Introduce Yourself!

[Adam Lewis 64]

Hello! 

My name is Adam. I'm a 37 year old British expat from Liverpool, England, but now living and working in Hanoi, Vietnam where I've been for seven years. I'm a school teacher by trade (heading up the international department of a bilingual school here in Hanoi). I became a father six months ago and have just started my Education Doctorate, so I'm on several journeys right now I guess!

I began to practice day trading about four months ago. I was initially introduced to stocks and shares during the Covid lockdown in February when a friend recommended I read a book called Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam. This book is about investing directed at expat teachers around the world. It is very good, and it got me into making some ETF investments as I begin to plan for my eventual retirement. I was excited to begin to purchase stocks! But as exciting as it was, I couldn't help but want more out of my trading investments than the passive average 8% a year ETFs offered. Thus, I began to find out more about day trading and having read Andrew Aziz's books (among others, but Andrew's books were the first and remain the best I've read) and after immersing myself in hours of video tutorials on YouTube, I began to paper trade back in July of this year.

To begin with I traded low float penny stocks, trying to use momentum scalping strategies and copying the styles of some of the very successful YouTube guys who do astonishingly well (I'm sure I don't need to name names!), but I have to say I found it supremely difficult to master. I've honestly had four months of mostly making losses, and some days, making big losses in my paper trading account. I also then tried to go live too soon in September and swiftly blew $1,000 cash in my new CMEG account. Suitably chastened, I very sensibly came back to paper trading, resolved now to continue to paper trade until I am able to consistently make profit.

Through October I continued to make losses day trading penny stocks despite my best efforts, and began to grow a little despondent. I finally hit a crossroads a few weeks ago where I knew I had to either invest in an education and begin to really work at this, or else pack it in altogether and spend my time tending to my golf swing (which also sucks).

Well, the first one won! I decided it's time to get serious. As of Monday last week I am now a BBT lifetime member. Let the journey begin!

Why BBT, and not any of the other trading communities? Well, two reasons. First is the focus here on a different category of stock. I didn't want to momentum trade penny stocks anymore: they're just too volatile for me, they move desperately quickly and I found I wasn't able to make decisions quick enough. I like BBT's focus on slightly more expensive, higher-float stocks. These feel more stable to me, and I think will be a better fit for my trading style. 

The second reason is the informed and intelligent approach I see BBT's leading traders take. This feels like a more sober approach to trading, which is what I'm looking for.

I have a great deal to learn. I became so frustrated the last four months not because I was making consistent losses, but because I never felt like I knew what my strategy was. I often found myself entering trades without really knowing why I was entering them. It's weird to be aware this is happening and yet to continue to do it! 

There is hope! Yesterday (Friday 6 November) I actually made what I'd consider to be the best trade I've ever made (clearing a low bar, admittedly, but bear with me!). Having read here about opening range breakouts, and then watching Andrew's videos and reading the playbook materials, I watched $NIO at the open last night. The fourth one-minute candle broke out of the opening range at 9.34am. I went long and made a nice win. This wasn't my best ever trade because I won or because I made some money (I've made more on other trades in the past), but because I felt like I had a plan. I knew what I was looking for. When I saw it I stepped in and placed my trade, scaled in, partialled out. It wasn't perfect: I came out too early, missing out on a continuation, but just having a reason for placing the trade in the first place was huge for me (I was thrilled when I woke up this morning to see Thor's own review where he placed the exact same trade! I feel like I finally did something right) 

The ORB is going to be a critical strategy for me to master. Here in Vietnam we are exactly 12 hours ahead of US ET, so when the market opens at 9.30am and you guys are all sipping coffee and rubbing sleep from your eyes, it's 9.30pm here and I've just finished washing the dishes after dinner! Working my job as I do I really can't trade much past 10pm local time (10am ET) so there is a golden window of 30 minutes when I need to do my trading. It could be argued then that if any one strategy should be my bread and butter, it should be the ORB. I was thoroughly proud of myself last night for that trade!

