We heard it all the time as kids: "Stay away from drugs". As we discuss in our interview with chatroom member Jeff ("Doc"), if you are not careful, the stock market can act as the ultimate drug. While I understand this may sound dramatic, it is a dynamic that I can certainly relate to during the time when I was first getting into the markets. When you allow the markets to corrupt you like a drug, the decisions you make as a trader are not good for your trading health... sit back and enjoy yourself through a journey of some major ups and downs. Notes: Doc’s first introduction to the market was when he was 16 years old. He purchased 25 shares of PNC with money he earned from being a paperboy. He took substantial losses during the various market sell offs. While he was utilizing option strategies that had 66% probability to profit, that 66% started working against him. While he did invest in education, his old methodologies did not work in application. He became a CTU member, rewired his entire outlook on actively trading and is now bringing in consistent gains with his new found knowledge. Quotes: “I had no clue. I was jumping into stocks from the high dive. Little did I know that I was diving into cement instead of water.” “If I have a good paper trade I missed an opportunity to make money. So lets just go balls to the wall and make money.” “I was educated but I was educated wrong. And I needed somebody to reprogram my wires.” “I was driving down a road at 100 mph throwing handfuls of cash out the window. That was my trading life.”