Episode 20 ... Kunal Desai (65:15)

Likes Costa Rica, it's like "Jurassic Park"
Dad is an engineer, always dabbled in the stock market, "the worst trader in the world"
Graduated high school during the dot com boom, everyone was a day trader
Opened first account with "buyandholdtrading.com"
Looked for ideas at MSN Money, Jim Jubak
Lost all his money in less than a week during dot com bust
Lost all his money again in Global Crossing, Nortel Networks, Lucent Technologies bust
Had years of this kind of up and down disappointment
These losses taught him how to be resilient
Met Paul Singh online
Indian people love to get free stuff from other Indian people
Desai had knowledge but no trading methodology
Had to corral what he knew and make a cookbook, systematize his knowledge
Build routines to build a trader
How do you size your position? You have to have a method
People freeze when they have a loss, deer in headlights, can't get out
A-ha moments come from competence and then repetition, practice time
Competence plus screen time, you begin seeing things clearly
People give up or blow up before they get requisite screen time
Takes thousands of repetitions, simulated or live or trade reviews, to reach a-ha moment
Took Desai *years* to get profitable
Paul Singh, veteran trader, passed down his knowledge to him
Took another year before he said, yes, I can do this forever
How long do doctors and lawyers go to school before they make a buck? Years! Trading no different
Desai trades momentum stocks, a trend trader, both long and short
Read William O'Neil, made sense to him, better matched his personality than Buffett buy and hold
Earnings breakouts the most powerful thing he has seen in trading
Good daily chart an absolute necessity
Earnings surpises are the best, people rush in
High relative volume makes patterns very clean
Being a generalist will not make you money
Master one or two things, better than knowledge of 20 or 30 things
Mastery takes the thinking out of a trade
Once a stock gets in play, you trade it both long and short, keep it on your radar
Must understand your own personality, what you're comfortable with, what fits you
If you're uncomfortable, you're not going to trade well
Find something that you "vibe" with
He can't tame himself, he's a wild, aggressive man and accepts that
He has max loss on his trading account, $2,000 a day is his max ... stops trading at -$2,000 mark
Live to fight another day
When you see the market well, push it
Give back rule: if you give back half your gains, cut yourself off
He experiences FOMO a lot, worse for him than taking losses
"You chase, you die" -- condition yourself to know this
Market gives you endless opportunities, "on to the next one"
"Skills are cheap, passion is priceless" ... don't get into trading for the money
People without passion give up at the first sign of trouble
Long, rocky road to trading success ... need passion to get through it
It takes years and years and years before you make any money
You can't date, you miss weddings, birthday parties, etc.
You have to work like a dog, long hours, huge cost
Desai had desk job while he was learning how to trade, he was obsessed with trading though
His successful students all have incredible resilience
"Oh shit, this is going to be hard." People quit.
People get frustrated and give up, even with the simulator
Once people start live trading, their money is on the line, they go to dark places, the resilient make it
Lots of talented people just give up once they get knocked down
You are not trading chart patterns, you are trading your hopes and dreams
Can't learn how to trade when you need the money from trading
Every good trader is in good shape, no fatties, "get your pump on"
He needs to trade with a beach view, helps him maintain his perspective
Whoever you are, it will come out in your trading, get to the root of it
Everbody knows the patterns, everybody knows what to do, but only 1% can actually do it
bullsonwallstreet.com (est. 2008)
You need a mentor, a community, to learn how to trade
"My man!"
Twitter: kunal00