Meta-Trader - Meet John Carter

Welcome back, Meta-Traders.

Week #1 of 2013 is now in the books, but was only half a week, so let's reserve judgment on what the rest of the year has in store.  For now, let's introduce you to my latest trading mentor, John F Carter. Recall that John runs tradethemarkets.com in combination with Hubert Senters who was previously profiled on this blog here.

The great thing about John and Hubert's business is that they offer a free daily trading video which you can get at no cost by visiting the site and signing up.   From there, you get daily e-mails with free videos where you can see the setups and decide if what these guys have to offer to help with your trading.

Recently, John Carter and Hubert Senters have been going in somewhat different directions where Hubert has been promoting himself heavily via Linkedin.com and Facebook, while John started another similar enterprise called www.simpleroptions.com which offers daily trading videos, both a free version and a members only version. John's style suits me more since he watches the major, active stocks (AAPL, GOOG, MA) and how to play them via options along with some futures.  John is also the author of the best-selling day-trading book Mastering the Trade.

Both John and Hubert mainly use the TradeStation.com platform and the videos are frequently peppered with tips on how to use it. And speaking of TradeStation, my account was funded and I did my first few trades of the year and I netted about 0.4 of 1% in 3 days trading which is a good start.  Its only a matter of time before I transfer my E*Trade accounts over to TradeStation.com and save myself thousands a year in commissions.  I have a lot of cool ideas about studies and systems inside TradeStation so come back for that.

This past week, I signed up for a trial membership to SimplerOptions.com for $7 for the first month and for $149 a month after that which can be cancelled at any time.  For that you get 3 times a day strategy updates via e-mail and video along with a chat/trading room.  The trading room runs for about 2 hours in the morning hosted by a guy named Henry who sits next to John in his office.  In the middle of the day, a woman named the Fibonacci Queen comes on who runs her own service at http://www.fibonacciqueen.com/.  Finally, John Carter himself comes on to trade the close from 3-4 PM and takes you through his setups and trades.

One cool thing about listening to John is that has the experience to trade for a living - although he probably now makes more money from his various trading related ventures.  In any case, his calm voice and experience is a constant remainder that trading is a tough business and that most of the time, the best trade is no trade at all.  Its also a reminder to keep a "clean and clear head" and to your risk under control since many traders run themselves over the cliff chasing opportunities which are just not there.

All that said, I have high hopes for 2013 and beyond.  Its a better time to be an active trader now than in ~30 years I have been trading and investing.  The tools, technologies and abilities to interact with other traders are just amazing, and only getting better.

Thanks all for now, have a great week and good trading.