Let's say that even the person isn't in a position to do it for 33 days. Let's say they even do it over that over two to three months right, we're there go ahead. Thirty minutes a day: thirty minutes a day, you get save the tickets and do it on the weekend that that is a great piece of advice, so you could even save the tickers and do it on the lookout. Yeah, absolutely that's fantastic, because i i do think that probably the majority of the people that watch us they're, probably not in position to treat full-time.

So they are going to have to do this in the off hours. And i think that's a really powerful piece of advice. Welcome back to the steady trade podcast. This is a far four-part series, stephen johnson and myself cameron curtin are doing uh we're doing little bites around the emotional intelligence side of trading.

We've done uh episode. One was trigger happy versus gun shy. This uh episode today is about finding and building your edge uh from the emotional side and the technical side, and we're going to talk a little bit about that. How are you today, stephen fantastic, every every? Every every new day that we do, every new episode just gets better.

It's a good thing. It's a good thing, all right, we're going to talk about every day. Every day, every day, developing your your your edge is a good day. That's what i'm hearing you're saying every day you develop your edge a little more.

Sometimes you go the wrong way. Sometimes sometimes you both we'll talk about it, but but what what i would? What i would say is that there's something that tim bowen said so, every day you should constructively work towards building your edge a little more every day, yeah. So one thing that tim bone said was: i need to remind him. I was going to remind him on the earlier on um it's.

He said that a lot of people in the market will find a way to make money get profitable, find a system that works, replicate it copy it work, it make a decent amount of money and then they'll get bored of it or they'll. Try and change this and then they'll they'll change. It move on to something else, try and do the next thing and then they'll lose a lot again and, and that exact things just happened to me, like i turned 600 into 66 000. One system knew exactly what i was doing tried to change it, try to tweak it, try to do other stuff and then so you can, you can develop an edge in the market and repeat it, but you can also you can also slip back and then you Have to realize what was i doing before yeah yeah? So so it sounds like not only is it about finding and building your edge, but it's ultimately about finding building your edge and then being a very good steward of that edge throughout yeah.

But i mean the most important question with that is right, so you want to build an edge in the market right. So so the context is as discussed in previous episodes. The market is extraordinarily competitive, with a lot of high flyers working extremely hard, often together. So how are you as a single person going to going to beat them going to beat the market? You have to develop an edge right yeah, you have to develop an edge.

How do you develop an edge against the world's best how to develop an edge? Well, you focus on something very niche, yes and you and you stick to it until you're, better at that niche than anybody else yeah. It's the only way you can do it yeah. So that means - and so many people be jack of all trades in the market. So many people try and do it all yeah.

What you do is you. You find out a direction, that's comfortable for you, long or short, whichever you prefer, then you find a pattern that fits your risk, tolerance, safety, tolerance and then you find a time of day where that pattern best works for you yeah and you just zone you just Zone in on all of those things track all of the data of that time of those prices of those tickers save all of the charts find the edge you find it through analysis, yeah yeah. I do you remember when we interviewed mariana uh how brilliant she described. How many times things would go before her pattern-wise and she really could see that it wasn't her personality and she said i just began to kind of uh.

She didn't use this word, but it was almost like she separated the wheat from the chaff. You know she. She just kept honing in on what is her personality, her temperament, her comfort level, and she just stayed so true to that. I was so.

I never heard anybody describe it quite like that before i thought that was so powerful. That is how she found her edge, but i mean yeah and it is trade trade. What suits your personality? If, if you feel, if you, if you love the flow of otcs, because otc's flow very, very one direction, and then the other direction quite there's quite a wouldn't, say, a common presence, but there's a certain energy there's, a certain energy in the way the trades move. Yep and in the way the the price action performs, it's got a smooth energy to it, yeah.

