Every Sunday, Benzinga releases the video podcast, A Traders Journey on our YouTube channel. Customer Success Director Ryan Faloona interviews pro traders to get to know them, their trading style, and what tips they have for traders. In this blog post, we’ll summarize the key takeaways and share the tips these traders give.
Trading Tips from Sandman
Sandman has been trading for most of his life, starting at an early age. During his summer breaks, he would go down to Merrill Lynch, and many of the older traders took him under their wing and that’s how he learned to trade. Since 1987, he’s been a full-time trader.
On his biggest loss: Sandman was trading a biotech company, where he had a lot of shares, and his order was to sell at the open. Had he not gotten out then, his loss would have been much worse. He says, “I always tell people this, when you’re in a situation like that, your first loss is your best loss. Just get out.” He also added, “When something like that happens, am I happy about it? No. But you just go forward.” Sandman says a bad trade doesn’t define who you are and that the best thing to do is keep moving forward.
What He Would Tell His Past Self on Day 1: “Be more patient.”
You can find Sandman in the Benzinga Pro chat, and as a frequent guest on Benzinga Pro exclusive customer webinars.
Trading Tips from Airplane Jane
Airplane Jane has had a unique trading journey, starting 20 years ago when she got hired at a broker, got her series 7 license, and became a broker assistant. Then boom—the dot com bubble burst. During that time period, she learned a lot about margin, options, and that she didn’t want to be involved with other people’s money. After her layoff, she ended up in Canada, married and working in the aviation industry. After she was laid off then, her husband suggested that she look into trading again. She took $25,000 and turned it into $250,000. From there, she decided to get back to her trading roots and started seriously studying active day trading.
On Work/Life Balance: Jane says she is usually done by 11 a.m., so she has afternoons, evenings and weekends to spend time with her kids and family. She says by 11 a.m., most of the price action has wrapped up.
On Staying Healthy: Something you might not always hear as a trading tip, but Jane stresses the importance of maintaining your health. “I definitely look at the wellbeing of my body as a part of trading,” said Jane. She said she tries to stay active every day, keep healthy snacks around like nuts, and get enough sleep so she can trade her best.
What She Would Tell Her Past Self on Day 1: “Paper trade first. And prove your consistency, find your strategy, everybody is different with the time they can commit to the market. The amount of capital they can commit to the market and their personal risk tolerance. Some people like to drive in the slow lane, some people like to bungee jump. What works for you? And try out different strategies to see which one you have really have a lot of success with.”
Trading Tips from Jerremy Newsome of Real Life Trading
Jerremy Newsome always knew he wanted to work in the stock market, and went to school for a Finance degree. It wasn’t until he sat down for a mentorship meeting where his boss explained the markets and his trading strategy to him. From there, Jerremy used that strategy and traded it in his 401(k) and it snowballed from there.
On the biggest lesson he’s learned: “A lot of people say the stock market is controlled by fear and greed, I disagree with that. I think the market is controlled by fear and optimism. Because most of the people that I work with, and trade with, and interact with, like you, you’re not greedy. If you had 400 million dollars, you’d probably give a lot of it to charity, you’d help your mom. You would build companies which would employ other people, you’d give that money away. Any time you help other people with your money, you cannot become greedy. So if you’re working or you’re trading in order to provide for your family and to help them grow and to help expand your church or your community or whatever, that’s the exact opposite of greed.”
What he thinks new traders need to learn: Risk mitigation. He adds, “The number one thing I’ll tell new traders, it’s gonna take longer than you expect number one, number two, yes, this is a really, really great way to trade, to make money but don’t make it about money, make it about the process.”
How he controls emotional trading: Jerremy says once a month, he has a “Will Power Wednesday” where he’s watching the markets and watching charts, but he doesn’t take any trades. He also likes to take a day or two where he steps away and doesn’t look at charts or make trades.
Trading Tips from Madaz Money
Madaz started trading back in March 2011, when he opened an eTrade account with $6,000. His first trade wasn’t very big, but he did profit, and it got him started in the world of trading. One thing led to another, and he got hooked.
On his biggest hurdles: Madaz says the biggest hurdle for him is taking a sizeable loss and wanting to make that money back as soon as possible.
What He Would Tell His Past Self on Day 1: Paper trade. Like Airplane Jane, Madaz wishes he took the time to paper trade instead of diving in with real money. He says paper trading will help you learn the mechanics of trading—how to use the platform, find indicators, and other tools. Not knowing that before trading with real money can be costly—you need to learn how to execute trades properly.
Trading Tips from Steven Dux
Steven Dux is a trader who memorizes charts and advanced statistics and analytics to make calculated, high-probability trades.
On his 3 key tips for success:
1) Focus on finding an edge. “You need an edge, at least one edge. Pretty much for 99% of traders, you need one edge,” said Dux
2) Track the frequency of patterns and see how often it occurs in a year, so you can calculate what you’re likely to profit in a year.
3) Eliminate your emotions when you trade.
What He Would Tell His Past Self on Day 1: While individual day trades are short term, you have to see your trading as long term. “You cannot make all your money in one trade. You make all your money by every small successful trade adding up together,” he said.
Final Thoughts
We’re releasing new episodes of A Traders Journey each and every Sunday. Click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with new episodes. These pro traders come from all different backgrounds and journey, each with their own unique advice for traders.
Disclaimer: Benzinga is a news organization and does not provide financial advice and does not issue stock recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security. Benzinga Pro is for informational purposes and should not be viewed as recommendations. Benzinga Pro will never tell you whether to buy or sell a stock. It will only inform your trading decisions. You can find our full disclaimer located here.