millionaire before turning 30. From his school days to his time in the Marines and his work as a trader, Erik has always set his own standards instead of following the crowd. That independent approach—what he calls the Outlier mindset—has shaped his life. Investing lets him spend time on things he cares about, like traveling, working on cars, training, and helping others learn what he knows.

Sponsors of Chat With Traders Podcast:

Trading futures involves the risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor.

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In this episode we catch up with Patrick Petersson, who returns two years after his first interview on Chat With Traders on episode 260, where he shared his incredible story of overcoming hardship to attaining success in trading as a professional trader. Patrick has become best known for his intuitive, price-action, news-based, scalping trading style. Shifting from trading as a lone wolf to collaborating with others, Patrick shares his personal transformation that he underwent by mentoring and guiding other aspiring traders to realize their greatest potential.

In a refreshingly blunt conversation, Patrick shares practical, real-life trading topics and issues that traders are experiencing today, including the psychological and practical challenges of trading, and the role community and engagement plays in one's trading development. He also shares his thoughts on the sharp divide between traders risking their own capital and those cycling through prop firm evaluations, and the shortages of honest guidance for traders, and so much more.

More about Patrick Petersson:

Patrick has over 20 years of experience in the U.S. stock and futures markets. As a retired professional trader, he now guides traders of all levels and has been a driving force in trading communities such as the Chat With Traders and MenthorQ communities. Currently at MenthorQ, he developed the MenthorQ Blindspots and Trading Roadmap principles, which aim to simplify trading with the principle: Keep It Super Simple. He also hosts MenthorQ TV, where he interviews guests and shares trading strategies. Additionally, he is a father of two and resides in Dubai with his family.

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Michael Martin, raised in a hardworking blue-collar community, embraced the same ethic. An entrepreneur at heart, he hustled from cutting grass when he was 12 to working all types of jobs including golf caddying and waiting at restaurants to starting businesses. Determined to transition into the white-collar working world and being at the right place at the right time, he was exposed to the financial markets.  

He subsequently worked on Wall Street, managing commodity accounts. Despite the significant commissions, he realized that he could potentially earn more through an incentive fee. After three years at a brokerage firm, he started his own CTA.

Emphasizing the importance of risk management, discipline, and emotional intelligence, and maintaining a mental edge in trading, he discusses his early experiences with commodities, the evolution of his trading strategies, and the significance of networking and mentorship.

This episode of Chat With Traders is sponsored by Plus 500 and Trade The Pool. Click here to learn more about Plus500 and Trade The Pool.

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Christian Mayer, with an institutional trading background, transitioned from equities to forex, focusing on fixed sized mean-reversion strategies with fundamental correlations where structural edge is statistically likely. His initial losses led him to a research and systematic-driven approach, and back testing. He trades with fixed position sizes, wide stop losses, and avoids compounding to minimize exposure to fat-tail risks and black swan events. Emotionally disciplined yet honest about the psychological strain of prolonged drawdowns, Christian blends rigorous quantitative methods with thoughtful strategy design. With a successful track record, including a second-place finish in one of the World Cup Trading Championships in the Forex category, he also created GlobalFXanalytics.com to respond to the demands of traders wanting to understand more about his forex strategy and view his strategy’s performance.

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A former engineer turned successful options trader, real estate investor and entrepreneur, Cody Yeh shares his incredible journey from the 9-to-5 grind to achieving financial freedom through smart investing and calculated risk-taking.

We unpack his options trading strategies, mindset hacks for building wealth, and how he helps others escape the rat race and take control of their financial futures. Whether you’re a trading newbie or a seasoned investor, Cody drops pure gold you won’t want to miss.

About Cody Yeh:

Cody Yeh is a Canadian entrepreneur, investor, and YouTuber who left his corporate job to pursue full-time trading and coaching. Known for his transparent and no-fluff approach, Cody has helped thousands gain clarity on their financial goals and take practical steps toward financial independence.

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Few people understand the minds of traders like Dr. Brett Steenbarger. As a psychologist who trades actively himself, he brings a rare combination of clinical expertise and practical experience to the world of financial markets.

You might know him from his dynamic presentations at SMB Capital, where he breaks down the psychology of trading with remarkable clarity. His willingness to evolve his views over the years through his extensive work with professional traders and hedge fund portfolio managers, has shaped his own trading approach too. 

His upcoming book, "Positive Trading Psychology," promises to share fresh perspectives drawn from these years of experience. Set for release this year, it adds to his already impressive collection of articles and books that have helped countless traders understand the psychological dimensions of market success.

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Steve Ruffley transitioned from a highly competitive trading floor environment to trading professionally as a retail trader. His entrance into trading was unplanned - a mix of ambition, timing, and the right connections. After leaving university early, he took a finance job and then moved to Gibraltar, where he met traders running a new trading floor. Intrigued, he joined their intense graduate program, enduring six weeks of brutal tests where failure meant dismissal. The trading floor was an adrenaline-fueled world - rows of screens, high-stakes trades, and a culture of camaraderie and competition. This experience undoubtedly shaped his trading mindset, philosophy, and technique, where risk is not a dirty word, and size and speed are essential. Steve is also a trading mentor and the author of his latest book, “The Pro Retail Trader”.

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Ross Haber’s trading philosophy is built on growth-focused strategies, heavily influenced by William O'Neil. Combining both technical and fundamental analysis, Ross emphasizes the importance of identifying leaders in strong market sectors and adapting to market cycles.  

Optimizing the use of relative strength, moving averages, and volume analysis, and tailoring it to each stock’s unique personality combined with his ability to manage risk through strategic scaling techniques and sell stops has been one of the cornerstones of his success. 

About Ross Haber

During his tenure as Portfolio Manager at William O'Neil & Company from 1998 to 2001, Ross played a pivotal role in the firm's remarkable growth. As part of an elite investment team, he helped transform a $15 million portfolio into an impressive $850 million in assets under management. Ross has since co-founded Trader Lion, where he continues to apply his extensive market expertise.

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