Market Profile is a powerful way to look at the market and get clues as to where the market momentum is headed and also get confirmation that a move other indicators have signaled is valid. Our interviewee for this episode is an expert in Market Profile and explains how he uses it on a daily basis in his trading. In combination with volume charts and tick charts, he uses market profile tools to get an incredibly accurate read on the markets. In the interview he discusses the software he uses to chart market profile, the ways he scans the market for "value" and how he specifically used Market Profile recently to spot a great trade in Apple (AAPL). This interview is one of the best explanations of Market Profile you'll hear - from a trader who uses it regularly to make his living in the markets.
Most of the successful traders I have interviewed are able to explain their strategy in less than a minute. The simple strategies seem to be the most effective. Today's interview is no exception. Matt looks for three things in his trades: the confluence of time, price and pattern. When a pattern such as a bear or bull flag or pennant appears at an important Fibonacci level and at the right time of the trading day, this full-time trader pounces. In our discussion, Matt talks about the time frames he follows, why he uses specific tick charts to pinpoint his entries and how he sets his stops and profit targets. We also talk about why "zones of price" are so important to his ability to find good trades. We also discuss the unique way he held himself accountable during his early days as a full-time trader and how it helped him overcome the pressure of trading for a living early on.
I receive quite a few requests for interviews with traders who have automated their strategies. Today's interview is with a trader who has gone a step further and not only automated his signals, but uses software that actually learns. Neural net software has been around for a long time, but only in recent years has become more popular with retail traders. In this discussion, David talks about how he looks for momentum reversals and bullish Gartley patterns using neural network software. Specifically he talks about the probabilities he looks for in good automated trading systems and the critical things you must be aware of before implementing an automated system. David also mentions the tools he uses to build his neural networks and specifically the 3-period pivot pattern that is his bread-and-butter trade. Even if you don't intend to automate your trading or use a neural network to spot signals, it's an interview every trader should listen to so you know what those traders are doing that may be taking the other side of your discretionary trade.
The trader I speak with for this interview talks about "mini-pups", "wiggles", "daily hammers" and "shooting stars." The terminology may be fast and furious, but he explains what he means by each as we talk. Jay uses simple Bollinger Bands and moving averages along with candlestick charts to spot "perfect storm" trades where multiple time frames are pointing in the same direction. He explains exactly what to look for and how he uses a single computer monitor to trade for a living. At a time when many traders think more is better (more monitors, more indicators and more complexity), it's refreshing to hear how one trader still uses simple tools and technology to find great trades every day. Jay also mentions the one tool he uses for scanning but admits that he still flips through many charts on the weekends to find the stocks he will be watching for the coming week. The tools Jay uses are available to anyone and we talk about how he gets the most out of them to find profitable setups.
The E-Mini trader I spoke with today discusses two specific consolidation and breakout strategies he uses to pull 2-4 points from the markets each day. I asked him about those goals and if it ever causes him to overtrade. His answer was frank and straightforward, like the entire interview. We discuss the specific bar pattern he looks for, particularly early in the trading day, and where exactly he puts his entry orders when it is time to trade. We also talk about where he places his stop loss orders and how he determines where he will take his profits. His entire strategy is based on price action and watching for signs that short-term trends are about to change or exhaust themselves. His opinion: indicators leave too much room for interpretation and therefore are unnecessary - price is the only true sign of market sentiment. It's an idea that has served this successful trader well over the years.
"Trading is a lot like surfing." I wasn't sure what to make of that statement, but when the full-time trader I interviewed here explained why, it made perfect sense. Matt is an E-mini (ES) trader who typically trades just the first and last hour of the trading day. In this discussion Matt describes how he finds early breakouts and the price levels he uses to get confirmation that the market is headed higher or lower. Using specific pivot points and the opening range of the first 30 minutes, Matt finds good opportunities using simple indicators that he explains in this interview. We also discuss the specific indicators he monitors to give him a better feel for the short-term trends in the market that he can trade.
Markets discussed:Emini (ES) and forex (spot and futures)
The trader I spoke with for today's interview has been trading since 1979. Although the tools he uses now are a lot different, he will be the first to tell you that trading is exactly the same now as it was then. The ability to take advantage of trends and "milk them for all they've got" is why he takes position trades that can last from days to months. It was initially difficult to get John to pin himself down to the type of trader he is - because he doesn't see it that way. He can be a day trader, swing trader or longer-term trader based on whatever the market is telling him to be. John looks for pivot points in a way that even 5 contract traders can do. He has just three criteria he watches for every single trade and we discuss each in detail. One of them is proprietary, but the other two are things anyone can find and take advantage of. From swing highs and lows to longer-term pivot points, here's how one hugely successful trader makes it happen.
"Tim, do you want to know what really helped me get consistent as a trader? It's this: The second mouse always gets the cheese." I knew I was in for a good interview with a real trader when I started talking with Austin about his strategies. Using analogies and stories about his own trading, today's interviewee is one of the best we've had at explaining how he finds good opportunities each day in the markets. Specifically, he talks about how he finds "patterns within consolidation" and exactly how he waits for second signals around trendlines before entering a trade. He also explains why most traders do exactly the wrong thing when scaling in and out of their trades. Finally, we talk about how he searches for ideal stop loss areas where he is least likely to get "washed and rinsed" and still give the trade time to work.
Steven Place trades options full-time and has a goal of earning 3% per month for income. In this interview he talks about exactly what he looks for in great option trades. The essence of his strategy, which he discusses in detail, is to find options that have "mis-priced premium." He simply finds options that are overpriced and sells them or underpriced and buys them. Easy enough, but how can he tell? He explains it during our discussion. Steven also uses chart pattern setups to find breakouts in equities and indexes and then trades those patterns using the options. I ask him specifically how he decides which options to buy or sell (which expiration, strike price, etc.) and how he decides his profit targets and stop losses. We also discuss a specific trade he executed - a bull put spread - which will give you a clear example of how he finds all his trades. Finally, he'll talk about why he wants to take the other side of your trade. It's an interesting ending to a very specific interview on trading options for a living.
Kevin is a very short-term currency trader who uses one and five-minute charts to scalp at least 10-15 pips from every trade and has a goal of getting about 400 pips per day. Although many forex traders rely on and watch news events closely, Kevin completely disregards the news and instead simply watches for high-probability patterns to emerge on his short-term charts. He is very disciplined on the downside and has strict rules for his stop losses and will actually stop trading if his account dips down a certain percentage. It's an interesting, yet shorter-than-average interview for this week.
This trader uses three very simple indicators to give him an accurate read of a stock and shows him where the best entry point sits. Derek also uses relative strength and trend-following to find great trades with "low-risk entries." I ask him specifically what a low-risk entry looks like on a chart and he explains how he uses VWAP (Volume Weighted Average Price) to find stocks that offer ripe, low-risk swing trading opportunities. I really enjoyed this interview because Derek explains exactly what he is looking for in a way anyone can duplicate. He also gives us a stock he trades frequently that shows clear signals for buying and selling. I was surprised, actually, that he freely gave the symbol and talked in detail about why it has been so profitable for him over the past year. Then again, most good traders aren't afraid to talk openly about their strategies. They know a good strategy works well no matter how many traders join him in looking for the opportunity. Finally we talk about how he sets his stop losses and determines profit targets on all his trades. An excellent interview for anyone who believes simpler is better.
This interview could also be called, "How to beat the algorithms at their own game." Most traders complain that high-frequency trading and algorithms have made it much tougher to read the tape. Not this trader. In this interview, trader Steve talks about how he uses the algos to actually find good trading opportunities and avoid trading false breakouts. Steve also talks about how trading the "right" stocks made a huge difference for him and does for most traders. We also talk about his unusual risk to reward ratio he demands of every trade he enters, his specific strategy for trading stocks that were in the news 2-3 days prior and the non-trading book he read that made a tremendous difference in his trading results. We also discuss why he considers himself a "hybrid trader" and how he combines several trading skills to make money consistently. If you've been looking for a way to make HFT and algo trading work for you, instead of hinder you, this is your interview.
Tired of trying to find an indicator or chart setup that works consistently? So was this trader, so he stopped using them altogether. The trader I interviewed today is a rare breed. He still trades almost exclusively on news - and is very successful at doing so. It used to be that if someone had the right news and data feed, anyone could get in a few minutes early and sell just as mainstream investors poured in. I thought those days were gone. They aren't. There is a quiet group of traders out there using tools and news sites available to anyone to enter trades quickly just before the stock makes the bulk of the move. This trader is quick - no question - but he's not super-human. Anyone who can bring up a symbol quickly and knows their order entry system very well can trade this way. Here, my trader interviewee reveals the exact sites he uses and how he's able to get on board before other traders see what's happening.
"Technical analysis is flawed in nearly every way." With that statement, I knew this was going to be a great interview. If you're ready to hear the brutal truth about why many traders continuously lose, this interview is your hot ticket. The good news is, we talk about what traders need to do to turn it around. Rob is a full-time ES trader who also runs an algorithmic trading company. I was fascinated by the fact that he knows both sides of the trading coin and has some very strong opinions about high-frequency trading and discretionary trading. In this talk we discuss why he uses price and zero technical analysis tools or indicators to find his trades. Specifically, he talks about how he sees in the price of anything where traders are getting trapped and how he looks for "double-pressure points" to see where traders are panicking and getting out - while he shorts the move. This interview will truly challenge your thoughts on the market and get you thinking about trading in a new way - for the better. "We don't trade a thing until we see that someone has made a mistake." Another quote from the interview that you just have to hear. Listen in for the explanation.
The trader I spoke with for this interview started his trading adventure ahead of most of us - because he came from farming. With that farming background came a deep understanding of how futures prices are set and move. He started by trading agricultural and currency futures but found that he enjoyed stock trading best. Here we talk about how he finds great trades by first scanning a basket of stocks for unusual activity - unusual volume and unusual price movement specifically. Then, he sees how historical volatility has affected the price of that stock in the past and makes a trading decision based on various support and resistance levels. We discuss the details of his favorite setup, why he uses a variety of timeframes on his charts (being sure to NOT ignore an important one) and then how he works to get the best price by working within the bid/ask spread on a specific ECN. We also discuss how high frequency trading has affected his ability to read the tape and the changes he has had to make because of it. Finally, he describes his nightly and morning routine and how it helps him decide which stocks he will trade when the market opens.
Dale Brethauer has challenged himself to turn $50,000 into $100,000 in one year. He will be using strategies he trades in his much larger account which include stocks and options. In this interview, I talk to Dale about how he filters his basket of stocks, first by fundamentals and then with technical analysis. We talk about why he doesn't use the MACD most traders use, the oscillator he uses that includes the moving average of 6 specific indicators (he names them all - two I had never heard of before), and exactly how he decides which option to buy or sell. Finally, we discuss why he never uses market orders, how he gets filled with limit orders that are between the bid and ask, and why he thinks most traders are missing half the picture when it comes to choosing which stocks and options to trade.
The full-time trader I interviewed here focuses on a very specific method: finding inflection points in the market, accompanied by "climactic volume" and one other element for confirmation. We dig into the details of his exit strategy, his entry strategy and why he uses a peculiar type of hourly chart that makes a big difference in his ability to find great trades. It's an hourly chart, but not - listen in and you'll see what I mean. We also discuss how his background as a big institutional trader helped him achieve great results as a regular retail trader like you and I. However, he's not using some secret strategy only hedge fund managers know. He approaches the market in a way anyone can if they have the discipline to see good trades. We also talk about the one thing he did that propelled his trading to another level (actually the one thing he stopped doing).
The trader I interviewed for this show does one thing and one thing only - sell options. Darren has made a nice living selling premium to option buyers, living the old adage that the traders who make money in options are selling them. That's not true for every option trader, of course, but Darren had found a way to make consistent profits by figuring out which options offer the best premium and are most likely to not get called out or assigned. Here we talk about the strike price and month which he sells, how he looks at an option chain to get a feel for which contracts have the best "Greeks" and the specific chart indicators he uses to spot areas where the underlying has created juicy option selling opportunities.
This is the second full-time trader I have talked with this year that decided to get his CMT designation (Charted Market Technician) because he knew it would help him make more money as a trader. Justin talks about how he settled on a combination of Elliott Wave and Fibonacci levels to find high-probability trades and how he uses wave counts to spot good opportunities. One of the questions I had for him was how long it took for him to get proficient at counting waves and how many things he wants to see line up before he jumps in. Justin answers that question plus many more about how he makes money as a full-time trader in this interview. He specifically explains how he starts with longer time frames and drills down to shorter time frames in order to find good entry points. He also explains how he sets his stops and profit targets.
The trader I talk with in this interview has been trading full-time now for ten years this month. He describes himself as a contrarian trader who fades market moves. I'm glad it was the first thing he said in the interview, because I wanted to ask him a question I hear all the time. How do you know when to fade a move if you're doing so while it is still moving in the current trend? How do you keep from constantly trying to pick tops and bottoms? Anthony answers those questions plus many others. He explains why being a "perfection trader" hurts your P&L and how using specific execution skills he explains here will help you get comfortable with losing trades. But at the same time, you'll learn how he increases the number of winners he has and how he extends the profits as far as possible in those good trades. You'll also hear why he says execution skills are far more important than an opinion on future price. Finally, you'll see how he uses specific ranges to find all of his daily trades.
