Hi @the_yeet, thank you so much for doing that interview with me today!
You have been one of my first followers, and I appreciate you.
This is the first episode of, I hope, a very long series of interviews with retail traders grinding hard to become full-time traders.
There are a lot of interviews with accomplished traders. Still, I believe this is sometimes less interesting than having discussions with people that are grinding now to become successful traders.
I genuinely hope this format will give beginners a glimpse of what it looks like to succeed and the sacrifice needed to reach the holy grail.
Interview
Sit back, relax, and enjoy 😊
Q) First of all, could you post a picture of your trading setup and one of your trading charts to show the readers your trading environment?
A) See below for my trading setup, this is Sierra Chart, and man all I have to say about SC is that I thought I could see stuff before switching, but after switching I’m never going back to another platform.
The things you can do and the data you can see with clarity is incredible.
Q) Tell us more about yourself and why you have picked this pseudo.
A) I’m relatively new to trading (in a more serious manner ~1 year).
I work a full-time job as an engineer during the day and trade on the side.
I picked this pseudo because it’s a silly nickname that has stuck with friends for things like my team in Fantasy sports and such. Also, anonymity (lol)
Q) How have you started trading, and what motivated you to become a trader?
A) I started trading because I thought it was something I could be good at and I’ve always been interested in the financial markets.
I didn’t really have money until I started working so like most people I started off trying out options from people selling indicators and best systems and such (this does not work, no matter how many times you see this said, please it does not work).
I started learning some orderflow techniques after finding people like Jay and Tic and now Set.
Admittedly, I am in Set’s class and it’s awesome, it’s just nice to have that community.
My ultimate motivation for becoming a trader is to be able to provide my wife with the life she deserves and for us to have the freedom to live our lives.
Q) What does a typical day of grind look like for the_yeet?
A) I usually wake up about 4:30 AM local time and get a nice workout in (fitness is a large part of my life).
Then, breakfast with the wife and some PM analysis to develop a daily plan for trading. I do my day job from ~7-3 PM every day and wait for areas of interest to make plays if it fits my plan.
Then after work, I take my dog for a walk or to the dog park, just various things with family. Have some dinner, then get to analyzing and journaling the day.
This helps tremendously for pattern recognition and overall understanding of where we are in the market.
Then bedtime and repeat.
Q) Could you describe your trading style in a few words to us? (You don’t have to talk about strategy if you’re not comfortable with that)
A) My trading style is certainly aggressive, and like a lot you see on Twitter, I look for very imbalance RR plays, so my stop is typically 2.5 points on ES and I am looking for a first trim at 5 points and let runners play to my next level.
I utilize the DOM, Footprint chart, and Time and Sales to provide me with what I perceive to be my edge.
Q) What is the biggest obstacle you face to becoming consistent?
A) My biggest obstacle is emotional and overtrading.
I start up, feel invincible, and end up giving it back. Then I’m upset and make more dumb trades.
I am attempting to limit myself to a certain number of trades a day to combat this. Quality > Quantity
Q) Do you have a mentor or someone you look up to in your progression as a trader?
A) I look up to a lot of people in trading, for one you, Jay Strizz, Adam Set, Guam. These are some of my favorites and people that I think give out great trading advice and alpha without spoonfeeding a strategy or indicator to win all the time.
Q) Do you remember your worst and best trading day ever? What did it look like?
A) This is a fun one, my start to believing I knew what I was doing during the GME/BB meme runs.
I was in on BB well before anyone thought it was any decent and I netted ~50k from BB itself and then ~35k on GME. These were monthly and weekly options at the perfect time. That was the best, and the worst came shortly after all of that.
I lost 20k on one trade and that was when I hit a turning point. I no longer wanted to feel the way I felt that day and things are getting better. I broke down and talked it through with my wife and she supported me, so huge thanks to her.
Q) If you could start from scratch tomorrow, what would you do from the beginning?
A) I would emphasize capital preservation and stick to the plan. No one’s plan is better than yours (this is where I think one’s best edge comes from).
I would also start out smaller, no need to hit home runs, that’s what runners are for.
Q) Finally, do you have one piece of advice for the readers who are just starting their trading journey?
A) My one piece of advice would be to take it seriously and start documenting your trades and how you’re reading the market, you might even find your own strategy/pattern that no one else uses.
The_yeet, thank you so much for your time, it’s great to get to know you better, and I wish you all the best in your journey.
If you have questions for @the_yeet, you can comment below, or find him on Twitter. If you’d like to be part of the next episode and want to share your story with us, feel free to reach out to me.
If you made it to the end, make sure to subscribe to our substack to receive more trading content. Thank you so much.
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Fantastic idea to interview normal traders. That’s helpful to me starting out. Thanks for sharing @the_yeet. And I like the new style btw