So, the plan from here is to paper trade until at least the new year, if not longer. I'm in no rush. I have a great job and I'm very well paid already. I don't need the money. I'd like this to become a very profitable little sideline which can continue to fund my longer term investments, and maybe also pay for the odd round of golf in between. I love being a teacher (you don't start a doctorate in something without loving what you do) and I can't imagine ever fully being out of teaching, but perhaps being able to retire early would be nice one day! Either way, I'm in no rush, and I'll take as long as it takes to learn how to do this, and to do it well.

Apologies for going on at such length! It's smashing to meet you all, and here's to whatever's about to come.

All the best,

Adam

[PeterD 49]

14 hours ago, Cole_T said:

Hello All,

   My name is Cole. I live in Brandon Manitoba Canada. I grew up in a small town about 700kms north of my current home. I became an Industrial/Construction electrician and spent 20 years working a mile underground in a hard rock mine. 8 years ago I got tired of the dark and decided to move south.

      Fast forward to the pandemic, Canada shuts down and I am now sitting at home. Being an old school reading nerd I began reading again during this down time and while searching for my usual fiction books, Andrew's Intro book came across my menu. Not sure how or why his book was in front of me but I read a bit of it and liked where he was coming from. I then went Youtube crazy and relentlessly watched day trading intros, free webinars, blah blah blah! Andrew was the only person who talked endlessly about being good at what you do, not how much money you make. I was hooked. I finished his Intro book and the Advanced book. I have really gotten into the psychology side of things and am truly fascinated by the whole subject of Day Trading.

   I purchased 1 month of BBT to try it out and see if the Lifetime membership was maybe the way. I also purchased the 3 month DAS sim and have been simulating for a couple weeks now. I leave my job at years end to devote myself full time to trading and I hope on being live in March with plans of making a career of this.

  I have never joined a chat room, of any sort before, and am a bit of a grumpy introvert, but I know absolutely nobody that does this and I am looking for someone to be a Bert to my Ernie. Lol

 

PS- All over the lighning bolt and double bottoms/tops

Cole, welcome to BBT. While you've described yourself as an introvert, I invite to get the most out of your trial as possible by asking lots of questions. You'll find tons of people willing to help in the community so don't be afraid to ask! Hope to see you in the chatroom on Monday.

 

Peter

[PeterD 49]

7 hours ago, Adam Lewis said:

Hello! 

My name is Adam. I'm a 37 year old British expat from Liverpool, England, but now living and working in Hanoi, Vietnam where I've been for seven years. I'm a school teacher by trade (heading up the international department of a bilingual school here in Hanoi). I became a father six months ago and have just started my Education Doctorate, so I'm on several journeys right now I guess!

I began to practice day trading about four months ago. I was initially introduced to stocks and shares during the Covid lockdown in February when a friend recommended I read a book called Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam. This book is about investing directed at expat teachers around the world. It is very good, and it got me into making some ETF investments as I begin to plan for my eventual retirement. I was excited to begin to purchase stocks! But as exciting as it was, I couldn't help but want more out of my trading investments than the passive average 8% a year ETFs offered. Thus, I began to find out more about day trading and having read Andrew Aziz's books (among others, but Andrew's books were the first and remain the best I've read) and after immersing myself in hours of video tutorials on YouTube, I began to paper trade back in July of this year.

To begin with I traded low float penny stocks, trying to use momentum scalping strategies and copying the styles of some of the very successful YouTube guys who do astonishingly well (I'm sure I don't need to name names!), but I have to say I found it supremely difficult to master. I've honestly had four months of mostly making losses, and some days, making big losses in my paper trading account. I also then tried to go live too soon in September and swiftly blew $1,000 cash in my new CMEG account. Suitably chastened, I very sensibly came back to paper trading, resolved now to continue to paper trade until I am able to consistently make profit.

Through October I continued to make losses day trading penny stocks despite my best efforts, and began to grow a little despondent. I finally hit a crossroads a few weeks ago where I knew I had to either invest in an education and begin to really work at this, or else pack it in altogether and spend my time tending to my golf swing (which also sucks).

