Episodes
Jacob is a young trader from Denmark who is still going through the relative early stages of his trading career. As you will hear in this interview, Jacob has a wise head on young shoulders.  Jacob discovered a passion for investing, then trading, in his mid-teens. He has since dived into trading with gusto learning the basics of trading, developing his trading skills, learning technical analysis, developing systematic trading capabilities, reading influential writers on trading, in...
Published 02/07/23
We're delighted to welcome back a friend of the show Jonathan Baird, an award-winning money manager and publisher of the Global Investment Letter, who speaks and writes about macro themes in markets based on this his many decades of experience in this area.  2022 was the year when having a handle on the macro-economic narrative was to prove hugely advantageous. Understanding the macro and building it into your read of the markets is vital for traders who wish to gain an edge in markets...
Published 01/24/23
Trading legend Marty Schwartz aka Pitbull said, "the most important change in my trading career occurred when I learned to divorce my ego from the trade." The ego gets a bad wrap in trading, and often seen as the enemy. But is this the right way to look at it?  The ego is very much part of us, part of who we are, part of our nature, our soul. How can it be the enemy? That makes us the enemy.  And yet, often it feels like it is, with its ability to act in ways which are malicious and malign....
Published 01/10/23
In this 2nd part of this outstanding chat with former Chicago pit trader Matt ‘Pax’ Kenah. Matt takes us to a deeper exploration of his story. We discuss Matt's personal battles, hiss loss caused by the collapse of MF global, the struggles with his self which followed this, and the rebuilding of his career. We look at the steps Matt took, and the foundation blocks he built to come back and build a trading career for a second time around. Matt talks about the support of his wife, his...
Published 12/13/22
Matt “Pax” Kenah: The Life of a Futures Trader – Part 1 Matt “Pax” Kenah is a passionate, straight shooting, former Chicago Floor Trader who still trades and now also mentor traders. In this fascinating interview ,he shares his story, his journey and experiences, his success and mistakes, his highs and lows. Matt opens up fully about the realities of trading, the emotional challenges, the steps he, and others, what he considers trading success to be, and what people need to do to get...
Published 11/30/22
In this episode, we talk in-depth with Jeff Boccaccio about his journey from the non-trading world, to the world of trading his own money. Jeff was initially was an IT consultant. This a conversation which covers from a wide and varied range which will be hugely valuable and hopefully inspiring, to traders of all types. Jeff also shares valuable insights and advice about trading, the reality of how long it takes to learn and develop the skills to become a successful trade, and about the...
Published 11/16/22
Sven Fuhrman: Hedge Fund Manager and Energy Trader The dramatic context of the past couple of years, and the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have awoken many traders and investors to the significance and importance of the Power and Energy Markets.  This corner of the international markets remains relatively obscure and poorly understood, despite them playing a far more tangible and significant role in all our lives, than virtually any other market. On this week’s AlphaMind...
Published 10/24/22
Tom Basso: Market Wizards Mr Serenity Tom Basso first came to prominence when he was featured in Jack Schwager’s second Market Wizards book “New Market Wizards”. His chapter is called Mr Serenity. In the introduction to the interview with Tom, Jack, made a point of saying, that “although Tom’s results are significantly better than the industry average, they were ‘hardly extraordinary’. And yet, ‘Jack says, “in an important sense, Basso is perhaps the most successful, trader I have ever...
Published 10/03/22
Jason Shapiro returns to the AlphaMind podcast a year after his first episode proved to be one of our most popular to date. Jason featured in Jack Schwager’s brilliant ‘Unknown Market Wizard’ where he was known as ‘The Contrarian’, which tells all you need to know about his approach and style.  In this episode, Jason answers a series of questions submitted by AlphaMind Podcast listeners, and expands upon his trading approach, his views about trading and markets, and shares more details of how...
Published 09/14/22
Tom Hougaard is a ‘high-stakes’ day trader, and author of a superb new book ‘Best Loser Wins: Why Normal Thinking Never Wins the Trading Game’, which focuses on the mental battle needed to succeed in trading and the challenge of getting your mind right.  Tom is someone who has faced his own battles to become a successful trader, and like many he has gone through that cycle of try, learn, fail, try again and eventually succeed.  Tom is passionate about trading, as you will hear, and also loves...
Published 08/30/22
Listening to Robert Carver will make you a wiser trader. Period. Robert Carver is a treasure trove of trading wisdom, knowledge, know-how and first-hand experience. He has a strong background in economics, has worked as a trader at a leading investment bank and at a $30 billion hedge fund where he ran a major chunk of their trading capital for several years. In addition, Robert has built his own trading systems, traded, and still does trade, his own money, and has thought intensely about...
Published 08/09/22
Trading is a job which tests everyone who participates in it to the max. Volatile markets, rapidly shifting trading environments, strong bull markets followed by violent bear markets, fortunes made over years then lost in hours. The markets toy with traders’ emotions and their sense of self-worth, as they come to terms with just how much skill and ability is needed to succeed over the long-term in a challenge that people vastly underestimate.   In this episode AlphaMind co-host Mark Randall...
Published 07/18/22
What makes you feel uncomfortable? How do you cope with difficult situations which make you feel uncomfortable? Do you shy away from these situations or avoid making tough decisions because of your discomfort? Has it held you back in your trading, in life, and does it continue to hold you back?    Being able to cope with anxiety inducing situations that make us feel uncomfortable lies at the very epicentre of many of the biggest challenges in life. Whether taking high stakes trading and...
