 Welcome to Access a Trader, the number one community for those who are committed to taking control of their trading in order to achieve success, profitability, and longevity. Thank you for joining us. Here's Dan Shapiro to help you find your edge, master your process, and own your future. As I was eating a lunch, I just quickly just put some things on paper from the top of my head. These are basic things. This is nothing to do with, this is nothing to do with, the pivot says nothing to do with anything. These are basic things that I think every trader needs to know about. For all you guys who haven't seen it, it'll be on this weekend's email, but these are basic things, folks. These are basic things that every trader, I don't care how you trade, what you trade. These are very basic things, very, very basic things to kind of play out. These are very, very, very basic things. Number one, like we talk about all the time, there's only one breakout. There's absolutely one breakout. There's nothing in the playbook that says Tesla breaks out of 950, then it breaks out of 1020, and then it breaks out of 1040. These are all continuations. 1025 is just a big number because those are the previous days high. There's no macro significance to the big number. There's no full size at 1025 to get to 1040. The longer the stock trades on a week cycle, a week and a half cycle, a two-week cycle, that 1040 becomes a big number, but not anything else. There's only one breakout. Everything else is a follow-through. Again, guys, remember, the further a stock goes from its breakout level, the higher probability it's going to come back. Even though it has the next leg up, Jesus Christ, they just take out, oh wow, they just took out $50,000 on this RMTI. Somebody just bought $50,000. Maybe this goes to $0.50 cents a dollar, who the hell knows? But that's the point, right? That's the point. You're going heavy on the breakout, on the macro breakout, like Tesla at 950 was huge. That's why there's so much size. 250 on the video was huge because that was the daily breakout. Everything else is continuation. Everything else is literally just follow-through. When you're trading non-breakouts, macro breakouts, you're trading between a quarter and half size because, again, if you're right on a breakout, you make huge money. I mean, we usually never talk about money, but that's the reality. When a stock breaks out, you're going to make huge money on it because there's measured potential. When there's everything else, $2 here, $3 there, it's nothing. If you're wrong on that, you're wrong for nothing. If you're wrong, you're wrong for nothing, and that's the point. When you're taking your big swings, you're taking your big swings on a macro area. Everything else bounces this, that follow-through quarter size, half size, third size, eighth size, whatever the case may be, but you want to take your big swings when you have a big picture trade, very basic rule. Again, it doesn't make a difference how you trade. Number one, if you're an options trader, you cannot trade everything. Again, I get it. A lot of you guys have smaller accounts. I get it. Believe me, I get it, but there's nothing you can do about not trading every single day. You don't get a breakout every single day. If you're an options trader, you need measured potential. You need a stock to be able to go five, 10, 15, 20, 30 points over the next two, three days. If you can't get a setup like that, you can't put on your trade. Your premium will die. That's the discipline. Unfortunately, people do have smaller accounts. There's nothing you can do about it, but there's a way around it. Just the way we've had dozens and dozens and dozens of people work themselves around it and get finally above that, whatever that magical was, that 25, 30 grand, that magical threshold. Once you get above that, you still have to be disciplined, but at least that then you have an option to trade equity. Then you can scalp the 50 cents. You can scalp for $1. But if you're an options trader, you need a $15, $20, $30 move for your stock to go higher, for your premium, for your contracts to go higher. That's the tease. They tease you because they're saying, look, you could put a little money up. What's the big deal? This contract costs $2, $2. And you realize there's no room in the trade. There's a reason why your contract is priced so low. The contracts that are juiced are the ones that have the biggest measure of potential. That's why these 1,100 calls when Tesla was flying, everybody was buying them non-stop, non-stop, right? So that's my point. Guys, wait for these plays. All these guys that started with $10,000, $5,000, $6,000, they grew their accounts to six and 70 figures. You have to wait for these plays. Matt will tell you, Larry will tell you that you have to wait for these magical plays. There's no way you can make money. I'm telling you this the day's long. There's absolutely no way you can make money trading on the options side if you don't have measure of potential. There's no way. There's no way. You're going to burn yourself out. You're going to start taking complacent trades. You're going to start taking trades that are not even trades, right? That you think is going to happen. This, that, the other thing, you're going to be trading channels with the channels, with the channels, with the channels, and you're going to get 5 cent a move on your options. You're going to do this 200 times a day and get absolutely nowhere, OK? It's the discipline, right? It's