Markets traded and discussed: index futures, commodities
I've known this interviewee for many years and was introduced to him back in the days when I just getting started in currency trading. Rob is a highly profitable trader who has very specific rules for finding his ideal trade. Here he talks about the specific time frames and moving averages he watches as well as a very specific setup that is one of only two he uses to make a very good living trading the GBP/JPY currency pair. Forex has far too many "secret black box" type products these days and it's given that industry a bad name unfortunately. But Rob is a real trader making real money - not on secret formulas but with objective measures which he freely discusses in this episode and anyone can duplicate with any software package. You'll learn the specifics of the two trading methods he uses - one short-term and one longer-term. You'll also learn the details behind how he gets into each of his trades and why he never scales out. Rob showed me his trading results so far this year and they are outstanding. You'll love his simple approach.
Markets traded and discussed: currency, forex
Scott is a full-time stock trader who watches a basket of 40 stocks each day from which to trade four or five of them. The stocks in the basket change based on which sectors and industries are moving the most, but the approach to finding the right setups within the basket does not. Scott describes his style as a "cocktail napkin technician," meaning that he can describe his trading techniques on something as small as a bar napkin because it is simple and straightforward. In the conversation he reveals his favorite setup and the time frames he watches each day. We also discuss why his "sweet spot" is swing trading from one to three days and how he scales in and out of positions using something he calls a "4-tier system" which he explains for us. At around minute 20 I ask him to describe a great trade and a bad trade he's had recently. His description of both is great and really helps us understand how he looks for money-making trades.
Trader Ben Tippen traded for over 18 months before finding a strategy and trading method that worked for him and finally made him a consistent trader. I haven't done many interviews with scalpers lately, mostly because many traders have given up on the tactic that was wildly popular when stocks were quoted in fractions. But there are groups of traders out there who are still scalping stocks profitably because of fast order routing capabilities and drastically reduced commissions. In this interview, Ben Tippen talks about how he makes a living scalping one to three cents per share on trades by buying on the bid and selling on the offer. He talks about how he does this, why it requires patience, and how other traders might be able to take advantage of the same things he does to make money this way.
Today's interview is with a full-time trader who day trades and swing trades stocks. Most traders regularly use (or at least watch) Fibonacci levels in order to determine profit targets and stop losses - or as simple support and resistance. Evan also uses Fibonacci but in a unique way. Here he talks about the unique time frames he uses on charts and why it gives him a distinct advantage over other traders and allows him to enter just a bit earlier than the crowd. We also discuss the patterns he watches for trading opportunities and why it is important to him for a stock to show a "committed direction" before he enters. Evan also has very specific rules for his execution and we discuss the candlestick bars he needs to see prior to make a decision. Evan also tells a very humbling story about a time when he wasn't making money, a dinner party talk with an experienced trader that marked a turning point for him and how he went on to become very successful after almost losing is entire account during his "stubborn days."
Chris is a full-time trader. Although by "full-time" I mean he trades the E-Mini S&P contract for about 90 minutes each day. In this detailed interview, I talk with Chris about how he waits for specific setups on the charts and jumps on them quickly for profits. We discuss the timeframes he watches (they are a bit unusual) and why he looks for specific pivot points on those charts in order to find areas of support and resistance where traders are lining up. We also discuss his stop losses and why he scales out of a position when he reaches a pre-defined profit target area. Like most successful traders, Chris has learned to let the market tell him when it is time to buy or sell and is very good at not setting a bias outside of what the market is telling him. Listen in to hear how a very good trader makes a living in the markets for just 90 minutes each day.
Markets traded and discussed in this interview: E-Mini futures
I'm seeing more traders trade on "teams" with other experienced market players. Sometimes it is to share and exchange ideas and strategies, as in the case of the trader I interviewed today. Others do so to pool their accounts and share in the profits, which is more rare. Here I talk with a full-time currency trader, Derek, about how he watches news and price to spot places where the herd of new traders is lining up. Derek is the quintessential veteran trader who prides himself on selling to the masses when they are buying and buying when the masses are heading for the exits. Derek tells us how he gauges momentum in the currencies in order to know how long a trend will last and the signs in price charts that tell he and his team the trend is petering out. His analogy of buying car insurance and why he uses stop losses is one of the best I've ever heard.
Karen has been trading stocks full-time for 20 years and has traded successfully through all types of market conditions. In this interview we talk about the simple ways she spots support and resistance the specific moving averages she has found that work best on specfic timeframes. We also talk about the homework she does in the evening and how she determines which stocks she will be watching the following morning when the markets open. I ask her how she developed her discipline and ways she decides where to set her stop losses. Karen talks about why she never sets strict profit targets and instead waits for the market to give her specific signals that something has changed. Finally, we talk about the software she uses that has helped her tremendously in getting a feel for the stock market and allowed her to get better at predicting short-term moves. The day we did this interview, the market had a large drop. We talked about how she trades those volatile days and how she shorts the market with option strategies.
"I trade like a rat." That's one of the first things my interviewee said in this interview. Once he explained what he meant, it made a lot of sense. In this interview I speak with a very interesting trader who has found a way, he says, to "drain the banks" (listen in and you'll understand what he means). He is a currency trader who uses candlestick chart patterns to find trades that are statistically valid. What he means by this is that certain currency pairs have a way of repeating their behavior on a short-term basis. He looks for those patterns and jumps on them for quick profits. He looks for those patterns to appear again and again and then develops a specific strategy around that behavior, including detailed stops and profit targets. We discuss at length why he works to make 2% on his account every single day. It doesn't always happen, but that's his goal. Here we talk about the specific candle patterns he watches for, why he checks the statistical profitability of his trading strategies and why he gives them away for free on his friend's website.
One area of trading I haven't tackled here at TraderInterviews.com is penny stocks. Frankly, because it's an area of trading I didn't think many successful traders were into. But over the last few years, more and more traders are having success - with a few caveats. Michael Goode is one of those traders. He monitors low priced stocks that are being "pumped and dumped" by penny stock promoters, shorts them, and waits for the inevitable fall that comes after early buyers realize the company has minimal revenues, over-hyped plans, and little substance. In this interview I talk with Michael about how he finds penny stocks to short, why he remains cautious when trading them and how the entire "pump and dump" scheme works. Different than other interviews I've done recently, you'll find some valuable tips and tricks (along with a few warnings) for trading penny stocks for profit.
Trader Kevin (aka 3clipz3 to his trading buddies) is a currency trader who uses a single setup to find all his trades. As a full-time trader, Kevin found a system via friends he connected with in a chat room and made small changes to make it fit his own trading style and personality. Although he freely admits that he's not entirely sure how every aspect of his strategy works, he has become an expert at spotting his primary money-making pattern in several currency pairs. In the interview we discuss the three time frames he monitors, including one that is incredibly short. He talks about how his interaction in the chat room has helped him develop as a trader and why he focuses on several specific candle patterns on short-term charts to help him identify the breakouts and pullbacks that are his bread and butter. He also describes how he finds out if a market is "stalling" and how he plays those situations. Finally, we discuss his stops and profit targets and why he sets them in a specific way.
Trader Michael Toma uses 10 setups as his "10 horses" to find good trading opportunities in the S&P Emini futures (ES) and also the bond futures. I spoke with Michael about why more traders don't trade bond futures, given it is such a large volume market. Mike talks about why he likes that market and how he spots opportunities in both. He then describes, in detail, his #1 setup and why it works so well, including how he uses an unusual tick chart. Mike talks about his metrics for success and why it's not based on actual dollar or point gains made each day in the market. We then talk about where he gets good trading ideas and how he does his homework each evening to prepare for the next trading. Mike also discusses the things he did to become consistently profitable and how he found out when he makes his worst trades and fixed his method. A great candid discussion with a successful trader.
Traders who are having difficulty with fast daytrading techniques will be happy to know that there are very successful traders who trade at a much less frenetic pace and hold from one to five days. This interview is with a trader who does exactly that. Each evening he uses Telechart to go flip through hundreds of charts, looking for specific things which tell him a stock is ready to move. We discuss those things including the specific moving averages he uses to spot support and resistance and the momentum and volume clues he discovered that help confirm his intuition. We also discuss how much money he is willing to risk on any trade and how many positions he has on at any given time. We also discuss how he sets profit targets, and the two things that helped him achieve consistent success when he started implementing them on a daily basis.
Market profile has become a hot topic again. Lots of traders are looking for information on how to use market condition profiles to find good trades. Our interviewee here has been a trader for over 25 years and settled on market profile long ago as the only statistically proven trading method. In fact, he thinks most day traders who use other methods are downright crazy. We talk about how he uses market profile and why it has been so successful for him. Tom Alexander is a patient trader, waiting for trades that present the right risk / reward ratio before pulling the trigger. A terrific profile of a successful trader using market profile exclusively.
I always enjoy talking with traders who are willing to give very specific details about their methods. This interview does that. This trader's first priority is managing his risk. Many traders give that idea lip service, but Leigh has a very specific method for setting his stops in order to give his trades the best chance of making money. He shares that strategy with us here in the first five minutes. But he doesn't stop there. He then talks about how he makes sure he is not risking too much of his account on any one trade by measuring how much risk each position is contributing to his overall account. We then get into his one strategy that defines nearly every trade he takes. We talk about the specific way he judges momentum and the moving averages and two indicators he uses to define his entry points. We then talk about his "ideal trade" and why he waits for a specific behavior in a stock that will confirm his suspicions before entering a position. Finally, he describes both a profitable trade and a losing trade to explain in detail how his strategy makes him money over the long term.
"Reading the tape" has always been an important part of making money trading. The ability to see buyers and sellers lining up to show their hand is critical in order to truly understand where prices are heading next. Our interviewee today has become very good at doing just that and in this discussion, he tells me how he made it to this point. Gilbert Mendez trades at a prop firm in a room with other traders and talks about his ability to read order flow to find good trades. We also talk about why he divides his trades into A, B, and C groups and how it helps him determine how much money he will risk on any one trade. We also discuss how high-frequency trading has affected his strategy and the adjustments he has had to make because of it. We then talk about how he sets profit targets and stop losses, how he calculates his risk/reward ratio on every trade and even how much money he tries to make each day. Gilbert reveals the chart timeframes that are most important to him and his number one tip for other traders who want to speed up their time to profitability.
Today's interview is with a successful part-time trader. David has chosen to keep his career as a banking executive (for the time being), but still takes his trading very seriously. Here we talk about how he uses key inflection points to spot areas on the chart where the short-term trend will change. He talks about how he uses a chart pattern called "VBS-VSS" to make high-probability trades and why he looks at a six-month daily chart to start his day. He then talks about how he looks at progressively shorter timeframes until he is finding specific entry and exit points on intraday charts. David has a very specific method of scaling in and out of positions and he talks about how it helps him stay disciplined and on track. Finally we talk about the "ATM trade" and how he uses the spread to make money on many of his trades.
High-frequency trading has been in the headlines for months now, as everyone tries to figure out what affect it has on the markets and individual traders. Our guest for this interview knows. Irene Aldridge has written a book on high-frequency trading and how individuals can use the same technology to trade the markets with lightning fast executions. I was a bit skeptical myself (as you'll hear in my questions) but I wanted to get a straight answer from someone knowledgeable about the subject. I ask Irene how we, as individuals, can do high-frequency trading, how flash orders affect the prices we pay to buy and sell, and whether or not it is realistic for those using direct access brokers to do this type of trading as well. Her answers will surprise you and will probably result in a few emails to me, no doubt!
Markets traded and discussed in this interview: stocks
Next week: Using longer-term technical analysis tools to make short-term trading decisions
This week's interviewee, Mike Bellafiore, has been trading his own account for 10 years with a prop firm. He refers to his trading as "play book trading." His play book is, much like a football play book, a set of different types of trades he uses during different market conditions. We discuss how he uses a combination of tape reading, technical analysis and news stories to find good trades and why he looks at three things before he decides to buy or sell anything. Mike talks about how he uses tape reading to decide when it is time to buy or sell, using a recent trade in NBDA as a detailed example. We then talk about what information he keeps in his trading journal, how he does visualization exercises to help him keep from selling a position too soon, and why he captures video of his screen during every trade he makes - and why you should too.
Markets traded and discussed in this interview: stocks
Full-time trader Bill Mcdowell has a PhD in Physics, but like many of us he spent three years in a costly process of learning from his trading mistakes and developing his strategies. Today he is a successful trader of mostly Russell 2000 stock index futures and Euro currency futures. In this interview, I talk with Bill about how he monitors time, price and volume on several charts to find chart patterns that offer high-probability trades. Bill talks about the one pattern he favors most, the type of tick chart he uses to spot the pattern, and why it has been so profitable for him over the years. We also discuss why he uses what he calls a "reference chart" to find confirmations of the trades he is about to take. Finally, we talk about the high goals he sets for himself and the percentage of winning trades he tries to achieve every day.
Markets traded and discussed in this interview: index futures, oil futures, currency futures
Next week: How a 10-year full-time prop trader checks three things before making every single trade.
Full-time trader Derek Moore has built a successful trading business by following a relatively simple system. He takes three or four indicators, along with candlestick charts, and finds high-probability trades where all four signals align. In this detail-specific interview, Derek reveals the indicators he uses along with 20-bar charts on three separate timeframes to find all his profitable trades. We also discuss how he uses Donchian Channels to find breakouts and his specific MACD, moving average and Stochastic settings. Derek also talks about the one thing that held him back early on in his trading and how he overcame it. Finally, we discuss another important tool that helps him determine where he sets his stops and profit targets on every trade.
