Chat With Traders
Business & Finance
About
Chat With Traders is your key to the minds of trading's elite performers. Start listening to learn how a diverse mix of traders went from zero to hero, how they successfully trade markets today, and get their best tips 'n pointers for profitable performance, plus much more. Note: You are responsible for your own trading decisions—this is not financial advice.
Episodes
- 323 · Alex Temiz - Starbucks Barista to 8-figure Short Selling Strategy
Alex Temiz turned a $2,000 account into over $16 million in trading profits, starting from nothing as a part-time Starbucks barista. In this episode, he breaks down the real journey: the years of losing, how he transitioned from long break…
- 322 · Stephen Kalayjian - What 43 Years in the Markets Teaches You
Steve Kalayjian started his journey on the floor of the American Stock Exchange in 1983, a time when the noise of the pits was the only heartbeat of the market. Over the next four decades, he didn’t just witness the evolution of trading, h…
- 321 · Eduardo Briceño - $1,900 Small Cap Trader Hit $2.9 Mil in Profits
Eduardo Briceño came to America from Venezuela with nothing but a dream, survived years of trading under survival-mode pressure, and turned $1,900 into $2.9 million in profits. After starting with a micro account and carrying the weight of…
- 320 · Stefan Stadie - Sports Betting and Prediction Markets - Through a Trading Lens
Stefan Stadie is a professional sports trader at Kero Sports whose work sits at the intersection of equities, sports betting, and prediction markets. After starting his trading journey in equities, Stefan evolved toward a more process-driv…
- 319 · Sam Gaer - From the Copper Pits to Crypto Derivatives: How Trading Edge Evolves
Sam Gaer’s career spans several major shifts in market structure — from the open-outcry pits of COMEX to high-frequency trading and now crypto derivatives. Sam began his career as a teenage runner on the COMEX floor during the gold boom of…
- 318 · Dave Mabe - The Shift to Systematic Trading — Building Backtested Confidence
When Dave Mabe backtested his strategy, it outperformed his own discretionary trading — and changed how he approached everything. In this episode, we discuss gapping breakouts, expectancy, systematic trading, drawdowns, and the reality gap…
- 317 · John Assaraf - The One That Shows Up — The Identity You Practice
In this episode, Ian sits down with John Assaraf , entrepreneur, behavioral neuroscience educator, and founder of NeuroGym , for a conversation about the invisible forces that shape performance — long after planning, analysis, and good int…
- 316 · The Turning Points That Shaped Great Traders
Over the years, we’ve recorded hundreds of conversations with traders across different markets, strategies, and generations. And while no two trading paths look the same, certain moments tend to repeat — not moments of big wins or dramatic…
- 315 · Jamaal Ghauri - From Early Crypto to 0DTE Options: Fast Money, Fast Reality
We’re joined by Jamaal Ghauri , a trader and fund manager who began his journey unusually early — first exposed to crypto markets as a teenager during Bitcoin’s early adoption phase, before moving into stocks and eventually options. Jamal…
- 314 · In the Middle: The Demons We Trade With
A quiet, end-of-year reflection on the middle stage of trading — where progress is subtle, patterns are familiar, and the real work happens internally. Sponsor of Chat With Traders Podcast: ● Trade The Pool: http://www.tradethepool.com…
- 313 · Doug Colkitt - When Crypto Markets Break: Liquidations, Leverage, and Markets Under Stress
In this episode, we examine what actually happens when crypto markets break — how leverage builds beneath the surface, liquidity disappears, and liquidation cascades turn volatility into systemic failure. Doug Colkitt, a quantitative trade…
- 312 · Vincent Bruzzese - Battling Irrational Markets - and the Battle Within
Returning guest Vincent Bruzzese — trader, former statistics professor, poker player, and former Hollywood behavioral analyst — joins Tessa for a candid discussion about navigating one of the most narrative-driven markets in years. Known o…
- 311 · Christian Carreon - Patience Inside the Box: The Calm Before the Break
Christian Carreon returns to Chat With Traders nearly three years after his first appearance, where he shared his remarkable journey through stage-five kidney failure and the discipline it forged in him as a trader. Today, he brings an eve…
- 310 · Dr. Efrat Levy - Fingerprinting the Big Players: Inside the Hidden Order Flow
Dr. Efrat t Levy is a cybersecurity expert with a PhD in Computer Science and AI from Ben-Gurion University—one of Israel’s top tech institutions. After years studying how to detect hackers through side-channel signals, she applied the sam…
- 309 · Diego Ivan Cortes Lopez - Winning Through Losing: When 30% Is Enough
How a trader from Dallas built consistency—and a simple lifestyle of freedom in Southeast Asia—with a 30% win rate. Diego Ivan Cortes Lopez grew up chasing perfection on the tennis court, where winning came naturally, but it was trading th…
- 308 · Jack Schwager and Emanuel Balarie - Market Wizards, Measured: Inside the Criteria, Craft, and Grit