Well, if you're trading, the nasdaq or the of the nyse, it can be quite chaotic, you can get some random polls um, it can you'll, get a rip up and a dump um and that it's that's a much different kind of energy within the price action. Um yeah, so that in itself is a personality. Do you want the the calm, the easy, the predictable, something that you can see, change on level, two, a bit ahead of time, something a bit smoother or do you want the chaos of the nasdaq? And if you want the chaos of the nasdaq, how chaotic would you like it to be? Would you like the 931 932? The bell goes: act fast, yeah, you, your reaction, point your reaction times better be on point, because if you make a mistake by a couple of seconds, that's a big loss, yeah and your technology, i presume not just your own emotional ability to jump right in, but Do you have the technology to support that? That's like? Well, i mean it's most computers. These days are quite fast right, yeah, but we just talked about mine overheating yeah.

Yours isn't good. You need to have a cool process and a cool head. You need both of those to trade, yes um, but look it. It doesn't matter like.

I don't care what what setup works for you. I don't care. I don't care. What time of day you trade.

Is it 2 30? Is it 10? Is it 9 30? Is it pre-market, i don't care what markets you trade, it doesn't matter. What matters is you find one that you like and you zone in, and you don't do anything about it until you start turning profit yeah yeah like that's it yeah? How long do you think it would take for a new trader listening to us now? What and of course, for the most part, everybody's going to have a different level of hours to commit to this? Some people will have part-time jobs. Some people will be taking care of children or their parents or other responsibilities, but for somebody, who's able to dedicate at least part-time, their uh really leveling up and getting all that they need to absorbed. What would you say for somebody who perhaps is a part-time trader? How much, how long could they expect it to take, but but this is what really blew my mind, though i mean sometimes it takes time to get to this level.

But what what? What blew my mind is that it really doesn't take that much time like once. Once you get to a certain level of understanding, what are the variables and what do they mean and you've sold price action for six months, but once you've got beyond that six months a year, once you're used to the market, how it runs, what volume means? What floor means how volume and flow can influence each other? We did it on a previous previous podcast episode a few years back yeah, and we also did it on the trailer checklist uh podcast like years before that um once you get that it's really quite simple. It's it's a case of right if i trade 98 or 10 30 and i'm looking at gap as that's it, i'm looking at stocks that got more than 25 percent on a fair screen day. What do they do between now, 8 30 and 10? 30, like what do they do, what do they open up? What's the high of the day that what's the highest point in the day at the reach, what do they close out? What's the lowest point of the day in the reach, what times do they reach the high of the day? What times do they reach the low of the day? What price do they open at? What price do they close out? If you just yeah it takes, it takes five minutes to screenshot the gap, as maybe there's three or four that are above 25 percent.

It takes half an hour at the most a day to fill in the criterias that i've just mentioned had opened up this price. Its highest point on the day was this price, its lowest point of the day? Was this point? These are the times it hit those prices and it closed at this it takes half an hour to write, say three samples because only say three stocks gapped over 25 percent. That day you've got three samples takes half an hour to fill it in ten minutes. For each one, and then it takes 30 days to have 90 to 100 samples, because it's three three samples a day roughly so in 30 days, you've got nearly 100 samples so 33 days, you've got 100 samples.

So it's going to take you 33 days to have 100 samples of what what your stock, how your stock performs and then it's going to take you two or three hours to look for what are the similarities? Why do these stocks all hit high of day at this time, and then that analysis might be a bit more difficult? It might be a bit harder, but you should be able to find an edge within the data. Why? Why are all of these stocks dying at 935, but all of these ones are dying more like 10 or 11 o'clock. Could it be the volume because the volume is the demand? More demand means the stock pushes and sustains its push longer, because there's more people wanting to buy it. When you start realizing with stocks that stocks with less volume dive faster, then you've got an edge.

Then you've got a strategy and then you, you start working and weaning it out. Does that make sense or is it tough makes no makes a lot of sense makes a lot of sense. That's how you form a strategy. That's it.

It takes 33 days crack the data and analyze it yeah. So let's say that even the person isn't in a position to do it for 33 days. Let's say they even do it over that over two to three months right where they're go ahead, 30 minutes a day, it's 30 minutes a day. You don't save the tickets and do it on the weekend that that is a great piece of advice.