Well, the first one won! I decided it's time to get serious. As of Monday last week I am now a BBT lifetime member. Let the journey begin!

Why BBT, and not any of the other trading communities? Well, two reasons. First is the focus here on a different category of stock. I didn't want to momentum trade penny stocks anymore: they're just too volatile for me, they move desperately quickly and I found I wasn't able to make decisions quick enough. I like BBT's focus on slightly more expensive, higher-float stocks. These feel more stable to me, and I think will be a better fit for my trading style. 

The second reason is the informed and intelligent approach I see BBT's leading traders take. This feels like a more sober approach to trading, which is what I'm looking for.

I have a great deal to learn. I became so frustrated the last four months not because I was making consistent losses, but because I never felt like I knew what my strategy was. I often found myself entering trades without really knowing why I was entering them. It's weird to be aware this is happening and yet to continue to do it! 

There is hope! Yesterday (Friday 6 November) I actually made what I'd consider to be the best trade I've ever made (clearing a low bar, admittedly, but bear with me!). Having read here about opening range breakouts, and then watching Andrew's videos and reading the playbook materials, I watched $NIO at the open last night. The fourth one-minute candle broke out of the opening range at 9.34am. I went long and made a nice win. This wasn't my best ever trade because I won or because I made some money (I've made more on other trades in the past), but because I felt like I had a plan. I knew what I was looking for. When I saw it I stepped in and placed my trade, scaled in, partialled out. It wasn't perfect: I came out too early, missing out on a continuation, but just having a reason for placing the trade in the first place was huge for me (I was thrilled when I woke up this morning to see Thor's own review where he placed the exact same trade! I feel like I finally did something right) 

The ORB is going to be a critical strategy for me to master. Here in Vietnam we are exactly 12 hours ahead of US ET, so when the market opens at 9.30am and you guys are all sipping coffee and rubbing sleep from your eyes, it's 9.30pm here and I've just finished washing the dishes after dinner! Working my job as I do I really can't trade much past 10pm local time (10am ET) so there is a golden window of 30 minutes when I need to do my trading. It could be argued then that if any one strategy should be my bread and butter, it should be the ORB. I was thoroughly proud of myself last night for that trade!

So, the plan from here is to paper trade until at least the new year, if not longer. I'm in no rush. I have a great job and I'm very well paid already. I don't need the money. I'd like this to become a very profitable little sideline which can continue to fund my longer term investments, and maybe also pay for the odd round of golf in between. I love being a teacher (you don't start a doctorate in something without loving what you do) and I can't imagine ever fully being out of teaching, but perhaps being able to retire early would be nice one day! Either way, I'm in no rush, and I'll take as long as it takes to learn how to do this, and to do it well.

Apologies for going on at such length! It's smashing to meet you all, and here's to whatever's about to come.

All the best,

Adam

Adam, welcome! Sounds like you've already figured out some of the challenges facing traders. This is never as easy as people would either like it to be, or believe it should be. I like your patience approach and hope to see you in the chatroom next week!

[Qomomoko 1]

Hello,

My name is Luis. A friend of my brothers is pretty successful at stock and retail. My brother gets advice from him and so I got my feet wet with stocks knowing nothing. Got three books from amazon about 1 month ago. One book is "how to day trade for a living" which is by Andrew Aziz and then that lead me to BearBullTraders. Looking to learn, simulate, interact and see where this takes me; ideally a life style change from the typical 9-5 pm. 

Cheers from Miami, Florida USA fellows!

Edited November 9, 2020 by Qomomoko

[paul ang 9]

hey wow!! Finally someone living in asia. I'm in singapore. I think BBT doesn't "focus" on anything, just happens that the founder and most of the traders trade this style.

Ultimately their trading style might not suit you. (I definitely can't trade like andrew)

And what is good is that there is lots of material here to get started, especially about understanding yourself. 

See you around!

On 11/7/2020 at 7:10 PM, Adam Lewis said:

Hello! 

My name is Adam. I'm a 37 year old British expat from Liverpool, England, but now living and working in Hanoi, Vietnam where I've been for seven years. I'm a school teacher by trade (heading up the international department of a bilingual school here in Hanoi). I became a father six months ago and have just started my Education Doctorate, so I'm on several journeys right now I guess!

