The

very first day, I was just trading one lots right back then, and literally just in and out, not even holding positions, just trying to figure out something and get the feel.

The very first day, I lost $2,500 trading one lots, which is almost impossible at $12.50. $12.50 a tick, you can imagine how many times I had to lose to lose 2,500 bucks trading one loss the very first day.

So I actually had broken my loss limit too.

I think the firm loss limit at the time was two grand.

I think I went over that and they were very strict about if you didn't follow their rules, you're out.

So I got a warning and then, so I never broke that at the time, but then I proceeded to lose every day for my next two months.

So

Yeah

...

I actually had broken my loss limit too, the...

I think the firm loss limit at the time was two grand.

I think I went over that and they were very s- strict about if you, if you, you know, didn't follow the, their rules, you're out.

So I got a warning and then...

So I never broke that at the time, but then I proceeded to lose every day for my next two months.

Yep.

Scott, like what I think we're trying to understand, Randy, correct me if I'm wrong, is is there still any edge in knowing when a stop run happens and when an iceberg is filled or is it just not enough on its own? Let's start there.

Yeah, absolutely.

It's still the driver of my trading, right? So the way I trade is I look for these top iceberg events in my important areas and then the tendencies around them, right? So the way I judge for position trades, if the market's able to push a five-minute ATR out of that area, then it tells me that that event has more of a chance of moving in that direction, right? So these areas are still important because it's still trap traders, right? There's traders in here So to start at the higher, this was a stop run.

This did prove as a bullish event, so it wasn't a bearish event for this exact event, but this ended up being a bearish event.

Point is, if you're seeing the market move higher, higher, higher, and this was actually a good example from today, whatever the hell this was at the open, you don't see this very often.

but then you had another buy stop run here.

And usually when you just see a bunch of stop runs as the market's making highs, when you're looking at a chart, you're just thinking, oh man, look at all these buyers, right? So if you're not looking at the right side of the chart and you're looking at this real time, you're like, wow, this looks great.

yeah that's that's my trade this morning went through that black box there i know again i'm giving you a call yes so i was long at 640 like i said 657 your time so right there and then i'm out of the trade three minutes later at 1004.

Yeah.

You're like, "I'm getting this money back.

I feel like I just got taken advantage of." So in the heat of the moment, my point is, the heat of the moment, you're not gonna make clear decisions.

And I'll tell you my awful story of me not respecting my loss limits.

But in the heat of the moment, you got...

You're not gonna be able to make clear decisions many time.

We call it going on tilt, right? So that's why if you're trading with a brokerage firm, you just have them shut you off.

Yeah.

Mm.

But point is, I was in medical sales.

I wasn't even trading.

I wasn't even watching the markets, right? And I'm born to be a trader.

It was killing me.

But it's like I, I got, I had two little girls.

I gotta do what I gotta do to support my family.

They're just other counterparties, other buyers and sellers, other funds, other institutions with different strategies based on different criterias, but these are the algor- algorithms that are lubricating the market in between.

Tell me a bit more about kinda what you do these days.

So these days, I'm an educator.

I've been trading my own accounts, but I'm an educator as well.

And, you know, it goes back to my backstory.

For those that are unfamiliar, you know, I used to be a huge scalper back in the day.

This is, you know, this isn't glory days talk, it's just it is what it is.

And when you hear my story, you'll understand [chuckles] how I got to this point, right? So, you know, back in 2001, I started trading like right before 9/11 and, uh, started trading on screen.

Can you tell from this when the move is over, or is that based on you watching the market?