The trader I interviewed for this week takes a longer timeframe than most of the traders I've interviewed recently. Frank Odlum holds his positions anywhere from a few days to a year. He has a very straightforward approach and uses a mixture of fundamental and technical analysis to find his trades. Here we talk about how he uses volume, moving averages, MACD and several specific pieces of earnings data to spot good opportunities. We also talk about where he sets his stop losses and why he wants to see something very specific in a chart before he chooses his entry point. Instead of focusing on a specific time frame for his trading, Frank decides how long to hold a position based on specific rules he discusses with me here. Finally, we talk about how he decides when to purchase an option instead of the stock directly and how he chooses his strike price and expiration month.
Trader Elliot Kelly has consistently been one of the top traders at MarketGuru.com for this year. In this program, Elliot talks about his strategies for trading the first ten minutes of the market open and why nearly all of his trading happens in that first half hour. We specifically discuss how he makes nearly all of his trading income by finding convergence and divergence in the market. He explains how he takes advantage of those price swings between different markets in order "buy into the biggest losers" before they reverse direction. We also talk about how he uses Parrondo's Paradox to see trading opportunities and the one book that he read that made a huge difference for him in his success as a trader. Elliot has a very unique approach to the markets - one we've never before discussed on TraderInterviews.com.
Charles Kirk is a well known blogger and trader who uses stock screening software to find great trades. In this detailed interview, I ask Charles what information he uses on both the technical and fundamental side, which patterns he watches for and how he sets price alerts at specific levels. We also discuss why he enters and exits his trades at important technical levels and he uses a specific stock trade to explain his strategies. Finally, we discuss indicators he favors to give him a read on the market and why "reversion to the mean" plays such a critical role in his decision-making. You can find more about Charles at TheKirkReport.com.
Vic is a full-time trader who focuses on the 30-minute and daily chart to find all his opportunities in hot sectors and liquid stocks. In this interview he tells us how he finds the stocks he trades and the specific RSI and moving averages he follows to see where traders are "lining up" with their stops or buy/sell orders. Vic also discusses the patterns he watches for on his charts and how he spots trends. Vic also gives us a candid discussion of a trade that worked well and why and the trade he didn't take where he left money on the table. Vic has a very specific way he narrows the market down until he reaches a conclusion about a specific stock and finds a good entry point. Listen in to see how he does it.
Full-time trader Brian Shannon describes himself as a directional swing trader who uses three different timeframes to spot profitable stock trades. In this interview, I talk with Brian about the specific things he monitors, along with his basket of 150-200 stocks, to find his daily trades. We discuss how he pares down his basket of stocks to determine which ones have the best possibility of continuing or reversing their recent trends, the timeframes he puts on his monitors during the day and how he prepares in the evening for the following day's market open. We also discuss how he watches short interest, daily VWAP, and the one moving average he finds is the most predictive when it comes to finding his day trades. Just after the 10-minute mark, Brian explains how he calculates the period moving averages he uses and talks about why most traders are watching the wrong moving average on their 5 and 10-minute charts.
Looking for simple patterns that repeat themselves in the charts is how top trader Tim Knight successfully trades the markets. Here I talk with Tim about how he finds great options trades, how he looks through thousands of charts quickly to find opportunities on a daily basis and how to be "your own best neural network." You won't believe the number of positions Tim has on at any given time. But he manages them all by being highly organized and knowing exactly where his stop losses are set. Tim also talks about the number one reason he uses technical analysis and how he continually works to improve his weaknesses and capitalize on his strengths as a trader. A terrific interview with the author of Chart Your Way To Profits and the popular blog, Slope of Hope.
Traders have a few options when they decide to trade full-time. Most at-home traders decide to trade their own account and pay themselves from those profits on a regular basis. Another option, however, is to trade a firm's capital and be paid based on a percentage of the profits generated. Today's interviewee chose the latter option and trades firm money instead of his own. He is an options trader and we quickly get into the strategies he employs to generate those profits he needs to make a living. Evan discusses how he decides what options to buy and sell, how he stays out of the "danger zone" where volatility can wreak havoc on any option trader's account, and the timeframes he watches on the underlying stocks. We also talk about the "greek" he monitors most closely to ensure he is on the right side of a trade and the support and resistance levels that are important to his style of trading. Finally, we talk about the psychology of trading firm money and why he continues to choose that route instead of trading his own money.
Floor traders who learned how to trade simply by watching price and volume often have a tough time becoming a "screen trader" and trading like the rest of us. This former floor trader did have some trouble initially, but quickly realized he could apply some of the same tools he used on the floor of the Kansas Board of Trade to make money for his own account as a swing trader. In this interview I talk with Jeff about the special type of tick charts he uses (and nearly everyone has access to), the one exponential moving average he puts on his charts, and the one indicator he uses to spot short-term trends and breakouts. He then talks about the way he determines his trade size based on a simple formula he calls "The V." Finally, we discuss the one type of chart he watches (and can't understand why more traders don't watch it as well) and how he uses market profile to spot trading opportunities.
Successful traders always seem to know where the retail masses have placed their stops and use that information to their advantage. They, quite simply, are the ones making money when you lose by taking the other side of your trade. Alexander Tzavaras does just that. Here he talks about how he uses "bid and offer zones" and "inside bid and offer zones" to find trading opportunities where he sees areas of support and resistance other traders might miss. We discuss the timeframes and charts he watches and the markets he trades. We also talk about how he narrows down his timeframes as he looks for entry and exit points. Finally, we talk about the characteristics of the traders he's seen make millions vs. the traders he has seen who struggle, and the main difference between the two groups.
Our interviewee this week is a money manager who combines her tactics for longer-term investing with trading strategies. Joan Perry discusses her special combination of technical and fundamental viewpoints and the trading rules she sticks by to ensure she remains disciplined in her trading. We also talk about the various markets she trades, her views on Gold and the security she will be trading to take advantage of coming moves. She also reveals the two moving averages she follows carefully and how she interprets the two together to determine future price patterns.
Full-time trader Brian Hoffman started out three years ago trading one E-mini contract at a time in order to learn what works. By starting small and making sure he could make money trading just a single contract at a time, he was able to develop a specific strategy and method for watching the markets that led him to bigger size and full-time trading. Here Brian talks about his specific strategy and how he uses market structure combined with volatility levels to find great trades. Brian explains how he analyzes market structure and how he builds a picture of the markets that gives him an indication of where trading opportunities are available. We also talk about why he prefers "naked charts" and the two most important timeframes he uses for his most profitable trades. We then break down a specific trade he executed the day of our interview (see chart graphic 1 and chart graphic 2 to follow along). Finally, Brian candidly discusses where he thinks he needs to improve to take his trading to the next level of success and wealth. To see what happened with the charts after we talked about his trade, here is chart graphic 1 (final) and chart graphic 2 (final).
It's not often that you find a trader who trades futures intra-day for his "paycheck" as a trader and also swing trades stocks to capitalize on larger moves. The trader I interview here does exactly that. Rick Vinecki is a full-time trader who watches various "not so obvious" levels to find profitable trades in both markets. Here we discuss the one thing that he learned that helped him make a huge leap in his trading abilities. We also discuss the various levels he watches on charts and how he looks for value in the market on a daily basis. Rick then explains the timeframes he monitors and why he so often takes a look at what happened last month to find out what he should be looking for in the charts intraday. This trader does a terrific job of explaining what he does on a daily basis to make money trading. Finally, we discuss how his background in a specific type of family business helped him get a firm grip on the psychology of the market and where supply and demand is telling him it is time to trade.
Full-time, at-home traders typically have just a few trades on at any given time. For most of us, it's all we can manage. Trader Ken, interviewed here, has an interesting twist. Here we talk about why he has about 320 positions on at any given time. Although it sounds like a lot, listen in and you'll understand why this is actually a very safe way to trade, forcing Ken to cut his losing positions quickly and add to his winners. It is a strategy that has made him tens of thousands of dollars in trading profits and one he is working on toward seven figures. We discuss a key leading indicator he watches that many traders don't and why he favors stocks with two-day highs on one-minute candles. Ken's very specific trading strategies are discussed in-depth here - don't miss it.
Trader Anne-Marie has been trading full-time at home for over three years now. Although educated as a mathematician with an emphasis in bio/behavioral statistics, she is the first to admit that her background didn't prepare her for the life of a trader. She does, however, use her training to spot patterns in the markets and then find ways to capitalize on those repeating patterns with profitable trades. In this interview, we discuss her favorite pattern and how she spots it using candlestick charts, the timeframes she watches and the various indicators she monitors to give her confirmation that it is time to trade. We also discuss her favorite stocks to trade and why. And finally, we discuss how she does her "homework" after market hours - you won't believe the number of hours she puts in! Her blog can be found at AnneMarieTrades.com.
There is always a small part of being a good trader that can't be quantified, explained with numbers or even taught. It's that point in trading where the technical and fundamental analysis is taken into account and then the "intuition" of a trader comes into play. In many interviews I've done with solid, successful traders, my interviewees come to a point where they realize that they "just know it when they see it." In other words, they take all the charts and news and information they have and place their "gut" on top of it all before making a decision to buy or sell. In this interview, trader Jim Gobetz discusses how he developed his intuition using candlestick charing. We discuss the timeframes he watches, and why he changes his chart timeframe at 11:00 am Eastern to something different. We also talk about how he does "forensic analysis" on all his trades to determine why they were profitable or not profitable. We also both come to a conclusion about an action every trader should take after they take a significant loss. Finally, we discuss the specific way he watches volume and price to find great trading opportunities.
The more I talk to truly successful traders, the more I realize that finding a simple strategy and executing your plan with strict rules is the fastest way to trading profits. In this interview, I speak with a full-time, at-home trader who happens to be a former market maker for NYSE stocks. Does his experience as a market maker help him as a trader? No doubt - but you'll be surprised at what he thinks is the most important part of his success. Although he has unique insight into the workings of the stock market, it's his ability to short-term trends in supply and demand that has helped him become the trader he is today. Here he talks about how watches for opportunities in the market, why he mostly trades at very specific times of the day, and how he decides when it's time to exit. It's a terrific look into the thought processes of a wealthy trader.
Which candlestick patterns are working best in these markets? Candlestick patterns have become a common analysis tool for traders, yet just 20 years ago, only a few dedicated technical analysts used candlestick charts to find hidden opportunities and early signs of change. In this interview, we talk with Melvin Pasternak, author of 21 Candlesticks Every Trader Should Know (members can click to the bottom of the transcript for a link to download the book free). When I ask Dr. Pasternak to choose just one candlestick he would use, he reveals the one type that has been the most successful at signaling a change in the market. He also discusses two stocks that have had interesting candlestick patterns present themselves in the past few weeks. Finally, we discuss why he thinks a certain sector is going to outperform all others during the coming economic recovery.
Trading short-term cycles in the market has made this trader steady profits since 2002. In this interview, trader Charles Pennison talks about how he combines overall market structure, monthly cycles and 2-5 day cycles to paint a picture of the markets that gives him clear signals for good trades. We discuss the support and resistance areas he watches, the timeframes he monitors, and ways he finds great trades in "price clusters and equilibrium zones." His surprisingly simple methods have given him consistent earnings for years and he shares his strategies openly and honestly in this interview. We also discuss the a specific type of Bollinger Band that he says works remarkably well in the S&P Futures markets and why a specific number of standard deviations give him advance notice of the direction of the market. Finally, we discuss the one tool he says has been a terrific one or two-day leading indicator of the S&P contracts - and it's something most everyone has access to but rarely uses.
Finding points in the market where price will begin to turn is important for finding both entries and safe stop loss levels. Wealthy traders know that great entries are 90% of the game when it comes to making consistent money in the markets. In this interview, full-time trader Abdel Ibrahim tells me his specific way for using Fibonacci numbers to plot levels on charts where he thinks great entry points can be found. Every trader uses Fibonacci in a slightly different way, so even if you think you know how to use Fibonacci levels, it's always good practice to see how other traders use them. Abdel also talks about how he finds "predictive areas of reversal" and the timeframes he uses to trade stocks and commodities with a high degree of accuracy.
If you knew of a trader who placed first or second in a nationwide trading contest three years in a row, would you be interested in talking with him about how he did it? So was I. So I called him up and did just that. In this interview, mechanical trading system wiz Kevin Davey tells me how he comes up with trading system ideas that work. Now granted, Kevin is a "numbers guy", which few of us are. But he breaks it down for us here and talks about how he determines if he'll put real money behind a system, where he gets his best ideas for trading (hint: it's not in the shower), and the most important criteria every trader should consider before trading a mechanical system. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. Kevin has won multiple trading contests and knows exactly what it takes to come up with an automated trading system.
In this detail-packed interview, I speak with successful private trader David Buffalo. We discuss how he uses Fibonacci ratios to establish price levels the one extension level he uses to find profitable trades over and over again. We discuss why a "complete price leg" is a critical signal for him and how he uses neural net software to find patterns he can recognize to find explosive moves. David talks about the one indicator he uses and how he has adjusted it slightly to include another indicator to draw a complete picture of the index, ETF or stock he is trading. Finally, we discuss his very specific way of setting his stop losses and how he adjusts them if needed. We finish by discussing how he sets goals for himself and measures his personal success in the markets.
Dedicating two years to a formal grad-school-level trading education is a big commitment. Not everyone is willing to "invest" that kind of time and energy into becoming a successful trader. But our interviewee for this episode was so dedicated to making himself a success that he did just that and became a Chartered Market Technician (CMT). Learning and forcing himself to memorize candlestick chart patterns and the workings of hundreds of indicators prepared him to decide for himself which ones worked best in his own trading style. Here we talk to Corey Rosenbloom about the specific moving averages he uses and why he relies so heavily on something called the 3/10 Oscillator. We also talk about how his major focus on "confluence across multiple non-correlated events" leads him to profits regularly. It sounds complicated, but listen closely to his interview and you'll realize how truly simple his strategies are. The last 10 minutes of this interview can't be missed. That's where Corey talks about where the real money is made in trading.
