Confessions From A Trading Addict

What does it take to succeed in this ruthless business? Who are the guys who see the light at the end of the never ending tunnel? Who are these people??

You wanna know who? Seriously, I will be serious with you: The guys who eventually win in this business are The Trading Addicts.


I am 34 years old now, i first heard about trading and the idea of making money out of nothing when i was 19 or 20 years old. Back in 1998. I was in College and decided to study finance because i wanted to make trading my profession. Everything about trading, I WANTED TO READ!! The local stocks quotes, the local, national and international news papers grabbed my attention. I was hungry to learn, i was eager to learn, i was 19-20 years and TRADING IS WHAT I WANTED TO DO!! I used to run home after school and click on the PBS and watch the NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT with Paul Kangas!! OH the excitement!!!

Paul Kangas, would give one of those old man laughs and say "shares of amazon.com jumped 20 points today on heavy trading". I had no idea what it meant at the time BUT i knew it was damn good!!! I saw the smile and look on his face. It was a damn good thing! I was hungry to learn and i was like a sponge and ready to suck in everything about trading i could get a hold of!!

I knew it!!! THIS IS WHAT I WANTED TO DO!!! NOTHING WAS GOING STOP ME! NOTHING!!!!

I was HOOKED! I was ADDICTED!! I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A TRADING ACCOUNT YET!

I started reading books and i stumbled across a website called stockcharts.com and i MUST SAY stockcharts.com has been the BIGGEST STEPPING STONE for me as a trader!! I have been a member, a loyal member of stockcharts.com since 1999!!!!

At the University Of Portland School of Business I took up finance and one of my professors who was used purely fundamentals to making trading decisions started a STOCK PICKING competition. There was over 40 students in the class.
The most popular picks among my peers were: MSFT, INTC, XOM, IBM, GE.

I chose stocks like: JDSU, CMGI, INTU, KTEL.

Stocks no one really knew! LOL! I knew them because Paul Kangas brought them to my attention and i had the most basic of charting skills. I knew enough about charts that if a chart pointed up, it would most likely keep going up. Little did i know that was basically momentum trading!! This is what happens to be my specialty now!! BUY HIGH, SELL HIGHER!

4 months later, the professor announced the winner of the stock picking competition and
not only did i win, i killed it!!! I was up well over 100% in 4 months!!!

THE "ADDICTION TO TRADING" GOT ME HOOKED FOR LIFE FROM THAT POINT!!!

Trading is my passion to the point where i decided to make it my profession. I do this daily, i sleep, eat, dream, breath, swallow, smell, taste TRADING. This is what i do, this is who i am.
I take pride in this.


I am more hungry to learn today than when i was 12 years ago! Every single day, i learn more and more about myself, my trading, my character.

There are days when i hate it, there are days when i hate myself, there are days when i feel like i am on top of Mount Everst but one thing i know for sure: I will never stop loving this.

It is who i am and who i always wanted to be.

I am a "trading addict" and i ALWAYS want to learn in order to win.....