Momo Traders - My First Ever Recommended Trading Book

Over the past couple of years, I'm sure I've frustrated many of my readers who have asked me the question, "What trading books do you recommend?" I've simply never had an answer. Reading trading books never interested me. I had skimmed a couple, but for the most part, I felt like I would just be wasting my time. My thinking was that I would rather spend my time learning by watching the market than from outdated info in a book. Sure, reading the stories of billionaires on Wall Street could be interesting, but there was no way I could relate to that or use it to make myself a better trader. By the time I even knew trading psychology books existed (one of the only categories that I think could be useful), I was already quite successful and felt like I didn't need them.

In late 2014, Brady (@MiltonaTrades) and Nate (@InvestorsLive) approached me and asked if I would be interested in being one of ten traders featured in their upcoming trading book, Momo Traders. The book would be written in a question/answer interview style and explore the path each individual trader took to eventual success, as well as the many lessons they learned along the way. I loved the idea and agreed to be interviewed, which turned out to be one of the most intense interviews I have ever participated in. The Skype interview took almost three hours to complete, but left me feeling great about the quality of information I had shared, and I was incredibly excited to read the interviews of all of the other traders who had been featured. In my mind, I was (and still am) a small fish compared to some of these traders, who make millions of dollars per year. Like myself and everyone else, they had all started as beginners once, with much less money to their name, and I wanted to read about their journey and learn everything I could from them.

Now, a year later, Momo Traders has finally been released. As I had hoped, the stories inside are absolutely incredible. When you see these traders posting screen shots of their massive profits now, they don't seem human. However, to read all of their stories, hear about their early struggles, and learn that they came from the same place that you did, is incredibly inspiring. No two stories or strategies are the same. So I would suggest that you really take your time while reading each chapter, maybe read just one or two chapters a day like I did.

Another big perk to Momo Traders  is that a portion of the proceeds goes to charity! Not only are you investing in your education, you're contributing to a good cause! There is SO MUCH to learn from each one of these traders, so I highly recommend you pick up your copy on Amazon or at momotraders.com. It's a very inexpensive investment towards your education, and you can learn how these ten traders, who were once beginners too, became the millionaires they are today.

More Details About My Watchlists

For the past six months or so, those of you that follow me on Twitter may have noticed that I've been posting a list of stock symbols that I'm watching for the following day. I'll be the first to admit that this is not at all detailed regarding my plans for my trades - I just want people to have an idea of what I'm looking at. For those of you who haven't been following me, below is an example of what one of my watchlists might look like:

The responses I receive from users who view these watchlists are far-ranging. The most common question I'm asked is, "Long or short?" Sometimes, one of the stocks will make an especially severe move in one direction or the other and I'll get a "Great call!" Or every now and then I may even get an especially entertaining troll warning me not to short their company because it's going to save the world with whatever miracle product they're working on. Regardless of which of these categories you fall into, I want to provide a little bit more detail about what these watchlists mean and what I'm thinking behind the scenes that you don't see.

For those of you that missed HOW I pick tickers for my watchlists, you can find my OTC scan parameters in this post, while my listed stock scan requirements are in my 2014 Vegas presentation slides. Once I have these tickers, what is my plan for them?

The truth is, when I list these stocks, I probably am short-biased most of the time. When I say short-biased, I mean that the primary play I'm looking for the next day is a short sale opportunity. But this is not always the case. There are some long setups I like as well. Which way I'm biased is always affected by the "big picture", how the daily chart looks. I run my scans, I look at daily charts, and I cherry pick the setups that I think I may have an edge with, long or short.

While all you see may be my list of tickers, far more goes into my watchlist than that. Below, you can see an image of the FULL watchlist that I created for myself the night before September 8:

As you can see, I have very specific plans for each ticker. In some cases, I have a plan for both a long AND a short opportunity, should the setup present itself. Just because a ticker is on my watchlist does not guarantee I will trade it the next day! When I pick my stocks, I have a VERY specific scenario I'm looking for in order to make a play. If that scenario doesn't present itself, I will not feel compelled to do something anyway with the stock. In some cases a stock I was looking to short will fade away all day, but I won't trade it once, because it never gave me the ideal setup I was looking for. I have absolutely no problem missing the play if that is the case.

This is how I trade day after day. My list of stocks changes, my plans change depending on the daily chart (and in some cases, some intraday details), and then the next morning I look for my top watches to, hopefully, give me an opportunity I planned for. I'm watching these stocks because they're liquid, because they're volatile, and because they're the most likely to set up in a chart pattern that I'm familiar and comfortable with. 

I'm sorry I don't share my full watchlists on a nightly basis, and I have no plans to do so. I really do believe that it's possible to be too spoon-fed when it comes to trading and that it will hinder newer traders' development if they're just trying to follow other people's plans. I'll let you know what I'm watching, but you will only improve by making your own plans, trading your own niche, and looking for the setups that YOU are comfortable with. This may also mean making your own mistakes, but I know that I wouldn't have become a successful trader if it wasn't for learning from the mistakes I made day after day when I first started trading. Even now, mistakes are my best learning tool.

I hope my nightly list of tickers continues to be helpful, but I encourage all of you to form your own bias, make your own plan, and learn from your mistakes along the way! 

Traders4ACause Ticket and DVD Giveaway

UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who submitted an entry, so many of you have such great stories, this was a very difficult decision to make. Congrats to the winner, Matt P. (profitly user "Primez")! Matt truly stood out when it comes to giving back, he is a frequent chatroom contributor, going out of his way to help newer traders and answer their questions. But even more importantly, Matt spent time in the Marines, putting his trading aspirations on hold until he was able to return home. He's hungry to learn, not follow, and I know he's going to make the most of this opportunity. Thank you for your service Matt, I hope the conference is a great experience!


Last year, I was fortunate enough to attend the first annual stock conference and charity event, Traders4ACause. The event was absolutely loaded with talented traders and great speakers, but more importantly, it was about giving back. This year's event is September 25-27 in Las Vegas, and I highly recommend it to anybody who is available during that time frame.

Unfortunately, this year I am unable to attend Traders4ACause due to my upcoming wedding - which I'd say is a pretty damn good excuse. However, legitimate reason or not, I knew I still wanted to be a part of this great event in some way. After I discussed with Nate how I could best contribute, I decided to become one of the sponsors for the event. However, this leaves me with two tickets that I am unable to use! So, I have decided to give these two tickets away, along with a free copy of my new DVD to each person.

The first person I chose to give a ticket and DVD to was an obvious choice, Christian Nowakowsi, also known as "Stock Choices" (he doesn't know yet until he reads this blog). I had the pleasure of meeting Christian a few months back over dinner with a few great traders. He's a young guy who started out a lot like myself, trading mostly OTCs, but he has since made the transition to listed stocks. I admire his adaptability and dedication to making himself a better trader. Christian also shares a great blog dedicated towards trying to help other traders improve. He is an active member of the trading community, and I know he will capitalize on all of the opportunities the conference and DVD have to offer.

That leaves one ticket and DVD to distribute, and at the moment I have no idea who deserves it. So leave your comments below! Tell me about how you're dedicated to the market, tell me about how you give back, tell me about how this DVD and conference will help you! I know I'm going to get a lot of great feedback, and I will select one winner by the end of August 5th! There is only one condition - you MUST be able to attend the conference in Vegas from September 25-27. If you're going to potentially win a ticket, I want to be sure that you can actually use it! Even if you don't win, I highly recommend you attend anyway!

I look forward to all of your feedback. Good luck everyone!

Early Reviews of My DVD

IMPORTANT: Use coupon code "NEXT100" to save $800 on my DVD

My DVD has now been officially released, and the reviews are starting to come in! People have been reaching out to me to let me know their thoughts, and I've greatly appreciated the feedback! I'd love it if everyone who has seen the DVD eventually leaves a review in one form or another, whether it be good or bad. I appreciate honesty and transparency, so if you have any constructive criticism it is just as welcome as a good review.

If you have any questions about the DVD, please check out my FAQ post as I hope to have all your answers in there. As far as reviews go, here are some of the early ones below. If you'd like to continue to read reviews and see some more detailed ones, be sure to check out the Investimonials page for my DVD!

Answering DVD FAQs

Below, I'm going to provide answers to the most commonly asked questions I've been receiving about my upcoming DVD. Please post any additional questions in the comments section, and I'll do my best to add them! If you want a better idea of what my live trade examples will look like, make sure you check out this post for a video of an OTC breakout, or this post with a video of a Nasdaq short.

For those of you who are interested, I'll do my best to keep this post updated with a link to the best discounted price for the DVD. Currently, the best deal is coupon code "NEXT100", which will save you $800!

Wow guys, thanks so much for the early feedback on my DVD. Reviews have been incredible so far, be sure to check them out in this post, or check out the official "Investimonials" page for my DVD!

Is this DVD good for a beginner?
I absolutely believe it is! The most relevant part for beginners in this DVD will undoubtedly be Chapter 2, which focuses on all of the tips I have for new traders. I started trading with absolutely no market knowledge, so I draw most of this material from mistakes that I made when I first started trading and things that I wish I had known from the start.

The main topics included are:

-Market and Trading Basics
-Basic Trader Lingo
-What is Short Selling
-Trading/Computer Setups
-Account Building 101
-Overcoming Your Emotions
-Annoying Rules/Regulations
-Choosing Brokers
-Intro to Market Scanners
-Handy Desktop Applications

If you learned from Tim Sykes, why not just buy his DVDs? What makes yours better/different?
My style of trading has diverted greatly from what Tim teaches in the last couple of years, to the point that we're rarely trading the same stocks anymore. I trade completely based off of chart patterns, and I only trade liquid stocks that are easy to enter/exit. So if you're looking for different patterns and different strategies, you don't have to worry about that. While Tim and I are both successful traders, there's a lot we do differently from each other.

The other aspect is that this DVD has 35 live trade examples, where I recorded my entries and exits and explained to you my thought process throughout the trade. This is so much more useful than looking at end of day charts and, in hindsight, telling someone where they should have entered and exited. Instead, you get to see where I actually DID enter and exit, hear how emotions played a role, see how I handle bad trades, and so many more subtleties that you'd otherwise miss completely. I will teach you the strategy, I will show you my attempts to trade the strategy, and I will explain exactly what I did right and wrong in every single trade.

What makes your DVD better/different than Nate's? (Investorslive)
While my trading strategy is closer to Nate's than Tim's, there still are quite a few differences between our styles. I must admit, Nate's DVD was a big inspiration to me to create this one, as I loved the idea of showing live examples as I traded them.

One big difference is that I go much more in depth when it comes to OTC trading, and although the OTC market is in the midst of a dead patch, the opportunities that do still come around like new promotion releases are some of my most reliable and most profitable trades that I make. You will also get both introductory/beginner information and specific trading strategies all in one DVD with me, while Nate has that split into two products. So you can definitely save a buck by getting it all in one place with mine.

How long is your DVD?
My DVD is roughly 16.5 hours long. At least 10 hours of this content is live trade examples of my top strategies.

Will the DVD be a hard copy, or streaming only?
There is currently only an option to stream the DVD on your computer. If this ever changes, I'll be sure to announce it.

Does your DVD teach level 2?
Yes, I teach level 2 basics and show new examples that I recorded to illustrate points. You can also find free level 2 educational material on this blog.

How many different strategies do you teach?
There are eight different strategies I cover in this DVD. Three of them are buying strategies, five of them are short selling.

How many of your 35 live trades are listed stocks vs. OTCs?
13 of the trades are examples of different OTC strategies; the other 22 are listed stocks (Nasdaqs.)

Do you show losing trades?
Absolutely! Some of our best lessons as traders are from our losses. 7 out of my 35 examples are losing trades. Several of them show me cutting a loss as planned, when the setup doesn't work. But in the others, you actually get to see me get stubborn, fight the stock, and turn a bad trade into a bigtime headache.


Let me know if there are any more questions you need answered!

Another Clip From My Upcoming DVD

Below you will see another video of one of my 34 live trades from my upcoming DVD, "Trading Tickers: the Long and Short of it." If you haven't seen it already, be sure to also check out the clip of my FNMA trade from Chapter 6, as it shows a very different type of play. I hope you all enjoy this clip, and please post below or on the youtube comments section if you have any questions about either one! If you're interested in learning more of my rules and strategies, please check out the DVD info link and get discounted early bird prices!

25 Minute Clip From My DVD

Below you will see a video of one of my 34 live trades from my upcoming DVD, "Trading Tickers: the Long and Short of it." I hope you all enjoy it, and please post below or on the youtube comments section if you have any questions! If you're interested in learning more of my rules and strategies, please check out the DVD info link and get discounted early bird prices!