The Truth No One Tells You About Becoming a Millionaire Trader

0:00 If you can break your word with yourself that easily, guess who pays the price? What do you mean when you say like I I found out who I was or who I am in the market? What do you mean by that? It's a cautionary tale to newer traders to say do not get lost in the identity as a trader. Why do you feel that way? Because wow, this number really blows my mind. Over 75% of you who watch the show regularly are not subscribed. If you enjoy the show and want to support us, the easiest and also free way is just to hit that subscribe button. This will help us find new and better guests. And I promise you to continue to work at making this show better and bringing you more value. Welcome back everybody to be the

0:46 trader. Today's going to be a fantastic day because I have my man Stan here who's been really involved in the market for the past 11 years. but placed his first trade 17 years ago. Stan, welcome to the show, brother. Alex, nice to meet you and nice to be here. Thank you for Thank you for your time today. Thank you, man. I appreciate you being here, especially to share the story of how you got started. Yeah, absolutely. So, in 2008 is essentially, you know, we had the financial uh crisis, right? The the the housing crisis. Y um so early 2008 is when I actually started into my corporate career as well. And at the same time as I got involved in corporate, some of my colleagues were like, you know, hey, take a look at the stock market. This thing is crazy. It's falling. I'm like, what is this stock market? Yeah. So, here and there. And

1:33 we're looking at uh August or I think September was of08. And uh I bought my uh I I I bought Spy. I think it was like at 58 bucks or $59. Oh my god. And I flipped it quickly for two three dollars. And I'm like, this is great. This is so easy, right? I put in a 100 bucks, give it two, three days, I come back, it's 300. Anybody can do this. It's great. And then from that point forward, um, you know, I got a little taste and then, um, lost everything. I mean, I only had a small playful account. I wasn't even serious about it. Um, lost everything. Put another, you know, 2 3,000 bucks in there, started again. And I'd say for the first um three to four years to five years uh up until 2013 or so, yeah, I was not

2:18 committed to trading. I was not serious about it, right? I treated it as a hobby. And partially because I was focused on my corporate career because for me that that was that was a certain thing, right? Every two weeks I get my check. Uh I can go and you know get checked up. I have health insurance. I'm not worried about that. So it was very uh tough for me to to let that go and commit 100% to trading. So that's why I believe I spent uh you know a long time catching up right but during during those first three to five years I really focused on uh myself as well and also learning the right way to uh approach the market and when I say the right way the right way according to me because

3:03 there's no right or wrong way to approach the market right you could trade by the moon phases as far as I care I don't you know is if it's a profitable strategy that's how that's how I like to trade that's exactly So, so careful, you know, so it doesn't get eroded. Uh, so you can trade by that if you'd like like, you know, I'm not one to question it. As long as you can consistently execute and produce a profit, then then that's fine. I'm not going to question the strategy. So throughout the first three to five years, I I really focused on myself in the in the corporate career while keeping trading, you know, on the on the back burner and then slowly dabbling into it. Were you tracking it like actually taking it a little bit serious in terms of tracking or anything? Or were you just taking trades? I mean, I would take trades. I would track as far as um I would track my losses. I think

3:49 that was one of the first mistakes I made as a trader is I only track my losses. Uh which is great, but losses is not how you pay your bills. You pay your bills with the winners. Uh so that was a that was a monumental shift in in learning right somewhere along the journey is is where okay great focus on the losses. So then I do less of them, but I need to know what I need to do more of, right? Um, so that came later on. So I'd say, yeah, within the first, you know, three to five years is where I I mean, I blew up four times. I wasted accounts. And then there was a particular trade, I think it was around 2014 or so. Uh, but that was the first ticker that that actually I I made a significant chunk of money and and I was like, wait a minute, this is, you know, this trading thing, there's something to it. I want to take a couple of seconds

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5:22 to the show. And then from 2014 up until 2016 is when I went parabolic. Uh and I think that's because of the four blows that I had because of the three to five years I spent in not just figuring out the market but more importantly figuring out me. Uh because to me that that is who holds the edge. The market itself provides opportunities. Yep. Uh but the edge sits here because you and I could be looking at the same thing. You execute and I don't. Why? If it's if the market is the edge, why not? I should be executing as well. But it's not the same as we know, right? Because some situations, you know, risk is dynamic, risk is applicable. Uh what you tolerate