So you could even save the tickers and do it on the lookout. Yeah. Absolutely that's fantastic, because i i do think that probably the majority of the people that watch us they're - probably not in position to trade full-time, so they are going to have to do this. In the off hours - and i think that's a really powerful piece of advice - yeah no, but all i'm saying is all you have to do - is take a screenshot of what has gapping at 9 20.

get a friend to tell you get anyone to tell you. That's right and then, when you come home at night you just look back for 20 minutes. You don't you don't have to even be there during the market. That's beautiful, beautiful advice.

I think that's very, very helpful for people to hear - and i'm glad to hear too, because it allows me the opportunity to just see it, even if i can't do it do it during the work day or the sleep day when you know i'm gon na sleep At 3 30 in the morning when the market is opening in new york, i i'm still doing it right now: uh um, i'm still i've restarted tracking data again right now, just so that that edge stays hot yeah. Don't that's happy, that's fabulous all right! So that's one of the technical ways about building your edge. Let's just talk a little bit about the emotional side, psychological side. How do you perform best and how do you perform best for yourself personally, and i know we talk about this - a lot with your own journey, uh, you've shared with me.

You know how you will do your fast uh. What are what are other ways that have worked for you to just make sure you're taking care of yourself so that you can play at the top of your game? It's it's! It's tough! It's um! I think you always work best in a structured routine. So it's it always involves exercise generally, if you can exercise every morning that that helps tremendously and and and other than that, it's it's very important to be in flow with the markets and being in being engaged with the market. So talk about that a little bit more because i i'm not sure everybody will understand what you mean when you say be inflow with the market.

Tell us what that means. For you, i'm a huge advocate of following following the markets: energy. Is it boston with energy or is there a lack of energy? Is it uh which which patterns have which patterns are in play, which puns are not in play so um? When i, when i talk about the flow of the market, it's um specifically looking at morning, looking out looking at longs are stocks frequently breaking out? Are stocks frequently making new highs? Are stocks surging at the open? Our stocks are stock's just bursting at the open, uh everyone's just desperate to buy the next one, and no one's got time to waste. Um is the market very quiet and everything's, just failing even stocks that have got good news.

Are they just pushing the push out 931 32 stock? Just drops that's what i mean by the flown energy of the market, because what is your specific setup doing? So? Maybe maybe last month everything died at the orbit and this month everything's pushing you. You really need to be aware of the the energy and flow of the market and know that i'm not going to short this until 9, 35, 36, 38, 40 and this one's a bit strong. So i'm definitely not going to short it today because it's a hot margin, it's going to run well, where last month i thought you know what it is everything's dropping. This is strong, but everything's dropping might leave it a few minutes, but i will hit it.

Yeah might hit it with less size, but i will hit it um and the only way to gauge the oven flown energies in the markets is to frequently daily look at what the setups did. The previous day, in the previous day, in the previous day and just track every single day, how was this setup performance? How was this setup performing how's it performing in relation to last month? Um? What do i think will happen today, yeah so for the people that and how much time do you feel that that takes the tracking every day, 30 minutes 30 minutes. So, in total, we're talking about an hour at least is needed for you to be able to start to develop that edge uh at least an hour at a minimum yeah i mean i, i always believe in taking half an hour to track the data on your Setup and save the charts in half an hour to you've got a scanner just basically scan and every single stock that traded more than 5 million volume that closed more than 10 percent up on the day, uh go through every single stock they'll be about 30. 35.

40, but all you have to do is click through your watch list check every single daily and every single intraday and just look. What pattern is this? How is it performing i go through every single one is: is it holding highs? Is it looking like it's a breakout for next leg up, maybe maybe i'll just save that and see what that does. Yeah just be curious and eventually you'll be like that patent keeps on happening, and then you think, and that's me next button. That's what i want to start saving and start tracking when's the best entry.

Maybe you want to start tracking data on that. This is how it works. Yeah, that's awesome. What would you say if we, if we circle back, though, to the emotional side of how to really make sure that you're taking care of yourself in the midst of that uh, intense focus and concentration? How how when do you think you realize that that sense of you taking good care of yourself, physically emotionally uh health-wise? When did you start to realize that that was probably going to be a requirement of you building your edge uh? Well, i mean, i think of i think you should always feel good just for yourself right, i think trading on notre dame you should always feel good for yourself um.

