Chat With Traders · Conversations With Talented Tradersin Stocks, Futures, Options, Forex And Crypto Markets.

Alex (@AT09_Trader) is a 22-year old, discretionary day trader, who’s seen great results in the few years he’s been grinding away at this. He trades small caps, and he trades aggressively—as you’ll soon hear, Alex is far from conservative. This conversation was recorded on the 16th of November (2016), right around the time when the madness in the shipping sector was unfolding. So we got talking about the ticker DRYS and how Alex racked up a $40k loss a day or two before our interview (although, he had his first +$100k day shortly after too). Also we spoke about how Alex got started, the types of trade scenarios that he looks for, areas that he’s working on to improve, and also his venture into real estate—where he flipped a foreclosure property for a tidy profit, plus much more. Note: Nothing you hear on this podcast is financial advice. You’re entirely responsible for your own trading decisions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Machine learning is a hot topic right now, with a lot of people wondering how it could be used in finance and trading. Used naively, machine learning poses a great deal of risk. We’ll discuss why that’s the case and also some good ways to use it carefully. -- Sponsored by DataCamp.com – Learning to code can be challenging, but with A-grade courses at your fingertips, things are a whole lot easier. Visit DataCamp start today—sign up for free! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode, I’m joined by a quant trader who works at a high frequency trading firm—though you might be surprised to hear, he started out on the same path that many retail traders do—his name is; Dave Bergstrom. The thing that makes Dave unique from most traders who’ve been on this podcast previously, is how he uses data-mining techniques to develop trading strategies. Though data-mining, in trading, often has a negative connotation attached to it, Dave believes this stems from bad practices and poor evaluation of methods. In addition to the above and ways to reduce curve-fitting, we talk about escaping randomness, learning to write code, Dave’s three laws for strategy development, setting expectations and plenty more. Q+A: Got a question for Dave? Write in the comments area at chatwithtraders.com/103. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When one has a price model that they think will work well for forecasting returns, the next step is to actually trade it. This isn’t that simple for a variety of reasons. For one thing, you need to define how much risk you’re okay with taking on in a portfolio, and then try to maximize your returns while staying within those boundaries. This is the foundation of modern portfolio theory—we’ll discuss some real life issues with this. -- Sponsored by DataCamp.com – Wanna learn how to code? Then you best visit DataCamp. They’ve got a full suite of data science courses that’ll give you the skill-sets necessary of a quant. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eugene Soltes is an author and finance professor at Harvard Business School. Over the past eight years, give or take, he’s spent a lot of time with many big-time executives and professionals who have been convicted of major financial crimes, such as; cooking the books, fraud, Ponzi schemes, and insider trading. What initially began as nothing other than self-interest has materialized into a 464-page hardcover book, which was released in October this year (2016). The book is titled, Why They Do It: Inside the Mind of the White-Collar Criminal. Intrigued by the subject matter, I invited Eugene onto the podcast and we got talking about; how Bernie Madoff became the mastermind behind the biggest fraudulent scheme in US history—sucking billions of dollars from unsuspecting investors, some of the notorious insider trading cases, and ultimately, why they do it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In practice, no one trading model will ever be that good on its own. Luckily statistics has come up with a lot of theory about how you can combine weaker models to create better overall predictions. We’ll discuss how to combine many different trading signals into overall models and some of the practical considerations in doing so. -- Sponsored by DataCamp.com – For new and intermediate programmers, DataCamp have an evergrowing library of interactive courses that’ll help you to become a data science wizard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest for episode 1-0-1 is Siam Kidd, from Norwich in the UK. He’s a former-air force pilot, turned retail trader. He’s also a serial entrepreneur, and on a quest to dramatically improve the schooling system. We got to chat about his shaky beginnings as a trader, his rock bottom moment, and how he trades currency pairs—using a technical-driven approach, with the goal of catching major trends when they happen. During the later half, I ask Siam about why he got into business, how he’s found the ability to “think big” and how he’s gotten to a point where he now owns fifteen businesses. Then we also talk about flaws in the schooling system, Siam’s grand scheme, and what the future has in store for us. -- Please spare two-minutes to take the anonymous Chat With Traders survey: click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Factors are at the core of a modern quant equity workflow. This episode introduces the notion of alpha and risk factors at a high level, and delves into some of the use cases which include: understanding how the market is moving, understanding how a portfolio is exposed to sources of risk, and turning ideas for price forecasting into encapsulated alpha factors. -- Sponsored by DataCamp.com – DataCamp is the ultimate go-to for learning data science and stats, using programming languages Python and R. Start any online course today—for FREE! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest for this special milestone (being episode 100!) is someone who I’ve been attempting to bring on since before episode one was even released… Folks, I’d like to introduce you to Bao—or better known as @Modern_Rock on Twitter. Bao is an independent day trader, and a former-Silicon Valley software engineer, who made the large majority of his fortune trading stocks on the OTC bulletin board market. His story emphasizes; anyone with the will to succeed, even amongst adversity, can become unstoppable. During the interview we speak about avoiding complacency, the greatest trade of Bao’s career, discovering a niche, managing confidence, consistency tips, how to progress as a developing trader, and much more. -- Sponsored by TradeStation.com – Trade with TradeStation. Enjoy access to many markets and products, cost-saving commission rates, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The worst case in finance is when you think you’re right, but you’re actually wrong. This can be especially dangerous when you’ve used some methodology or statistics to justify a decision, but are unaware of all the subtle biases that can cause false results. In this episode we’ll cover many of the ways that you can be wrong without knowing it in trading and finance. -- Sponsored by DataCamp.com – For learning how to program, DataCamp is easily one of the top resources available—their online courses focus specifically on data science, stats & finance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest for this episode is Brynne Kelly; an electricity, natural gas, and crude oil trader who’s spent the majority of her career on merchant trading desks, for the likes of BP amongst others. She has also been a prop trader and has experience as a hedge fund portfolio manager. A few of the key topics we hit on include: Brynne’s responsibilities as head of trading desks, how she taught, trained and managed newer traders, and an overview for how Brynne trades relationships using fundamentals and macro trends. And plenty more. For many listening, much of this may not necessarily be directly applicable to your own trading, but you’ll get great insight to how things work from the merchant side. -- Sponsored by TradeStation.com – A well-established online broker, who’ve been serving retail and professional traders since 1982. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before day trading equities, Peter To played a lot of online poker and did fairly well for himself. He then dabbled in markets as an investor, but was soon attracted to OTC stocks after discovering a strange inefficiency… In this episode we spend quite a bit of time talking about Peter’s prop trading experience, both the good and the bad. Trading nihilism and doing everything you supposedly shouldn’t do, why Peter accepts he’s not a “cold blooded assassin” and does trade with the influence of emotion. Plus, we briefly touch on Bitcoin and exchange hacks towards the end too. Peter also writes about many of these subjects on his blog, which you can read here. -- Sponsored by TradeStation.com – A fully-licensed online broker and trading technology provider (who have won a ridiculous amount of awards!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode, I have our very first guest from China; Derek Wong—he is the Director of Systematic Trading and Options at a private fund in Shanghai. Initially though, Derek got his start in the agricultural pits at the CBOT, then following on from this, he’s worked at various quant shops in Chicago, South Korea, and now days, mainland China. After discussing Derek’s backstory, we talk; emerging markets, cultural differences of Chinese investors, convergent and divergent strategies, diversification, and some slightly unconventional ways of thinking about how you trade. Additionally, Derek also has some awesome insight for traders who are discretionary and what traders should focus once reaching profitability. Derek has agreed to answer any trading questions you may have. So if you’ve got a question go to chatwithtraders.com/97, scroll to the bottom of the page and write in the comments area… -- Sponsored by TradeStation.com: TradeStation clients have it pretty good; an amazing platform, great commissions an

Nico (@InefficientMrkt on Twitter) is a day trader with a thirst for momentum. He predominately trades low-priced stocks that have a tendency to move fast and far—and roughly 90% of his positions are on the short side. But the main reason why I brought Nico onto the podcast, is I feel as though he has a story which many traders will be able to relate to, on one level or another… The short of it is; Nico placed his first trade in 2007, made 4x on his starting capital year one, and then slowly bleed his trading account for the next seven years. He’s now found his groove, but his overnight success was eight years in the making. This episode is very much centered around Nico’s journey and development as a trader, and how full-time trading became more than a pipe dream. -- Sponsored by Darwinex.com: Each month, Darwinex invest €1,500,000 with their top performing traders! Learn more about Darwinex here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this episode, the trader who I had the opportunity to speak with, and who you’re about to hear