absolutely the discipline. There's nothing you can do, and it's not your fault. Again, I would say about 25% of the webinar is under the pattern of day trade rule, right? What is it, 25, 30 grand? OK, so I would say 25, 30% are under that number, OK? And the most important part is you have to stay disciplined to understand the big picture, OK? Again, very, very easy basic things to understand. If something is above the five-day moving average, it's the short-term sentiment. That's bullish. That's not bearish. If it's under the five-day moving average, that's bearish. That's not bullish. Above the 50-day is super bullish. Below the 50-day is super bearish. Again, the charts are there for the disciplined trader to protect themselves from making random, harsh decisions that don't make any sense. That's why the charts are there for us, right? Again, if we're above the 200-day moving average, the last thing you want to do is start sitting there and go, well, this thing is a short. It's not a short. It's just the stock that's down that day, OK? There's a reason why these stocks are bouncing back up because we're above the five-day. We're above the 50-day. They're protecting it over and over and over again. There's a reason why the moves on the upside are so exaggerated. That's where the euphoria is. This is called the rest, OK? So the last thing you want to do is sit there, try every single day on hands that you're getting on a 2-7 offsuit. It's not the same day. Today is not the same day as the video breaking out at 9.50. Today is not the same day as the video breaking out at 2.50. This is a day, and this is it. This is a day, up, down, up, down. They're defending the five-day, defending the 50-day. But the moral of the story is it's still upward bias until it's not. When it starts turning bearish, you'll lose the five. You'll lose the 50. Of course, we're sell values because the charts are telling you you're supposed to be sell bias. But the most important part, especially for all you new traders, that you have to get through your big, beautiful, thick skulls that you cannot trade every day. You can't. You shouldn't. There's not enough value. There's not enough value for the day for you to take, especially with your experience and your account size and still your emotional attachment to this business. There's not enough meat on that bone for you to succeed. Because, again, the market's not giving that opportunity, nor it should. That's not the market's job. So if I'm sitting there, I go, eh, there's nothing really to do. It's not a green light. It shouldn't be a green light in your head and say, wow, wow, what do you mean he thinks enough? He really does mean there's something to do. You see what the market's doing. You see why the charts are there. You have to be disciplined. The difference between a trader that's trading today or a trader that's been trading 10 years from now is what you do in your infancy stages. Your first two, three years of your macro development, this is where you're going to build your foundation. This is where you're going to build your lifeline. If you're just sitting there, put it this way. If you put on five, six trades today, you're doing it wrong. You're doing it wrong. I don't know what you're doing, but you're doing it wrong. That's just the reality. You have to trade based on what the market is giving. If the market's not giving anything, you cannot trade. That's just the reality. You cannot trade. I know it's hard. I know social media is telling you you could turn $500 into $50 million. No, you can't. You can't, I'm sorry, you can't. That's just the reality. I've been doing this for 23 years. You can't. And if you can, give me their number. I'd love to see what the hell they're doing because obviously I'm doing it wrong. So the most important part, the most important part guys, you have to save yourself. You have to extend your shelf life. You have to do everything possible to put yourself in a position you're here for 10, 15, 20 years from now. You're not doing it for the trade. You're doing it for a career. I keep on, because I keep on getting that damn stupid fucking email once a week. Hey dad, I know I wasn't supposed to do anything today. I know there wasn't any value, but I put myself at home. I don't wanna hear that email. I'm telling you what's gonna happen. This is not a joke. It's your money. Right? Why would you purposely sabotage yourself every single day thinking about, wow, there's opportunity. Look, the dickhead on social media with a stupid avatar is telling me how great the market is today. You're not chasing performance, okay? You're not chasing performance. You're not trying to outdo the scoreboard. You're trying to find the biggest value based on the previous night's research and putting yourself in a position for fucking longevity. It's longevity. It's not about today. It's longevity. If Tesla's the break out of 1040, you're not buying it at 1039. You're buying it at 1040. You're not anticipating. You're an adult, act like an adult. Again, I'm sorry, but it's getting absolutely ridiculous. If I'm telling you this is gonna happen, why would you possibly do this to yourself? And it's not your fault. I get it. It's not your fault, but at some point, right? At some point, you have to act like an adult and say, look, this is the formula, right? This is the absolute formula to take myself out of this business. Why would you continuously, constantly, over and over and over again, do the same things? If you're wrong, you're