Why would you not want to so yeah? Sometimes it's all about doing the little efforts just to to feel a bit better, but i mean the only other thing i could say is that if i'm not feeling good, i won't do it. If i don't want to trade, i won't trade. If i, if i don't want to trade i'll trade, 30 minutes and then i'll bail yeah, if i do want to, if i do want to trade i'll sit for 10 hours yeah, it's just doing what your body and my brain is telling you what it wants To do yeah, do you do you, what about the people that perhaps you know they're, just physically exhausted from their other job or from their other responsibilities uh, but they really are wanting to give this uh a serious shot. Do you feel there's a way they can? You know, take care of themselves and develop themselves.

Do you think it's just a matter of giving themselves more time not putting themselves under the gun? I always think you can do more than you think. Um i've seen people with kids with i've seen like roland wolfe was a famous story, got like three kids, probably four now and you would still get 15 hours of study and you just still get it done even with three kids. So there's always ways to do more yeah, even if it means studying for an hour going for a run to wake yourself up studying another hour. I mean look at it's easy for me to say i don't have kids, but i remember i remember when i was working in dubai.

I i would do an hour in the morning. Seven to eight. Then i'd go to work, eight or six, eight or seven. Then i'd do two hours night, eight till ten, nine to eleven get back up at six and then i was really happy on the weekend that i had eight hours that i could just do the full eight yeah um you just got ta make time.

If it's, what you love, what you love you've got to, do it yeah you'll want to do it yeah. I think you know the concept of building somebody's edge uh takes time, and i and i'm of the opinion that yes, you, you definitely need to build that edge and you need to do it in a sustainable way. I want people to do it where they don't burn themselves out, because there is a little bit of that. Like you know the culture kind of advocates, you burn yourself out, i'm not a fan of that.

I don't think it is really healthy and i and i don't think it it sets you up for that edge. I think it pushes you over the edge, sometimes yeah i've. Never i've never struggled with that, and i think the reason why is because i've? Never, i don't think i've worked to that level. I don't think i've worked to that level where i would burn out.

I think i'd probably be one of the first to burn out. If i did, i think i'm i'm susceptible to these problems meant all these mental problems um, but, like i don't think two hours it is burn out. I think yeah. I i don't think two hours in the evening of doing what you love is burnout.

I really don't yeah four hours on the weekend. That's not burnt out to me yeah! So if you don't sleep or you sleep for hours, that's burnout. But let's just talk about sleep. Let's talk a little bit about the self-care aspects.

Do you we one of the things i was asking you about earlier? Was there a point? Where do you feel in the last couple of years? You've shifted around your self-care by way of your eating by way of fasting nourishment sleep just just in general, your own self-care yeah. No, i mean i'm a i'm a strong strong. I mean i'm a pretty strong advocate of meditation i'll try and do it every day. Um 20 minutes.

25. 30 minutes these days, you'll be pushed to get an hour out of this um, but i'll i'll really do it five out of seven days i'll meditate about 30 minutes yeah? What is meditation done for you by way of building your edge? I do a lot of visualization in within the meditations of where i want to be, and by what date and time hoping that, if, if i send that message to the universe and the universe thinks i deserve it, the world will serve it. I'm of that mind. Yeah um, what what do you see, though, in your literal trading shift since you've been doing the meditation regularly? Well, i went from losing to winning um i was, i was a losing trader and then i started meditating morning and evening and breathing exercises during the day and uh that that clarity i broke broke.

A mental barrier of i couldn't get past couldn't get past more than five thousand dollars in profits. Couldn't do it ever yeah couldn't get me trading account about five thousand. Every time i got to five, i blew somehow overcame that that mental hurdle by elevating me conscious, state, um and - and now it's just running it's now, it's just staying very present. I do a lot of things to see a present.

I i. I really believe that we should be as as close to the the animals that were once were in the wild as possible. We should have at least one reminder a day yeah, because the birds in the skies were once pterodactyls. You know what i mean yeah and we were once living amongst lions and i truly believe that bodies have not evolved as fast as we're head yeah, but we're way behind and to give your body last to give your body and mind that that's dopamine.