I began to practice day trading about four months ago. I was initially introduced to stocks and shares during the Covid lockdown in February when a friend recommended I read a book called Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam. This book is about investing directed at expat teachers around the world. It is very good, and it got me into making some ETF investments as I begin to plan for my eventual retirement. I was excited to begin to purchase stocks! But as exciting as it was, I couldn't help but want more out of my trading investments than the passive average 8% a year ETFs offered. Thus, I began to find out more about day trading and having read Andrew Aziz's books (among others, but Andrew's books were the first and remain the best I've read) and after immersing myself in hours of video tutorials on YouTube, I began to paper trade back in July of this year.

To begin with I traded low float penny stocks, trying to use momentum scalping strategies and copying the styles of some of the very successful YouTube guys who do astonishingly well (I'm sure I don't need to name names!), but I have to say I found it supremely difficult to master. I've honestly had four months of mostly making losses, and some days, making big losses in my paper trading account. I also then tried to go live too soon in September and swiftly blew $1,000 cash in my new CMEG account. Suitably chastened, I very sensibly came back to paper trading, resolved now to continue to paper trade until I am able to consistently make profit.

Through October I continued to make losses day trading penny stocks despite my best efforts, and began to grow a little despondent. I finally hit a crossroads a few weeks ago where I knew I had to either invest in an education and begin to really work at this, or else pack it in altogether and spend my time tending to my golf swing (which also sucks).

Well, the first one won! I decided it's time to get serious. As of Monday last week I am now a BBT lifetime member. Let the journey begin!

Why BBT, and not any of the other trading communities? Well, two reasons. First is the focus here on a different category of stock. I didn't want to momentum trade penny stocks anymore: they're just too volatile for me, they move desperately quickly and I found I wasn't able to make decisions quick enough. I like BBT's focus on slightly more expensive, higher-float stocks. These feel more stable to me, and I think will be a better fit for my trading style. 

The second reason is the informed and intelligent approach I see BBT's leading traders take. This feels like a more sober approach to trading, which is what I'm looking for.

I have a great deal to learn. I became so frustrated the last four months not because I was making consistent losses, but because I never felt like I knew what my strategy was. I often found myself entering trades without really knowing why I was entering them. It's weird to be aware this is happening and yet to continue to do it! 

There is hope! Yesterday (Friday 6 November) I actually made what I'd consider to be the best trade I've ever made (clearing a low bar, admittedly, but bear with me!). Having read here about opening range breakouts, and then watching Andrew's videos and reading the playbook materials, I watched $NIO at the open last night. The fourth one-minute candle broke out of the opening range at 9.34am. I went long and made a nice win. This wasn't my best ever trade because I won or because I made some money (I've made more on other trades in the past), but because I felt like I had a plan. I knew what I was looking for. When I saw it I stepped in and placed my trade, scaled in, partialled out. It wasn't perfect: I came out too early, missing out on a continuation, but just having a reason for placing the trade in the first place was huge for me (I was thrilled when I woke up this morning to see Thor's own review where he placed the exact same trade! I feel like I finally did something right) 

The ORB is going to be a critical strategy for me to master. Here in Vietnam we are exactly 12 hours ahead of US ET, so when the market opens at 9.30am and you guys are all sipping coffee and rubbing sleep from your eyes, it's 9.30pm here and I've just finished washing the dishes after dinner! Working my job as I do I really can't trade much past 10pm local time (10am ET) so there is a golden window of 30 minutes when I need to do my trading. It could be argued then that if any one strategy should be my bread and butter, it should be the ORB. I was thoroughly proud of myself last night for that trade!

So, the plan from here is to paper trade until at least the new year, if not longer. I'm in no rush. I have a great job and I'm very well paid already. I don't need the money. I'd like this to become a very profitable little sideline which can continue to fund my longer term investments, and maybe also pay for the odd round of golf in between. I love being a teacher (you don't start a doctorate in something without loving what you do) and I can't imagine ever fully being out of teaching, but perhaps being able to retire early would be nice one day! Either way, I'm in no rush, and I'll take as long as it takes to learn how to do this, and to do it well.