6:10 as risk may not be what I tolerate as risk. Uh I still remember sitting next to uh my mentor at the time. Um and and you know we were short a stock or something and it goes up you know a buck or two and then he says this is where everyone with a family is going to stop out and that was so powerful right because they weren't wrong. Mhm. But you have to stop out if you have a family you got to take the stop. You can't risk to find out is it going to be just another 15 cents or is it going to be just another dollar. you don't have that luxury. We did at the time as single and no responsibility. But that was crucial learning experience for me when he said everyone with the family is going to

6:56 stop out here and sure enough boom they stop out it blows out and it comes right back down and that was it. So, it's little moments like that that I I believe provided a foundation to where I could really sink my teeth in and I couldn't really step with both feet and say I can build on this, right? Because to me, I feel a lot of new traders, they get into the market nowadays, they experience some success, uh, and then they make a bunch of money within a year or two and then and then it slowly bleeds away. Yeah. Right. But but that's great because you got a taste and that's what it takes, right? You you need that passion. You need something to to to you know to drive you to it. And after 2016, um I still had my my

7:41 corporate career at the time. No, you were still working then going parabolic at that time. Exactly. So you was your job very flexible when it came to trading or so I live on the east on the on the west coast. Okay. Uh so what that allowed for me is to to focus on the morning right so uh when it you know based out of Las Vegas uh Nevada so the market opens at 6:30 for me um and then you know my normal job started at like 9 10 right so I had the the best two and a half three hours um that that I can focus which I'm also glad that I had the job as well because it provided that structure y want to or not I got to be done by 8:30 right because I have other responsibility that that I need to tend to. So, it provided that structure uh

8:28 for me to trade and really, you know, hone in on what I'm good at and what I can work with. Um and as far as my corporate career, it was in uh I started in IT. Uh I started at, you know, entry- level position um IT engineer like a computer engineer helping uh people and then I went into management and I retired from my corporate uh world in uh 2019. So about 11 years after I started uh I I left at the as a seale executive uh for you know big companies uh down on the Las Vegas strip companies like Caesars um the Venetian and Palazzo. So it was a a really successful uh corporate career that that I believe uh allowed for that allowed me the space to to focus on on trading. You know what's interesting is you said

9:15 in 2014 I believe you said it started to go parabolic and then you mentioned briefly about a mentor. When did the mentor come into play? So I've had somebody uh as a mentor I'd say since day one. And when I say a mentor I'm not talking nec so the example I gave with trading that was a a trading mentor. So right that yeah that was I'd say around 2012 2013. Okay. Right. early early stages on when I'm still figuring everything out. Uh but for me, a mentor is just that. It's a mentor because the best mentors have helped me in whatever it is that I'm doing work-wise, but most importantly, they help me grow and develop as a person. And that that to me is someone that, you know, I I respect through and

10:02 through. Um because it's not a specialized mentor to where they can only help me with trading but then then they can't help me with with who I am. Yeah, that's been the you know my my experience uh throughout I I did not necessarily have someone like you met people over time and just had conversations or No, I actually kind of did it the other way. So I I went dark. I removed myself from all and every social media. I did not uh participate in anything. I was just part of Investors Underground. Y So I started with Investors Underground in 2009. Okay. Uh very very early on. Um and I've always been just in the background, just in the shadows. Very rarely would I engage in chat or you know anything

10:48 else. That has changed since. Yeah, I'm uh you know I again I once I quit corporate in 2019 um and then solely focused on trading and then around 2022 is more so when I started coming back out into the the public sphere of social media. Yeah. Social I even created uh my first you know my Twitter account was in 23 I think I created it. Yeah. Didn't even have Twitter. Yeah. Um so but that's again that's not right or wrong uh for me. It's just what it's just what worked for me. Yeah. Right. So, I don't necessarily want viewers to be like, "Oh, okay. Got it. I'm going dark from tomorrow." And this is No, it's it's just aligned to who you are as a person. Well, you you mentioned that a couple of times. I want to lean into

