 What's going on guys another episode of the after-hours podcast. I know we took a week off and that's my bad I've been busy as shit. So thankfully Harry and Mike have been able to work around my busy schedule, which is a huge help So thank you guys And so yeah, so we have Mike on who's one of the junior moderators at MIC and in traditional form I guess Mike, how did you get into trading and how did you end up in MIC? Yeah, so I think I started like how everyone else, you know, everyone kind of started like I searched up, you know, penny stocks because that was like the thing like That was like the quickest way to Making money so then I looked up how to make how to trade penny stocks and then you know Who else do you see? The first website so then I signed up with him and then it was just like I had no idea what I was doing like I was trying to watch the videos, but then it's like they're pretty outdated videos and Like you still kind of have to know what you're doing, but I had no idea what he was like the terminology and all this stuff He was talking about and and all he says is like he always says like don't listen to me Like I can't trade. That's why I teach or something like that. I'm like, okay, whatever, but anyway, so yeah, I lost money Just doing trading like that, but I had no I had no no like no process no I was just basically gambling for like the first first year Yep, and how how long ago was this at this point? Uh, so I've been trading. I'm sorry I've been trading for about um It's about four years now But the first two years because it was msc's it's going on for about what three years three years. Yep. Yeah, so um I I started trading about a year before msc And I like I wouldn't even consider it trading. I'm just it's just literally like I'm just I wake up at like 68 or whatever 9 9 9 8 6 6 6 6 30 am over here for me in california But I would just wake up and then I would just like buy whatever Whatever stock is on was it like was it like otc nasdaq was it? It was uh, it was nasdaq it was so it was uh, it was still um nasdaq not not the otc boards But um, I would just buy like I would just long the breakout of uh, you know, the whatever is whatever is in play like the top ganners Yeah, and then like I would have some success and then Uh, so I after And I just started kept I just kept on losing money and then I signed up for another chat room and this other chat room Basically, he told us like I kind of learned a little bit. He he knew a little bit more than I would say the other one but Still he he would teach me to teach us like bad habits Like he would tell you like go all in with your all your buying power So i'm like a small account still so like back then this was when I was trading with um, sure west. I don't know if you guys remember sure Oh, yeah, sure. Sure. Sure. Yeah, sure. Yeah, yeah, so then I was under a squirrel back there or something I know you're like 30 dogs or something It's my bulldogs. They're right here. I was like you guys you guys got a nesting of squirrels back there or what? Hey, all right, mom. I did hella bad. I I got bulldogs Like a little little either small dogs fighting each other World's fighting over an acorn or To fight over a piece of cheese. They're hella bad. I thought I was going crazy, dude I didn't know what I was hearing. I was like, what the fuck I thought it was someone in in the back of james's office like No, you're good. You're good, bro. That's funny But so at so at this point you're with sure trader and you're not really finding consistency You're kind of just having those like some wins more losses than I'm assuming, right? Yeah, so like I would win like I would so I would I would use all my buying power But then this is I'm using a small account So then like with sure trader you have like about one buying power So I would I would put in like three to five thousand so that I'll put all I would bet all I would trade all of it at once and then like I would make money Like the first couple minutes. I'm like, hey, this is so easy Yeah Yeah, so I'm like why like why are people saying this is so hard? It's like This is easy and then I would have some success But then eventually I would just lose it all and then for like the first year. I would just keep on um I would just keep on Deposit more money every time I lose every time I blow up the account So then like it's just like I'm gambling the whole time and then And then I finally um one day I listened to a chat with traders with uh with bow And um, I'm listening. I'm like Yeah, I'm like down this this guy sounds like Like a normal guy, you're like, you know, someone like he could just like kick it with so that I'm listening to I'm like man if He sounds like a regular guy if he could do it I like I feel like I could do it. So I'm following him and then like This was before m. I see so When he whenever bow used to tweet like He never tweeted like how he does now like how he shows like all the all his charts I feel like people don't understand like how how lucky they are to To actually get all the bow's charts because back then he would never I would wait all day like every day I would wait for him to tweet just to see like what what he posted So I kind of learned from him because sometimes he'll he'll he'll tweet like his um his executions and then I would have to um Like backtrack and uh post and then Try to try whatever he he traded and see kind of like Kind of dissect how he traded Yeah, but um, that's funny as hell because when I know when we ever brought on it really ever talks about like looking for bow's charts And I actually knew I knew alex on twitter before bow So like I'd do the same thing as you and alex had posted me like I need to see his charts for the day and see how I first engineer It's true man, he's got online now that get bows fills. I mean he's bowed How would even trying is giving away so much of the secret sauce And he doesn't care because he knows 90 of people aren't going to put in the work So it's like it's amazing how lucky these people are Yeah, yeah So then it's so so so he Yeah, I'm sorry. No, go ahead Here. No, I'll take it. Um, so oh, yeah. No, I was just saying like Yeah, go ahead. There might be like a bit of like lag time difference in all of us That might be the problem and might we might be like lagging by like two or three seconds, but um so anyway, you you know, you started in the other room and Eventually you kind of your child Your bow and then they kind of open up m-i-c Um, you know, how'd you kind of get started in m-i-c? What kind of strategies do you use now? Um, and just like, you know, how