There is always a first, and that's what chatroom member "JC" gave us in this interview. Thanks to his brutal honesty, he let us know that he was at a pretty rough patch at the exact time we were conducting the interview. This was very unique in the sense that Chezz and I were able to give him some "real time" feedback and suggestions to help guide him through this rough spot in his journey. I am very thankful JC was honest enough to share this as it gave us all a chance to truly witness the realities of how trading is not always sunshine and rainbows. Notes: JC’s dad was the first person to introduce him to the market. Another interesting fact is that his dad was interested in penny stocks so that is where JC started also. Unfortunately, JC blew up his account in the first trade he took. He ended up going back to work and refunding an account after a few months to try his hand at the market one more time. JC decided to investigate into education options and found a well known source but after finding out that their package cost around 18 thousand dollars, he decided to look elsewhere and eventually found Clay. After going through some courses, JC decided he wanted to keep practicing during the evenings after work. This led him to get interested in the forex market since it trades for almost 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. While he works full time, he is finding where he fits in his swing trading. He has now traded equities, forex, and options. JC tells us an interesting story about an options trade that goes bad and what subsequently happened to his forex account. Quotes: “My dad said if you just buy sub-pennies they got nowhere to go but up.” tweet this quote “My very first trade and I dump my entire account into this ticker before it dumped. I was all in and it was all gone.” tweet this quote “You’re just some regular guys. You’re not some overwhelming power of Lamborghini stock traders that say ‘this is the way it is.’ “ tweet this quote “The reason I traded forex was because it traded 24 hours and I could actively practice. It was more of a practicing tool to me.” tweet this quote “I was so emotional I could not make a rational decision.” tweet this quote Links: http://investorshub.advfn.com/ClayTradercom-27618/

If you've listened to any of the podcasts before, you know a huge theme is always having a trade plan. Chatroom member, Matt (known as "Dirt Wolf"), gives what I would consider to be one of the better overviews of what it truly means to have a trade plan in place before putting any money at risk. For those of you trading penny stocks and wanting a better way, I'm confident Matt's perspective on this area of the market can open your eyes to other possibilities. Notes: Matt went to college to become a math teacher but soon realized a profession in the finance industry would better fit his personality. He was worried about not having enough capital to trade larger more well known names so he dove into penny stocks that had endorsement from various sports figures. Matt won the penny stock lottery. One of the tickers he was holding was taken over and rode the marijuana boom up exponentially. While he gave back about half his total gains, he finished with a healthy profit and decided to use the money to get educated in an effort to become consistent. After taking a break from trading, Matt decided he wanted to come back head first and accepted that this was going to be a lifelong journey, not a get rich quick scheme. Being well versed in options from his previous job, Matt now employs advanced options strategies which give him a much higher probability of profit. Quotes: “I didn’t really think I could trade the big board stocks. That’s why I got into the pennies. You could buy a ton of shares.” tweet this quote “I had a buddy who took out a line of credit on his house and put a couple hundred thousand into a ticker.” tweet this quote “I’m just counting all the dollar signs in my head, thinking about what I’m going to do with all my money.” tweet this quote “Options trading and technical analysis go hand in hand.” tweet this quote

For those of you who are members of the chat room, you've seen that our guest, Curtis, has been doing extremely well for himself. There have been some days that are flat are crazy (and I mean that in a good way!). Many have wanted to hear from Curtis, so that time has come! Unfortunately though, the "secret sauce" that Curtis shares with us is not going to be something that many people want to hear. While it is 110% honest/good/realistic advice, it is what I call the unpopular key to trading success. Notes: Curtis started trading by doing dollar cost averaging pre-1999. He was able to cash out for a nice gain from these strategies. Curtis knew an in-person pumper that would promote various penny stocks that himself and his coworkers would trade. He was fortunate enough to have a large life event happen that caused him to sell near the top of the run. After a 10 year break, Curtis was following an ex-trader who was able to retire at an early age and travel the world and decided he wanted to try his hand at the market one more time. While he tried to follow various traders and modify their techniques, the strategies they were employing did not fit with his personality and led him to lose money. After blowing up his account during a stock halt, Curtis decided to go back to paper trading and really find his strengths. He bought a good notebook and wrote down his daily trades for over 6 months before applying the same strategies to the live market. Curtis then started at half his paper size and slowly scaled up into the same size he was trading on paper. He now is confident in his methods and able to consistently generate more profits relative to losses. Quotes: “I had those dreams of mansions and everything but I was buying a house so I cashed out.” tweet quote “I would try to trade these ridiculous option spreads and there’s just no way unless it’s a freight train.” tweet quote “If I could automate it and backtest it, I could say ‘ok computer, go do it’ and not be in the way.” tweet quote “Your mind gets in the way all the time. I try not to do two things at once. I lose money when I try to.” tweet quote Links: Video: Stock Trading 101 – How to Paper Trade Video: How To Paper Trade With A Purpose

I'll be honest. I was a bit nervous to do this interview. I was big into playing sports in high school, and our guest from the chat room, Dan, is currently a college coach. As you will hear, Dan is an awesome guy who has a great perspective on life and who has been through quite a bit in his trading journey. I personally think he's being too hard on himself in regards to the awesome progress he has made, but I guess that's what you'd expect from a college coach who expects the absolute best from his players. Notes: Dan started to get involved in trading and investing while his son was in a finance class. He funded his account but unfortunately his son ultimately lost all the money in there. After not finding too much success in blue chip stocks, Dan started to focus on small cap stocks with lower share prices to control more. While Dan is still trying to determine if he is a better day trader or swing trader, he is starting to apply more focus to risk management techniques to improve his overall consistency and profitability. Options provided Dan the opportunity to trade higher ‘quality’ stocks that provide daily volatility. Dan is fully aware he is still on the journey to finding where he fits best in the market. That recognition alone puts him ahead of the curve by helping him realize that there is not just one way to make money in this market. We all have to find where the market meets our personality and risk tolerance. Quotes: "I thought I was going to be actively trading with stocks as an investment. Lesson, that doesn’t go together.” tweet this quote “I had to lay down on the floor after that trade because I was so nauseous.” tweet this quote “Without a plan you end up bouncing all around. I didn’t know if I was a day trader or swing trader.” tweet this quote “Trading without a plan was the number one problem I experienced.” tweet this quote “Paper. Trade. Learn what you are doing before you put your financial future at risk.” tweet this quote

I really enjoy today's interview due to the honesty portrayed in regards to the first impressions that were given from our trading community. Tony from the chat room originally showed up, and to be polite, really was not too fond of our trading group. To his credit, he did not give up on us and over time eventually realized that our group was not actually as nasty as he had originally thought. The amount of lessons that can be learned through this experience are some that can truly benefit you as an overall trader. What matters? What doesn't matter? What should you actually be focused on? We'll discuss all these key components of trading. Notes: Tony had a friend who found some success trading stocks and told him to contact him if he was ever interested. Fourteen years later, he started to get interested in the market as he started to have more income to use. Tony was under the impression that trading penny stocks was the key to real wealth. He joined a well known chat room, found a ticker, tried to do some fundamental research, and even went as far as buying the actual product. He was that drunk on the Kool-Aid! While he managed to make a nice gain on one ticker, he eventually lost it all slowly trying to trade other tickers. This is when he realized he needed to look into furthering his education. After going through a few courses Tony realized that there are many better choices instead of penny stocks. He started to paper trade options after his eyes were opened. As time has passed, Tony now understands the importance of risk management and that has really turned his trading around in regards to minimizing those losses and hanging onto those winners. Quotes: "This stock is legit. Their CEO is legit. I maxed out my account and bought all the shares I could.” tweet this quote "I was up 10k and I thought this was it. I imagined quitting my job the next day. Then it crashed back down.” tweet this quote “I bought some technical analysis book but they didn’t make too much sense to me.” tweet this quote “Every time I took a loss I thought to myself that this isn’t for me. It’s for someone with more patience and discipline.” tweet this quote Links: https://claytrader.com/videos/buy-sell-alerts/

I will be the first to admit, hearing anything about "needing to take a break" can be extremely annoying... especially when it pertains to something as fun and intriguing as the market. At times, the most annoying stuff is the most beneficial for you. Chat room member "Moppy" discusses his journey with us, in which a huge factor of how his now consistent success is due to stepping back and taking a break. Notes: Moppy’s grandfather made his money from buying and holding stocks. As Moppy aged he realized that there might be a better way. After going through a college textbook on trading, Moppy decided to use options to leverage his small amount of capital to hopefully make some large percent returns on what little he had. A few years later Moppy heard about the marijuana boom that was happening in penny stocks. While he missed this particular ‘boom’ he wanted to have an account funded for the next hot sector. Moppy blew up a few small accounts trading penny stocks and he eventually stumbled across ClayTrader. It was after this that he decided to take a break for 6 months and focus on education while he saved up to fund a new account. Quotes: “I jumped into options because I didn’t have a lot of money. I had a young family and not much money.” tweet this quote “I didn’t know how to plan my own trades so in essence, I was gambling.” tweet this quote “I just got my platform... flashy lights, pretty buttons. Had some money and thought this is it. I’m going to work it.” tweet this quote "It was either put money toward education or put money into the slot machine and I felt the education was a better value.” tweet this quote “I reduced my position size a bunch. I thought I was playing Texas Hold Em and go all-in and hope for the best.” tweet this quote