11:33 that about, you know, what fits because you said, "Yeah, yeah, I learned things along the way, but I really learned who I was." And you've emphasized that a couple of times. So, what do you mean by that for the new traders who are starting their journey? What do you mean when you say like I I found out who I was or who I am in the market? What do you mean by that? What I mean by that is when I say you know I find who I am, right? Uh essentially it's a cautionary tale to um you know viewers or newer traders to say do not get lost in the identity as a trader, right? Um because for me what I noticed is if I lacked discipline in my charts, if I'm messy in my charts, that

12:22 is not the cause. The market's not the cause. That is just a bleed over. I'm undisiplined somewhere else in my life and it's bleeding over and it's showing up in my charts. Right? And to give an example, we say for someone that struggles with stopping out, essentially that is someone that struggles with admitting when they're wrong, right? Uh that's not a trading issue. That's a person issue because that person struggles with that same concept elsewhere in their life. Whether it would be through a conversation, whether it would be to, you know, being that person that always has to have the last say, the last word, right? And then it bleeds over and it shows up as the inability to admit when you're wrong

13:08 which then shows up as you know you can't stop out right and they're like gosh this market this ticker I can't believe these market makers it's so rigged and it's you know just and in a way is it though because because it was clear right you said I'm getting in here and I'm stopping out here and what happened you didn't you broke your word you broke your word with yourself and that's a dangerous thing because if you do that if you can break your word with yourself that easily. You won't even blink breaking your word with someone else. And guess who pays the price? It's not you. You pay it monetary, but emotionally it's whoever is around you. My wife pays the price. My family pays the price when I'm not present, when I'm when I have created this traitor identity when I've lost myself in that

13:54 trader identity. So that's really what I mean by, you know, understanding who I am provides for understanding what my trading looks like because I know where and I know the situations that trigger me. I know the situations that get me angry and mad. Do I experience FOMO? Of course they being, you know, of course. Am I fearful? Yeah. You know, there's times where I'm adding size and I'm like, man, this is scary. And and but I I'm doing it. I have to. I have to. That's really what I mean by, you know, discovering yourself is is not having that identity as a traitor be first. I have to be Stan first as the person, as as the husband, as the son,

14:39 as the brother, and then I have to be a traitor second. Because if I'm a trader first, then I don't leave room to be a husband when my wife needs me. Mhm. She gets a trader. And guess what? She doesn't need a trader at 8:00 p.m. She needs a husband. Right. Right. Or I'm a trader when I go to visit my mom. She doesn't need a trader to tell her about Nvidia or whatever. She needs a son to say, you know, what's going on? Right. Y So if you if I get lost in that identity, then then everything else suffers. And there is no lonelier place in this earth than than having everything you need and no one to share it with. You know, that's the loneliest place on earth. Yep. That's a really good cautionary tale.

15:25 So, I appreciate you sharing that with everyone. Yeah. You know, I What would you say was the hardest part for you whenever you in 200 like that 14 that switch? What What was it that all it's just I I would say it was trust in in in myself. It was for me what has always stayed true throughout the years, Alex, is when I'm in doubt, I double down on me because there's no one else that will fix it. There's no one else. Um, and that was something to where in 2014, you know, in that transitioning period where I saw it where where I said, okay, this is what I've been trading. This is the data that I've collected through screenshots, through anot. I mean, I have terabytes of drives of just charts

16:12 and and u I'm a big uh tape tape trader like trade on tape. You know, entry is all about tape for me. So, I have thousands of hours of tape just recorded that that you know, for me there is such thing as as Sunday tape hour, right? So, one hour every Sunday I set aside to review tape of the tickers before and it's just, you know, in the key moments. Uh but but everybody knows that. My entire family knows that. So unless you're in the hospital or you're hurting, you don't call me within this hour, right? It's let's establish boundaries from the beginning. Yeah. So we understand each other. Um but for me, that's that's really what what I think solidified in in in 2014 is that trust within myself, right? Yeah. It's it's that finally being able to say, uh this

17:01 what I'm doing is not a reflection of who am I as a person. Yeah. Right? So if I have a green trade, that was due to the actions that I took. Right. Right. If I had a red trade, that again is due to the actions that I took. So realizing that is what made that switch because then I I realized I'm no longer a victim of my outcome. Right? I'm no longer bound in saying, "Oh man, I'm a terrible trader because I had a red day today." That's that no longer existed. I realize that I had a red day because I took the I made the wrong actions and because I'm a responsible trader, I go back and change my actions to now which leads to a different outcome. I like that because it changes I was

17:46 about to ask you what do you replace it with and you replace it with with that thought process. Right. Right. So if if we were to do like a little equation, right? You know like a plus b equals c. Right. So say if you we do a little equation it would be the market yeah right plus you as the participant equals your P&L equals your outcome right so if you have a red day like if you say if you're the market and plus you equals your outcome and you want to change your outcome you want more green right or you want less red then you have to go back on the other side of the equation because that's how it works y and you and I know we can't change the market, right? Maybe Warren Buffett can, but it's not my type of money. So, I can't change the market, right? So, what's the

18:33 only other variable that I can change? That's me. Yep. And then I get a different outcome. So, if you have, you know, 2 plus x = 6 and now you want 10. Two can't change. Well, now x has to be eight. So, you got to get there. That's what you got to do. Now, you have a road map. Now, you know what you have to do and you got to get to work. And the variable of us could mean are you saying it could mean either strategy, it could mean mentally, it could be it could be whatever whatever that in the market as a participant in the market the only true control you always have at all times and the only control out there. The only variable that you can control is risk. That's it. Just like when you're driving, the only thing you

19:19 can control is the distance between you and the car in front of you. Okay? nothing else. You can't control behind you. You can't control to the side. You can only control that distance. So, same thing with with risk, right? So, that's the only thing that that I can control and that's what I focus on. I'm curious on your thoughts on strategies just in general like it strategies for the new traders out there because they I know people always hear, "Oh man, people say that the strategy I'll find it like it you know." Yeah. Yeah, it become mine. You know, like like you can learn. Yeah. You can like learn from Stan and kind of understand how he thinks, but you're not gonna trade like Stan. Yeah. And they're like, "What does that really mean?" Like, "How do you find your strategy?" Right. Could you explain what that means? Yeah. Yeah. One thing I'll

20:04 mention before that is is I I agree to that point, right? To where, you know, people are like, "Oh, yeah, focus on your psychology. That's the key to trading." And, you know, no, focus on your risk management, that's the key to trading. That's true, but it all starts with the setup. If you don't have a setup, I'm sorry to tell you, but you could be the Dalia Lama. Yeah. And you're not going to be successful trading if you don't have a setup, right? I don't care what your emotional fortitude looks like. Um, so it all starts with the setup. And to your point, you know, people, how do I know, right? I mean, they're like, it's like that uh it's like the whole loop with experience, right? You know, how do I get hired if I don't have experience and no one gives me experience? It's kind of like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, trial and error. As underwhelming as

20:49 that answer sounds, I believe that's just the very basic of it. Trial and error. Yep. And and I don't just mean blindly like, okay, let me just buy 100 shares and hope, right? So, the best way that I have found is trial and error through a proven process or a chartist or a trader. So someone that you know you know his or her style works as in you know that how their trading aligns with you aligns with your risk appetite aligns with your risk tolerance then you take those charts and you start reverse engineering uh there's no there's no easy way right because each setup if I were to teach my setups right

21:36 now yes I can explain what they mean and how they function for me but in In order for someone else to be able to replicate what I do, they must put their own little twist to it. It's very tough to trade one for one like it just it doesn't work, right? Because you have the rest of the complexities that you don't see. What you see on someone's perfect chart is just the execution. You see the product. What you don't see is the 10 15 years of crying and figuring it out and and and you know uh uh trial and error and losing money and like I mean that's happened to me as well. Like I've had nights in the corner of my room crying, right? I've had days where I'm like can I support my family? Is this for me? Can I do that? Like that happens

22:21 to me. Yeah, of course. Like I'm not immune to it. It's it's what makes me human. Uh but I think ultimately it's that trial and error through through reverse engineering of what you see out there and then eventually you stumble upon the right mix. You're like okay this guy started with 100 shares but you know for me 75 shares allowed a little more time to where now the trade developed. Got it. That's perfect. So and then you start to build on that little by little. Um there isn't a magic bullet. There isn't a magic formula to where I can say watch this course and read this course and you're going to start trading and you're going to be profitable from day one. That could work and guess what? It could be a vi a viable strategy. But we all know markets are cyclical. Mh. Sooner or later that