We’re joined by Jack Schwager —author of the legendary Market Wizards series and co-founder of FundSeeder —along with his partner and fellow co-founder & CEO, Emanuel Balarie . Jack shares what it really takes to be considered for a Market…
- 307 · Mario Dimitroff - The Gamer’s Edge: High-Win Scalping in Pre-Market Madness
A former competitive gamer, Mario Dimitroff from Bulgaria got his start on a local trading floor before discovering that the U.S. premarket session best fit his skills. Now trading for a living and doing nothing else, his news-driven, even…
- 306 · Michael Katz - Prop Goes the Trader
Online funding prop firms have captured the attention of traders in recent years. In this episode, the CEO of Trade The Pool, Michael Katz, joins the podcast to answer key questions and offer perspective from inside one of the leading firm…
- 305 · Julian Komar - When Story, Fundamentals, and Technicals Align
Growing up in Germany without a financial background, Julian Komar became fascinated by stocks as a teenager. He moved past complex German trading products to concentrate on U.S. equities. Specializing in momentum and growth stocks on the…
- 304 · Kyle Ng aka JadeCap - $4.5M with Process, Patience, and Prop Firms
From academic struggles at SUNY Albany to holding the world record for the largest prop firm payouts—roughly $4.5 million in total, Kyle Ng a.k.a. JadeCap’s journey started out like many aspiring traders. Sparked by a childhood friend's su…
- 303 · Chris Vermeulen - From Tick to Trend, Day Trading to Wave Riding
What happens when a teenager growing up without TV in rural Canada stumbles across CNBC in a college dorm and sees people making $100,000 in a day? For Chris Vermeulen, that moment changed everything—and kicked off a 25-year journey of tra…
- 302 · Dylan Maltman - Go Where Orders Flow
Dylan Maltman, an intraday futures and forex trader and founder of Apex Capital , must have had exceptional clarity starting at a young age. Introduced to the markets in a high school presentation by a prop firm, Dylan caught the passion f…
- 301 · Erik Smolinski - Trading Earnings Volatility with Options
Erik Smolinski returns to Chat With Traders after his first appearance on episode 272, joining Tessa for a trader-to-trader conversation about the intricacies of options trading, a topic Erik is deeply passionate about. In this episode Eri…
- 300 · Patrick Petersson - We Should Not Die as Traders
In this episode we catch up with Patrick Petersson, who returns two years after his first interview on Chat With Traders on episode 260 , where he shared his incredible story of overcoming hardship to attaining success in trading as a prof…
- 299 · Michael Martin - Intersection of Emotional Intelligence and Tactics
Michael Martin, raised in a hardworking blue-collar community, embraced the same ethic. An entrepreneur at heart, he hustled from cutting grass when he was 12 to working all types of jobs including golf caddying and waiting at restaurants…
- 298 · Christian Mayer - The Power in Fixed-Sized, Non-Compounding Plays
Christian Mayer, with an institutional trading background, transitioned from equities to forex, focusing on fixed sized mean-reversion strategies with fundamental correlations where structural edge is statistically likely. His initial loss…
- 297 · Cody Yeh - Slow, Medium, and Fast Money Strategies
A former engineer turned successful options trader, real estate investor and entrepreneur, Cody Yeh shares his incredible journey from the 9-to-5 grind to achieving financial freedom through smart investing and calculated risk-taking. We u…
- 296 · Dr. Brett Steenbarger - Playing to Your Strengths
Few people understand the minds of traders like Dr. Brett Steenbarger. As a psychologist who trades actively himself, he brings a rare combination of clinical expertise and practical experience to the world of financial markets. You might…
- 295 · Steve Ruffley - Animal Speed, Size, and Being Right at the Right Time
Steve Ruffley transitioned from a highly competitive trading floor environment to trading professionally as a retail trader. His entrance into trading was unplanned - a mix of ambition, timing, and the right connections. After leaving univ…
- 294 · Ross Haber - Stock Leaders and Timeless Strategies Still Effective Today
Ross Haber’s trading philosophy is built on growth-focused strategies, heavily influenced by William O'Neil. Combining both technical and fundamental analysis, Ross emphasizes the importance of identifying leaders in strong market sectors…
- 293 · Rick Bandazian Jr. - The Art of the Wait: Merger-Arbitrage Killer Moves
Rick Bandazian Jr., a seasoned trader with over 15 years of experience in event-driven and merger-arbitrage strategies, reflects on transitioning from an analyst at JP Morgan and First New York Securities to establishing himself as an inde…
- 292 · Laurens Bensdorp - Running 55+ Systematic Trading Strategies Simultaneously
Laurens Bensdorp's trading journey began with years of losses as a discretionary trader. Frustrated by inconsistent results and mounting stress, he embarked on a mission to develop systematic trading approaches. His goal was simple but amb…
- 291 · Sam Miesse - Small Cap Quant Trader Grows $10K into $3.8M in 3 Years
Inspired by the impact of predictive analytics on sales at Sam Miesse's tech company, he became interested in applying quantitative analysis to the small cap market. Spending nearly 2 years collecting data and observing how money moved int…