For me. Yes, i'm with you that's dopamine. For me, it's it's better than dopamine, because dopamine is a quick hit and then it dissipates, but this is actually. This is not gon na dissipate.

This is gon na, be the long-lasting kind of gas in your tank, like like honestly, like i'll. Never i've told you this story before as well, but two day fast went on a run, i'm starving in nature standing next to a horse, and i'm just like. I just like it's like i've, been i've been asking the meaning of life for five years being depressed that i don't know what what's the meaning of life. Why am i here? I've been depressed for five years, trying to figure out the answer, and then i finally clicked it's not an answer that should be rationalized or articulated to feeling.

The purpose of life is a feeling that should be felt inside. You should know inside, but it shouldn't be rationalized yeah yeah. I don't know if you agree when that clicked. I was just like.

Oh well, figure that one out i do it's a it's a sense. I for me it's a sense of oneness. Oh yeah. It's a sense of being yeah, yeah and, and i think to newbies that could be.

You know a little confusing because on one hand we're talking about the the doing side of developing your edge. And yet i think stephen and i both are advocates of the being side, and i believe that being side is, if you practice being, if you know how to not just do, but how to be in stillness, whether that's through meditation, whether it's walking in nature that I have seen for myself every task or area i want to develop an engine. It's undergirded by my ability to be the being actually facilitates the doing. That's what i've seen for myself.

Personally, yeah yeah, i mean the the the best way i can explain it is that when you're trading you trade in a system, you create a system that has an edge you and you need to. You need to be flown through that system. Are you need to be in flow with that system? Yes, and if there's any distractions that stop you from fully consciously flowing through that system? There's a problem because that system's not going to flow properly, if there's destruction sitting it yeah for sure for sure, and i think the distractions are part of life. Certainly the distractions are going to be part of the the market and the question becomes.

If you want to develop that edge, then how do you not get caught up in the distractions and thrown off? How do you know? How do you know and how do you know that you are caught up before it's too late? That's it! That's it! How do you know it? Are you asking me to to give you my own spitball answer on that uh? It's too many people don't know they're. Finally, too late yeah, i i feel like that. Is that disconnection from oneness? If you don't, if you don't feel yourself in that place of flow, which is you know, a fantastic book by this guy chic semi-high, he calls he calls the title that books called flow and he talks about how we can enter flow states through different techniques. And if we aren't in a flow state how much more the work feels like an uphill climb, yeah, but it's just it's like you say you can.

You can think you're in flow and you're not in flow and then all of a sudden you're. Like everything clicks, you know like, i think i was doing it all wrong yeah. So it sounds to me like what we're saying to everybody. If we move towards closing this session up, conversation up hits it's that there is, of course, especially at the beginning, the need to get your edge to build your edge to find that edge through dedication through a certain amount of time, through a certain amount of technical Prowess that you have to develop, and then i think we're both in agreement that there's an emotional edge as well, which is getting yourself as close to a flow state as possible, honoring yourself, physically honoring yourself, emotionally uh honoring.

The fact that you know you are the vehicle like the the instrument and if your instrument isn't honed through nourishment through sleep through all the different practices of wellness, then your vehicle is going to potentially be compromised. When you go into the most competitive game in the world, but and also the worst of them all the eagle, the eagle can compromise you i mean you can be running so well running so well in a system, that's working, so fine igor says this is boring. It's boring why? Why can't you do this? These are doing this. These are making this money doing this you're just doing this, but before you know, your ego has done you're more harm than good.

By throwing you off something that works yeah for sure, there's the it's that they call it, the the you know: dark wolf there there's two wolves right, the the the wolf that says feed me feed me more and more more and then the wolf. That's tells you stay where you are and and not stay s uh still, but just not be letting the ego constantly be the one who's in charge, but that takes, i think, a lot of discipline as well, so you're you've got you've, got a lot you're up Against a lot people prepare accordingly, that's the ultimate thing. When people say it's trading as you versus you, it's um, yeah yeah, there's no point trying to compete against others. If you, if you can't master yourself yep, i'm with you, i love.