23:08 will phase and if you don't adapt as a trader, you will phase with that setup as well. Right? I've seen that through the years. All very common. You know, you've had trader friends who've been profitable and disappeared. Yeah. They went like the strategy disappeared. Exactly. Right. So, they came in, they made a bunch of money, two, three, four, five mil, and then boom, gone in two trades. Why? Because they refused to to adapt. They refused to believe that they could be possibly wrong. Yep. Um, isn't that insane? And I've been there. Okay. I've blown up four accounts. I've been there. Like, I'm very thickheaded apparently, right? Because between those four blowups, the reason wasn't that much different. What it came down to is I refused to believe that this could possibly go that way or

23:53 go that much or whatever. Well, I'm guessing then the answer to this next question is you would tell yourself maybe, but I'll let you know. What would you tell yourself when if you can go back in time and give yourself some advice to be here a little bit sooner? I think the number one the number one thing would be put myself out there sooner. You mean to social media to not social media to to uh a trading community. Okay. Right. So it I mean it could be social media. Right. I think social media today is probably the easier easiest way to find a trading community and whether it would be you know like a pod or just right whatever similar people similar ideas. Um I think that that that is probably

24:39 one of my biggest regrets as a trader. Um twofold. One why do you feel that way? Yeah. So I I think one reason is had I done that it it would have shortened my learning curve tremendously. No doubt it would have shortened that learning curve because trading for me is a profession where you stand on the shoulders of giants where where there is no you without someone else before you. it just doesn't happen. That to me is the quickest way to to you know curb that that that learning curve. So that that's one that one reason why it was a regret. And the second reason uh was something that we touched on a little bit earlier was um I feel like I could have done more and be more of help to newer traders

25:25 earlier if I was a part of a community to where uh I would have understood earlier that what I had to offer perhaps could help someone. And I don't need to be helping 50 or 100 or 5,000 people. I just want to know that hey, there's one person out there that, you know, maybe they heard something. Yep. And now they see a shift and that's enough. Yep. Right. Yeah. Because I know I know how and I'm sure you know as well, Alex, how dark those moments get sometimes as a trader where man, there's just no light. There's just no light. And I think I can help with that. I think I can help with, you know, people not feeling that. Yeah. All the time. I think you can. I think you have like and and I know people watching today they're going to be like I want to learn more about Stan because they're or

26:12 they're probably going to message you and say thank you for this episode. So how can they learn out more about you or find out more about you? Sorry about Sure. Uh so I am in uh Investors Underground. Um uh I'm you know I'm a member there moderator. I've been there pretty much since day one. Uh it's been my only home. Yeah. So that's the best way. Uh Investors Underground. Also I'm on on Twitter. Okay. Um, uh, maybe we can put the tag underneath. Absolutely. But yeah, at Corleon offer, uh, my, uh, handle is, uh, uh, Godfather and, uh, yeah, it's been a great, you know, great journey and and, and hopefully people do reach out, right? Because it's again, it's lonely. It is lonely. And that's something again to this day, Alex, something that I wish I would have been like, man, I should have reached out to Nate earlier. I should have reached out

26:58 to, you know, to Eric earlier, to someone earlier. Why? Because because they they were there. They already know what I'm going through. I can't reach out to my friend. Yeah. My wife, she doesn't know what's going on. She doesn't even know what shorty is. Is that what you wear outside? Well, look, Stan, thank you so much, man, for being here today. And make sure to share this with another trader friend and you can find out more about Stan because we have links in the description. Thanks, brother. Thank you, sir. Appreciate the time. Thank you for finishing today's episode. If you're watching on YouTube, please leave a comment below of one of the takeaways that you are going to implement into your own trading. And if you happen to be listening on a podcast platform, go ahead and leave us a review and let us know what you enjoy about today's episode because that does go a long way in helping us continue to grow. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart

27:44 and I look forward to seeing you on the next episode.