- 290 · Mark Ritchie II - Price-Action, Swing Trading Equities from the Long Side
Mark Ritchie II shares insights from his trading journey, shaped by disciplined risk management and a strong focus on price action and fundamentals. Growing up with a renowned trader father, Mark’s passion for trading developed later in li…
- 289 · Alfonso Peccatiello (MacroAlf) - Beyond Being Right - A Shift to Framework Thinking
Alfonso Peccatiello’s (also known as MacroAlf on X) approach to the financial markets is rooted in macroeconomic insights, identifying market imbalances, and disciplined risk management. Having managed a $20 billion fixed-income portfolio,…
- 288 · Steve B - When Confluences Align, Confidence Follows
We caught up with Steve B, a seasoned professional independent trader with 10+ years of experience in the financial markets we got to know closely through the Chat With Traders Community. Steve teamed up with our community cohost and mento…
- 287 · Robb Reinhold - Consistency Beats Intelligence Every Time
We're joined today by Robb Reinhold, the Head Trader at Maverick Trading. Robb shares insights from a captivating trading experiment that's sure to intrigue both novice and experienced traders alike. The Flat Earth Trading Society experime…
- 286 · Jason Shapiro - Overcrowded Trades: What Everyone Else is Not Seeing
There’s Contrarian Trading and then there’s Consistent Contrarian Trading. Can you really make money by consistently going against the crowd? Does it take a certain type of personality to be able to trade this way? Jason Shapiro was featur…
- 285 · Greg Magadini - Cashing in Through Exploiting Volatility
Greg Magadini began his career as a proprietary trader for DRW Trading and Chopper Trading in Chicago and traded with SMB Capital as well. He later took a bold step, venturing out to trade his own book, bootstrapping crypto volatility with…
- 284 · Sam Daghash - Rising Above a Trader’s Inner Turbulence
We often hear that having “Discipline” is the key to trading success. But many of us traders continue to struggle developing discipline and good habits for trading no matter how hard and how long we’ve tried. Could there be a deeper reason…
- 283: Trading Football Dreams for Stock Market Touchdowns
Michael shares his journey from aspiring NFL athlete to successful day trader. After a sports injury dashed his football dreams, he turned to day trading, teaching himself the ropes and overcoming early financial losses with the encouragem…
- 282: Tony Greer - Staying Selective and Being Adaptable in the Trading Landscape
Tony Greer, a Long Island native, ventured into Wall Street trading inspired by his father. With a background in business management from Cornell University, he honed his skills at Sumitomo Bank, UBS, and Goldman Sachs. He and his team met…
- 281: Marsten Parker - The Purely Systematic Wizard Trader
Starting in classical violin and computer programming, Marsten Parker's path took a transformative turn when he ventured into trading. Despite a rocky start, his disciplined, algorithm-driven approach led to consistent returns, earning him…
- 280: Steve Hanke - Decoding the Drivers of Inflation and Markets
Trading commodities since 14 years old, Professor Hanke started learning the importance of closely following macro economic factors which impact the prices of currencies, commodities and consumer goods. His evidence-based approach uncovers…
- 279: Saad Filali - Front-Running News Flow Trading
Saad Filali, worked for Goldman Sachs, specializing in Mergers and Acquisitions, then left and became a Trader. Understanding the thinking and trading styles of the many different market players is key to his trading, including those of in…
- 278: Ben Greenfield - Elevate Your Mental Game With Better Brain Power
Unlock the secrets to superior mental sharpness and explore groundbreaking strategies to boost your cognitive function, from nutrition hacks and exercise tips to innovative biohacking techniques. Ben Greenfield, a renowned expert in the he…
- 277: Garrett Drinon - Musician Turned Trader Trains Algos to Find Unicorns
The lure of the markets seduced a successful musician into full time trading at a prop firm. Collaborating with other traders, Garrett Drinon learned the market signals, and other ingredients which go into great setups. Wanting to expand h…
- 276: Will Gogolak - Contextualization Within a Framework of Conditional Probabilities
As a risk officer with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Will Gogolak was setting margin requirements and saw a wide variety of traders’ accounts and what separated the winning traders from the losing ones, before leaving to pursue his own…
- 275: William Lam - The Best Operating System for Elite Performance: Our Minds
Experiencing the noticeable communication differences between his childhood culture and his new home in the U.S., William Lam was driven to become aware of how his limiting thoughts imprinted from his family drove unhealthy unconscious act…
- 274: Gary Norden - Keeping the Lost Art of Order Flow Trading Alive
A humble beginning as a gopher in the intense trading pits of Japanese warrants was shocking for Gary Norden when he was a teenager. As this volatile market was beginning its meltdown, Gary saw how easily star traders lost immense amounts…