is your normal trading kind of end? You know, you're like a junior mod You know, you kind of became a junior mod through like helping out and showing up every day And like kind of how kind of just like kind of maybe walk us through uh, how that kind of went Yeah, so in the beginning, um Once uh, uh, they about alex opened m-i-c I signed up But then now like I've been trading for about a year and a half already and then I have all these bad habits from other other chat rooms So now I have to slowly like try to Like learn unlearn everything. Yeah, so it took me a while. So it took me, uh, Took me a good good minute. So it took me about a year and a half to unlearn everything And then finally like start getting consistent like before like I was consistent after like A year and a half in m-i-c, but I wasn't consistently profitable Like I would be consistent. I would make money and I would just lose it all Because uh, you know, like I wouldn't I wouldn't have like a hard stop or I would I would over trade, um You know stuff like that But then now that I started kind of really like getting I was I was getting tired of losing money So then I just told myself like Like I really have to like lock it down. So then now I make sure like my process is I don't trade, you know, I'm mainly a short seller. So My process is I try to mimic like Pretty much like alex like I've trade on usually only like the first half an hour first hour and a half and then um Just trade the side chicks Uh, avoid, uh, you know, I try to avoid the nano floats um So basically all my bread and butter is basically like, you know, just the side chicks So I'm just I'm just waiting for the backside and hitting the pops I love that. So so what what pushed you? Kind of over the edge of like consist because you said like you were consistent You were losing money Then you were consistent at trading but not necessarily making money and now you're making money So what was it kind of that pushed you from from I guess the last point to now? What were the changes you made and what were like the biggest things to focus on? Um, I think once yeah, uh, I think once I started treating it like as an actual business Once and I stopped treating it as like gambling After I treated like an actual job Uh, I think that's when uh, everything kind of like that off like not really I guess I guess you could say like the aha moment like it just yeah kind of like Kind of just kind of clicked for me and every since then this is like I've been I mean, you know pretty going pretty pretty good going pretty well Yeah, I mean we hear people say like treat trading like a job all the time And like it's something I do believe in too But for you, I guess what did that entail like what were the changes you had to make to treat it like a job rather than just gambling? Um, so basically just I stopped trading zombie hour Uh, so I mean I'll trade Throughout the day, but then I wouldn't avoid like, you know, because usually it has that grind up from a zombie hour So I would avoid that low and then come back during like reversal hour And then really that's just all been that's really That's really pretty much kind of just changed the game for me just avoiding uh Avoiding the zombie hour. Yeah Hard stops and yeah using hard stops That's amazing. That's cool, man. Yeah, good. I was just gonna say so in the morning Like, you know, you wake up like I'm my trend. I wake up, you know What do you what are you kind of looking for as in terms of like maybe like lines to scale and like And like kind of your process like longing a lot of or sorry Shorting a lot of the like kind of non-hot chick like kind of lower volume tickers Like are you kind of looking at view app? Maybe a little bit over view app or maybe you're better at long or shorting a little bit under view app like Like where what areas are you really focusing on to to start kind of going short? You know, maybe you're kind of using Alex's watch list as a guide as well You know, like there's a ton of ways that you can do it So I'm just kind of wondering, you know, like what's your process in the morning, you know Stuff like that Yeah, so um, so my process in the morning is I look at whatever Whatever stocks are in play for the day. So I'll wake up at 4 a.m. Over here, uh, which is 7 say 7 a.m. Market time And then I wake up look at whatever uh stocks are in play. I locate I located early and then I would make my wall watch list first and then I would look at, you know Alex's watch or james your watch list and um compare it And uh, usually my my mind is pretty similar to your god to Alex's every morning So it makes me feel better like more confident in my in my in my plan for the day and then And then what's the market? I try to I try to avoid pre-market but if there's a good if there's a good like If it comes if it's already broken in pre-market that and it's like bouncing to my line then You know, I'll get in like half size or Yeah, I don't know my size And then uh, yeah, so once market opens um, uh I I like I like stocks that are Really broken down like yeah stated and then I just looked for that It's really simple. It's like out at like Alex and bow talks about it Especially out. He talks about it all the time and his youtube live Like every week and it's like sometimes I feel like he's giving they're giving so much for free It's like people don't understand like how much uh, how valuable their stuff But I just wait, you know, like I just Let it tank and then I just start to bounce pretty much that's good. So you're more shorting like you're more like Um, like stock is kind of like broken down you wait for it to kind of pop and then you wait for a kind of a rejection And then you're looking to short that kind of bounce yeah, so, um You're not really putting into the strength you're kind of waiting for it to kind of Confirm and then shorting that bounce and let me go lower I mean, uh, well the the the charts already, uh, like it's already mapped out, you know, it's already, uh It's already Chartered out for for me already. So all the lines are there. So I know where my lines are. I know where, uh, I know where to base my wrists So I just wait basically I just set my fantasy or then just wait wait for about wait for the bounce See, it's cool that like you get to see and that's why I love doing the podcast Because you get to see what a trader is like Like I think alexen bower the first first two guys to publicly talk about like a trading a process I mean, I've been on twitter a long time like I've never seen that before really them And I think it's cool to see like you who started