from, is Adrian—or @AdeyF69 on Twitter. Adrian was a pro sailor for almost two decades, but for the past six years, he’s been on dry land, taking an income from financial markets as an independent day trader. Adrian primarily trades the Bund and the DAX, though he initially started out in foreign exchange. His trading strategy is influenced by support and resistance areas, volume profiling, order flow, and stats. After talking about how Adrian’s survived storms at sea, torturous sleeping patterns, and run-ins with pirates, we spend a fair amount of time discussing; how Adrian uses stats and some things to watch out for, and why it pays to be process driven. -- Sponsored by Darwinex.com: Establish a track record, increase your capital (without the hassle of pitching investors), and scale up! Learn more about Darwinex here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest on this episode is a former-stand up comedian, turned questionable stockbroker, turned day trader—folks, I’d like you to meet, Kenny Glick. During the 90’s, Kenny went from the stages of comedy clubs into a hyper-aggressive brokerage firm, which he describes as being identical to scenes from the movie, Boiler Room—and he has some wild stories to share, which you’ll hear very soon. Once Kenny realized his morals were getting in the way of his ability peddle junk stocks, he went on to pursue a career in trading stocks and options. And that’s, also, what we go into detail about during this episode. Additionally, you’ll pick up some simple chunks of wisdom which you can apply to your own way of trading—if you choose to. -- Sponsored by Darwinex: An online platform that allows traders to trade the market and investors to back them. Learn more at Darwinex.com/traders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What you’re about to hear is a conversation I had with a short-term futures trader, Ben—whose last name we won’t mention only for privacy reasons, but he goes by @BLB_Capital on Twitter. Before entering the market, Ben previously ran a construction company until an injury put him out of action for a period of time, which is when a friend got him interested in trading. Developing his craft over recent years, the bulk of Ben’s trading now revolves around order flow and he’s most active in Oil, Gold and ES. Over the next 50-mins or so we discuss; what Ben learned and emulated from a large bond trader he was trained by, insight to his core trading strategies, how he utilizes automation, why traders should be aware of “right-to-left syndrome” and more. -- Sponsored by Darwinex.com: Darwinex back independent traders with talent who lack sufficient capital—scale your trading career from a side-hustle to a professional business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this episode I spoke with fund manager, Dario Mofardin. Dario went from a finance degree, straight into a market analyst and then trader position at a private global macro hedge fund, during the early 90’s. He then went into investment banking for 13 years, working with mergers and acquisitions from various locations around the globe. And since 2008, Dario has been trading independently, but has recently begun trading external funds also. Some of the key points we chat about during this episode include; seeing the whole board as a global macro trader, how to build a body of evidence, why Dario went from short-term trading to higher timeframes, plus trade management and checklists too. -- Sponsored by Tradovate.com – Tradovate; a commission-free futures broker—trade as much as you like, and as many contracts as you like, for one flat monthly rate. Start a FREE 2-week demo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Craig Scott is someone who has been trading and investing for most of his life, first starting in school when he participated in a year long stock picking competition. Once completing a double major in finance and accounting, Craig spent many years as an auditor and an accountant, and later on, the entrepreneur within had him start and grow several businesses (doing similar things) along the way. As Craig describes his style of trading and investing; it’s a hybrid of fundamentals, momentum, sentiment and instinct. He uses options for short-term positions and for mid/longer-term positions he uses stocks. And worth mentioning; Craig’s very adamant about the fact that he does not use charts! -- Sponsored by Tradovate.com: Tradovate is a commission-free futures brokerage. For a flat-rate monthly subscription you can now trade unlimited contracts—get a FREE 2-week demo! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this episode I’m joined by Michael Halls-Moore, who runs QuantStart.com—a site well-known by many algorithmic traders. Prior to trading, Michael studied computational fluid dynamics and was the co-founder of a tech startup, before getting involved a small equity fund as a quant developer—where his key role was cleansing data. Now, independently, Michael trades his own short-term algorithmic strategies, consults to hedge funds on machine learning and quant infrastructure, and also has a keen interest in space exploration. We discussed a whole range of topics, including; the need for quality data, thinking about risk from a portfolio level, trading multiple automated strategies, the role of common sense in parameter optimization, learning to program, and more. -- Sponsored by Tradovate.com – Commission-free futures trading has arrived. As a Tradovate customer, you’ll pay one flat monthly rate to trade unlimited contracts—starting from $39. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices