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

Blake Morrow (otherwise known as @PipCzar on Twitter) started out as a stock broker in 1995, but this only lasted for a short period of time, before becoming a trader… A wealthy friend put up $50,000 in starting capital, which Blake lost about $30,000 of it within the first six months. Though, before wiping out, Blake was able to turn that remaining $20,000 into roughly $1.5M in the next few years that followed. He’s since been involved in various trading and technology firms, but today, Blake is the Chief Currency Strategist for WizeTrade, co-founder of Forex Analytix, and an independent forex trader. Over the course of this episode you’ll hear about Blake’s story in greater detail, how he navigates forex markets—using charts and technical analysis as well as economic drivers, some tips for beginning traders using leverage, and plenty more. -- Sponsored by Tradovate.com - Commission-free futures trading is finally here. Trade unlimited contracts for a flat price. Learn more Learn more about your ad choices.

Dave Lauer is a former-high frequency trader for firms such as Citadel and Allston Trading. He’s worked specifically in various areas of the HFT pipeline, including; research and modelling, building hardware, and programming and operating strategies—which are measured in millionths of a second (or microseconds). Following the Flash Crash, Dave left his role as a trader (for various reasons we discuss during this episode) and now, as a partner of KOR Group, consults to institutional managers on market structure and best execution. Dave was also featured in the VPRO documentary, The Wall Street Code, along with other Chat With Traders guests; Haim Bodek, Eric Hunsader, and Blair Hull. -- Sponsored by TechnicianApp.com: Chart, analyze, and trade from anywhere with Technician’s award-winning app—for mobile, tablet, and desktop. Learn more and sign up for free! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on the podcast, I spoke with Tom Sosnoff, who many of you will already know—he’s pretty close to a household name name in this industry. But if you don’t… Tom was a floor trader at the CBOE for 20 years, later going on to co-found thinkorswim—a widely popular online brokerage. In 2009, thinkorswim was sold to TD Ameritrade for approximately $606M, and Tom left the company shortly after to start financial news show, tastytrade. In this episode we hit on; the issue with being too risk adverse in markets and in life, Tom’s extensive trading career, plenty of talk about options, the value of intellectually challenging ourselves (with respect to finance), and more. -- Sponsored by TechnicianApp.com – Technician is a free-to-use charting and analysis platform, built for mobile, web and desktop. Visit TechnicianApp.com to sign up and try it out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jared Tendler is an internationally recognized mental game coach. His clients include world champion poker players, the #1 ranked pool player in the world, professional golfers, and more recently, traders too. If Jared was to summarize exactly what he does (and what he specializes in), it would be; removing negative and excessive emotion from decision making. So naturally, this serves as the underlying theme throughout our conversation, but we also discuss higher-level topics like; variance, the major crossovers between high-stakes poker and trading, how psychology has been oversold and when it really matters, plus how to identify various types of “tilt.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blair Hull has been labeled by Forbes as, “One of the most successful traders of the last 40 years,” and he was also profiled in Jack Schwager’s, The New Market Wizards. Prior to trading, Blair was a serious Blackjack player for 5-years during the 70’s. From there he took his winnings to the the Pacific Exchange to trade mispriced options, and in 1985, he founded one of the world’s premier market-making firms, Hull Trading. At its peak, Hull Trading was active on 28 exchanges in nine countries. Then in 1999, the firm was acquired by Goldman Sachs for $531 million dollars. Today, Blair is the founder of Hull Investments—the parent company of an actively managed ETF, Hull Trading Asset Allocation, and proprietary firm, Ketchum Trading. Listening to this interview, you’re going to hear more about Blair’s career and his observations as a trader, why he believes great things happen in teams, and why everything revolves around having an edge. - - Sponsored by TechnicianApp.com – For professional-grade charts and te

This episode features Dr. Yves Hilpisch—the founder of The Python Quants. TPQ do a lot of good for those involved in quantitative finance, they; frequently host meet-ups and workshops, have developed platforms and analytics libraries, and often contract to exchanges, banks and hedge funds for custom Python development. Yves is also a three-time published author, with his most notable title probably being “Python for Finance” which was released through O’Reilly. He regularly gives presentations and speaks at events on the subject of quant finance, and lectures at Universities too. Over the next sixty minutes, you’ll hear us unpack many subjects related to being a quant and why programming in Python can be a useful skill to have in your toolbox. Note, some of the discussion in the later part may be a little heavy for non-programmers. So if there is something that doesn’t make sense or you’d like more context around, please just write in the comments at the bottom of this page and I’ll do my best to point you in