trading with no process and like seeing now like you can right there You just explain your whole trading strategy and people without a process can't do that So I think it's cool and it's such a clear cut difference between a rookie trader and someone who is at least consistently profitable Is that they can define their edge and I think it's cool. It must feel pretty good for you to have gone to this point. Uh, and and it's not even Happened that long just a couple years. It's nothing Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's really Pretty much all m.i.c. Like I feel so grateful for For bowing out and talking to me that that they made started at m.i.c. Because if I if without m.i.c I'll even know like I probably would still be lost a part would even know how to I'll probably still be gambling our part would have gave up by now really honestly. Yeah for sure So hard like I think so too I'm like you wake up in the morning and then you lose your money. It's like It is dude, that was brutal I remember the early days like waking up and just getting like immediately slapped in the face and I'm like, why the fuck do I do this to myself? This isn't even fun anymore Harry we've talked about this. We've all been there, right? I mean, yeah. Oh, yeah. Very beginning I mean, it's very very tough when you first start um And so when you were kind of first starting out like, you know, you're in the kind of like the other room or whatever you were kind of Like gambling. How were you able to kind of like fund your account back then and like? As far as like now like have you kind of just said, okay? I'm just going to trade to like because there's a lot of people in m.i.c. Who are like they keep their jobs and they say okay I'm going to trade to supplement my income and I'm going to trade for a little bit of money on the side So like back then how are you? You know funding your accounts back then and like how were you? You know, did you quit your job now or are you still? You know working and also because you're in california, right? So you can just wake up in the morning trade and then you can easily go to work, right? Yeah, so back then I had I had my own business that I had a couple businesses but now I had to close all the business because of cove it so right now i'm just doing I'm just full-time trading so before like that's why I treat it like family because Like I had money you know I had money come in and then I didn't mind like kind of like it was just like going to the casino to me Like I would just deposit money and just trade and After a while I just started getting tired of it like even my girlfriend at the time she was like Why do you keep why do you keep trading like you keep losing money? You're like you're getting angry and it's like Like why are you still doing it? And I'm telling you like because like you know, this is my passion. I love this but because I'm a psychopath and then I think but yeah, I think after After once I once it really wouldn't really clicked for me is when um I really treated like like I treated like a business. Um I wasn't working anymore So I was like this is like either I get my shit together or you know, I got to start working again So, you know, are the are the businesses gone for good for because of kovat? Are they shut down? Yeah, so I shut it down before kovat. So I had my own car like I had a car. I used to sell cars back then and uh It was going well, but then it started slowing down so that had to cut it I had to close it down Before kovat actually Now I'm I'm I'm just trading full-time. I also breed bulldog. That's why I have a lot of that's why you hear On the side like Yeah Like what you're kind of doing like before and what you're kind of doing now and like that regard because I really do find that Interesting because like everyone has their own things that they love to do outside of trading as well, you know, yeah I really don't have anything that I love to do outside of trading Bro harry. I'm harry's at mic 24 7 I've never seen someone like him and bow dude. They live in there. I'm like not convinced that they're not robots We're literally always lurking like if you think I'm not there, then you don't know because sometimes it's like You know lurking. I'm just lurking. I'm just I'm just reading, you know I have a question so so I guess this is something I didn't know about you but emotionally It must have it must be tough for you to make the leap into being a full-time trader coming from a business that provided you Some sort of income, right? Yeah, what what kind of advice would you give to the people that a are looking to get into full-time trading? Either being profitable versus not and how would you kind of recommend them navigate that with their their work or Emotionally the toll it can take on you trying to become full-time with you know a business or or any of that Uh, just why Just don't give up like I lost a lot of money I lost in the in my first year part two years. I lost probably over like 150,000 just like gambling Yep, and um Just just don't give up and you really have to take it serious like I was all I was doing was studying for like 13 hours 14 hours straight. Um Just grinding it until I I get better like I'm always watching the videos. I still watch the video, you know all the videos now um basically just watch the videos uh back test and just just don't give up because I mean It took me it took me probably almost four years to kind of really get consistent So like I feel like anyone could do it really Yeah, and I think that's that's kind of a good note to end on as well I think whereas like, you know You went from like a real kind of gambling perspective to now saying, okay I'm gonna just short the non hot chick stocks the ones that don't have a lot of attention that don't have a lot of volume and I'm going to actually consistently trade a strategy that can pay me every single day instead of gambling and You know, I think that's probably the most important lesson here is that um number one don't long the breakout and number two Short the pops on broken stocks Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, just and watch all the videos pay attention to you know, uh bow and alex all the commentary I love it, man. I love it. Mike. Thank you for coming on man. And please be more active in chat, bro I love hearing from you and I love hearing from the junior mods. You guys you guys all know your shit So it's fun hearing from you. Thank you guys. You guys do a lot of work for us You guys help out a lot so Good try brother. We're trying but all right, man. Thank you again. Thanks guys