Traders who use Median Lines to find ranges within which they can trade seem to be the new hot item. I'm talking to traders every day who are finding it to be a very reliable tool for finding levels where a security (or currency, in this case) will find support and resistance. But this is no "fad indicator." Median lines have been around for years but several high profile traders such as Tim Morge have done a lot to prove their effectiveness. Here we talk with professional currency trader Greg Firman about how he uses this tool and why recent changes in the regulations have forced him to make serious change in his accounts.
"I never trade with time-based charts." With that statement, I had to ask why since 90% of traders out there use only time-based charts. It's not often that you find a trader who loves trading the Russell Emini and bond futures contracts. Our interviewee does exactly that and quite successfully. Here TJ talks about why he never relies on time-based charts that most traders use, the type of tick charts he uses to spot opportunities, and they system he utilizes to catch reversals and pullbacks in the markets he trades. He also talks about what he means by the "power of quitting" and how it helps him decide when to stop trading for the day. TJ then talks about how he divides up his day and why he avoids trading the S&P Emini market specifically.
Market Value Profile is something I'd been hearing more traders using so I wanted to find a trader using this strategy and ask how it works. Justin Maciuk, in addition to having a successful eBay business, is a trader who finds opportunities in the S and P Emini using market value profile. Here he talks about the things he watches including a specific number on the Tick, a volume-based indicator and certain candlestick chart patterns. He talks about the software and broker he uses and why he waits for a specific setup to occur before he takes any trade of size.
The strategies that top traders use to make money in the markets aren't complex. Most have found simple ways to spot opportunities and continually exploit those patterns to make money each day. In this episode, we talk with a wealthy trader about how he does exactly that. John Gilner describes to me the exact candlestick patterns he is watching for and how he scales in and out of his positions to get the maximum gain possible. His straightforward approach is one any trader can understand and replicate for their own accounts. John uses both short and longer-term timeframes to find stocks that are ready to break through a specific level on volume. He then talks about how he determines his entry points and stop losses. Finally, we discuss his trading discipline and the two things he thinks made all the difference for him when he was working to gain confidence in his trading abilities. A fantastic look inside the mind of a trader who has achieved a high level of success through hard work and common sense.
Using Median Lines and Pitchforks, trader Tim Morge has been able to see many of the major market moves since 2007 and uses them almost exclusively for short-term trading. Here Tim talks about how he uses simple median lines to determine his profit targets. We also discuss how use uses Median Lines accompanied by a pivot point to set very accurate stop losses that help give him enough time to be right in his trades. Tim also discuss the three things he watches to get a feel for the market's mood how he uses these three things to find high probability trade entries. Finally, we talk about the things he believes have been critical to his 38 years of success in trading.
Determining the strength of any trend is an important part of finding trades based on the continuation of that trend. But how do you spot the strength of a trend in a chart? Successful trader Ken Chow tells us in this interview how he does exactly that. Ken talks about how he sees the "skewing" of a candlestick chart to determine the strength of a trend and how he finds "measured moves" on a chart to tell him where to buy. We also discuss how he determines how much risk is in a potential trade and how he determines the percentage pullback on a chart to find a great entry point for any trade. We also talk about why he approaches the market from a "Zen-like" philosophy and the way he measures his success in the markets. Ken also talks about a great trade he had recently and also a "not-so-great" trade and what he learned from both.
ETF (Exchange Traded Funds) trading strategies have become more popular in the last couple of years, but why? And what's working best in these market conditions? In this episode we talk with ETF trader Deron Wagner who discusses how he uses trendlines, moving averages and volume patterns to spot opportunities in the markets. He also tells us how he uses Relative Strength (not RSI) to spot changes in trends. Specifically we talk about how he finds trend reversal breaks and how he confirms if it is a true reversal or a simple blip in a continuing pattern. Deron discusses a specific ETF trade he made recently and what he learned from the outcome. We also discuss how he finds profit target levels and where he sets his stop losses based on specific criteria. Finally we talk about how he manages risk and the amount of capital he will risk on any one trade.
I've spoken with several successful traders in the past thirty days that focus exclusively on pivot points to find entry and exit levels in their trading. Mark Moskowitz tells us in this episode exactly how he calculates and uses pivot points, combined with very specific moving averages, to find consistently profitable trades. We also discuss the chart timeframes he follows and how be became better at using tape reading to assist him in predicting short-term moves. Mark also talks about how he uses leveraged ETFs to take advantage of market moves. Finally, we discuss the homework he does to prepare for the following trading day.
Remaining patient while waiting for the right trade setups to come along is not an easy task when those setups occur only 1-3 times per day. But that's exactly what trader John Paul does and does extremely well. As an S&P Emini trader, John tells us the timeframes he works on to find those trades and the "special" number he's watching for during the trading day. I ask him what his "perfect setup" looks like and how he sets his profit target and stops. Speaking of stops, I was floored when he first mentioned where he sets his! We then discuss the software he uses (and raves about) that has helped him become a successful trader and why he never uses indicators. Finally, we discuss how he developed his strategy by listening to his friends who are floor brokers and he tells us the only things that professional floor brokers watch and have faith in as their guides in trading.
Knowing when to take your profits is always a difficult decision, even for veteran traders. In this interview, we talk with stock trader Andy Lindloff about a very specific way he decides how much of his profits to take out of a trade, while still leaving room for more upside should his position continue to run. We also discuss how he scans the market in the morning and ways he finds individual stocks to trade that day in hot sectors. Andy also describes the charts he uses and the simple moving average that, when combined with a certain behavior in volume, has provided great trades for him time after time. Finally, I ask Andy to describe his ideal trade - one that he would have to take if he saw this setup. He describes what that setup would look like on a chart and how often it occurs.
Most traders believe that in order to make a living as a full-time trader, they have to be trading all day every day in order to make the big bucks. This interview proves that's not the case. Dave Floyd is a successful full-time independent currency trader and money manager who makes just 5-7 trades per month. His strategy is an interesting combination of watching both Elliott Wave and simple price action to determine where his entry and exit points will be. He admits he is an extremely patient trader, waiting until just the right moment to enter a position. We talk about his "ideal trade" and why he trades using three very specific timeframes. We also discuss why he thinks looking at Fibonacci applied to time is just as important as applying it to price. We also discuss the one odd currency pair he trades almost exclusively, and the advantages that particular currency affords him.
You've heard a million times that trading is all about mental discipline. In this interview with, we go way beyond the "cut your losers fast and let your winners run" simplicity. Dr. Doug Hirschhorn is a trading performance expert known for his straightforward talk on CNBC, The Today Show and The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. Here we talk about what his successful clients have done to develop an iron-clad confidence in their trading abilities and why judging your success purely by how much money you make trading never works. He explains how the best traders he sees use a different metric, thereby making a lot of money as a byproduct! We also discuss ways to find a market that fits your personality and the best types of books traders should be reading. Hint: they aren't books about trading strategies!
AJ Brown is a full-time options trader in his late 30's who first investigated trading after a financial planner churned his account with numerous transactions and had very little to show for it except a big commissions bill. Here we talk about how he uses option spread strategies to capitalize on what he calls "trend continuation after a burp." We discuss the types of options he buys and sells, what expiration month he uses and how he decides what strike prices to buy and sell. We then talk about the things he uses for confirmation of his "time to trade" moment - a specific crossover of moving averages and specific numbers on both Williams % R and slow stochastics. We then discuss why he focuses exclusively on options as his trading vehicle of choice and how he determines what stocks and options go on his watch list.
Todd Gordon is a highly profitable foreign currency trader who has been trading full time for several years. Todd talks about his trading strategies in a very matter-of-fact way and will be the first to tell anyone that trading is hard work. However, he has found a strategy that combines elements of both Fibonacci and Elliott Wave to trade forex confidently. Here he talks about his winning percentage and why he is comfortable keeping at the current level, how he gets in on the direction of the trend and finds key levels of support and resistance, and the 13 patterns he has found that make up the basis of his entire trading strategy. We also discuss why he refers to himself as a "Pre-planned Trader" and what he does each evening to prepare himself for the next trading session. We also talk about how trading currency suits his personality and style and the one trading blunder that he will not allow himself to make.
Nearly all of the successful traders I have spoken with this year have mentioned they were forced by the market to make changes to their base strategies in order to stay on track for their profit goals. Jeff White is an experienced full-time trader who tells us here the types of changes he made in order to keep up with current market conditions. He tells us his number one focus as a trader, the ways in which he finds where buyers and sellers have placed their orders using simple charts, and why he has a core and secondary watch list. Jeff also names his favorite patterns and describes exactly what they look like in his favorite timeframes. We also talk about where he sets his stop losses and why he is perfectly satisfied getting stopped-out frequently in his trading. Finally, we discuss his monetary goals and how he pays himself during the year.
Daniel Jackson aka @AtticManTrader on Twitter, is a trader in the UK who focuses on UK stocks and occasionally other country equities as well. First thing you'll notice is that traders anywhere in the world all have the same challenges, learning curves and wins when it comes to trading - regardless of what security, exchange or market on which they focus. Daniel talks about the foundation of his swing trading strategies and why he watches longer-term charts for trends and shorter-term charts for execution. We also discusses how he finds stocks that are over-extended or bottoming and the types of candlesticks he looks for that indicate a trading opportunity is nearing. Daniel candidly discusses he weaknesses and strengths and how he has learned to use both to find success in the markets. Finally, we discuss the types of support and resistance indicators he uses and why he had to make a quick change to his strategy late last year. Find out more about Daniel at: http://atticman.blogspot.com
Avery Horton uses a variety of strategies to make money trading including "dynamic support and resistance" and "reverse hourly strategies." Here he explains how those strategies work and why he's built trading signals to help him find opportunities in the markets. We also discuss his "buy zones" and why they enable him to take advantage of statistical trading to make money on a consistent basis. He discusses a few of his favorite charts and timeframes and a new strategy he is using now that he refers to as "draining the banks." He explains how that method works and why it has been so consistent over the past few months. I'll admit I was a bit skeptical about the strategy, but after Avery emailed me a charts and spreadsheets, it's an amazingly simple strategy that can work on any size account.
In this detail-packed interview, I speak with successful private trader David Buffalo. We discuss how he uses Fibonacci ratios to establish price levels the one extension level he uses to find profitable trades over and over again. We discuss why a "complete price leg" is a critical signal for him and how he uses neural net software to find patterns he can recognize to find explosive moves. David talks about the one indicator he uses and how he has adjusted it slightly to include another indicator to draw a complete picture of the index, ETF or stock he is trading. Finally, we discuss his very specific way of setting his stop losses and how he adjusts them if needed. We finish by discussing how he sets goals for himself and measures his personal success in the markets.
Peter Farmer is a highly successful independent trader who has developed a unique style for finding profitable trades. In this episode, I talk to Peter about how he trades using a combination of news and technical analysis. You'll be surprised by how he weights one over the other when it comes to his decision-making skills! We also discuss a lesson he learned from a trade in Silver a while back and the changes he made to his strategy because of that single trade. Peter also discusses why he would never trade from home and instead prefers to be in a room filled with other traders during market hours. He then describes his daily routine, his trading entity and how he pays himself, and why many traders he talks to disagree with him about how he places his stops for every trade.
Here's a bonus interview for this week. Not as long as our regular premium interviews, but I think it's interesting insight into how a professional trader approaches the markets. Listen to a few successful independent traders and you'll start to hear a common theme. Top traders "provide liquidity" to other traders by taking the opposite side of their trades. Translation: every trade you lose on, they make money. In this interview with pro trader and former Marine John Netto, you'll hear what he means by providing liquidity to the markets and how he finds "stick points" in the market where short-term trends are about to change. We also talk about how he "fades short-term sentiment" and "buys long-term sentiment." John also tells us the software he uses for charting and execution and how he uses "Delta hedging" strategies on nearly every trade to bring his risk to nearly zero.
Spread trading is becoming more popular with short-term traders these days. When two securities that normally correlate well don't for a short time, it is an opportunity to short one that is overvalued and go long the security that is undervalued. Finding these discrepancies in two equity indices is what trader Patrick Hemminger does very well. In fact he makes his living trading only this strategy. In this program, you'll hear how a professional spread trader executes his craft. You'll learn the two equity indexes he mainly trades using his strategy, how much money he expects to make on each trade, and how he finds "areas of interest" on daily charts to find trading opportunities. You'll also learn what software he uses for charts and execution, and the timeframes he uses every day. Finally, you'll learn why he things "anchor charts" are critical to his trading.
Many experienced traders watch just price action and volume to get a read on the markets and find trading opportunities. Trader Stewie is especially adept and using price and volume to find profitable trades. In this interview, Trader Stewie talks about the chart timeframes that are his favorites and how he watches them to find the optimal entry and exit points. We then discuss his trading size and why he has adjusted it since January. The inverse ETFs allow traders to capture two or three times the market volatility and Trader Stewie talks about how he trades these securities and the financial / banking stocks. We also talk about the homework he does in the evening and how he prepares for the next day's action.