Out of all the members we've interviewed so far, I don't think we've talked to anyone who has had as good of timing as Adam ("Yountske" in the chat room) in terms of market timing. This is where the interesting part comes in... even with the impeccable timing, as you will hear about, Adam still struggled to make trading work. His journey truly goes to show that there is much more to trading than simply getting a good entry point. Notes: Yountske’s introduction to the market was in an investing class when they paper traded some tickers. He placed near the top of his class. After having some success bartering, he decided to open up a trading account and started trading penny stocks. He subscribed to some newsletters and picked one at random to trade. Yountske saw the potential for the marijuana boom prior to the actual pump of the sector. He became a walking/talking pumper adding to his profitable position on the way up. A well known twitter trade essentially scared him out of his position (for a nice gain). After achieving mixed results for multiple years, he joined the Inner Circle and eventually The Trading Freedom Pathway to help achieve more consistency in his trading. He also left penny stocks and moved to options to avoid the pattern day trading rules with a cash account. Quotes: “People were willing to take a loss and then I would turn it around into a gain for myself.” tweet this quote “Averaging down was just basically stupidity. I held for 2 years and then sold for around break even before it really ran.” tweet this quote “I basically become a walking/talking pumper. I was telling all my friends that they wouldn’t want to miss out.” tweet this quote “MJNA started to trickle down past my entry point. I was still living under the Warren Buffett model of ‘never take a loss.’ “ tweet this quote “It was just a constant up and down… make a bunch of money, lose a bunch of money.” tweet this quote

Chat room member Ricky (from Pittsburgh) has a journey that, if you're honest with yourself, I'm sure you can relate to in one particular way. That is, being a total innocent guppy at the beginning of his trading journey swimming in shark infested waters. There is nothing wrong at all with having a history of being a guppy, but the key question is, have you begun to transition into being a shark? Ricky has, and he tells us what he has been doing to transform his trading into that of a shark, rather than that of a dumb guppy. Notes: Ricky’s introduction to the market was in 2007 when his friend and himself witnessed an IPO skyrocket and they thought about how much money they could have made. When Ricky first began trading he was very good at cutting his losses immediately. As time went on and he was drinking the Kool-Aid of the tickers he was trading, he was more open to taking much larger losses by holding bad positions. After doing more research over the years, Ricky decided to join CTU. He saw folks finding success in liquid options that would prevent the liquidity trap that penny stocks present. Ricky has actually made more money flipping penny stocks vs. trading options, however, he continues to work toward finding consistency in options. Quotes: “I drove down to the Scottrade office to try to get shares for the next IPO. I didn’t even know there was a wait time for that.” tweet this quote “Everyone has an agenda. I have even been caught up in pumping stocks without even realizing it.” tweet this quote “I just started watching some charts. Took 2-3 weeks before I placed a trade. It was like starting over brand new.” tweet this quote Links: Video: Penny Stocks vs Options... Which Ones Better?

We've talked with over 25 traders thus far, but for one reason or another, we have never ventured into the world of ETF's. Thanks to chatroom member Mark ("Zman" is his alias), the podcast has now officially interviewed someone who specializes in ETF trading. Mark never planned on trading ETF's the way he is at this point in time, his journey started in a much different place, but after some bumpy roads, he's found success focusing on the ETF market. Notes: ZMan is one of our younger students who has been trading for less than 2 years. He originally planned to be a ‘buy and hold’ investor but became more active after his first trade. He began to check out various finance boards online to find where the Kool-Aid was. It only took a few occurrences for him to realize the importance of liquidity. ZMan was searching YouTube in an effort to learn more about trading and stumbled across ClayTrader. He enjoyed the short term trading he saw and decided to invest in his education. After going through some courses, ZMan was actually kicked out of another chat room because he called out some people for ‘pumping’ a stock that obviously in shambles. ZMan is currently trading leveraged ETFs that track commodities. He does strongly emphasize that this is not a product for beginners and we completely agree. Quotes: “I was familiar with GPRO’s CEO and I had the product. I liked it so I decided to park my money there.” tweet this quote "I decided I didn’t want to be puppet trading and I needed to learn how to fish for myself.” tweet this quote “Your parents tell you to dream all the time but a dream in the market will get your money taken.” tweet this quote “I look at all my losses as a learning experience. I just try to keep them small. Everyone’s going to have some losing trades.” tweet this quote Links: Video: The High Risk Of Free Education

We've talked to traders of all age ranges, but in this episode we hear from someone a bit younger in years. Chris (known as "cubs" in the chat room) tells us all the things he has already experienced in trading, along with what he has learned in what many would consider a relatively short amount of time. This includes turning $3,000 into $25,000 and then losing it all... ouch! That stings to just type that, but what has Cubs done since then to bounce back? The answer to that and much more, including what Cubs is currently doing to profit in the markets, in today's interview. Notes: Cubs got interested in the market during an economics class stock market picking game. While caddying as a summer job he saved up some money and bought 3 stocks to which he is still holding today. Once he got through school with a finance degree he joined a finance firm and has continued to buy good dividend stocks for his long term portfolio. During the pot stock boom, Cubs decided to gamble with some penny stocks and got very excited from the large returns. He took 3-4k to 25k before losing it all. He tried day trading while at his full time job but decided it wasn’t worth the risk of possibly losing his job. Cubs decided to take a swing trading approach after this attempt. Now Cubs is utilizing options to swing trade with an edge. He can take a neutral position and profit from the passing of time. Quotes: "I wasn’t using what I learned in college… it was more the gambler in me when trading penny stocks.” tweet this quote “I maybe lost a few hundred dollars day trading but it was just too much stress while working full time.” tweet this quote “I like being the casino and selling people sucker bets that have low probability of success.” tweet this quote Links: Course: Advanced Options Trading Strategies Explained