I love that metaphor. The best is it: is you versus you and that's also why i'm an advocate of becoming really self-aware, because it helps you understand if you don't, if you don't understand how you tick and what motivates you and what those temptations are going to be before they show Up and also in danger, when you're talking about consciousness and and very being very present with yourself, they say: keep you keep your best friends close, but your enemies closer and i'd, say yeah. You and your ego are all and everything. So absolutely it's good to keep them all right next to your site, that's right and and understand them and don't let them be able to drive your bus.

You know the key is not having them drive your bus they're going they're not going anywhere because you're human, but don't let them get behind the wheel of a car, but they don't even want to go anywhere yet they're driving they're in the driving seat. Yeah. They don't even want to go anywhere well, they do. They want to drive straight off a cliff in a circle in a circle of the same repetition.

That's what i've seen. People are just going in a circle in a circle and they're like why! Well, it's because the gremlin or that inner saboteur or the ego is driving your bus and that's why um that's why anything that resets the brain and mind whatever it is: yeah brilliant to reset the brain. It breaks those circles yeah for sure for sure. Well, thank you for letting uh letting me do this series.

We we've been too long since we did a series stephen, so i hope the listeners enjoyed it uh. This is a four part series if you're catching this one. This is the fourth of four different episodes. Steven and i just recorded - and this is all about uh short bytes - around trading uh intelligence - anything else you want to add before we close up.

No, i think we've covered everything and um. There's no point in diluting the message. The message is there: everything covered in this four part series um, it's it's incredibly true and um. I just i just i just hope everyone listens and believes and trusts the advice and acts on it because when, when you're new to trading the first thing you can, the ego can think is, i know better, oh yeah, why would i take advice from him? He's had those losses and he's made that money, but he's not as good as not as good as i can be better than him.

You know oh, but do you know when you're in a you're in university and looking at the teacher he's not a good teacher? I could do much better than him. It's it's it's about like it's walking in those that person's shoes is a lot harder than you can think. Sometimes - and i'm not saying that about me - i'm saying i'm just saying the advice is uh, it's very true and you can learn it by listening to us or you can learn it the hard way through losses. But ultimately you will always come back to the advice.

You well you'll, learn it you're going to learn it you're going to do it early. Are you going to learn late, and our hope is that we can just help you alleviate some of that uh pain and learn it as soon as possible? But if you don't learn it it's okay, i mean tim sykes has been telling me to cut losses quickly for five years and i still don't do it. So it's totally fine. You don't well we're not gon na make anybody wrong, but if you don't wan na be somebody who takes five years to learn, then it might be a good idea to consider some of what we've spoken about in this series and to learn from somebody.

Who's already walked into the minefields. Stephen has walked into the minefields and all he's doing in this conversation, i experience you as somebody who's saying hey. You know what i noticed when i walked that way. I hit a couple of minefields.

Maybe walk this way. I totally agree and look and i'm not saying like meditate in the nature starving next to a horse like i'm not saying you have to do that, i'm just saying follow some of it. You don't have to be starving in nature and be like when's. This thing going to be clicking stephen, i'm starving how much more hungry do.

I need to be there's a horse not talking to it like i'm, not seeing that i'm just saying follow some of it yeah and end or find what what is yours find your version of the connection to that horror story find your connection to stillness. Maybe it's meditation, maybe it's hiking, maybe it's you know swimming whatever, like find what works for you! That's what we're talking about we're talking about the concept of building your edge and that's going to be unique to you right stephen has his. You have to find yours uh. I have to still find mine uh with the edge regarding trading, but just have patience with yourself uh and start to realize that this is an internal game.

It is you versus you and the more clear you are on you and all that you're going to come, the good bad and the indifferent, potentially changes the adaptation time and the learning and the skill developing time. So thank you for watching us. We will see you next time on the steady trade podcast aloha for now. I hope you guys enjoyed that video thanks so much for watching and being part of the stocks trade community - we wouldn't be here without you guys make sure you hit that like button and subscribe to the channel.

If you have not already, our goal is to hit a hundred thousand subscribers by the end of the year, but we can't do it without you guys. So if you like what we're doing here - and you want to hear more - please please please hit that subscribe button and i'll see you guys on the next video.