In this detail-packed interview, I speak with successful private trader David Buffalo. We discuss how he uses Fibonacci ratios to establish price levels the one extension level he uses to find profitable trades over and over again. We discuss why a "complete price leg" is a critical signal for him and how he uses neural net software to find patterns he can recognize to find explosive moves. David talks about the one indicator he uses and how he has adjusted it slightly to include another indicator to draw a complete picture of the index, ETF or stock he is trading. Finally, we discuss his very specific way of setting his stop losses and how he adjusts them if needed. We finish by discussing how he sets goals for himself and measures his personal success in the markets.
Full-time trader Joey Massarelli has found several patterns that over time he is able to recognize as profitable opportunities. Here we talk about how he uses moving averages over several key timeframes to trade within channels. He talks about how he looks for breakdowns and breakups within a chart, how he uses Gann theory to find pivot points, and how Fibonnaci levels help him find exit and entry points. He trades very large size in SDS (UltraShort S&P500 ETF) and SSO (Ultra S&P500 ETF long) almost exclusively. Listen to our discussion about timeframes and what he's looking for in terms of probabilities before he will enter a trade.
Steve Temes is a trader and hedge fund manager who has many years of experience in the markets. Starting out on Wall Street after college, Steve talks about how he learned the trading business and how he became confident in his trading strategies prior to trading money for other people. We discuss what a great trading opportunity looks like on a chart for him, which moving averages he follows and what timeframes he uses most commonly with his setups. We also talk about why he doesn't use physical stop losses but has the discipline to maintain strict trading rules with mental stop losses.
Trading around market cycle theory is something more day traders are watching and implementing. Once the exclusive realm of long term investors, tracking market cycles on a variety of timeframes, including 10 minute charts, is becoming more commonplace among traders looking for quick moves in a chaotic market. In this interview, full-time trader Nick Santiago talks about how he looks for inside bars and breakout and breakdown patters within multiple timeframes to find trading opportunities each day. He also utilizes "time count" to help determine what an ETF or individual stock will do next. Listen in as we discuss his approach to the markets and why he thinks he was able to call the current downtrend in the market before most other traders.
Wayne McDonell specializes in online currency trading and recently authored a book on the subject called The FX Bootcamp Guide to Strategic and Tactical Forex Trading. Here we discuss which currency pairs he watches when trading around big economic announcements such as the Non-Farm Payrolls report. He also discusses futures trading and how he trades the 10-year T-Notes and stock indices using the futures market. We then talk about how a trader can prepare to trade for a living, and how he manages his risk by increasing or decreasing his position size based on the total dollar amount in his trading account. Finally, we talk about why traders should create a three year business plan for their trading and how it helps traders of all experience levels to remain disciplined even in highly volatile markets.
Vincent Bagnato is a full-time trader who uses various moving averages and other technical analysis tools to find trading opportunities in exchange-traded funds (ETFs). In this interview, we talk about how he transitioned from trading by "feel" to relying on reading charts and trends for his trading strategy. We also discuss why he things 15-minute charts are unreliable and why he trades failures in the "cup and handle" chart setup. Finally, we discuss how he sets goals for himself and how becoming a proficient poker player has helped him determine his trade size and read of the markets more consistently. Find out more about Vincent's trades at: FINZ.tv.
Trader Mike Toma discusses how he uses a simple spreadsheet to measure the success of his trading setups and promotes or dumps them based on specific numbers. Mike Toma started out trading during the "SOES Bandits" era before and during the .com craze. He then stepped away from trading and returned a few years ago to trade full-time. Here we talk about his 10 trading setups and how he uses them and tracks their success to gauge how well he is doing in the markets. We also talk about how he developed his confidence as a trader and the things he feels are most important aspects of his trading success. Mike and his trading partner post about their trading strategies and setups at: TWCFutures.com.
Don Miller is an individual S&P E-mini trader who has been in the markets for over ten years. Here we talk about the strategies he uses including trend indicators, tick movements, moving averages and VIX. We also talk about what it takes to become a confident trader and exactly how much money he made last year trading. One of the better interviews we've had in a while! Don blogs about his trading strategies and thoughts at: donmillerjournal.blogspot.com
Raymond Firetag is a former real estate mortgage broker who turned to trading less than one year ago. Here we talk about his learning curve, how he blew his first trading account learning the craft, and the changes he made to come back from those first tough months. We also discuss the strategies he uses and a few of his favorite websites and blogs including macro-man.blogspot.com.
Adam Ulichny is a full-time trader who uses simple techniques to find trading opportunities in a basket of several hundred stocks. Here we talk about the timeframes he watches and the moving averages that he has found work best to spot reversals of trends and other techniques. We also talk about the specific dollar amount he wants to pull from the markets each day and what happens when he doesn't meet that goal. He also blogs about his experiences at stackyourcream.blogspot.com.
Mark Longo is a former CBOE floor trader who now trades on his own and runs TheOptionsInsider.com website that educated traders on various options strategies and news. We discuss how trading differs for him now off the floor and I ask him if there is value in the services that give retail traders the pit sounds. We then talk about several options strategies, how the VIX has become a popular security to trade and how traders are also using it as an indicator. Finally, discuss "Iron Butterfly" options strategies and the growing popularity of binary options as a trading tool.
Jay Cooper is a successful full-time trader who uses the Market Profile and Market Development theory to evaluate the markets and find trading opportunities. He trades mostly e-mini futures but has traded many different markets in his career. Here we talk about why he settled on using the market profile technique after testing and trying many different indicators and charting tools. We also discuss why he feels so strongly about trading plans and a few of the online resources that have helped him develop including AlexanderTrading.
Jeff Greenblatt is the Fibonacci Man. Here we talk about how he uses the Lucas series of numbers to supplement his trading on Fibonacci levels. We also talk about his unique trading style and why he didn't have success with Fibonacci alone. Listen to this interesting interview for ways you can implement his trading strategies as well.
Tim Racette is a young trader who has achieved success finding trading opportunities in 52-week highs and lows combined with pullbacks to support and resistance levels. Here we also discuss how he finds entry points, sets stops and calculates his risk on each trade. Tim then talks about why he feels trading is 80 percent mindset and 20 percent systems. Finally, we discuss the broker and software he uses and why he doesn't do research doing market hours.
Robert Green is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) who specializes in tax preparation and planning issues for active day traders. Recently, an important court case was completed whereby a husband and wife from Sarasota, Florida, were denied trader status with the IRS. Here Robert talks about the case, why it's important to active traders, and the details, benefits and pitfalls of claiming trader status for tax purposes with the IRS. More about Robert and his practice can be found at GreenTraderTax.com.
Nigel is a trader in Hawaii who gets up at 3:30 am each morning to trade the markets. Here we talk about his personal progression from a novice trader without much in the way of technical analysis trading strategies and or money management principles, to a trader who has just recently experienced a major set of milestones and turning points in his career as a full-time trader. It's an interview that focuses on a trader currently emerging from the haze and fog of novice experiences to the point at which he is now successfully implementing the sum of all his hard work and lessons learned. Any trader who feels they are on that "brink of transformation" so to speak, who should definitely listen in.
Trader Rob Booker talks about how he determines how much he risks on each forex trade, why he takes long-term foreign currency positions in addition to his day trading, and how long it took him to be confident in his trading strategies and abilities. Although Rob trades primarily Forex, traders of all types will benefit from his candid talk.
Eric Patterson has been trading since the days of SOES bandits and Block Trading. He's traded successfully through bull and bear markets and has completely automated his system to find opportunities, buy and sell. He executes 1500 to 2000 trades a day. Here we talk about what puts him in the top 1% of all independent traders and the keys to his success in the markets. A fascinating look at a great trader with a totally automated quant system.
Roland Campbell is a news trader who focuses on trading opportunities around economic announcements and fundamental analysis. Although he primarily trades currency, he will trade any market in which he sees an opportunity. Here we talk about how he finds breakout trades around whole numbers and the timeframes he looks at regularly. We also talk about how he provides liquidity to traders where he knows their stops are placed. We also discuss his monetary trading goals and how he works part-time as an engineer on the weekends when he's not trading. More about Roland can be found at ForexPremiumTrading.com.
Ken Calhoun has been trading for many years. He teaches others to trade as well, but he's an instructor that practices what he preaches. Here we talk about the currency pairs he trades, how his stock day trading and currency day trading strategies differ, and the items he looks at on his charts. Specifically, we talk about how he looks for Cup Patterns with an ADX over 40 and trading opportunities that arise when a security has twice its average movement in a day. More about Ken can be found at DaytradingUniversity.com.
This week we talk with Wayne McDonnell about how he trades the currency markets, how he finds opportunities each day, and the various timeframes he uses for confirmation that it's time to execute. We also discuss why he sets goals in terms of "pips" rather than dollars or percentage gain. A good interview for traders of any market, but especially forex. Find out more about Wayne and his methodology at FXBootcamp.com.
Mark Whistler is a full-time Forex trader and Senior Market Strategist for TradingMarkets.com. Here we talk about how Mark trades the EUR/USD and looks for "transparency" in the markets, the indicators he uses (including slow stochastics, Bollinger Bands, MACD and longer term moving averages), how he uses "indication of implied volatility," and how he uses macro-economic information and technical analysis together. We also talks about how his un-orthodox way of deciding how much money he wants to make in the markets each day. Finally, he talks about a great trade he had recently and a bad trade as well. Note: the audio on this one is not great - I apologize in advance.
Brian Shannon is a full-time swing trader and a new author of Technical Analysis Using Multiple Timeframes. In this interview we discuss his background in trading and his overall philosophy of his approach. Brian talks about why he sets a 3-5% gain goal each week for himself each week and how he finds opportunities with "acceptable risk." We also discuss how he uses key levels of support and resistance to find trades. Finally, we discuss how he takes a large basket of stocks each week and whittles them down to about 20-30 he will be watching. He also has a blog at AlphaTrends.net.
Johnson is a full-time trader who also trades for other investors. Here we talk about his overall philosophy about the markets, his monthly and annual goals, and why his favorite trade is shorting into resistance. We also talk about how his trading changes when he's trading someone else's money. Johnson blogs his trading activity at: johnsonstradingblog.blogspot.com
Ed Ponsi of FXEducator.com is a well-respected trader and author of a new book called Forex Patterns & Probabilities: Trading Strategies For Trending & Range-Bound Markets. Here I talk with Ed about the strategies he covers in the book, how he thinks traders should be playing the US Dollar right now, and which currency pair correlates very well with the US equities markets (in other words, watch this currency pair for trading opportunities after the US markets move!).
John Netto is a full-time trader and hedge fund manager who trades just about every market but focuses on forex, options and commodities. Here he and Tim Bourquin talk about the effect of the Fed announcement on the US Dollar and other currencies. We also discuss John's philosophy on trading the markets, charts and time frames he watches and what he thinks the best forex trade is for the short-term. We also discuss his strategy of "Gamma hedging" and his risk management principles. John can be found at OSOKTrading.com.
Tim Ord is a full-time at-home trader who has been in the markets for over 25 years. One of his claims to fame: in 1988, using his own account, he placed fourth nationally in the option division in "The United States Trading Championship." Tim's trading methods of looking at supply and demand in the markets was first outlined almost one hundred years ago in the work of Richard D. Wyckoff. Many know of his work in coming up with a new method of trading using the N.Y.S.E. tick index. Here we talk about how he combines stock price and volume to determine the price direction on a swing trading basis. Read more about Tim at Ord-Oracle.com.
Joe, also known as Upside Trader at his blog, is a full-time trader who has achieved consistent success. Here we talk about his short-term trading philosophy, what he looks for in the charts he uses, and the homework he does each evening. He also talks about why he doesn't trade during the first thirty minutes of the market opening. Finally, we discuss how his trading strategy has changed over the years and why he writes his blog about his trading experiences.
Suri Duddella has been a full-time trader for 12 years. Here we talk about his favorite chart patterns, why he watches a 5-minute and 610 tick chart, and how he sets trading goals for himself. He's also self-published a great chart book called Trade Chart Patterns Like the Pros. You can find out more about his trading style at SuriNotes.com.
Jack Broz is a trader who trades in a booth on the floor of the CBOT. Here we talk about the advantages of being on (near) the floor and how times are changing, his overall approach to the markets and why he thinks more traders should look at bonds as a trading vehicle. He's written articles for the CBOT and also has a newsletter called The Marlin Letter.
Ron Rascati is a trader who has been profitable for the past three years. We talk about how he uses simple suport and resistance levels and a 50-day moving average to find trading opportunities. We also talk about how much he risks on each trade and about his way of using stops. You'll also learn how to keep a winning trade from becoming a loser by waiting too long to close a position.
(Note: Newer Trader Interview) Ben and Harold Riley have been trading full time for just over a year now. As brothers, they pooled their money into an account and sometimes trade the account simultaneously. They do have different trading styles. Ben, who we talk to first, is a daytrader while Harold's style lends itself better to swing trading. The benefit of trading together is that they can bounce ideas of each other and give each other feedback about their trading decisions. Here we talk about how they are learning the ropes, how much money they started with, what their goals are and how they find trading opportunities. They are still looking for long-term consistency, but they continue to get closer to that each day. They also document their trading activity in their blog: http://www.10kthrownaway.com/blog/.
Show notes: Basim a.k.a. Trader Stewie is a popular trader and blogger (http://theimpatienttrader.blogspot.com/) who has been trading since 1998 and been full-time in the markets since 2004. Here we talk about why he calls himself "The Impatient Trader," why he never uses stop losses, how he finds trading opportunities with "wedges" and breakouts, why he sometimes puts himself on "trading probation," and a host of other issues. I also ask him how much money he makes. If you've been following this discussion in the Idea Lab, you know it's a big deal. A great interview with lots of practical information you can use in your own trading.
