Chat With Traders is your key to the minds of trading's elite performers. Start listening to learn how a diverse mix of traders went from zero to hero, how they successfully trade markets today, and get their best tips 'n pointers for profitable performance, plus much more. Note: You are responsible for your own trading decisions—this is not financial advice.
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Veteran trader Peter Stolcers recounts his three-decade career, from floor runner in the chaotic 80s pits to a senior VP and eventually a full-time independent trader. He details his systematic, top-down process, which prioritizes market analysis and identifying relative strength/weakness to inform long, short, and option strategies. Pete also discusses the evolution of trading technology, the challenges of market volatility, and the importance of discipline, risk management, and adapting strategies to current conditions, all while blending fundamental awareness with technical decision-making.
This episode features Gabriel Bullo, the winner of the Chat with Traders 21-day trading challenge, who overcame early losses and blown accounts to become a funded trader. He discusses his shift from technical indicators to pure price action, the strategies he employed in the contest, and the emotional discipline required for success. Gabriel also shares his unique perspective on trading as a career in the Philippines, where it's often viewed as gambling, and offers advice to aspiring traders.
Seeking financial opportunities overseas just before the Great Financial Crises, Andres Granger was motivated to learn how to trade after falling victim to a Ponzi-like trading scheme. He worked hard and diligently studied order flow and scalping while trading Futures in different markets. Later, he was introduced to crypto through a prop firm, where he honed his skills to exploit large market inefficiencies through market neutral trading. Emboldened by these incredible opportunities, Andres the...
This episode features a Zoom discussion with Henrik Johansson and Patrick Petersson, detailing Henrik's journey from a beginner to a funded prop trader in just 60 days. They cover Henrik's background, the evolution of his trading strategies, how he overcame psychological challenges, and the essential tools he adopted. Listeners gain valuable insights into selecting a suitable prop firm, managing risk with trailing drawdowns, and the profound lessons Henrik learned while trading alongside his experienced mentor, Patrick.
Shay, known as Humbled Trader, recounts her transformation from a Hollywood special effects artist to a successful full-time trader, initially drawn by easy money promises but ultimately learning to forge her own path. She candidly discusses her significant losses, including a $47k Snapchat blow-up, and the emotional discipline required for consistency. Her popular YouTube channel, born from a need for a creative outlet, became a powerful tool for personal accountability and sharing realistic trading wisdom, contrasting sharply with the prevalent "Lamborghini money" hype. Shay emphasizes the importance of robust journaling, consistent risk management, and preparing a financial runway for aspiring traders.
In this fascinating episode, seasoned trader Patrick Petersson details his unconventional 16-year journey, from a family critical of trading to managing a private hedge fund. He explains his intuitive, indicator-free approach, relying on price action, real-time news, and "nervous" candles for lightning-fast discretionary executions. Patrick openly discusses blowing up over 50 accounts, experiencing homelessness, and the challenge of managing both investor expectations and his own aggressive, yet highly disciplined, "all-in" trading style. His story highlights the intense psychological demands of trading and the profound lessons learned from extreme loss, emphasizing the importance of cutting losses fast and always following one's inner voice.
Lukas Frohlich, "The Short Bear," recounts his evolution as a trader, starting at age 13 with no formal education and overcoming significant early losses through relentless learning and a business-like approach. He details his "Agenda Trading" and pyramiding strategies that led to explosive gains in 2020 by capitalizing on Fed liquidity and corporate dilution. Frohlich also discusses adapting to changing market conditions, evolving risk management, the importance of disciplined habits, and his future vision for a diversified investment firm.
Alexander Moreno recounts his harrowing experience of losing everything, including becoming homeless, due to impulsive and reckless trading decisions during the 2008 market crisis. He details his early success and mentorship, the isolation of trading, and how financial pressure led to a gambling addiction. Now, Alexander dedicates himself to helping retail traders understand and implement emotional risk management, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness, accountability, and the speed at which losses occur to survive and thrive in the market.
David Capablanca, a former architect, transitioned to short selling due to student debt and a desire for independence, developing a contrarian approach focused on uncovering fraud. He discusses his rigorous investigative process, including field visits to company headquarters, and the personal discipline required to succeed in trading. The episode also explores the mechanics of short squeezes, market inefficiencies, and his unique strategies for identifying high-probability setups.
