Market Makers? LOL... | STR 538
The Stock Trading Reality Podcast
Are there any more dreaded words in the minds of some traders than “market makers”?!?! Who knows, perhaps you now have goose bumps or the hair on your arms is standing straight up! If you are one of these people who believe it is very important to pay attention to “market makers” and their games, let’s take a step back and do some thinking. While I can understand your concern and focus on market makers, please… STOP IT. All the talk and drama around market makers is totally overblown and in all actuality, makes very little sense. I can prove this to you by asking you a simple...
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Fighting Anxiety and Tilt... | STR 537
The Stock Trading Reality Podcast
Anxiety and “Tilt”. Perhaps those two words cause goosebumps and/or for the hair to raise up on the back of your neck! I’m with you! In the world of trading these are two very common and powerful pitfalls that we must learn how to navigate. I recently had a couple of traders ask me how I fight against each of those. This is a very thoughtful question and comes from a place of someone being self aware and truly wanting to improve as a trader. I certainly can’t proclaim to have all the answers, but I have been around long enough and worked with enough traders to see some common themes...
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Day Trader Geography (Be Aware!) | STR 536
The Stock Trading Reality Podcast
I recently came across an article on CNBC that sparked a topic that doesn’t get talked about enough. Perhaps you are well aware of day trader geography, but oftentimes it’s one of those concepts that hides in plain sight. The best way to find success as a day trader (or really any kind of trader/investor for that matter) is to ensure your expectations are aligned as closely as possible with reality. A key component in this task of aligning expectations and reality is understanding day trader geography. I suppose this concept could lead you to taking drastic measures, but it doesn’t...
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Calendar Critical Thinking... | STR 535
The Stock Trading Reality Podcast
“Today” (the day I recorded this episode) I was reminded of how I need to do a better job of deploying my critical thinking skills around the economic calendar. Thankfully the trade I was in turned out really well, but wow, the opposite could have just as easily been true. I know I’ve talked about the economic calendar before on the podcast; however, the lesson I was reminded of “today” is certainly one worth offering up to you as a reminder. Hopefully none of this is coming across as overly dramatic as that’s not my intent. None of this is rocket science, but it does require a bit...
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A False Lens for Futures Trading... | STR 534
The Stock Trading Reality Podcast
Are you someone who is intrigued by futures trading for some reason, but are hesitating to trade them? Perhaps you don’t think you have enough time to “learn how to trade something new”. Or maybe, you do have the time, you’re just a bit overwhelmed in terms of “where should I learn how to day trade futures?”. On the surface, these scenarios seem to be totally legitimate and make perfect sense. If you answer a certain question as “yes”, then these scenarios become a massively false lens. Odds are, you are way closer to already knowing how to day trade futures than what you...
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A Basic Way to Get Better...| STR 533
The Stock Trading Reality Podcast
My YouTube live streams continue to deliver these podcast episode ideas! This past week I had a few interactions that, once again, reminded me of how some people could better themselves as a trader by doing one simple thing. To be fair, I suppose it is not the simplest thing to do, but again, to be fair, it’s also not in the realm of reasonableness to say this thing is impossible to do. I admit I probably get more frustrated than I should when I encounter these situations, but I can’t stand watching someone make their life harder than it needs to be. I don’t think I’ll be saying...
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The Trump Tweet. How to Survive! | STR 532
The Stock Trading Reality Podcast
The Trump Tweet. We’re all aware as traders by now how a single press of a button can send the markets into full blow roller coaster mode. We’re also aware of how a press conference about a certain topic can contain an off the cuff remark that, once again, sends the market into full blown roller coaster mode. I’ve been asked enough now the same general question where it makes sense to address it via a podcast. The question goes something like this, “Hey Clay, how do you navigate and manage this type of market where in the blink of an eye, everything goes crazy?!?!”. This is what I...
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Will AI Destroy the Markets and Trading? | STR 531
The Stock Trading Reality Podcast
More and more people are asking about AI and what I think the effects it will have on the markets. It’s not a crazy question at all. Is AI something that is going to wreck the markets and destroy everything we know as traders? Are we going to be eaten alive by its vast intelligence and ability to think way quicker than we are? The core of the question is this: will there be any room for human traders, or are we going to become instinct? Let me give you my thoughts. Spoiler alert, it’s a very simple reply due to some of the simple tools available to all of us in the trading world. Let’s...
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Self Deception. Are You a Victim? | STR 530
The Stock Trading Reality Podcast
There is nothing worse we can do to ourselves as traders and investors than deceive ourselves. Deception can be a tricky thing. Self deception can be an even trickier thing. I wouldn’t say I was shocked by the discovery, but the livestream on YouTube continues to deliver valuable lessons and reminders for us in the trading world. There is quite a bit of self deception occurring and I’m doing my best to put an end to it. I used to fall victim to it as it is something that seems to be totally innocent. The problem is, if you start playing the game you will begin to take yourself down the...
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Small Cap and Low Float Stocks... DANGER! | STR 529
The Stock Trading Reality Podcast
Not a whole lot of money but want the opportunity to grow it fast? Looking for something that moves extremely quickly? Did you stumble upon someone explaining just how much money can be made with these small cap and low float stocks? Listen. I get it. I really do. Like most of us, when we first get started on our trading journey we don’t have a whole lot of capital to work with. Because of this, the logic follows that by trading these types of stocks we’ll be able to create more capital and then maybe we can consider a bit less volatile assets. I recently got a comment on YouTube that...
info_outlineThe daily max loss. A risk management rule that has a whole lot of opinions surrounding it. I recently made a YouTube video discussing how a futures prop firm eliminated this rule. In sharing my thoughts, I received some interesting comments and wanted to address one in particular as I believe it opened the doors to explain a deeper reasoning for my logic. Whether you are trading stocks, options, future or anything else, considering where/if the daily max loss rule fits into your strategy is a wise choice to make for yourself. There are some lines of logic that do make really good sense on the surface (as the YouTube comment suggests); however, digging a bit further reveals something else that from my experience, many traders lose sight of. Let’s discuss!