I have received a lot of the same questions recently about my trading style so I will answer the most frequently asked questions here.
Who is your broker? Are you live/paper?
My broker is SpeedTrader but due to their unavailability of shorts for the small caps that I’m interested in trading I will be moving to Centerpoint Securities (CPS) ETC. I will head back to trading live in April (next week).
I am paper trading through Speedtrader as it’s free but for the rest I recommend and I have used DasPro in the past. I subscribed using the $100/monthly option: DAS Trader Pro for Non Professional Users, Market Data: NASDAQ Regional with Advanced Charting: $100.00 USD - monthly. I chose them for their hotkeys ability and the fact that I knew I’d be using them when I went live.
I chose to revert back to paper trading because I hadn't traded Small Caps since the beginning of January as that’s when I opened my account with SpeedTrader and I didn’t get to practice/trade often due to their unavailability of shorts. I know they have SpeedTrader Pro which offers more small cap shares but I don’t ever want to wonder if I can short something or not so I chose CPS. You have to have the right tools to trade your niche and I love shorting small caps so CPS is the way to go for me.
CPS is a $50k minimum but if you go through @madaznfootballr (tweet at him and he can get you a referral to CPS), then you can open an account with $30k. This is what I did. Note: I receive no kind of compensation for giving you Madaz' referral info, this is purely for you if you want/need it.
Who do you follow on twitter for small caps?
@DGTrading101, @AT09_Trader, @madaznfootballr, @OzarkTrades, @d4ytrad3, @SJosephBurns (for trading psychology, great blogs also), @Tim_OConnell, @elkwood66, @lx21, @AuspexResearch (great for learning the fundamental analysis that gives edge in small caps), @modern_rock, @MRockRulez, @kroyrunner89, @ViperofDC, @CraigTrader, @TradeHawk, @steenbab (Trading Psychologist)
What is your style of trading?
I’m a technical based, short biased, small caps trader. I’m trying to learn some fundamentals to incorporate into my trading but that’s still in the early phases. I only trade from open-10:30am ET because my statistics suggest that’s when I’m best. This is ok for me because I want to work only in the peak times and then spend my off time traveling, having new experiences or honing in on my craft. Most often with my down time I study/analyze charts, watch lvl 2 price action or brush up on some trading psychology; the goal is to constantly course correct with observed mistakes so that I can strengthen my skills. I look for beaten down daily charts or those that are notorious for running or popping/dropping (long upper wicks). Those are the ones I hone in on; tickers that can make a move but can’t hold it. Other criteria: gap up>4%, >$0.50 premkt range, >30k premkt volume, Price Range: $2-$10/share, and <100M Float. I do NOT trade buyouts, offerings or splits; the ticker can have a history of it but that cannot be why it's moving at the time.
I typically take my major trades right at open. I will take a starter size (250 shares) and then add on the backside (250 shares) once I think my short bias has confirmed. I take it off in 1-3 pieces depending on the price action (1/2 at my first profit target, and then 150 and then 100 depending on the setup and how lucrative the price action appears to be). My max size is 500 shares because that’s what I’ll be trading when I go live. I don’t want to try and get rich overnight as that’s not a winning strategy, I want accuracy and consistency and I can do that with my small size. This size allows me to be patient and let the setups work. Any trades I take after open will most likely be ½ size at 250 shares, I may even add in 100 share lots up to 300 shares. Regardless, my edge is at the open as that’s the setup I’ve done the homework on and practiced over and over again. Anything after and I’m 70% comfortable on, when my comfortability goes down so does my confidence and trading psychology so I’ll size accordingly. I’m not afraid to trade news trades or really volatile setups but I’m 99% of the time going to trade it paper (when I go live). I’m getting into the habit of writing down the trade so I know these don’t count, they’re ‘paper trading’. This was something I struggled with when I went live in January, the psychology of having a paper and a live account and how to properly use them both so I’m working on that this time. If nothing sets up at the open for me that fits my strategy, I won’t trade. Anything after open will be smaller size and with greater caution exercised as I’m not sitting on cushion for the day.
Where did you get your start?
I started with a pretty popular penny stock guru in late 2015 and found out quickly this scheme was unrealistic. I started live and just bought breakouts and shorted stocks that were tanking. Sure it worked a few times here and there but I didn’t know how to draw levels of support/resistance successfully, I didn’t have a process or any rules. I started to look elsewhere, it only took about 3mos before I realized this furu wasn’t going to take me anywhere so I started to search for a room, an educational trading service, or mentor; there had to be someone who could help me figure this all out, give me direction, lead me. I had the drive, I was learning as much as I could online but it was too much, it was disorganized, I was overloading on information and I didn’t know what to do with all of it. I’m your typical bookworm and over-analyzer; indecisive, doubtful and fearful of making the wrong choice.
