The Stock Trading Reality Podcast ClayTrader

I recently read an article from CNBC containing a quote which I believer perfectly summarizes people’s disconnect of what inflation is and how it works. My goal with this podcast has always been to inspire and educate people in regards to more than just trading and investing. While I could argue that understanding inflation can certainly assist in your trading and investing, even if this were not true, from an educated citizen standpoint, it’s still worthwhile! This will be a brief episode but one that hopefully can help you help others if you come across someone not quite “getting it” when it comes to this stuff. Inflation is coming down, but… there’s a but…

If you have spent any amount of time on social media, YouTube or online message boards, then I’m at a 97.8% confidence level you’ve heard “stock manipulation” used as the reasoning for some kind of event. Usually this event involves the person making the claim having lost money or not making as much money as they could have. The reasoning comes in various forms, but the most often used culprits are those evil hedge funds. The (true) problem with stock manipulation accusations is it doesn’t solve the actual issue the particular trader is facing. What do I mean? Well let’s take a look at a stock that have entered into the news and are now causing the alarm bells of stock manipulation to ring out!

Can you imagine walking through literal mountains in the pitch dark at the age of 11? That’s what our guest, Hussam (goes by “Sam”), endured as his family left Iraq back in the 1990’s! Sam had to start at ground zero and build from there. Learn the language and culture and then become self sustainable. Sam has done exactly that and demonstrated an immense level of ambition and drive. With that being said, this is where Sam is now struggling as a trader. One of the cruel jokes the market plays on us is having the requirement that you need to be ambitious; however, at the same exact time, you can’t be too ambitious of you’ll have lots of issues. Sam held nothing back and walked us through his struggles and the issues that have been plaguing him. Thanks to his transparency, it opens the doors to many learning lessons for those of you who are beginners and offers up a reminder for all of us traders at all levels. Let’s get to it!

A beginner trader reached out to me and the conversation ended with him accusing me of being “mean” and “aggressive”. I want to walk through this conversation as it allows for us to see the inner working of the human mind. Why does this matter? Well, as traders, the human mind matters a whole lot! You can have great knowledge, but if your mind is playing games with you and your emotions are out of control, that knowledge goes down the toilet in a hurry. Part of being a good trader is learning. Part of learning is having the skill to learn. What does this skill look like? This is the talking point I want to focus on: the skill of learning. Let’s walk through this conversation and see the pitfall of this beginner trader’s learning skill (or in this case, lack thereof).

So you want to be smart about your trading and investing approach? Good! The best way to find success is to find expectations that are reasonable. One of the biggest problems I see within people’s trading journey’s are expectations that belong on an entirely different planet. To be fair to these people, when you’re new and don’t know what you don’t know, this includes how to properly build expectations. On the positive side, none of this is difficult to do. It’ll only require you being self ware and honest about yourself and situation. Once you get a few basic questions answers, the resulting expectations will naturally be revealed. Let’s talk about it!

Given my unique position of having a sizable following on YouTube and social media, I am a prime target for certain side hustles. Because I am a target, I believe I can offer a valuable point of view towards those who are doing these side hustles. It takes money to make money, so anything that is geared towards creating streams of income, I feel it is worthwhile to weigh in on. If you are someone looking to make some extra money, please avoid doing what I am going to show you here in this episode. It’s very basic, but I’ve had it happen to me over and over again and all but ensures you’ll have very little success in your efforts. Let’s get to it!