Repeat guest, formerly featured in Episode 119

Episode 157 ... Alex @TAGRtrades (62:23)

Wife takes care of their new baby (four months old)
Hasn't had a full night of sleep in four months
Child care $30K a year so doesn't make sense for wife not to stay at home [only in 'murika]
December 2017 his best month to date
Bitcoin / Blockchain mania at end of year 2017, he was able to catch that
MARA, DPW, RIOT his main plays ... sympathy plays
He would buy the one that was still red when the other two turned green
Lots of liquidity, easy to trade size since exits so easy
June 2018 will be five years of trading full time
Have to know what are the leaders and laggards in a sector
He knew when to back off, take the foot off the pedal, this time around
When friends and family contact you for advice, it shows the end is near
One or two days a month was where he made the bulk of his gains
Equity curve looks pretty when stretched out, but if you zoom in it looks choppier
Compounding is the key
Only one day this year with zero trades, but quite a few with only one or two trades
Stocks that he trades are low float, under $10 ... lots of liquidity issues
Makes errors, then doesn't correct them, tries to wriggle out, problems snowball
Trying to be better about 1) market preparation; 2) holding longer; 3) getting bigger
In order to get bigger, you have to get better [great saying]
Liquidity issues are huge when your account size gets bigger
Lives in central time zone, market opens at 8:30 AM
Starts looking at market about 90 minutes before the open
Develops watch list night before -- stocks to watch
Puts 12 charts on the screens at once
Looks at daily charts for support / resistance levels
Following the right people on Twitter is important for getting news
Pays for two news services, squawk boxes (TradeXchange, Benzinga Pro); worth the money
He's in favor of journaling, but doesn't do it as much as he used to
He's not a big spender, seeing himself down $2-3K in a trade still painful
When he has a big day, he doesn't celebrate
Still risks same percentage per trade (max 2-3% loss) as in the past
Has no confidence in his swing trading ability yet
People say he's just a long-biased trader in a giant bull market (to put him down I guess?)
Now he's 85% on the long side, 15% short side
Short trades are 1/20th the size of his long trades
Never adds to his short trades, takes one shot
Watches top ten most volume names closely
Uses finviz.com to scan ... under $10 stocks, trading 2.5x average daily volume (whatever the default is)
Great charts don't matter if the volume isn't there
Looks closely at all the charts (20-30) from scan above
Low float, hot sector, high short interest, good chart setups
Knows top five and bottom five from his list
Always starts with the daily chart, only looks back 20 days for high / low resistance
Then looks at the hourly chart for support / resistance
Uses 3 minute chart to enter trades
Looks for flag and pennant patterns after a breakout
Uses VWAP on every single chart, but doesn't overanalyze it
VWAP gives you a quick basis of where the average person stands
Adds 200- and 50-day moving average to charts as target levels (since other people look at those levels)
No longer scales into trades, he just goes all in now, max risk from single entry, one shot
Quickly takes profits on a piece, then slowly scales out the rest (1/5th his size left at final target, e.g. 200-day MA)
Self-discipline all important, be flexible, make adjustments
New traders see one mold, try it, it doesn't fit them, they give up or lose a lot
Be flexible instead, find what fits you
Twitter: @TAGRtrades