Having capital to trade with: check. Having a large cushion fund: check. Clearing away all debt before starting: check. Talk about putting yourself in a great spot to succeed, and that’s what chat room member Jon (alias “ttJon”) did. There was something else that occurred too, which would seem like a good thing… he made 300% return on his first trade… but was it a good thing? Did this big gain jump start his trading journey into make cash hand over fist? Sit back and enjoy a trading journey from a different perspective than we’re used to, and I mean that in the most complimentary of ways!
Notes:
Jon’s introduction to the market was an economics class where the class would choose tickers to buy and they would compete every week against someone who would throw darts at a board with random tickers on it.
Similar to many others, Jon’s introduction to trading was once he secured a job and had to pick his mutual funds. It wasn’t until years later when he had no debt, large savings, and extra money on the side did he decide to open a trading account. This is an extremely crucial point because if the worst case scenario happened in which he blew up his account, it would not impact him or his family in any way.
After finding initial success selling his wife’s stock options on a big move up, Jon’s interest was now really piqued. He made 300% on this trade and now this was his target for all his future trades which led to him holding way too long even when trades would move in his favor.
Jon let a hedge fund manager takeover his retirement account and while he did make a gain for the account, he kept 66% of the profit. At this point, Jon said he would never let anyone else manage his money.
While looking for some trading education, Jon stumbled upon Clay’s live trade videos and after seeing an interaction between Clay and his daughter, he realized that this was the community and training he wanted to partake in. As he moves through the courses, Jon recognized the importance of trade plans and being wrong small and pushing your winners to their logical conclusion.
Quotes:
“I only opened my trading account after I had no debt, very large safety cushion and this was strictly play money in case I lost it.”
“So I became a bottom fisher from 2011 on. Some of them did well but I wouldn’t sell because they didn’t hit my 300% target.”
“I would make some big gains, big losses. Then I would just leave it all in cash until I could figure out how to trade it myself.”
“The money isn’t the issue. I don’t want it for the money. I want it for the time. I want my time back in 5 years.”
“So it’s not just the price action. Not just the level 2’s. It’s getting to understand how they all work together.”