Published 07/06/22
Peter Castle started trading in 1995. Whilst going through the process of learning trading and listening to many of the great trainers and teachers of trading, he noticed how many of themes focused on lessons that had a spiritual component. He realised how trading the markets can push you to the edge of desperation, which then impacts you mentally and can lead you into downward spiral of negativity that manifests poor performance and eventually mental burn out. Peter started to incorporate...
Published 06/11/22
OIiver Kell won the 2020 US stock trading champion with an astonishing return of 941%, almost double the return of the second-place competitor. However, there is a lot more to Oliver than just great trading, his success is born of a deep humility and a huge respect for risk and the market. And as you listen to him, you may be surprised to notice how his process and success is built upon a foundation of high-risk aversion allied to a deep passion for what he does. In this episode Oliver opens...
Published 05/29/22
Linda Raschke is one of those traders who is quoted often by other traders. That gives you a sense of the respect and regard with which she is held in the trading world.  Linda started trading since the early 1980s, and after a tough introduction to the world of trading, went on to achieve great success and attained notoriety in the trading world after she was featured in one of the early Market Wizards books.  Recently Linda wrote ‘Trading Sardines, Lessons in the Markets from a Lifelong...
Published 05/16/22
In this episode, we discuss with Garth Mackenzie, what he feels drives trading success, what drives his trading success, and what is it about his approach which has contributed to his success thus far. Garth has been trading for over 20 years, however Garth admits the journey was anything but smooth, and despite some early successes, he found that the market was as adept in taking away, as it was in giving.  In the years since his early trading days, Garth has gone on to build a thriving...
Published 04/23/22
The trader and author of the book ‘Phantom of the Pit’ Art Simpson’s said of trading, ‘The Best Loser is the Long-Term Winner’.  Trading like poker, and many games entails losing and failing often, many of the greats of trading will tell how failure and being able to cope with failure, lie at the core to success. In this episode of the AlphaMind podcast, we discuss the 3 ‘Fs’ of Fear, Frustration and Failure, and how success requires learning ‘how to cope with failure, since failure is such a...
Published 04/04/22
For anyone 30 or younger, the world of DeFi (Decentralised Finance) is their world. Some in their 30s are clued up, but to most, DeFi and the world of Cryptocurrencies is something of a mystery. To those over 40, DeFi is largely an alien and murky world, difficult to navigate let alone to even comprehend.  In this episode of the AlphaMind podcast show hosts Mark Randell and Steven Goldstein, both far older than is healthy and a long way past the wrong side of 50, facilitate a panel of Defi...
Published 03/19/22
Sam North both trades for himself and mentors’ other traders for eToro, the world’s largest social trading and multi-asset brokerage company, where he is their trading school lead.  In this great chat with the AlphaMind Podcast, Sam went deep into what it takes to succeed as a new trader, shared his reflections on patterns common to those he sees who succeed, and opens up about mistakes he witnesses which cause so many to fail. Sam North LinkedIn: here Twitter: here AlphaMind Podcast...
Published 02/26/22
When it comes to trading, finding your trading edge and learning how to sharpen your trading edge, are what ultimately define whether you succeed or fail.   We believe there are 3 main sources of edge for traders, and that these 3 edges support each other to make each edge more potent and powerful. Developing trading mastery however requires the combining of the edges into one singular sustainable practice that is unique to the trader and which powers their success in the complex, uncertain...
Published 02/20/22
Contrary to common belief, it is not market knowledge, analytical skills, or some special system or secret indicator that are the key differentiators of success in financial markets. The true differentiator is the ability to ‘Let Go’, and the capability to sustain a ‘Letting Go’ mindset at all times.    This week, Tom Canfield, a veteran US based Retail Trader, returns to the AlphaMind Podcast to discuss his ongoing journey of ‘Letting Go’ as a trader, and his battle to get there. Chapter...
Published 02/05/22
Mike Bellafiore is co-founder of SMB Capital, one of the world's leading Proprietary Trading firms, based in New York City.  Mike has  authored two outstanding and highly popular trading books, One Good Trade: Inside the Highly Competitive World of Proprietary Trading and the The Playbook: An Inside Look at How to Think Like a Professional Trader. For many new and aspiring traders, the chance to work in a proprietary trading firm, is the holy grail of trading. It is trading’s equivalent of...
Published 01/21/22
Your Brain and your mind are your greatest asset as a trader, together they are most powerful weapon in your arsenal. But are you using them effectively, optimally, and to their fullest effect?  Your capital, your systems, your processes are the warheads you deploy in the markets, but it’s your brain which is the system that deploys them, and your mind is tool that observes, senses and then makes the choices when to launch, manages the battle, and the allocation and timing of resource...
Published 01/11/22
Welcome to the first Bitesize episode of the AlphaMind podcast, limited to 15 minutes, which is a chat between the hosts, Steven Goldstein and Mark Randall, about one of the biggest challenges all traders face, the emotional aspects to trading. This episode calls upon the help of a couple of excerpts taken from interviews with 2 of our most popular guests Merritt Black and Tom Canfield. You can learn more about this episode in the show notes on our blog page, where you can also find links...
Published 12/14/21