wrong. Be wrong small. Why be wrong big? Why fucking jump out of the 10th floor if you could jump out of the first? It doesn't make any sense, right? It doesn't make any sense. Be a better friend to yourself, right? Why put yourself in a situation that you're guessing? Stop guessing. There's nothing to guess about. That's what the charts are there for, right? Don't get cute, there's nothing to get cute about. Again, if you put on seven traits there, I have no idea what you're doing, right? I have no idea what you're doing. You obviously self-reflecting at four o'clock and you say to yourself, what the hell did I do today, right? And again, it's all about discipline. Guys, there's no difference between me and you. There's absolute, I'm telling you today is long. There's absolutely no difference between me and you. The only difference is I figured out what not to do 20 years ago, right? 20 years ago, I figured out what not to do. And that's what I'm trying to convey. So the traders, you can put two traders in the same room. One has discipline, one has not. One has a $100,000 account, one has a $50,000 account. I promise you the $50,000 account or the $25,000 account with discipline is gonna outperform that other trader every single day because that trader is trading on instinct. We don't know shit, okay? We don't know anything. I've never once, since I'm even hosting the webinar for 12 years ever said, hey, I know exactly what's going on. I know nothing. I'm going based on price action. If the price action says one way, I'm going the other way. I'm going the same way. I'm not trying to outperform the market and trying to figure out what happens next. Let the market tell you next. Every video I say, look, I have no idea what's gonna happen tomorrow. I have my research, I think that's gonna happen, but the opposite can completely happen, right? That's all we are. We trade off of research that gets confirmed, we're not research that we're anticipating is gonna happen. So if you wanna do this for a living, you wanna do this for a very long time for a living, you have to stop the self-sabotage. It's the self-sabotage every single time. That's what's gonna get you every single time. There's no magic formula. The self-sabotage is the fastest way to remove yourself from this business. Why do it? You have the blueprint, right? You have the blueprint in front of you. You have people in here that started out exactly the same you, the same way that you are doing six and seven figures. Why are you trying to be different? Why are you trying to be smarter? Right? Why are you putting yourself in a position that you're gonna be out of this business? These are facts. Guys, these are not things I just woke up one day and said, oh, you know what? I feel like really sharing this with the group because it's Friday afternoon and I have really nothing else to talk about. We've all done it. This is not a personal attack against anybody. We've all done it. I've stabbed myself in the neck, in the jugular, in the throat, in the ribs, in the ass, in the foot, over and over and over again my first five years. I've done it. Why would you possibly do the same things as I'm telling you what not to do over and over again? I didn't have a blueprint. We didn't have a roadmap. You do now. That's the point. You do now. This is, guys, I'm telling you. Guys like me who've been doing this for years are going to take your money nine out of 10 times. We're gonna do it because we figured out what not to do. That's the whole point, guys. We figured out what not to do. It's so easy, right? Here, 950 break, it goes to 1,000. Wow, great. It's not a great call. It's what you did prior to that 950 to put you in a position to get that move from 950 to 1,000. It's not the trade. It's what you did prior to the trade that mentally put you in a situation to succeed, right? Why put yourself in a situation that your longevity gets cut in half by putting on trades that don't make any sense, that don't make any sense? Who cares if the market's open? Who cares with some scumbag on social media is doing? Who cares, right? Who cares? The charts are right in front of you. These are the charts. They're all magical charts. They're all in front of you. They're telling you where price action is gonna confirm. Be a better friend to yourself, right? Stop thinking what you think is gonna happen. Let it confirm. I don't, again, I don't care if Christ is sitting there at 1039 and saying, you know what? You can go in a little bit early. It's okay. No, it's not okay. Price action is there for a reason. Long, short, and different. It's there for a reason, right? Again, I wouldn't be echoing this statement, this sentiment if it, again, for every email that I get, hey, Dan, I had like biggest month ever. I had my biggest year ever. I get that same damn email at towards the end of the week. Hey, Dan, you know what? I over-traded and I know there was no value today, but I did 11 trades and I gave back my whole week. Dude, I don't wanna hear that shit anymore. You know what you did was wrong. You know what you did was wrong. If I'm sitting there and I go, wow, I think he's just trading on the channel. Again, it's not a secret code of get size on things. This is just guys, this is just the reality. You have to hear this. You have to understand this. You have to embrace this because if you don't, you're going to be statistic. I give you my word. Self-sabotage is so damn easy. It's so easy. It's not, this is not a pep talk. This is a reality check.