The trader I interviewed for this episode is; Ryan Moffett from Blackpier Capital. Having been involved with markets for about 12 years now, Ryan has experience in trading, strategy design, portfolio construction and even alternative investments—all, while working for several firms (one of which, managed upwards of $2B). More recently though, Ryan’s ventured out to start a fund of his own, where he wears the badge of Lead Investment Manager. Some of the subjects we check off during this episode, include; the snapping point that lead Ryan to pursue trading and cold-call 50 fund managers for guidance. How he was able to form various mentoring relationships, the first steps of starting a fund and the unseen challenges. Plus we discuss options, strategies and research, but the highlight for myself was hearing Ryan’s insight on deliberate practice and mental discomfort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, for the second time on Chat With Traders, my guest is Morad or better known as; Futures Trader 71. As you could imagine, FT is a futures trader, he’s also very short-term and has been trading for about 16 years now. During this time, he was the founder of a successful prop firm and more recently, has started a brokerage; Stage 5 Trading. First time around (on episode 37) we spoke extensively about FT’s path of becoming a trader, market profile and volume profile, and creating a legacy. This time we spoke about all new topics… For example; how to learn a new skill, how to measure your progress besides PnL, how to remove attachment to the outcome, how FT uses a regressive risk management strategy, and plenty more too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest this week is Alan Farley, who took his first trades in the late-80’s. Alan is an active swing trader, and most of his positions take place in the US equity market—although he occasionally trades index futures and currencies too. In 2001, Alan released his first book, The Master Swing Trader, which may be the best-selling book on the subject). He’s also a regular contributor to The Street and Investopedia, having written hundreds of articles over the years. Subjects you’ll hear about include; the unusual way in which Alan got a well-rounded education of financial markets. Some of the big lessons that shaped him into the trader he is now, in particular, the concept of convergence and divergence. Plus, we talk about the dynamics that generate price movement, and much more too. --- Sponsored by RealVisionTV.com, which is best described as the Netflix of finance. So quit watching lame TV—start watching the smartest minds in finance. Get a FREE 7-day trial here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg

Anthony Crudele started at a very young age on the CME floor, and he has one really interesting story about coming up as a trader… It does involve some pretty drastic failures, burning through significant amounts of cash, and a whole lot of perseverance. But, he eventually broke through and went on to have years of making six and seven-figures, while heavily trading the E-Mini S&P 500 from it’s inception. In our chat, you’ll hear about Anthony’s multiple blowouts and comebacks, his turning point as a trader, his approach to trading futures today, and a healthy reminder to protect your downside. --- Sponsored by RealVisionTV.com – Real Vision TV is pretty much like Netflix, but purely for finance and investing—it’s a real treat! Get yourself a free 7-day trial to start streaming now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Raoul Pal has a history rooted in the hedge fund industry, and with him, he carries more than 25+ years of experience in financial markets. For a number of years he worked at Goldman Sachs where he co-managed the hedge fund sales business in equities and equity derivatives. He later moved on to GLG, one of the largest hedge fund groups in the world, where he launched their global macro fund in London. Today, Raoul no longer manages client money but continues to invest his own. He also writes a premium research newsletter, The Global Macro Investor, and is the co-founder of Real Vision TV. In this episode we navigate through some uncharted waters which have not been explored previously on this podcast. So in addition to macro investing, technical analysis and hedge funds, we discuss theoretical economic models, business cycles, negative interest rates, and why the world is economically in a frightening position. --- Sponsored by TradeStation.com – With TradeStation, you’ll have access to a wide-range of market

As I’m sure you already well aware, Jack Schwager has been involved with financial markets for many years, he’s the author of the acclaimed Market Wizards series and others, and he’s also the co-founder of FundSeeder. During our talk, we go behind the scenes of the Market Wizards and Jack shares his experiences from conducting interviews with trading royalty and some of his most memorable moments. Of course, I ask Jack to flesh out some of the great knowledge he’s learned from this—discussing; self-confidence, sacrifices, what separates a profitable trader from a super trader, and the issue with seeking comfort. You’ll also hear an update on FundSeeder, as well as something you might be very interested to know, what trading books does Jack recommend to others? The New Market Wizards is now available as an audiobook on Amazon. Get a free copy --- Sponsored by TradeStation.com – A fully-licensed online broker, serving traders globally. Get the benefits of an award-winning platform, competitive commissions, awes

You’re about to hear a really interesting conversation I had with Dennis Dick. Dennis first started out meddling with penny stocks, before soon joining a well-established prop firm known as; Bright Trading—this was in the late 90’s. To this day Dennis remains with the same firm, still as an active short-term equities trader, but also as their Market Structure Analyst. If his voice sounds familiar, that’s probably because he’s the co-host of Benzinga’s PreMarket Prep live morning show too. Some of the key talking points that come up over the next 60 minutes, include; scalping, surviving as a short-term trader in a high frequency world, various order types, and the opportunities that can be found trading the open (this is actually where Dennis makes 50% of his money each day—within the first five minutes). --- Sponsored by TradeStation.com – TradeStation, an award-winning broker, equip clients with remarkable technology for an advantage in competitive markets and so much more. Learn more about your ad choices.

Our featured guest for this weeks interview is, Saul Knapp. Saul originally started out as a runner on the floor of the LIFFE exchange (in London), when he was just 16 years old. Later moving on from there, he’s had various roles as a risk manager for proprietary trading firms, at times, monitoring positions for as many as 120+ traders. Today, Saul lives in Spain where he runs a small prop firm of his own. In regard to how he trades, Saul is a spread trader who’s most active in the energy markets. So, spread trading is something we cover during our conversation, as well as his observations from being a risk manager and helping other traders improve. If you have any questions, or if there’s anything which you’d like further explanation on, just write in the comments below to get a response from Saul. --- Sponsored by TradeStation.com – Get ultra-competitive commissions, support from fully licensed brokers, powerful analysis tools and an award-winning platform, plus more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

For this episode, I had the great pleasure of speaking with Dan Aisen—one of the co-founders of IEX, and one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Finance (2015). Dan got his start at RBC where he developed their flagship execution algorithm, THOR. This was also where he met and worked under Brad Katsuyama—one of the other co-founders and CEO of IEX, who was heavily profiled in Flash Boys. As many of you may already know, IEX is an Alternative Trading System (ATS), or more commonly referred to as a dark pool. However, they’re currently in the midst of filing for exchange status. During our talk, I asked Dan more about the projects he worked on at RBC, how IEX went from nothing more than an idea to an operating trading venue, and why they’re on a quest to make markets “fair”. We also discuss the “speed bumps” which have been implemented at IEX, the mechanics of dark pools, and general chat about the broader market structure. [FREE: An unreleased interview with trader, Peter Brandt] Peter’s been a market speculator for 45+

My guest this week is John Walsh, aka The Black Cabbie Trader. The backstory of John; in 2012 he entered a competition—the City Index Trading Academy. The idea was to take a group of people with very little market experience to see how well they would perform as active traders, over the span of 5 weeks. John came out on top and won the £100,000 prize money which was up for grabs. He’s of course continued trading ever since, and has developed into quite the trend/position trader—focused on US equities, making simplicity an absolute top priority. He’s also a black cab driver in London, which you’ll hear more about shortly. In this episode we chat about; the competition, John’s trading methodology, why you must ‘stay out of your own way’ (as John puts it), and plenty more. Please take two minutes to support this podcast by leaving an iTunes review. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For Charlie Bathgate, trading has been a part of his life since as far back as he can remember—his father was an options market maker, and not to mention his brothers and sister work major-roles in the industry too. Today, Charlie is a partner and the CEO of two operations; Sang Lucci and Flammarion. Sang Lucci being a provider of trader education, and Flammarion being a hedge fund (which mostly consists of automated traders). We had an awesome chat, speaking about; his observations from working with and evaluating traders, why humility is key, and what it means to “own your strategy”. Also Charlie shares big insight from his obsession with psychology and biohacking, and how innovative technology being used by the NBA can benefit traders. Join the free Facebook group for Chat With Traders listeners and traders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This weeks guest preferred to remain somewhat anonymous, although his name is Rob – others know him as RG, and he’s a part of Discovery Trading Group. Rob is an active futures traders and is what most people would call a pure scalper, but he refers to himself as a “street level gambler with an appetite for risk”. Either way, he is very short-term and often just trading for a couple ticks at a time. So that’s one side of what he does, the other side, Rob is also involved in a quantitative research firm which trades a whole range of strategies, over various timeframes, in many different markets. Over the next 60 minutes; you’ll hear about Rob’s early years of trading during the 80’s, and how he’s developed into the trader he is today. Rob also drives home the importance of risk management, shares a few gambling analogies, and talks about the benefit of interacting with other traders on a regular basis. Join the free Facebook group for Chat With Traders listeners and traders. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi

A big guest on the podcast this week—a man who for many won’t need any introduction, he is; Eric Scott Hunsader. Eric started out as an algorithmic trader in the early 80’s, soon after became a self-taught programmer, and since then he’s written many software applications for financial data. But today, Eric is the founder of Nanex, a whole market streaming data feed, which transmits 20 billion data points every day. Well-known for speaking out against the many issues that surround high frequency trading, Eric will tell you straight; HFT firms are stealing money, exchanges have rigged the market, and the regulators that allow this type of activity to continue are corrupt individuals. Additionally we talk about quote stuffing, mini-flash crashes that occur on a daily basis, and why Eric recently received a $750,000 whistle-blower award from the SEC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff is a day trader who specializes in the S&P futures, and predominately trades a mean-reversion strategy which is built upon data and statistical probabilities. Across his 20+ year trading career, Jeff has also been heavily involved in the process of developing and deploying algorithmic strategies—but slightly less these days. In this interview we talk about Jeff’s prop days, risks of being a one-man-business, automated trading, specializing, statistics, and more. From this conversation, I think you’ll pick up on the underlying theme, which is all about building confidence in your strategy and then being able to size up when you have an edge. Also, Jeff is answering your questions… So if you have a trading question or would like more depth on any topic discussed, leave your question in the comments area at chatwithtraders.com/70 and Jeff will respond to you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices