Running a Forex brokerage is a really tough business. Oh the stories I've heard…. So why would anyone want to start one? In this episode, I sat down with Arif Ahmad, co-founder of Scandinavian Capital Markets (SCM), a ECN broker in Stockholm Sweden. As it turns out, Arif had good reasons to get into the brokerage business. As money managers, they were tired of getting pushed around by shady FX brokers. They figured that they only way to get good service was to provide it themselves. That...

High Frequency Trading (HFT) isn't the only technology that has changed the world of trading. Wearable devices that collect biodata have become smaller and more powerful, which has created some exciting opportunities for independent traders. The first benefit is the ability to monitor your biodata in real-time, to see if you are in the right state of mind to trade. Successful traders are acutely aware of their trading psychology. But even the best traders can occasionally ignore how they are...

In this episode of the Trading Lifestyle Podcast, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Joan Sotkin, a prosperity and mindset mentor. As you get deeper into trading and get past making all of the beginner mistakes, you start to learn that trading is much more about your mindset than your trading system. That's how you can usually tell a new trader from an experienced trader. But tuning up your mindset is not an easy task. Believe me, I know first hand. So the more people you can get to...

Managing money is one way to become a professional trader. But the process can be confusing and sometimes a little scary. After all, you don't want to do anything wrong. Of course, this podcast is for education purposes only and is not legal or trading advice. However Justin Hertzberg works with quite a few CTAs (Commodity Trading Advisors) and was generous enough to share his experience with them, so you understand how the general process works and where to get started. He is the...

A lot of people will tell you that scalping Forex successfully is simply not possible. Greg McLeod would beg to differ.  In this episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Greg to find out how he scalps successfully, who his biggest mentors were and get into some of the “behind the scenes” stuff that has shaped him into the trader that he is today. Speaking of mentors, Greg has been taught by some of the best traders and trading coaches…ever. He grew up in South Central Los Angeles...

Social trading is a bit like communism. – Juan Colón I'm really excited to present this episode of the podcast because I believe that this Forex broker has the potential to change how talented independent Forex traders get funded and can go on to trade for a living. Yes, I said broker.  Juan Colón is one of the co-founders of Darwinex, a Forex broker, slash investment platform. He is not a trader, but after you are done with this interview, I think you will agree that he and his...

Joel Kruger started his professional career on a path that you might be able to relate to. He initially went to law school and later became an investment banker. That may not be a common career path, but many people who get into trading come from some sort of high-level profession. So if this describes you, and you don't want to be in that profession anymore, this interview might give you an alternative. When Joel saw a trading floor for the first time, he was hooked. His career in...

Jarratt Davis started out just like you. But he went on become the #2 ranked Forex trader in the world…according to Barclays.  He learned currency trading on his own and he had no previous experience or education. Like my last guest, his previous profession had absolutely nothing to do with trading. But his journey wasn't always easy… He actually “quit” trading several times because he could not find anything that worked. His trading went through the classic vicious cycle of: * Learn a...

You will never guess what Andrew Mitchem was doing before he became a successful Forex trader. I have heard about a lot of unusual pre-trading professions before, but Andrew's is the best, by far.  One of the biggest things that I hope you have learn from all of these interviews is that you don't need to have any experience in the financial markets to become a professional Forex trader. In Andrew's case, you don't have to read that many trading books either. Take a guess as to how many...

Peter Davies' backstory is all too common, unfortunately. At 35 years old, he lost about 30% of his net worth in the stock market. He was working in IT at the time and knew nothing about trading or finance. His college degree was actually in IT. To add insult to injury, his financial advisor told him that they did well that year because they beat the index. The “financial advisor” even had the balls to charged him a management fee. That is where the story ends for most people. But not...

Many people dream of quitting their jobs and trading for a living, but few are actually able to do it. Austin Netzley is one of those people and he was able to do it in a fairly short period of time. Even more impressive is how young he was when he accomplished this feat. Although Austin does not trade Forex, I had to learn more about his amazing story. So I was happy when he agreed to sit down and talk to me about his experiences. While he was working at his corporate job, he would trade...

Mike Melissinos landed a job at Bear Sterns shortly after graduating from college and he thought he had it made. But as luck would have it, Bear went down about six months after he joined. This turned out to be good luck however because it really made him examine the people who he looked up to and the life that he really wanted to live. He came out of the experience with a whole different perspective. After Bear, he decided to figure out how to invest for himself and got turned on to trend...

Hello and welcome to another episode of The Trading Lifestyle Podcast. I hope you are enjoying your holiday season and are celebrating your successes from this past year. In this episode, I had the pleasure of  sitting down and talking with Reynaldo Soriano a professional trader and educator in the San Francisco Bay Area. I found him through his Meetup group and I wanted to find out how he became a professional trader. He was a member of the Australian national Taekwondo team and when you...

These are the types of interviews that I really enjoy.  I love talking to anyone about trading, but I especially like hearing from people who are just doing their own thing.  In the case of today's guest, he trades for a living from his home in Italy. He doesn't have a website and doesn't market a course.  The only reason that I found him was because he does have a great Twitter account.  I have been watching is posts on Twitter and he is very consistent. Walter Vannelli has been involved...

I've been wanting to interview Shaun for some time now because I like what posts on his YouTube channel and I really wanted to get the perspective of a programmer who specializes in Forex.  I finally got around to asking him last month and I was happy when he agreed. Shaun Overton first got interested in Forex as a broker on the automated trading desk of FXCM and has been interested in automated trading ever since. He has built a successful programming business, catering primarily to traders...

In this episode of the Trading Lifestyle Podcast, I was fortunate to be able to sit down with Kim Krompass and learn about her journey to becoming a professional independent trader. I met Kim through the Meetup group that I started here in the San Francisco Bay Area. The one time that we talked in person at a meetup was very brief, so I was happy when she agreed to be interviewed for this podcast. She has taken an interesting route to becoming a trader. Just like many people who come to...

  You never know how much of an influence some of your early life experiences will have on your adult life and this interview is a perfect example.  Casey Stubbs helped his father setup his first modem that allowed him to get basic stock charts on his computer.  From there, Casey was hooked on trading and he actually got quite good at it. I have tweeted with Casey a few times over the last couple of years on Twitter, but I have never actually spoken to him in person.  So I was glad that I...

Hello traders, I'm very happy to be back with another episode of The Trading Lifestyle Podcast and I was fortunate to be able to interview Steve W. from No Brainer Trades.  If you have been trading Forex for awhile, you have probably heard of Steve because his blog provides traders with a ton of quality free information. Like several of the other people that I have interviewed before, Steve didn't originally set out to become a trader.  He basically just needed a job and found one as a clerk...

Hello traders, it has been awhile since I have posted an interview, but I am finally back.  Today I have a really interesting interview with Chris Capre, professional Forex trader and founder of 2nd Skies Forex. Chris started off wanting to be a Yoga instructor for the rest of his life, but a friend had an intuition that he would be a good currency trader and he turned out to be correct.  Chris says that as soon he started looking at the charts, they seemed to make sense to him. That's not...

  Welcome to episode 11 of The Trading Lifestyle Podcast.  In this episode, I'm happy to present an interview that I did with 50 Pips.  No, he is not a rapper, but he does trade for a living and he mentors traders from time-to-time. He is also an excellent Forex trading resource to follow on Twitter.  That is how I originally found out about him. He tweets trading tips and levels that he is watching on a daily basis. This interview was unique because 50 requested that I don't ask the...

We are back with another episode of the Trading Lifestyle Podcast and this month I had the pleasure of interviewing Rafael Veron, an Independent Trader from Toronto, Canada.  He used to trade for a hedge fund, but he now trades his own money from home. Rafael has had many interesting experiences in his career and started from very humble beginnings.  He definitely paid his dues along his way to trading for a living.  He has been a gopher, janitor, broker, money allocator and more. But he is...

Learning to trade profitably on your own can take a long time for some people, but if you have a mentor or coach helping you, the time can be reduced significantly.  I have wanted to get a Trading Coach on the Podcast for awhile now and I am happy to present my first interview with a Trader/Trading Coach. Brian McAboy used to be a Mechanical Engineer in the Manufacturing Industry, but he caught the trading bug and never looked back.  Just like every other Trader, he took his lumps early on...

  What I love about doing these Podcasts is finding out the real story behind how these Traders were able to break through and start trading full-time.  You rarely hear about these stories, especially if someone is just trading their own account.  A perfect example is today's guest, Lynette Allen.  I originally heard about her through Adam Jowett and  soon after, I checked out her blog and started following her on Twitter. The thing makes a blog really interesting to me, is if the author...