Louisa Nicola, a neurophysiologist and human performance coach, discusses critical strategies for traders to achieve peak mental and physical performance. She explains how lifestyle choices impact brain health and long-term viability, highlighting the risks of neglecting well-being. The conversation covers essential pillars: sleep optimization through understanding circadian rhythms and sleep hygiene, the brain-boosting benefits of exercise (both cardio and strength training), and a diet rich in whole foods, emphasizing key supplements like creatine and omega-3s. Louisa also touches on personalized approaches using tools like EEG and continuous glucose monitors to fine-tune individual performance.
Vincent Bruzzese, known as Hari Seldon, details his transformation from a gambler to a high-probability day trader after blowing multiple accounts. He explains his unique approach focusing on statistical edges, relative strength, and a disciplined mindset, contrasting it with the gambler's mentality. Vincent also discusses the challenges of today's market, his risk management philosophy without stop losses, and the success of his Real Day Trading community in helping small traders achieve consistency.
This episode features Christian Carreon, who shares his raw story of growing up poor with kidney disease as an immigrant from Mexico, leading to financial instability and personal struggles including jail time. His traumatic past fueled a relentless drive for financial success, culminating in the development of his "trading boxes" strategy. Christian explains this systematic, trend-following approach, detailing how he uses price consolidation and "zones" to identify high-probability setups, which has allowed him to generate exceptional returns and achieve financial peace of mind, even as he faces a third kidney transplant.
Patrick Boyle, a finance professor and quant hedge fund manager, details his evolution from a young utility stock investor to a data-driven trader. He recounts navigating the dot-com bubble, the invaluable mentorship with Vic Niederhofer, and critical lessons from major market events like the credit crunch and flash crashes. Boyle emphasizes continuous research, managing false expectations, identifying financial scams, and maintaining emotional control in the dynamic trading landscape, offering a blend of wisdom, humor, and practical insights.
Yvan Byeajee shares his transformative journey from struggling trader to achieving consistent success by mastering his inner game. He introduces three core pillars: embracing uncertainty, cultivating self-awareness, and practicing accountability. Through a systematic approach rooted in mindfulness and statistical thinking, Yvan demonstrates how traders can overcome emotional biases, manage risk effectively, and achieve long-term profitability by focusing on process over short-term outcomes.
This episode features Kasper Vandeloock, a 22-year-old quant trader who left high school at 18 to pursue crypto full-time. He shares his fascinating journey, detailing early arbitrage strategies, the allure of crypto's open data, and the challenges of building a microservice-based fund. The discussion also extensively covers the FTX collapse, its causes, market impacts, and how Kasper adapted his strategies, emphasizing the resilience of decentralized finance and the ongoing evolution of the crypto space.
Sunny Harris, a mathematician and programmer, shares insights from her 42-year trading career, emphasizing her systematic 'Sunny Bands' approach developed through extensive backtesting. She recounts successfully navigating four major market crashes, explains her daily routine, and highlights the importance of logical thinking, methodical execution, and treating trading as a business, while offering perspectives on women in trading and personal well-being.
This episode delves into Jack Kellogg's extraordinary journey from a valet driver to a highly successful trader, turning an initial $20K into $11M. He candidly shares his early struggles with penny stocks, the importance of learning from significant losses, and the intense drive that led to burnout before finding balance. The discussion also covers the nuances of OTC markets, risk management, and the profound impact of his success on his personal life and ability to give back.
David Sun, an electrical engineer turned hedge fund manager, discusses his systematic approach to options trading. He outlines his method for minimizing risk and optimizing edge, focusing on a multi-layer strategy that incorporates stop losses, capitalizes on high implied volatility in a unique way, and carefully manages the win-to-loss ratio. The episode delves into the mechanics of expectancy hacking, credit targeting, and how his strategies are designed for consistent, long-term positive expectancy.
Djamal Adib, an ex-stockbroker and Forex competition winner, uncovers the inner workings of the Forex market, detailing how "smart money" algorithms hunt stop losses and create market manipulation. He explains the concept of "market causality" and provides examples of tradable setups that exploit these dynamics. Adib warns against common retail trader pitfalls, emphasizing the necessity of a proven edge and deep market understanding over mere discipline.