Apologies for going on at such length! It's smashing to meet you all, and here's to whatever's about to come.

All the best,

Adam

 

[Adam Lewis 64]

Nice to 'meet' you Paul! Let me know if you're ever around VN. I was in Singapore for a conference a few years back. Wonderful place, on my list of potential future destinations to move to, once we're in a post-pandemic world...!

[Yenren 1]

Hi, I'm Ciaran. I'm from Ireland, been trading crypto for a few years with limited success. I think day trading might be a better fit for my personality so thats what has me here. 

[rrao0055 3]

Hi Everyone,

I'm Raghav (31) from Detroit. If you made money  during the Bitcoin boom in 2017, I probably helped fund you by getting in at the very end the night before the crash. I've since learned not to get into trades without doing my homework (I paid $7.5K for that lesson) and read Andrew's book after taking a course on day trading on Udemy. I've been trading on ToS for about a month on SIM. I switched to live with a 25.3K account and giving myself a strict $300 budget to trade because I felt that would be a better experience than paying for a SIM. After working with TOS for a while, I decided that wasn't the right platform and decided to switch to DAS after re-reading Andrew's book. I joined this community after being kicked from a FB community for asking if anyone there had read Andrew's book, and decided to check this one out. After trying it out for a week, I've decided this is a good community to trade, especially because almost everyone on here knows what strategies I'm trading and can advise me from that perspective.

My goal is to eventually be able to grow my portfolio by 1% avg per day with a 1000 share position. I'm hoping to get there by the end of next year in SIM and/or live, though that timeline is quite flexible.

[MiguelS 4]

Hi! I'm Miguel, a dad, developing trader, lawyer, and writer from Miami.

After reading Andrew's first two books I started in sim in June and am starting to become consistently profitable there. I'm excited to keep learning and improving as I move towards live trading.

I'm really happy to be here and to meet y'all!

Cheers,
Miguel

[gsepaugh 2]

I'm Stephen Sepaugh.   I live in Corpus Christi , TX.       I Have swing traded on and off for 20 years and have read ALOT of books on investing.  I have a B.S. in Chemistry.  I share my life with two wonderful people, my lovely wife and 12-year-old daughter.  When COVID-19 broke out in March I started making a lot less money at work.   Decided to start swing trading seriously during work when I had time.  Turned 7500.00 into 46000.00 by August and thought I was a genius.  I proceeded to lose 10,000 over the next month and new I needed help but wouldn't admit it.    My wife looked up day trading and found Andrew.   I told her that day trading was dangerous and that I didn't need any help and could handle it on my own.  I opened an IB account and withdrew my money from my full-service brokerage firm and started dabbling in day trading.  Killed it!!!  Or so I thought.  Made 6000.00 my first day out and proceeded to lose all of that gain the following week.  That was towards the end of October.  Crawled back and cut the loss to 3000.00 then lost that trading NIO the first week of November.  I was under enormous pressure having just told my employer that I quit.  I humbly asked my wife who that day trader was that she had looked up on the internet.   "Andrew something," she responded.  I googled "Andrew trading."    Saw BBT but didn't pay attention.  Just wanted the book.   I ordered it and skimmed through technical chapters, i.e. the parts that I thought I needed.  I then proceeded to buy all the equipment.   I believed I was ready to go.  Visons of boats and exotic trips filled my thoughts.   I programmed my hot keys on my keyboard.  Thinking this was not fast enough, I ordered the Elgato stream deck, and installed it.  Now I was ready !!!  Well, you know what is coming next.   The next morning, I started trading PYPL and XPEV simultaneously.  Why not, I’m a pro right?   Well, Mr. Pro wasn't aware that that he had clicked the PYPL screen thinking he was going to short XPEV on the breakdown.  I held the button down too long and ended up shorting PYPL for 800 shares while it was going up fast at 9:35 am.  By the time I could get the window closed that was warning me that I had just exceeded my margin and close the position, I was up 1700.00 dollars.  This is a very important part of the story.   Whether I would have lost or won, would not have changed my mind about being a pro that had figured out the market or rationalizing that it was the button's fault.  Luckily, and I mean this seriously, I lost the 1700.00,  then  3000 dollars more over the next two days.  Had I not lost, no telling how much I would have lost in the future.  I was completely against stop losses, or anything else that is required to manage risk or day trade properly.  I'm lucky I still have most of my money.  I have decided to study and go through every bit of information available through BBT.  I will be trading on a simulator for a least couple of weeks , until I get a solid understanding of each strategy and can maintain my psychological composure.  I wish I had listened to my wife when she first mentioned Andrew.  I have gone through Mike B's course already.  Thank you, Mike, for your dedication, amazing insights, and your service.   I have had that life changing event.   Thank you, Andrew, from the bottom of my heart.  Your caring and instruction are priceless.  Also, a thanks to all the contributors, instructors and members of BBT.  YOU HAVE ALL CHANGED MY LIFE!!  Sincerely, Stephen Sepaugh  

[AndrejV 1]

 

Hey everyone,

my name is Andrej. I live in Vancouver; Canada (originally from Slovakia) and I am truly excited to join this community.

This past summer, I decided on a career change from being a high school teacher to become a day trader (I gave myself 3 years for transition). I started by reading  Andrew’s and other books,  watching BBT videos on YouTube and getting experience by using Das Pro simulator.  

Now, that I “officially” joined the BBT community as a member, I immersed myself even more into becoming a day trader. I really appreciate how much quality information/education and amount of genuine help from the members there is in this community.

I’m looking forwards to learn from and with you!

Cheers,

Andrej

[Mitch The Duck 4]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Mitch. Husband, father, circus alum, rigger, adventurer and world traveler. The duck reference has to do with the equanimity mindset that was talked about in a recent webinar

Currently I live in las Vegas. Anyone else?

Very happy to be here. Been trading on my own and learning slowly for about 5 years now. Very interested in options and finding out what type of day trader I am.

Looking for a trading buddy to bounce ideas off of, review things, and KEEP EACH OTHER HONEST! Feel free to get in touch with me and say hi in the chats or forums!

Cheers,

MiTCh

[Kostas 1]

Hello BBT family!

I am Kostas, from Greece and I live in Glasgow, Scotland. 

I am civil engineer working 9-5 every weekday and few months ago I started dreaming about a second salary so I came across with Andrew's day trading book and I absolutely loved it! Now I am dreaming for becoming a consistently profitable day trader!   

I subscribed because I felt that it will totally worth it! So much info to learn from, it's just awesome!

Thanks and all the best to everyone!

Cheers

Kostas 

[car105b 1]

Hello BBT, I joined here about a week ago and just trying absorb as much as possible. Many years ago I started off on this journey trying out the Better Trades program, I attended the 3 day live session and then practiced a bit but I was still kind of lost. I was up and down and never developed a consistent process, I ended up in the red when I threw in the towel. Since then I've mostly stayed away from the market and just stuck to my day job but in the last 6 years I got married and now have a 3 year old and a 1 year old daughter and would really like to work toward a future where I'm not dependent on an employer for providing for my family. For now the plan is to learn and paper trade for a few months and hopefully in Q2/Q3 of 2021 start live trading part time in the mornings. We'll see how that goes, looking forward to meeting everyone.

[MattfromNZ 55]

Hi all,

I'm Matt, originally from New Zealand, but now live in Montana USA. I enjoy doing things outside such as mountain biking, skiing and climbing. I currently have  job where I work 12hrs every day for 3 weeks and then I am off for 3 weeks. For a long time I have wondered about day trading, but never looked into it seriously until recently. Obviously I plan to use my time off to practice trading. I'm still pretty skeptical about the whole thing to be honest, the other new people are all saying "wow, this place is great Im so glad I found it" and I'm still wondering if paying for the membership was a good idea or not. Regardless I plan to work hard and be optimistic about it, and time will tell!