Off The Charts

Sean McLaughlin & Steve Strazza
  • 5.0 (15)
  • BUSINESS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Podcast by Sean McLaughlin & Steve Strazza

  1. Jeff Macke Is On Target With Retail

    02/14/2025

    Jeff Macke Is On Target With Retail

    Strap in. When Jeff Macke is driving the conversation, you need to pay attention. The wisdom, wit, and one-liners fly by fast. While other seven-year-olds spent their weekends playing with Lincoln Logs and Wiffle Ball, Jeff was riding around town in a station wagon with his dad, visiting Target stores. He wasn’t just tagging along—he was analyzing end-caps, product presentations, and the cleanliness of the floors and staff. As the son of a future Target CEO, he learned early that “a dirty store is an F-you to the customer.” And with that, a future retail stocks analyst was born. Today, nobody does it better. In this episode of Off The Charts, Jeff shares some of the principles that guide his investment decisions, how he spots trends early, and why the “story” around retail—along with the integrity of the management team—can have an outsized impact on an investment opportunity. If there’s one thing we learn from Jeff about investing in retail and consumer goods, it’s this: There’s plenty of fun to be had if you know where to look.

    1h 4m
  2. IT DOES NOT SUCK TO BE TOM BASSO

    12/20/2024

    IT DOES NOT SUCK TO BE TOM BASSO

    We talk to a lot of traders. Not just on this podcast, but across everything we do. And one thing that is common to most of them is some level of stress which must be routinely navigated. And it’s often a real struggle. Many of them are emotionally damaged and scarred by it. In fact, many of our conversations get into discussions about how to best navigate ourselves out of these negative spirals. This is not the case with Tom Basso. In fact, if Tom didn’t tell you that he makes his money from trading and managing other people’s money, you’d probably assume he’s simply a retiree who enjoys spending his time tending to his garden and landscaping, hosting dinner parties, golfing, singing in choir, and traveling. One thing you wouldn’t guess is that he has perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars at risk in the market at any one point in time! It would be easy to surmise that achieving the level of success Tom has makes it simple for him to adopt a detached, chill mindset about his trading. But he will correct you and tell you that the mindset came first. And his trading, in fact his whole life, thrives on his unique ability to “enjoy the ride.” Steve and I are both smitten with Mr. Basso and we left this conversation invigorated and motivated to do more of working for ourselves and less of what isn’t. In short, we both want to be Tom Basso. You will no doubt enjoy this delightful conversation.

    1h 3m
  3. Anthony Crudele: WITHSTAND THE STORM

    12/12/2024

    Anthony Crudele: WITHSTAND THE STORM

    “I don’t need to kill it right now, I just need to make sure I’m around for the next cycle that is favorable to my style of trading.” According to Anthony Crudele, most traders who struggle do so because they are too short-sighted. He believes most successful traders think longer term—not about time frames but about how each individual trade, day, or week fits into the bigger picture of what the trader is looking to accomplish. Meanwhile, outside distractions can be too much to overcome if we don’t have our “houses” in order. “A lot of my success comes when I don’t have a lot of outside distractions.” And it makes sense. Anthony talks about how what’s happening in your life affects our patience and our discipline. And he knows. At too young of an age, he suffered a stress-induced heart attack that almost took him out of the game for good. It was a wake-up call. “Just let shit go. So many people get consumed by this business and can’t get past the screens.” Anthony got to a level of frustration with trading and his health that he said to himself: “I don’t want to live this way anymore.” He withstood the storm and came out the other side a better trader and more importantly — a better human.

    1h 2m
  4. David Hale: Cash Rules

    12/05/2024

    David Hale: Cash Rules

    From an early age, David Hale had hustle in his DNA. At just 10 years old, he was sneaking into casinos to play slot machines. By 11, he was betting on horse races. And before long, he was hunting for arbitrage opportunities in baseball card values. Inspired by his bargain-hunting mother, David developed a “value-player” mindset that would eventually spark a deep fascination with trading the markets. Born in England to an American mother, David’s journey took a pivotal turn when his family moved back to Texas during his teenage years. It was there that he cut his teeth in high-velocity day trading at a proprietary trading firm in Austin, Texas. But David had bigger ambitions. Determined to join the elite ranks of hedge funds or bank trading desks, he made the bold move to London. Yet, what he hoped would be a leap forward turned into a series of challenges that tested his resolve. These setbacks not only humbled David but also sharpened his focus, discipline, and ability to exploit unique market edges — what he calls “glitches.” For traders who feel like the odds are stacked against them, David’s story offers both illumination and inspiration. Get ready to dive into a tale of resilience, reinvention, and relentless pursuit of success. Enjoy the episode.

    1h 3m
  5. Denise Shull: Minimizing Our Most Powerful Emotion — Regret

    11/22/2024

    Denise Shull: Minimizing Our Most Powerful Emotion — Regret

    It’s hard to believe Denise Shull is a product of parents and grandparents who believed in “buy and hold” and wouldn’t even know how to sell a share of stock if asked to. Today, Denise is well known as a Performance Coach to big Wall Street traders, specializing in modern psychoanalysis. Before this, she traded in Chicago and ran a proprietary trading desk in New York City. All of which became fodder to help her publish a book on her expertise — for which she went to school. Later, her book caught the attention of Hollywood in the crafting of stories for the Showtime TV series Billions. In this episode of Off The Charts, we chat with Denise about emotions and why we can’t make decisions without them. She also reveals the most powerful human emotion of all — regret, and our natural drive to avoid it at all costs. In trading, and in life. If traders can get their risk perceptions right and foster an awareness of other’s positioning and their perceptions, a trader can get a step ahead of the game. This is a heavy episode with a lot to unpack. Settle in.

    58 min
  6. Steven Place: Finding Convexity

    11/15/2024

    Steven Place: Finding Convexity

    Steven Place has been around the block. He’s been through the ringer. And he has the scars to prove it. A former Rocket Scientist, Steven is a self-taught options trader who’s been plying his craft for nearly two decades. He has spent a lot of time studying options analytics and “hacking” execution strategies to create better outcomes for himself. And one big thing he’s learned over the years is: “If you’re going to be stressed anyway, doing the same amount of work, why not shoot for the fences once in a while? You’ve got to find some convexity, somehow.” Having been through it all, Steven finds himself in a better mental space these days, and he riffs on how becoming a parent has put things into a clearer perspective. Steven absolutely believes options trading is the most fascinating thing one can do right now. Listen to him and you might come away believing that he’s right. Enjoy.

    1h 12m
  7. Jason Leavitt: Learning How to Grind

    11/01/2024

    Jason Leavitt: Learning How to Grind

    “I would not give a fig for the simplicity on this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes There’s a profound simplicity that can only be reached by working through complexity. It means that deep understanding is often simple, but achieving it requires grappling with and overcoming complexity. Jason Leavitt believes this wholeheartedly. And this was his path. When he first got involved in trading, everything seemed simple: buy low, sell high, make money. But as he dug into it, his research and experience led him down numerous paths — some fruitful, some not so much — and he, like many of us, reached a point near analysis paralysis. Upon reaching this apex of his learning curve, it was then that he began stripping away the extraneous and superfluous to reach the core of what mattered most to his style and skill set. “We need to be able to comfortably execute within our comfort zone,” Jason says. And the work of getting his process down to the most simple of data points and execution triggers was, and continues to be, an essential ingredient for him to find success. And one of the key methods he gets to the core of what works is to use his own trading results and experiences as direct feedback. If or when he stubbornly ignores his own data, this is when trading becomes hard. The lesson is to listen to what your trading stats are telling you. One of those lessons he learned early on was that to go from bad to good and good to elite he needed to push himself to take bigger positions when the markets aligned best with his skillset. He needed to focus on developing the sense of when conditions are right for him to push. Please enjoy this conversation with Jason Leavitt.

    1h 3m
  8. Andrew Moss is Open to New Perspectives

    10/18/2024

    Andrew Moss is Open to New Perspectives

    Reinventing your career after 20 years is no small feat. Now, imagine trying to do that by becoming an active trader. That’s exactly what Andrew Moss is doing—but he isn’t going in blind. Andrew’s fascination with the markets began as a teenager when his father introduced him to point-and-figure charts. From there, he pursued a career in brokerage and wealth management at a major Wall Street firm, gaining deep insight into the industry. “We all have to follow our own path,” Andrew reflects. Blazing his own trail, however, hasn’t been without its challenges. Transitioning from nearly two decades of a steady salary to making a living solely through trading has been a major shift. He notes the adjustment from a long-term wealth management mindset to a day-by-day focus on profits and losses. Balancing the need to be aware of the PnL while not obsessing over it is a delicate act that takes practice. Andrew is also navigating new habits, fresh perspectives, and the biggest realization of all—the real battle in trading is between you and yourself. If you’ve ever had to reinvent yourself, or are thinking about doing so, this episode of Off The Charts will both educate and inspire you. Enjoy!

    58 min
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5
out of 5
15 Ratings

About

Podcast by Sean McLaughlin & Steve Strazza

Information

  • Creator
    Sean McLaughlin & Steve Strazza
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2025
  • Episodes
    27
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    Off The Charts