The Stock Trading Reality Podcast

I started claytrader.com back in 2013, so yeah, I've been asked quite a few questions over the years. The question that has got to be one of the most popular is this: "Hey Clay, what is the best indicator?" or, slightly varied, "what is your favorite indicator?". While I can't say there is anything wrong with this question per-se, it does open the doors to some potentially very faulty ways of thin...

Listen. I've lost count of how many stocks I have shorted over the years. It is a whole lot! As much as it pains me to say it (as it reveals a mistake on my part), I have wasted soooo much time over the years with shorting stocks. To be fair, when I first got started the abundance of new approaches to the market didn't exist; however, I stuck with shorting stocks way longer than I ever should have...

Let me say this upfront. I have no problem if you don't like prop firms and believe there to be better ways of going about growing as a trader. With that being said, I've seen some pretty bad critiques of prop firms that I would argue are arrived upon with logic filled with blind spots. While I'm not going to argue for prop firms per-se, I do want to make sure you, as a listener, are thinking thro...

In this episode, to those of you who are beginners and just getting started in the world of day trading, I want to introduce you to someone you will, without doubt, experience in your day trader journey. Who do I need to introduce you to? The dirty dog! Over my years of coaching other traders and running the YouTube channel, I've found that while it may not be the most popular way to go about grow...

I don't mean to be mean, but there are times where genuine care is just being blunt with someone… and that's what I need to do in this situation. I'm not sure how else to say it other than I am seeing some very stupid people out there in the trading world. Are you one of them? Be honest. No judgements on my part as I used to be King Stupid back in the day when I first got started. The awesome (and...

The daily max loss. A risk management rule that has a whole lot of opinions surrounding it. I recently made a YouTube video discussing how a futures prop firm eliminated this rule. In sharing my thoughts, I received some interesting comments and wanted to address one in particular as I believe it opened the doors to explain a deeper reasoning for my logic. Whether you are trading stocks, options,...

Throughout my years as a trader and coach/teacher, I've come to discover a very simple (yet very powerful) question. When people ask me one of the most common questions ever, "Should I hold or sell?", I respond with something that exposes several issues. In this episode I hope to accomplish one of two things. Either you are the person who needs to be, politely, smacked in the face with this questi...

If I were forced to give a one word arguement for futures trading, it would be this: flexibility. Futures trading is not a Holy Grail area of the market where you money begins to rain down from the sky; however, it is an area of the financial markets that give a whole lot of flexibility. This flexibilty can be explained via three reasons on why you should at least consider learning more. No worrie...

Are you thinking of getting into trading or have been struggling? Perhaps you've had a form of logic cross your mind via your own thoughts or via the input of someone else that, quite frankly, is really low grade and bad. To be fair, under certain circumstances and contexts, the logic used by some is totally accurate and applicable; however, if you are operating under the proper context of a respo...

While I can't make a guarantee, I can say there is a high probability you will be faced, at some point in your journey, with the question: should I change my trading platform? Let me be the first to tell you, changing platforms is a hassle. You will do dumb things. I am currently experiencing the hassle right now as I have switched to a new platform to trade futures. This is not the first time I'v...

I've recently moved to Iowa and started to attend a new church. Why am I telling you this? I've had a couple people at the church take interest into trading and they are now members of my community. Because they are "friends in real life", I have an insight that I've never really had before. They have a great and genuine interest and are working hard at the craft. I recently had an interaction wit...

I've been talking about prop firms recently, particularly because I am now giving them a try. As I've quickly gained experience, I want to point out a trap that exists within the framework of how they work. Prop firms offer a whole lot of upside potential and require very little risk on your end monetarily speaking, but whether it is intentional or not is irrelevant, there is a trap that can creat...

It's not always rainbows and butterflies. Sometimes people have complaints and sometimes those complaints pertain to us. If you would consider yourself a technical trader (or you are thinking of becoming one), then episode is for you. One of the key's to success is to welcome complaints and see if you have a valid response to them. Who knows, perhaps someone's complaint is valid and there needs to...

The past few weeks have been filled with confusion and frustration. Was I imagining things? Was I playing the victim card? Long story short, I was not! This has taken me on a new adventure that'll be interesting to see where it leads. Want more details? Well, you'll need to listen! (Spoiler: as you can tell from the title, I'm moving into futures with a prop firm). Want to join the firm I'm using?...

I had a question on a YouTube video and I wanted to address it via a podcast episode. At the core, it's a question of "which is better? Stocks or options?". While some of you may already be familiar with the general mechanics of stocks and options, I want to step out of the world of theory and into the world of reality. I recently had a trade that helps illustrate the advantage of one asset class...

Maybe you're not aware, but we just concluded this thing we call a presidential election. This has lots of people talking and speculating and all of the above. I want to try and simplify it all in a very straight-forward manner for us as traders. I've been trading through several presidents at this point in my life, so while that does not make me correct about anything, it at least gives me a bit...

It was recently released that the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is thinking of moving to a format where the stock market is open 22 hours a day. This is a huge event, assuming it happens. With that being said, I want to give my thoughts and cover a few details to provide a bit of clarity and consideration to the situation. Let's get to it!

If you aren't aware, let me tell you a secret: day trading is HARD! Because of this fact, we should be constantly on the lookout for any kind of tool that can assist us in our journey. I don't mean any kind of magical indicators or trading bots, but a tool that is designed to provide an additional angle to your thought process. In other words, you still need to be able to think for yourself. Anyon...

The rich just keep getting richer. In fact, there's an article out saying Elon Musk is on pace to become the first trillionaire relatively soon! This is a very hot topic for some, understandably so. How can someone who, already, a bunch of money just continue to see that amount grow and grow. How is that right? How does that happen? The point of this episode is not to convince you of anything, but...

I assume you know this, but let me quickly make sure: trading is stressful. If you think you can walk into the world of trading and feel zero stress, I have some ocean front property in Iowa I would love to sell you! Due to this fact, any time "stress" in mentioned in the world from any context, I always do my best to listen. If I can learn something new about stress, the logic would follow that I...

When you make an investment of any kind, what would be considered a 'good' return? This is a more than valid question. We've worked hard for our money and want to be sure we're not being unwise with it. I've discovered that many beginners really have no idea what a good return on investment would be, which makes sense. The problem with this logical ignorance is you have no baseline to judge claims...

One of the best moves you can make as a trader is to bust your own bubble! What do I mean? The more you can separate yourself from your personal strategy, the better your personal strategy can become. I understand that may not make a whole lot of sense, but let me explain in this episode! Thanks for a back-and-forth with someone on YouTube, it prompted the idea as the person I was dealing with was...

The claim is this, "we both did the "right" things…" This comes from an article I read about the real estate market; however, it opens the door to something I've seen time and time again in the world of trading. So much of trading (and most other things) has to do with the correct perspective. This is where the trickiness comes into play because in order to demonstrate the correct perspective to o...

Let's talk about your chances of becoming wealthy. To clarify, I don't mean "wealth" as having a garage full of exotic cars or beach side mansions around the world. By "wealth" I mean enough money to live at an above average standard of living. What are the odds you'll be able to accomplish such a goal? I want to give you a challenge, or more accurately, a test. Another way we could look at this i...

I came across an article regarding burn-out which caught me a bit off guard. After reading it, the author's points made very reasonable sense, but I had never considered how burn-out could be a good thing. Bringing this into the world of day trading, I think there is much that could be useful. The article is based around someone who has hired 100's of people for management positions, meaning, she...