I then stumbled upon a blog calledHow I Overcame My Fear of Trading and I knew this was who I wanted to help me achieve my trading goals. He was writing about me and exactly how I felt. I knew he could help me sort things out, his name is none other than Ed Martin. I looked Ed up on YouTube and Twitter and found his blog and started to read it all and watch all of his videos. I reached out and he told me he was a member of the Warrior Trading Community, a moderator and educating mentor. I joined shortly thereafter in hopes that Ed would mentor me and later on he did.
I traded mid-large cap stocks with Ed but later found that I loved small caps much more. I just couldn’t wrap my head around giving a stock 50c-$1 risk. I did size down but then I noticed I didn’t have the patience to let them work. I wanted quick gains, in and out to lessen the time I was exposed. I blew up my account in March of 2016 and Ed, my trading buddies and other mentors in the community that I reached out all said it was time to head to paper and figure out my niche. I went live again in January 2017 just to find that I could never short anything that I was interested in. I went through 2/3s of my new $1500 account before pulling the plug and going back to paper trading. I was trying to make money trading mid-large cap stocks and that was tough. I eventually had to admit that I wasn’t trading in the niche I had practiced in for almost a yr. I was forcing it and outside of my comfort zone.
I joined Ed’s educational trading service in 2017 at Average Joe Trading because I believe in what he’s achieving with this community. An educational chatroom that’s geared towards helping young traders find their way in the market. I love it! It’s passionate, selfless and just the integrity that drew me to Ed to begin with.
It’s been rough but I persevere because I’m stubborn and I love to trade stocks. I’m 26 years young, I love my dog Oliver and I’d rather read a book about stocks, listen to a @chatwithtraders podcast or hone in on my meditation skills than watch tv or browse on social media.
My goal is to travel the world while I trade stocks in the morning. I ideally would short small cap stocks from open-10:30am and then walk away for the rest of the day and focus on other business goals.
What are your primary scanners? I use Trade Ideas and below are the settings to my primary scanners.
This is my premkt scanner
This is my intraday scanner
Alas
I’m far from where I want to be and there are a ton way better, but I’ve been to the trenches and back a few times. Drive, heart and fight from a migrant family background keep me going, with Thai Tea and Veggie Spring Rolls of course. I help out as often as I can in the chatroom but if you want anything more I’ll be offering mentoring sessions soon. They’ll be private and just for you. I’ll teach you what I know and I’ll guide you however I can through your journey. After all, this is a marathon not a sprint and most often than not in this game the community can do more for you than you can do all by yourself.
Who is your broker? Are you live/paper?
My broker is SpeedTrader but due to their unavailability of shorts for the small caps that I’m interested in trading I will be moving to Centerpoint Securities (CPS) ETC. I will head back to trading live in April (next week).
I am paper trading through Speedtrader as it’s free but for the rest I recommend and I have used DasPro in the past. I subscribed using the $100/monthly option: DAS Trader Pro for Non Professional Users, Market Data: NASDAQ Regional with Advanced Charting: $100.00 USD - monthly. I chose them for their hotkeys ability and the fact that I knew I’d be using them when I went live.
I chose to revert back to paper trading because I hadn't traded Small Caps since the beginning of January as that’s when I opened my account with SpeedTrader and I didn’t get to practice/trade often due to their unavailability of shorts. I know they have SpeedTrader Pro which offers more small cap shares but I don’t ever want to wonder if I can short something or not so I chose CPS. You have to have the right tools to trade your niche and I love shorting small caps so CPS is the way to go for me.
CPS is a $50k minimum but if you go through @madaznfootballr (tweet at him and he can get you a referral to CPS), then you can open an account with $30k. This is what I did. Note: I receive no kind of compensation for giving you Madaz' referral info, this is purely for you if you want/need it.
Who do you follow on twitter for small caps?
@DGTrading101, @AT09_Trader, @madaznfootballr, @OzarkTrades, @d4ytrad3, @SJosephBurns (for trading psychology, great blogs also), @Tim_OConnell, @elkwood66, @lx21, @AuspexResearch (great for learning the fundamental analysis that gives edge in small caps), @modern_rock, @MRockRulez, @kroyrunner89, @ViperofDC, @CraigTrader, @TradeHawk, @steenbab (Trading Psychologist)
What is your style of trading?
I’m a technical based, short biased, small caps trader. I’m trying to learn some fundamentals to incorporate into my trading but that’s still in the early phases. I only trade from open-10:30am ET because my statistics suggest that’s when I’m best. This is ok for me because I want to work only in the peak times and then spend my off time traveling, having new experiences or honing in on my craft. Most often with my down time I study/analyze charts, watch lvl 2 price action or brush up on some trading psychology; the goal is to constantly course correct with observed mistakes so that I can strengthen my skills. I look for beaten down daily charts or those that are notorious for running or popping/dropping (long upper wicks). Those are the ones I hone in on; tickers that can make a move but can’t hold it. Other criteria: gap up>4%, >$0.50 premkt range, >30k premkt volume, Price Range: $2-$10/share, and <100M Float. I do NOT trade buyouts, offerings or splits; the ticker can have a history of it but that cannot be why it's moving at the time.