Show notes: James Sankiewicz is a trader in Florida who started out trading in the dot com bull run and simply bought shares of IPOs and held them for the day. That didn't last of course, but he continued trading by using options and finding stocks that had reached exhaustion points and are ready to turn. James trades by "feel" so it's often tough to describe how he finds trading opportunities. But we talk about how he determines the strike price and expiration he wants to buy and how he manages each trade.
Show notes: James Stankiewicz is a trader in Florida who started out trading in the dot com bull run and simply bought shares of IPOs and held them for the day. That didn't last of course, but he continued trading by using options and finding stocks that had reached exhaustion points and are ready to turn. James trades by "feel" so it's often tough to describe how he finds trading opportunities. But we talk about how he determines the strike price and expiration he wants to buy and how he manages each trade.
Show notes: We focus on trader taxes in this interview - specifically tax issues for forex traders. However, traders of other securities can find nuggets of information in here as well as we discuss ways to minimize your taxes by claiming Trader Status. Robert also talks about how certain laws actually conflict each other and why forex traders need to be especially careful with this year's taxes. Robert Green is a CPA with GreenTraderTax.com. If nothing else, this interview demonstrates why you should have the help of a tax accountant who understands trading and what you do each day in the markets.
Show notes: Chris Perruna is a part-time trader who holds positions from three to nine months at a time, looking for larger moves in stocks he chooses based on the CANSLIM method from Investor's Business Daily. Here we talk about the three stock screens he uses each night, why he likes stocks that are about to bounce off their 200-day moving average and why he, even though he is a longer-term trader, will get out of a position the same day if the trade isn't working out. Chris' blog can be found at: ChrisPerruna.com.
Show notes: Rob Leshman has been a proprietary trader since 1999 and focuses on short-term E-mini futures trading. Here we talk about how he approaches the markets, where he places his stops and how he looks for opportunities for profitable trades. We also talk about how he starts with monthly and weekly charts and works his way down to smaller time frames to see where the trends are presenting themselves.
Show notes: Ray Barros is a trader in Asia who trades the US markets. Here we talk about how it took him seven years to hit his stride and find out what works for him in his trading strategy. He uses something he calls an "expectancy formula" which allows him to determine his profitability and also guides him on whether he will take a trade or not. He also discusses how he uses an "18-period swing" to find entry and exit points.
Show notes: Steve Palmquist is a trader with more than twenty years of market experience who puts his own money to work in the market every day. His new book, Money-Making Candlestick Patterns: Back-Tested for Proven Results, is due out soon. I talked with Steve about how he uses candlestick charts and why his book focuses on ways he increases his probability of success using candle charts by a factor of four, just by adding in a few additional data points. Listeners can learn more about testing trading systems, his current view of the market and the setups he is watching at his site at daisydogger.com.
Keywords: candlestick charts, stock trading
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Show notes: Joshua Hayes has been trading since he was a teenager. Here we talk about how he uses the CANSLIM method to find profitable trades and how he uses the 50-day moving average to find stocks that are ready to move. He has a longer time-frame, sometimes holding stocks for months and even years. Yet he is a full-time trader and concentrates on quality trades rather than quantity. His website can be found at BigWaveTrading.com and he also writes for RealMoney.com.
Barry Burns is a full-time trader who takes a very holistic approach to trading. Here we talk about the various things he looks at to find trades each day (he refers to them as "energies"). We also talk about his background and how having a father who was also a professional trader helped him get his start in the business and the importance of mentors for him. We also discuss why having "trying to figure the market out" is opposite of what traders should be doing. Have a listen to see what he means. Barry also has a blog at TopDogTrading.com.
Dick Diamond has been a trader for many years beginning back in the 1960s. Here we talk about how he trades, including his use of MACD, Channel Index, and an indicator called Ergodic. He trades using Ensign Software. We also discuss how he became a disciplined trader and why he only takes trades he feel have an 80% chance or better of being profitable.
This interview originally ran on July 5, 2007. Trader Mike is a popular trader and blogger who delivers daily commentary about the markets on his blog at TraderMike.net. Here we talk about his style of trading, why he likes shorting stocks more than going long and his thoughts about how blogging helps him be a better trader.
Allan Harris came up with his current trading system while on a family road trip across the country. His nearly hands-off system looks at insider buying and capitalizes on moves the stock makes when the news of the transactions is released to the public. Originally a lawyer, he decided he'd had enough of the profession and decided to be a full-time trader. He blogs about his trading at: AllAllan.blogspot.com. A fascinating look into one successful trader's tactics.
Wade Hansen started trading during the late nineties and like most traders, had a tough time when a technology stock he purchased went from $75 to worthless. He then found option strategies profitable and moved into currency trading. Here we talk about the "carry trade" unwinding and what it means, how he sells deep in-the-money calls to hedge his currency positions. We also discuss how he trades ETFs using point and figure charts. He and his business partner John do great daily videos on their site at: www.PFXGlobal.com.
Juan Sarmiento began his trading career, like most people, as an avid long-term investor in the markets at the time with Peter Lynch's books were at the top of all the bestseller lists. He later read books about Elliot Wave and decided to apply those theories to various markets. He felt most comfortable with options and now it is his primary trading vehicle. Specifically he uses a strategy he posted on the TraderInterviews.com Idea Lab - called PCCRC. He also blogs his thoughts on the markets at: http://stockoftheday.blogspot.com/.
Kathy Lien of DailyFX.com is an experienced trader and does significant research on the forex markets. Here we talk about what affect a Fed rate cut will have on the US Dollar and why she is still bullish on the Euro. We also talk about why the EUR/GBP might be a buy and her thoughts on trading crosses such as the AUS/CAD and EUR/CAD. Finally, we discuss how she uses Bollinger Bands and the 20-period exponential moving average to find entry points and set stop losses. She also blogs her thoughts on the markets at: KathyLien.com.
Mike Parker is a full-time forex and futures trader who has interesting story about how he first learned about the markets. Here we talk about how he uses linear regression channels (LRC) on daily and four-hour charts to find trades. We also discuss using dynamic support and resistance lines. The interview really gets interesting when we start talking about stop losses - and why he never uses them.
Avery Horton, aka "TheRumpledOne" (TRO) on the Internet, is a stock and currency trader who uses simple horizontal line indicators to find profitable trades each day. Here we talk about how he trades Apple (AAPL) over and over again for short-term profits. We also discuss how he uses the same horizontal lines to trade the dollar/yen currency pair. You can read more about him by visiting his websites at: Kreslik.com and StockFetcher.com.
Jeff White is a full-time trader who has worked hard to find consistent success in the markets. Here we talk about how he finds trading opportunities by using scanning software, how he determines his stop loss points and how he scales out of profitable positions. We also talk about the minimum daily volume and minimum price he wants before he considers trading a stock. Finally, we talk about how he became comfortable with short-selling stocks and how it has led to becoming a successful short-term trader. You can read more about Jeff at: TheStockBandit.com.
Bill "Muddy" Milsted is a full-time stock daytrader who has found success using a system of finding movers on a daily basis and recognizing their patterns. Here we talk about the scans he does on a nightly and weekly basis to find the stocks he will watch the next day and then how he enters the trade. You may be surprised by its simplicity. Bill is proof that even full-time traders don't always need complex systems to make money in the markets. You can read more about him by visiting his blog at: http://greenonthescreen.blogspot.com
Pinoy Trader is an independent trader and blogger who trades stocks and options. Here we talk about how he got started, the strategies he uses, and how he measures his own success in the markets. We also talk about how he finds trading opportunities and the scans he uses during the trading day. You can read more about him by visiting his blog at: http://pinoytrader.blogspot.com/
Richard Peterson is the author of Inside the Investor's Brain. As a former futures trader, Richard knows firsthand how subconcious mistakes and biases can sabotage the financial decision-making of market enthusiasts. Here we talk about how to make changes and what to do to learn your own biases so you can overcome them on your road to consistent success in the markets. Take a free money psychology test Richard's website at MarketPsych.com.
Vitaliy Katsenelson is the author of Active Value Investing: Making Money In Range-Bound Markets. While this interview focuses more on long-term investing rather than trading, it's interesting to hear how Vitaliy uses only fundamental analysis to choose stocks. It's also good information for anyone who has longer term accounts such as retirement 401Ks or IRAs. The book's website is: ActiveValueInvesting.com
Abe Cofnas has been a trader and educator for many years, focusing on the forex markets. He has been the forex trading columnist for Futures magazine since 2001. His new book, The Forex Trading Course: A Self-Study Guide To Becoming a Successful Currency Trader outlines his strategies and offers a realistic view of what it takes to make money with currency trading. His website, Learn4x.com is a central information hub for his methods.
Timothy Sykes is a twenty-six year old trader who freely admits that trading is tough. Yet he turned $12,415 of Bar Mitzvah money into $1.65 million dollars - much of it after the "dot com crash" in 2000. Here we talk about why he focuses on shorting micro cap stocks, why he closed his hedge fund in order to write and trade and why he tells his story in his book, An American Hedge Fund: How I Made $2 Million as a Stock Operator and Created a Hedge Fund. We talk about the challenges in finding enough stock to short and they type of homework he does in the evening to find trading opportunities for the next day. His website is TimothySykes.com and here is a link to his book
Grace Cheng is a popular blogger and trader based in Singapore who primarily trades currency. Here daily commentary on the forex markets is widely read online at GraceCheng.com. Here we talk about her trading style, what charts she likes to monitor and how she balances her day and swing trades. Her website talks about her philosophy for successful trading - the 3 M's - Mind, Method and Money Management. She has also written a book, 7 Winning Strategies for Trading Forex: Real and Actionable Techniques for Profiting from the Currency Markets
Bill Kraft practiced trial law for more than 25 years before starting his own photography business. After realizing it wasn't quite what he wanted, he started reading everything he could about online trading. His net worth went from about $300,000 to multi-millionaire status eight years later. Here we talk about how he came through the tech crash by learning how to play the downside of the market effectively, how he trades using options and an "Iron Condor" strategy, and why he decided to write a book about his trading strategies called Trade Your Way To Wealth
Jeff Greenblatt is the Fibonacci Man. Here we talk about how he uses the Lucas series of numbers to supplement his trading on Fibonacci. His book, Predicting Any Market, also talks about his unique trading style and why he did not have success with Fibonacci alone. Listen to this interesting interview for ways you can implement his trading strategies as well.
Sean Blair got his start in trading, like many people, with a personal experience with currency exchange when he was in Europe. Here we talk about why he uses a 9, 18, and 40 period simple moving average. We also discuss how he uses RSI on a 30-minute chart to find trading opportunities, and a formula he uses to calculate pivot points and uses those calculations to find opportunities in the markets accurately.
John Netto is a true trader's trader, constantly watching a variety of markets for trading opportunities. Lately, he has been focusing on spot gold as well as gold-focused ETFs. Here we talk about his gains and losses over the past few months, how he's bounced back from some crummy months and how he also watches currency as a way to gain understanding of other markets. One of the best interviews this month!
Originally aired in 2006. We'll be back next week with all-new interviews. George Thorsen as an extensive background trading foreign exchange, S&P and currency futures as a full-time independent trader. Here he talks about his conservative approach to trading currency, why he trades GBP/USD almost exclusively, and how he determines when and where to place his stops. George lives and trades from his home office in Florida.
Originally aired in September 2006. Rob Booker is probably the most down-to-earth successful currency trader you'll ever meet. His easy-going manner and frank talk about the markets has made him one of the most popular speakers at the Forex Trading Expo. But Rob is a trader first and a speaker second - a key indicator of his desire to be successful in the markets. Here we talk about why a new trader simply can't replicate what other successful traders are already doing by "looking over their shoulder." Successful traders need to find systems that work for them personally to be consistent. Hear why! Also take a look at his book, Adventures of a Currency Trader
Ed Ponsi of FXEducator.com is a well-respected trader and author of a new book called Forex Patterns & Probabilities: Trading Strategies For Trending & Range-Bound Markets. Here I talk with Ed about the strategies he covers in the book, how he thinks traders should be playing the US Dollar right now, and which currency pair correlates very well with the US equities markets (in other words, watch this currency pair for trading opportunities after the US markets move!).
Adam Hewison of INO.com posted a video and note on his blog about the recent elimination of the uptick rule. We talk about that and how it will affect individual traders and why it means you should be comfortable shorting more than ever. We also talk about how he finds opportunities in the markets and the type of charts he likes to use.
David Piscorik is an active trader who has a couple of websites he does on the side including his blog and a site that tracks the stocks discussed on CNBC's Fast Money show. He is a CPA by trade and here we talk about how he looks at the markets, how he determines trends and whether they are continuing or ending, and how he scans the markets for opportunities each day.
Trader Interviews is on vacation this week so we're re-running a "Best Of" show that originally ran in early 2006 about Fibonnaci. Carolyn Boroden is a Commodity Trading Advisor and Technical Analyst that has been involved in the trading industry for over 20 years. Here we disucss her unique method of using Fibonacci not just on price action, but on time as well in order to truly "time" the markets - something many traders may not know traders are doing.
Sandy Jadeja is a market commentator and Chief Market Strategies for ODL Securities. Here we talk about how he predicted the Dow to hit 14,050 and why he thinks we may be in for a 15% correction over the coming year. We also discuss oil and its correlation to the major indices. Finally we discuss the phenomenon of "spread betting" in the UK and how that differs from traditional trading here in the US.
Greg Capra is President and CEO of Pristine. He's been a trader for many years and here we talk about his evolution as a trader and how he uses price information to find trading opportunities. He focuses mostly on the E-Mini now, taking trades on both the Dow and Nasdaq-related markets.
Trader Mike is a popular trader and blogger who delivers daily commentary about the markets on his blog. Here we talk about his style of trading, why he likes shorting stocks more than going long and his thoughts about how blogging helps him be a better trader.
Teresa Lo is a trader and an independent market strategist for advisors and institutional clients. She has been online since 1998, when she retired from the securities industry after a 12-year career. Her work has been featured in numerous books and publications. Individual investors and traders can tap her experience and expertise by way of her blog and she has been featured in numerous books and articles. Here we talk about how her science background led her to approach the markets in a very quantitative way. You can read more about her evolution as a trader in this recent post on her blog.
With over fifteen years experience in the financial industry, Bill Dale has spent the last thirteen with RBC Dominion Securities, most recently in the position of Vice President and Portfolio Manager, specializing in both alpha generating managed currency mandates and currency overlay risk management for multi-national companies, institutional fiduciaries and international high net worth private investors. Here we talk about how individual traders can use some of the same tools as institutional traders and Bill's overall philosophy about using the currency markets as a primary trading vehicle rather than just a hedge play. Bill can be found at BillDale.com where you can also find out more about Alpha Generating currency strategies.
Miss Trade has been trading full-time since 1998 and learned early on that he was more comfortable shorting the market rather than going long. Here we talk about why he blogs, how he learned patience in the market, and how he uses price, volume and a few simple indicators to consistently make money in the markets. We also talk about the point at which he felt he had become confident in his trading style and what it took to get there. He also mentions a couple books he likes including Pit Bull and When Supertraders Meet Kryptonite. Miss Trade can be found at MissTrade.wordpress.com.
Toni Hansen is an experienced trader who approaches the markets in a very practical manner. Here we talk about how she uses different strategies during different times of the day, why it took her nearly four years to get truly comfortable with her methods, and how she learned to bounce back from a streak of losing trades. Toni can be found at ToniHansen.com).
Dan Fitzpatrick is an established technical analyst, trader, trading coach, educator and long-time contributor to TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com. Fitzpatrick is a former hedge fund manager and has lectured throughout the United States on stock and options trading with an emphasis on technical analysis. He is also a member of the Market Technicians Association. Here we talk about his trading style, what timeframes he looks at most commonly on charts, and why he started his website (StockMarketMentor.com).
Joey Fundora, a.k.a. Downtown Trader focuses on using technical analysis techniques to uncover supply and demand imbalances in equities. Here we talk about how he uses a 20 period moving average and "regression to the mean" to spot places where other traders are panicking and ready to get out. We also talk about using Bollinger Bands and finding points where there is a "psychological imbalance" in order to swoop in and take advantage of short-term moves.
Trader-X has become a very popular trader and blogger over the past year. Thousands of traders follow his daily writings about his thoughts on the markets and his approach for finding trading opportunities. Here we talk about how he uses Fibonacci retracements and extensions, candlestick charts, and moving averages to spot trades. We also talk about following price action and playing gaps for profit. Finally, we talk about setting goals and whether it is important to him.
Smita Sadana is an experienced full-time trader who has been managing her personal seven-figure trading portfolio with success for many years. After initially "paying her dues" with a 20% drawdown her first year trading, she has managed to find a comfortable trading methodology for herself. Her modest goal of simply beating the S&P by double digits each year has kept her disciplined and steady even during volatile market conditions. Here we talk about her ups and downs as a trader and her way of setting stop losses that is quite different from how most traders calculate the level.
Randy Frederick is Director of Derivatives for Charles Schwab. He is the chief architect of Schwab's option trading platforms and analytics tools. Frederick also authors monthly columns for Schwab's client newsletters, and is the host of the weekly radio show "The OPTIONal Hour" on TFNN. His articles have been published in trade magazines such as Active Trader, SFO, and Futures. A respected industry veteran, he is a frequent guest on CNBC, and his comments appear regularly in the financial news media including The Wall Street Journal, Barron's and TheStreet.com. Here we talk about trading forex and options.
Dave Mabe is a trader and has a popular trading journal at StockTickr.com. Here we talk about his evolution as a trader, how he finds trading opportunities, and how he makes adjustments based on his history. Dave has come up with some interesting tools that tell him about his success rate during certain hours of the trading day that enable him to make changes and increase that success percentage. Other sites mentioned in the interview: TraderMike, MaoXian, and HighChartPatterns.
Alan Farley is a very respected trader who has shared his insights on the markets for many years at HardRightEdge.com. He is a columnist at RealMoney.com and the author of The Master Swing Trader, an outstanding book that I highly recommend. What people like about Alan is that he truly is a trader first, and a writer/author/instructor second. He trades the strategies he teaches every single day in the markets, which is why he's so respected by fellow traders. Here we talk about how he trades on days when, like the day this interview was recorded, the Fed is set to announce or any other big announcement is to take place. We also talk about a workshop he is doing which includes two days of live trading.
Teresa Appleton has been a trader for 10 years and trades stocks, options and index futures. She is self taught and learned her trading skills by reading countless books and trial and error. Here we talk about her approach to the markets and why she watches the TRIN and the "Up Down" indicator. I also ask her about setting profit targets and stop losses. Her website is TradeWithLogic.com
David uses a combined technical approach based on individual and inter-market trend analysis, technical and candlestick pattern recognition, the gauging of multiple market internals, sector dynamics, and a solid knowledge of probability and mathematical expectation. Trading stock and options as well as futures, he employs a wide range of timeframes as both a swing trader and position trader, adjusting his focus as market technicals and conditions demand. He is developing a website called ThisIsTrading.com that should be live in the next few months. He also uses iVolatility.com and DividendDetective.com on a regular basis.
Ken Chow was one of the traders we interviewed at our first Trader Interviews LIVE! event in Irvine, California. Ken is a full-time trader who gave us some great insight into how he finds profitable trading opportunities with the E-mini Russell futures. I ask him about where he sets his stops and why he likes index futures. We also talks about how he uses meditation to clear his mind and allow the markets to give him clear signals.
Mike Bridges has been trading for many years and specializes in trading index futures - primarily the e-Mini S&P. He also spends time as a mentor for Pacific Trading Academy. Here we talk about the variation of MACD that he uses and why he made a slight change to what most traders use. He also talks about how he uses slow stochastics, a 21-bar moving average on a 3-minute chart and Committment of Traders data. We also discuss why finding the right market to fit someone's personality and trading style is crucial. His website is FortuneForecaster.com
Larry Pesavento is a very respected market technician who has been trading since the 70's. Here we talk about why he things pattern recognition systems like Elliott Wave and Fibonacci work well, especially in the currency markets. He also talks about where he thinks the market is headed over the next few weeks and why. Larry is a master teacher as well, training hundreds of traders pattern recognition at TradingTutor.com and has written several books including Fibonacci Ratios with Pattern Recognition and Profitable Patterns for Stock Trading. But make no mistake, Larry is a die-hard trader first and author/teacher second.
Andy Kershner started trading in 1994 when he and a friend began phoning in option trades from the Texas Tech Library. Fed up with terrible executions, he moved to Texas to try electronic trading. Here we talk about how trading has changed since then, traits he sees in successful traders, and how hearing others calling out their trades around you can help you find new opportunities. Andy's website is KershnerTrading.com
Glenn Thompson is a full-time trader who has found a niche for himself in the markets. Here he talks about why he is shorting orange juice (at the time of the interview of course), how he looks for confirmations when he has decided the time is right to strike. He's one of the best traders you've never heard of who will trade intra-day or overnight depending on what the E-mini S&P charts are telling him. Glenn is a good example of trading what's looking good vs. what you are comfortable with. Find out why he sells below support and buys above resistance - opposite of what most traders are doing!
Mitch Cariaga has managed a floor of traders who trade firm money in Asia for several years. As a trader himself, he knows what actions the successful traders take to ensure consistent results. Here we talk about his history as a trader and what it took for him to realize what it takes to make money in the markets. He discusses a very interesting story about the moment he realized how he could make money in the markets and what he had been doing wrong previously.
Doug Hirschhorn Ph.D., known to many as Dr. Doug The Trading Coach, has been helping traders overcome psychological obstacles to successful trading for several years. In this interview we talk to Dr. Doug about overcoming a string of losing trades, how beginners can develop confidence in the trading abilities and the right types of goals you should be setting for yourself each day the markets open. Doug's website is TradingDr.com
Geoff Bysshe is a trader who focuses on a strategy called "The Open Range." It is a method of making trading decisions based on price action in the first thirty minutes of the trading day. In fact he's written a book about it that is available for free on his website. Here we talk about the strategy and how he uses it to take profits from the market. Geoff's website is MarketGauge.com.
Gene is the founder of BuySellorGetOut.com and has been a trader for 30 years. Here we talk about his trading style and methodology and how he uses mechanical trading on a daily basis.
Ken Calhoun has been a trader for many years and developed his own style of looking for breakout patterns for trading opportunites. Here we talk about the timeframes he looks at, how long he typically holds a trade, and how he uses TRIN and time and sales data to help him find profits in the market. He is also the founder of DaytradingUniversity.com.
Eric Patterson has been trading since the "good 'ol days" of SOES bandits and Block Trading. He's traded successfully through bull and bear markets and has completely automated his system to find opportunities, buy and sell. He executes 1500 to 2000 trades a day. Here we talk about what puts him in the top 1% of all independent traders and the keys to his success in the markets. A fascinating look at a great trader.
Jason Alan Jankovsky is a full-time trader and does a daily live wrap-up of the US dollar at ProEdgeFX.com. He is also the author of Trading Rules That Work. In this show, we talk about how most traders think about the markets in the opposite way that they should. We also talk about how technical analysis alone is not what Jason Alan feels will make a successful trader. More important than technical analysis, according to Jason Alan, is a solid understanding of the bedrock underlying structure of the market and what other traders are thinking and doing. Listen in to understand what he means!
Robert Green is a CPA and CEO of GreenTraderTax.com. He is also the author of The Tax Guide for Traders. Here we talk about what traders can do to minimize their taxes for 2006 and also things they need to do before April 15 for 2007 taxes. Claiming "trader" status with the IRS takes some understanding of the various options - we break down some of those options for you in this interview.
Jeffrey Katz has been trading for many years by applying a systematic, scientific approach to the markets. He is the co-author of The Encyclopedia of Trading Strategies, and Advanced Option Pricing Models. Here we talk about how Jeffrey finds new systems, how he splits his trading between systematic and discretionary trading, and how he manages days when he is monitoring many trades at once.
Wayne McDonell is a professional Forex trader with an entrepreneurial spirit. He coaches new forex traders at FXBootcamp.com and conducts webinars at various forex-related websites. Here we talk about how he trades the EUR/USD around "Non-Farm Payrolls" announcements, what timeframes he looks at for trading opportunities, and how he sets his stops and profit targets. We also discuss how to determine how much to risk with each trade and why standardizing that across every trade is a good idea.
Christopher P. Hendrix, CMT is a private trader and Founder of Hendrix Market Advisory, LLC. He is the senior technical analyst and co-founder of the technical analysis division within H&R Block Financial Advisors. Here we talk about how he develops his trading systems, how he judges the success of those systems, what he looks for each day in the market, and his favorite indicators. His website can be found at www.mytechnicalanalyst.com.
Julie Peterson-Manz has been trading equities since 1998. She and her husband, Adrian Manz (also interviewed previously), have been "team trading" for years now whereby Adrian places the trades and Julie manages the positions once they are on. It's a unique setup that has worked very well for them. Here we talk about how Julie's Ph.D. in social psychology helps her manage trades, how they place stops using risk/reward ratios and the ways in which they scale out of winning positions. Their picks are also posted daily at TraderInsight.com
Colin Cody is a CPA and the owner of TraderStatus.com. Here we talk about who qualifies for trader status with the IRS, what it means in terms of deducting losses and expenses, how it differs from trading through an LLC or corporation, and what you need to do to elect the "mark-to-market" strategy on your taxes. A great primer for those traders who want to learn more about writing off losses and trading expenses without having to actually sell your positions.
Lee Leibfarth is a full-time independent futures trader who designs, tests and implements his own trading systems. Here he talks about why the e-Mini Russell 2000 is his trading vehicle of choice, his unique way of looking at charts that aren't based on timeframe but on the number of transactions happening, and why his opinions on backtesting differ from many other system traders.
Thomas Stridsman, CTA is an independent market researcher and registered Commodity Advisor specializing in rules-based trading strategies. Here we talk about what that means and why it works well in various markets. We also talk about an article he wrote for Active Trader magazine about the changes in index volatility and what lower volatility and less "trendiness" means for traders who focus on index trading. He also talks about why he recommends placing the trade yourself instead of automating that functionality as well. You can find Thomas' website at ThomasStridsman.us.
Tom Bulkowski (www.ThePatternSite.com)is a trader and frequent contributor of articles to SFO Magazine and Stocks & Commodities Magazine. He's also written several popular books including Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns, Getting Started in Chart Patterns, and Trading Classic Chart Patterns. Here we talk about what criteria he uses to guage the success of a chart pattern, what time frames he uses to look for these patterns, and why he never shorts stocks. As much as Tom is an expert in technical patterns, he doesn't discount fundamentals and talks here about how he uses news events to make even more money on chart-driven trades.
Kevin Mackenzie is a trader who started with stocks and found his niche in trading index futures. Here he talks about getting close to trading full-time, what time-frames he uses to find trades and the websites he uses including DaisyDogger.com and SignalWatch.com. Kevin trades four index futures: S&P eMini, eMini Nasdaq, Dow eMini, and eMini Russell 2000 index futures. He talks about why he likes these four and why he found them to offer the best trading opportunities for his personal style.
Tim Truebenbach is a seasoned trader who owns True Capital Management and writes regular commentary for TradingMarkets.com. Here we talk about how to read price and volume to determine short-term trends. Tim talks about what "distribution days" mean for traders and how to it helps him determine where institutional money is flowing. We also talk about how much he risks in any given trade and why he sometimes does not place a stop loss on his trade and instead prefers to monitor the price manually.
Toni Turner is the best-selling author of A Beginner's Guide to Short Term Trading, A Beginner's Guide To Day Trading Online, and Short-term Trading in the New Stock Market. An investor/trader with sixteen years' experience, she is a popular educator and speaks at trading forums and financial conferences across the United States, including Traders Expo. She has appeared on NBC, MSNBC, CNN, CNNfn, and CNBC's "Power Lunch." She has been interviewed on dozens of radio programs and featured in periodicals such as, CBSMarketWatch.com, Fortune magazine, Stocks and Commodities, SFO, Fidelity Active Trader, and Bloomberg Personal Finance. Toni is the President of TrendStar Group, Inc. and also serves as a consultant to Townsend Analytics, Ltd., developers and creators of the RealTick trading platform.
Bo Yoder is a full-time trader, author and consultant to a variety of financial institutions. Here we talk to Bo about how he finds opportunities in the stock market, why he watches the markets on an hourly basis but is a successful swing trader, the moving averages he uses on his charts and how he uses the general psychological trends of the markets to make money. Yoder is a frequent contributor to trading publications such as Technical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities, Trader's and Active Trader Magazine. He writes for RealMoney.com and is the author of Mastering Futures Trading (2004, McGraw Hill). In addition to his writing, Yoder is a featured speaker at trading expos in the US and abroad, including Traders Expo.
Steve Palmquist is a full time trader who invests his own money in the market every day. He has shared trading techniques and systems at seminars across the country; presented at the Traders Expo, and published articles in Stocks & Commodities, Traders-Journal, The Opening Bell, and Working Money. Here we talk about his approach to the markets, how he develops his trading systems, and the interesting manner in which he determines where his stops should be placed.
Howard L. Simons is the President of Rosewood Trading and a frequent contributor to SFO Magazine. Here we talk about which currency he favors as a great market to trade, ways to look at the Euro and US Dollar, his thoughts on the future direction of gold and the energy markets, and why he uses fundamental analysis for long term market evaluations and technical analysis for short-term trading. We also talk about how traders can use the best of each to make intelligent trading decisions.
George Pruitt is Director of Research for Futures Truth Magazine, a magazine and website that tracks automated trading system performance. He has also coded over 1,000 different trading methodologies himself and is co-author of The Ultimate Trading Guide. Here we talk about what common things consistently successful trading systems share, whether the amount of money spent programming a system affects its success, and proprietary systems differ from "open box" systems.
David Silverman is an independent trader who traded on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for 17 years. He has taken that knowledge and become an extremely successful trader outside of the exchange. Here we talk about the importance of gauging supply and demand in the markets and how he uses fundamental analysis to find trading opportunities and then technical analysis to determine entry and exit points. He's written a book and also writes a column for SFO Magazine.
Harry Boxer has more than 30 years of Wall Street investment and technical analysis experience, including eight years on Wall Street as chief technical analyst with three brokerage firms. Former chief technical analyst and columnist for AmericaInvest.com and winner of the 1995 & 1996 worldwide Internet stock-market trading contest, "The Technical Analysis Challenge," Harry is widely syndicated and a featured guest on many financial programs and sites, including CNBC, CBSMarketWatch, WinningonWallStreet, Stockhouse, DecisionPoint and more. He is currently author of TheTechTrader.com, a real-time diary of his trading ideas and market analysis, and is also a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders.
Barbara Rockefeller is an experienced trader and author of several books including "Technical Analysis for Dummies." Here we discuss why she favors trading currency futures over the spot forex market, why the idea that the currency markets are easier to trade because technical analysis works so well is an old myth, the book she recommends (Jim Rogers' Hot Commodities), and how traders can use the "Committment of Traders" report from the CFTC to make better decisions.
John Netto is a trader and President of One Shot - One Kill Trading. He takes a great deal of his trading strategy from his experiences as a nine-year veteran of the Marines. He also happens to be a world-class poker player. Here we talk about how he manages risk, how he determines his stop-loss points using Fibonacci levels and inflection points, and his unique way of playing additional upside in Gold.
Rob Booker is probably the most down-to-earth successful currency trader you'll ever meet. His easy-going manner and frank talk about the markets has made him one of the most popular speakers at the Forex Trading Expo. But Rob is a trader first and a speaker second - a key indicator of his desire to be successful in the markets. Here we talk about why a new trader simply can't replicate what other successful traders are already doing by "looking over their shoulder." Successful traders need to find systems that work for them personally to be consistent. Hear why!
Emanuel Balarie is Senior Market Strategist for Wisdom Financial. In this interview, we discuss why he believes commodities are a superior trading vehicle for fundamental trading, one of the precious metals he trades that he believes is undervalued, and some strategies for taking advantage of oil price fluctuations.
Dr. Adrian F. Manz has earned his living trading equities in his own account since 1998. He also writes daily commentary for TigerSharkTrading.com called "Around the Horn: Stocks to Watch". He is also the author of Around The Horn: A Trader's Guide To Consistently Scoring In The Markets and is co-founder of TraderInsight.com. Here we discuss his trading style, what timeframes he monitors on his charts, and what he looks for to spot opportunities in the stock market.
Tom Incorvia writes commentary for TigerSharkTrading.com and has been utilizing technical analysis to limit risk, lower volatility and enhance his portfolio for many years. Here we talk about trading during the slow summer months, how to remain patient and wait for good opportunities, and what to do when the markets aren't trending well.
Christopher Terry is a full-time professional trader who trades both index futures and equities markets. He has written several articles for major trading magazines and regularly leads a free Sunday evening market preparation session at LBRGroup.com - Linda Raschke's website, where he handles the Stock Beat area. Here we talk about what timeframes he looks at on charts and what indicators he uses.
Jaime Johnson is Chief Technical Strategist for Dynamic Traders Group. Under the instruction of Robert Miner, Jaime developed a top-down approach to trading, looking first at broad market trends and indexes and then deciding which sectors, ETFs and stocks to trade based on that information. He has recently started trading forex using Elliott Wave and Fibonacci levels to find trading opportunies on daily and 60-minute charts. Here we talk about where he sets his stops, what currency pairs he likes to trade and why, and how he enters trades at the end of of various types of corrective patterns.
Kerry Szymaski is the owner of La Canada Capital Management. Kerry is both a daytrader and swing trader who looks for Fibonacci points, harmonic patterns and Gartley patterns to find trading opportunities in the S&P e-mini contract and also Euro currency futures. He also trades the S&P ETF (SPY). Here we discuss what he looks for in the markets including why he monitors TICK divergence as an indicator.
Robert Miner is the author of Dynamic Trading and was named "Market Guru of the Year" in 1997 for his S&P analysis and forecasting. His work, building on Gann and Elliott Wave principles, is widely regarded as cutting edge. Here he talks about how he looks at the markets and analyzes price, time and patterns. His website is at DynamicTraders.com.
Mike Kestler is a true daytrader, trading approximately 500K shares daily - mostly on the Big Board NYSE. Mike's personal trading entails third market arbitrage, news based trading, technical analysis, and tape reading. At Evolution Capital where he is a managing partner, Mike has mentored and trained many successful traders who maintain consistent profitability in changing markets. Here he talks about how he finds opportunities in trades - most of which last between 30 seconds and several minutes. Mike also writes for TigerSharkTrading.com.
John Carter is the author of Mastering The Trade and is the Founder of TradeTheMarkets.com, an online provider of short-term financial market commentary. John puts on intra-day trades 6-8 times per day. Here he talks about why he likes to use tick charts rather than minute charts, and why he likes mini-Dow Futures contracts for daytrading and how he uses the TICK and TRIN to help gauge market direction and mood. He also discusses why he is a better trader when he's not stuck in front of a screen all day and instead walks away after a trade is placed.
Peter Reznicek is co-founder and Chief Equity Strategist for ShadowTrader.net, and advisory firm and intraday and swing trading commentary site. Peter also writes commentary for TigerSharkTrading.com and works with ThinkorSwim.com. Here Peter talks about how he finds opportunities intraday, why he uses only 15-minute charts when daytrading, and what he has found to be an excellent leading indicator for the markets (it's not what you might expect!).
Carolyn Boroden is a Commodity Trading Advisor and Technical Analyst that has been involved in the trading industry for over 20 years. Her background includes working on the major trading floors including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the CBOT , NYFE and COMEX. She taught a segment of the Chicago Commodity Boot Camp seminars for 4 years on advanced trading techniques using Fibonacci ratios on both the time and price axis of the market. She has also lectured for the Market Technicians Association on the technique. Here we disucss her unique method of using Fibonacci not just on price action, but on time as well in order to truly "time" the markets - something many traders may not know traders are doing.
Matt Blackman is a technical trader, author, reviewer, speaker and regular contributor and analyst to publications like TradingEducation.com, Stocks & Commodities Magazine, and Active Trader. Here he talks about the basis of his trading, how he spots opportunities using options, how he sees the dollar moving over the next several months and how he uses intermarket analysis to help predict the direction of oil and gold.
Robert Colby is a Chartered Market Technician (CMT), and the author of The Encyclopedia Of Technical Market Indicators. Colby provides custom research services tailored to individual objectives to institutions and individual traders and is an analyst for TradingEducation.com. Here he talks about Relative Strength, why he favors trading ETFs and the mistake traders make confusing Relative Strength with RSI.
Dave Landry is a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA), trader and hedge fund manager. He's got two books out on swing trading and writes regularly for TradingMarkets.com and TigerSharkTrading.com. Here he talks about how he finds trading opportunities via his scanning software and the minimum price and volume he wants to see before jumping into a stock.
Darrell Jobman is a former Editor-in-Chief of Futures Magazine and is now the Editor-in-Chief of TradingEducation.com. Here he talks about his overall philosophy on the markets and what he's seen as the major changes in traders' attitudes toward the markets over the past twenty years.
Tom Incorvia is an experienced trader who writes daily commentary for TigerSharkTrading.com. Here he talks about his overall strategy when approaching the markets and how he finds opportunities for swing trading.
Toni Hansen of TradingFromMainStreet.com has been trading online for almost 9 years. In this detail-packed interview, Toni talks about her methods for spotting trading opportunities, how she trades gap-ups and gap-downs, where she sets her stops, and the time frames she uses on her charts to set her entry points.
Robert Deel of TradingSchool.com talks about his methods for approaching the markets and how he uses sectors and indexes to help him spot trading opportunities with stocks within those sectors. Robert also touches on what is working for traders in these market conditions.
Jan Arps of Traders Toolbox talks about what makes a good automated trading system deliver profitable trades in various market conditions and how back testing is an essential component of designing a system.
Jae Yu, is co-founder of UndergroundTrader.com and author of several books on daytrading. Here he talks about what time frames he uses to scalp profits from NASDAQ stocks and how he uses the "noodles" as a leading indicator. Although many traders have given up trying to "scalp" the market for profits, Jae is still successful at it and talks about why that is so.
John Person of National Futures discusses the meteoric rise in commodity prices, how he uses pivot points and moving averages to spot opportunities, what other technical analysis indicators he likes to use, and whether or not there is still money to be made on the upside of precious metals and crude oil.
Adrienne Toghraie of TradingOnTarget.com is a trading coach focusing on psychology and the human thought processes behind successful trading. She is an internationally recognized authority on these issues and we talk to her here about how a trader can follow their rules consistently, why you can never take emotion out of trading, and what to do if you are in a slump.
Mike McMahon, a trader and instructor at Online Trading Academy talks about the discipline he sees in successful traders and what separates great traders from those who continually struggle. Mike also talks about what strategies are working in today's market conditions and what he looks for in opportunities.
George Thorsen as an extensive background trading foreign exchange, S&P and currency futures as a full-time independent trader. Here he talks about his conservative approach to trading currency, why he trades GBP/USD almost exclusively, and how he determines when and where to place his stops. George lives and trades from his home office in Florida.
Derek Frey is a trader and partner in Odom & Frey Futures & Options. Here he talks about how he uses his "trader intuition" as a confirming indicator for the technical signals he sees in his charts. He talks about the timeframes he uses and his unusual method of choosing his stops first and then using the stop point to determine his entry point.
Taxes as they relate to foreign currency trading can be very confusing because the tax laws have not been updated to reflect the huge influx of retail Forex trading. In this interview Robert Green, from GreenTraderTax.com discusses some of the basics and what you need to know before filing your tax return.
David Silverman recently wrote an article for SFO Magazine that detailed his effort to automate his trading system. In this interview, he discusses what a trader should know about programming a system, who to hire, and how much money you should spend when programming your system based on the size of the account you are trading.
Marc, President and CEO of Sperling Enterprises, discusses what he looks for in proprietary traders he hires for his firm and characteristics he recognizes in traders that are successful.
, also talks about his unique trading style and why he did not have success with Fibonacci alone. Listen to this interesting interview for ways you can implement his trading strategies as well.