Uri Klarman, co-founder of Blocks Route, shares his journey into DeFi and cryptocurrencies, highlighting how it provides an open, global financial system superior to fragmented traditional markets. He explains DeFi income opportunities like liquidity providing and staking, breaks down the core components of decentralized finance, and encourages listeners to experiment hands-on. Klarman also offers his candid views on crypto regulation and the critical role of privacy in this new financial paradigm.
Jason Shapiro, featured in "Unknown Market Wizards," shares his 30-year trading journey, highlighting how a past tragedy in Thailand led him to abandon opinions for tape reading. He details his contrarian strategy, identifying "dumb money" signals from media and extensively using the Commitment of Traders report. Shapiro emphasizes market confirmation, like "news failure events," for entry and managing risk through uncorrelated positions, advising traders to learn from losses and rely on a robust process to combat psychological pitfalls.
New Chat with Traders host Ian Cox recounts his extensive trading and investing career, detailing how he achieved early financial freedom through disciplined strategies and learned from painful mistakes like overconfidence and ego. He emphasizes the critical role of a robust trading plan and mental flexibility, and passionately delves into his current focus on cryptocurrency, explaining the lucrative yield opportunities in decentralized finance, while also cautioning about the inherent risks and regulatory uncertainties in this evolving market.
This episode features Moritz Seibert, who details an extreme arbitrage edge he exploited for over three years in the German DAX warrants market. He explains how banks' slow volatility surface updates and consistently tight bid-offer spreads created a lucrative opportunity, which he rigorously traded using manual execution and spreadsheet-based real-time analysis. Moritz recounts the "game of chicken" played with banks to exit trades and the eventual decay of the edge as banks adjusted their pricing. He also touches upon a separate pre-market volatility arbitrage.
Kris Sidial explains how The Ambrus Group's long volatility fund acts as a portfolio hedge for market crashes, aiming for outsized returns from tail risk events using deep out-of-money options and variance swaps. He details how active, behaviorally-driven trading strategies are employed to offset the premium cost of these hedges, ensuring robust risk management and sustainable uncorrelated returns for investors.
Veteran derivatives trader Jimmy Jude provides an unfiltered account of his wild career, from the aggressive CME Eurodollar options pit in the 90s, where he witnessed massive market blow-ups, to his current strategies. He details the unique mindset required for floor trading, the ruthless competition, and the invaluable lessons learned from failures. Jude also offers insights into his modern approach, including VIX curve and E-mini futures, and candid advice for aspiring traders.
Options veteran John Carter, with over 30 years of experience, details his increasingly aggressive trading tactics that led to substantial profits in 2020-2021, including a mega Google options trade. He emphasizes a holistic approach, the psychological challenges of trading, adapting to changing market conditions (like shifting to day trading), and the importance of converting trading gains into tangible assets for long-term wealth preservation. The discussion also covers identifying big trade opportunities and simplifying options strategies.
This episode features Nicholas Bradburn, a retail trader who transitioned from making pizzas to full-time trading. He recounts his accidental entry into options via Wall Street Bets, his initial struggles and eventual commitment to learning. Nick details his evolution from scalping options signals to developing his own equity trading strategy, emphasizing risk management, frugality, and the importance of a substantial financial cushion for sustained success.
Host Aaron Fifield reveals his decision to step down from Chat with Traders later this year, citing personal reasons like full-time trading and family commitments. He introduces Tessa Dao as his new co-host, detailing the podcast's future with a two-host format, expanded content, and a renewed emphasis on building a supportive trading community. Tessa shares her personal journey from corporate finance to trading, her strategies, and her motivation to help beginner traders, aiming to foster connection and accountability among listeners.
Financial journalist Mary Childs delves into the life of billionaire bond trader Bill Gross, co-founder of Pimco, exploring his journey from a "regular Joe Blow" to a market legend who revolutionized bond trading. The discussion covers Pimco's innovative strategies, its significant role in the 2008 financial crisis with the controversial Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae trade, and the dramatic shift in Gross's public image and eventual departure. Childs also humanizes Gross, revealing his less-known personal traits and struggles.
Top trader Lance Breitstein returns to discuss his record-breaking performance during 2020-2021 and key trading concepts that fueled his success. He elaborates on "The Broken Slot Machine" for identifying high-edge opportunities, "The Right Side of the V" for precise entries, and channel fundamentals. Breitstein also shares insights into exponential bet sizing and effective strategies for accelerating a trader's learning curve, drawing from "Atomic Habits" principles.
