Lessons Learned

In my new career I have learned an awful lot about myself and others. It has been a fascinating journey so far and I expect that to continue as time moves on.

Let me start this off by saying that I started this blog primarily to establish a good community of folks that have the same interests as my own. I was looking for other stock junkies that could share ideas, bounce things off one another and help each other learn while also making some money. It also serves as a kind of journal for me as I recap my own trades and it allows me to vent when I do poorly and celebrate when I do well.

Before I begin sharing my observations it is important that people understand this is a collection of my experiences and it is not directed at any one individual. I don't want to offend anyone I am simply sharing my thoughts.

There are several lessons that I want to share with you. Lessons that I learned the hard way. There is an old saying "Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach a person to fish and you will feed them for a lifetime. "

When I began my journey of wanting to become a full time trader, well over two years ago. I tried many different things. I found a bunch of people on Twitter and Stocktwits that seemed to be fairly consistent with their picks and good trades. I then tried to follow on and duplicate their trades / results. On some trades I did okay and on most I got SMOKED! I thought I was so smart, yet my plan was not working. I would get so mad when I lost money and in my mind, blame the person I followed for the results of a poor trade.

Then it hit me!!!! I was trying to profit off other peoples trades without understanding why they took the trade. What their intent was? What the mechanics behind the trade were. Was it meant to be a scalp trade,a swing, a long term hold?   Why that price entry? What was the exit plan and why? Where was their stop ? All things I did not have the answers to.

I would follow someone into a trade and I would always be 5 or ten cents behind on my entry. Literally, as soon as I bought the stock it would reverse and the person I followed would be exiting his or her position with a ten cent gain. That was their plan to begin with! That was the setup they saw and the target they wanted. I would then hold it and think, awe it will come back. Then it would drop further and my loss was getting bigger. I would finally sell it taking a hit and guess what often happened next? Sometimes, as soon as I sold it would turn around and go back up to where I bought or climb even higher to add salt in the wound.

 Does that sound familiar to the experience any of you have had? If you say no then you are blessed and you should probably move to Vegas and play the Lotto cause you are one lucky person.

To be frank, I was trying to profit off of someone else's knowledge, education, experience,  and trading plan,without taking the time and expense to get that education on my own and build my own trading plan.  Now don't get me wrong, I have read hundreds of books. Watched more than my share of Fast Money and Cramer. Fact is I was A CNBC junkie!! I got Sirius in my car just so I could listen to CNBC all day long. OOOOOHHHHH BOY !! There was so much I didn't know and so much I had  to learn!!!!!!

 I never took any formal classes to learn the PROFESSION of trading. That is what it is >> a profession. Just like like being a Doctor, Lawyer, or Engineer. One that can be more lucrative than being a Doctor or a Lawyer if you are successful.

 So what made me think I could just follow these people without knowing what they were really doing and why?? Well honestly>> I was being cheap! I didn't want to pay for my education! It would be so much easier if I just followed people and used their ideas to make a living. That would be like standing next to a Doctor and performing an operation on someone by simply following the docs lead.

 Do I have any volunteers for that operation?? I promise to charge you much less than the Doc is going to charge you. I will do it for 20 percent of what he is going to charge you. Now keep in mind. if I miss a step or move a little to slow you may die. No biggie,  it is worth saving a few bucks isn't it???

I was a fool!!  It took me awhile to figure that out because I am a very stubborn person and I hate to be wrong. I had a big ego like most competitive people in the world but it was time for me to recognize my arrogance and be humble for a change.  I had no right to get mad at someone for my losing money on a trade that I tried to follow them on. It wasn't their fault>>> it was mine!! I could have paid for my education literally 10 times over with the money I lost by trading without really knowing what the hell I was doing. I might as well have gone down to the casino and put it down on black cause I was doing just that >>> I was gambling!

Now there are a lot of talented traders out there. I focused on one individual in particular and after doing some exhaustive research into potential classes to take for my training I decided to go with Bulls on Wall Street. They were, in my opinion, the most reasonably priced and matched the style of what I wanted to learn. I was skeptical mind you and I was concerned I might be wasting my hard earned money. Fortunately for me the 16 day Boot Camp, which actually extended to like a 20 day Boot camp, surpassed all my expectations and really delivered for me. I learned more in that Boot camp then I had learned being involved in the market for the prior 20 years investing in stocks. I was floored and I have taken every Boot camp since that first one over a year ago. I continue to learn and educate myself with a whole new understanding of     just how the market works the subtle nuances of what it takes to be a consistently profitable day trader. I never could have figured it out all on my own and following someone in their trades wasn't going to teach me what I desperately needed to learn.

I don't want this to come off as a pump advertisement for BOWS. The course may not be for everyone but my point is that whether you take their course or another course. It is an absolute must if you are considering trying to make trading your career or even if you just want to mange your own portfolio of stocks in your IRA. It has always amazed me that people entrust others to mange their investment portfolios when clearly there is no one more concerned about your money than you.

So lets fast forward a bit. I have now quit my old corporate job and I trade full time for a living. I post a lot of my trades on Stocktwits and Twitter. I have built a fairly good following and there have been many that have asked me things ranging from where did I learn to trade, to can you tell me what stocks I should buy for a swing. I am more than happy to try and help anyone that approaches me. I want to be that guy that helps teach you how to fish not the guy that gives you a fish!!

I am a hybrid trader. I take both swings and short term trades and guess what? Sometimes >>I get it wrong. There is an immense amount of arrogance in this profession and there are plenty of critics out there when someone gets it wrong. Regardless, there is nothing in the world I would rather be doing for a living. If you follow me and you take a trade that doesn't work>> I apologize!! However, please do your own due diligence and make the trade yours before you enter. I post a lot of movers throughout the day. Some I take for a quick trade and others I am starting a swing position in.  I may also just be posting because a stock caught my eye. Either they had a big volume spike, or they just broke intraday, or a PR just hit the wires, or they broke high of day. That does not mean I am buying the stock. Even if it did I would not recommend blindly following me. The lists I put out each morning and the video watch lists I do each week are just meant to give you some ideas of stocks to check out on your own. I could be way off base on whether its a good potential play. My intent may also be different than yours as I may be looking at a swing or long term hold while you are just looking for a quick trade.

I have tried to send people in the right direction as far as getting some training and I have offered to review some of their charts. However, I wanted them to do some work on their own. I have found that the majority of people don't want to put out the expense or the effort. They remind me of   >> Well >>>>Me just over over two years ago. They just want someone to give them the magic formula or tell them which stocks to buy where they can make some good money.

That my friends is a recipe for disaster. I have a few rules for myself when it comes to my new profession

1 Don't chase

2 Have my own trading plan and do not just follow others blindly. I need to see the trade, be the trade lol 

3 Keep losses small 

4 Be humble

5 Try to help others

6 Never stop learning 

7 Be disciplined 

 finally

 # 8  arguably the most important one for me is to HAVE FUN!

I guess the intent of this post is to emphasize the importance of getting your own education and establishing your own set of rules. If you want to learn how to fish then please feel free to hit me up and I will help guide you any way I can. However, if you just want me to give you a fish it ain't gonna happen. I see that as doing more harm than good.

I hope everyone had a fantastic safe and fun Fourth of July. See you all this weekend with next weeks video watch list.