I typically take my major trades right at open. I will take a starter size (250 shares) and then add on the backside (250 shares) once I think my short bias has confirmed. I take it off in 1-3 pieces depending on the price action (1/2 at my first profit target, and then 150 and then 100 depending on the setup and how lucrative the price action appears to be). My max size is 500 shares because that’s what I’ll be trading when I go live. I don’t want to try and get rich overnight as that’s not a winning strategy, I want accuracy and consistency and I can do that with my small size. This size allows me to be patient and let the setups work. Any trades I take after open will most likely be ½ size at 250 shares, I may even add in 100 share lots up to 300 shares. Regardless, my edge is at the open as that’s the setup I’ve done the homework on and practiced over and over again. Anything after and I’m 70% comfortable on, when my comfortability goes down so does my confidence and trading psychology so I’ll size accordingly. I’m not afraid to trade news trades or really volatile setups but I’m 99% of the time going to trade it paper (when I go live). I’m getting into the habit of writing down the trade so I know these don’t count, they’re ‘paper trading’. This was something I struggled with when I went live in January, the psychology of having a paper and a live account and how to properly use them both so I’m working on that this time. If nothing sets up at the open for me that fits my strategy, I won’t trade. Anything after open will be smaller size and with greater caution exercised as I’m not sitting on cushion for the day.
Where did you get your start?
I started with a pretty popular penny stock guru in late 2015 and found out quickly this scheme was unrealistic. I started live and just bought breakouts and shorted stocks that were tanking. Sure it worked a few times here and there but I didn’t know how to draw levels of support/resistance successfully, I didn’t have a process or any rules. I started to look elsewhere, it only took about 3mos before I realized this furu wasn’t going to take me anywhere so I started to search for a room, an educational trading service, or mentor; there had to be someone who could help me figure this all out, give me direction, lead me. I had the drive, I was learning as much as I could online but it was too much, it was disorganized, I was overloading on information and I didn’t know what to do with all of it. I’m your typical bookworm and over-analyzer; indecisive, doubtful and fearful of making the wrong choice.
I then stumbled upon a blog calledHow I Overcame My Fear of Trading and I knew this was who I wanted to help me achieve my trading goals. He was writing about me and exactly how I felt. I knew he could help me sort things out, his name is none other than Ed Martin. I looked Ed up on YouTube and Twitter and found his blog and started to read it all and watch all of his videos. I reached out and he told me he was a member of the Warrior Trading Community, a moderator and educating mentor. I joined shortly thereafter in hopes that Ed would mentor me and later on he did.
I traded mid-large cap stocks with Ed but later found that I loved small caps much more. I just couldn’t wrap my head around giving a stock 50c-$1 risk. I did size down but then I noticed I didn’t have the patience to let them work. I wanted quick gains, in and out to lessen the time I was exposed. I blew up my account in March of 2016 and Ed, my trading buddies and other mentors in the community that I reached out all said it was time to head to paper and figure out my niche. I went live again in January 2017 just to find that I could never short anything that I was interested in. I went through 2/3s of my new $1500 account before pulling the plug and going back to paper trading. I was trying to make money trading mid-large cap stocks and that was tough. I eventually had to admit that I wasn’t trading in the niche I had practiced in for almost a yr. I was forcing it and outside of my comfort zone.
I joined Ed’s educational trading service in 2017 at Average Joe Trading because I believe in what he’s achieving with this community. An educational chatroom that’s geared towards helping young traders find their way in the market. I love it! It’s passionate, selfless and just the integrity that drew me to Ed to begin with.
It’s been rough but I persevere because I’m stubborn and I love to trade stocks. I’m 26 years young, I love my dog Oliver and I’d rather read a book about stocks, listen to a @chatwithtraders podcast or hone in on my meditation skills than watch tv or browse on social media.
My goal is to travel the world while I trade stocks in the morning. I ideally would short small cap stocks from open-10:30am and then walk away for the rest of the day and focus on other business goals.
What are your primary scanners? I use Trade Ideas and below are the settings to my primary scanners.
This is my premkt scanner
This is my intraday scanner
Alas
I’m far from where I want to be and there are a ton way better, but I’ve been to the trenches and back a few times. Drive, heart and fight from a migrant family background keep me going, with Thai Tea and Veggie Spring Rolls of course. I help out as often as I can in the chatroom but if you want anything more I’ll be offering mentoring sessions soon. They’ll be private and just for you. I’ll teach you what I know and I’ll guide you however I can through your journey. After all, this is a marathon not a sprint and most often than not in this game the community can do more for you than you can do all by yourself.