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Our Team
Ryan
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POSITION:

Founder & Trading Coach

DUTIES:

As founder, his duties are “all of the above” but his focus is on coaching and mentoring traders to get them to their peak performance.

ABOUT:

  • Trading/Investing since 1993

  • Current Private portfolio manager

  • Top of-class graduate (out of 52) in Hedge Fund internship

  • Trading assistant to Portfolio Manager & Trainer for UK based Hedge Fund

  • Prior proprietary floor trader (2nd largest prop floor in US)

  • Prior Director of Trading Operations for a US-based commodity trading firm

  • Taught tens of thousands of student traders and investors

  • Multiple awards for trading & investing content, work ethic & teaching

  • Trained & mentored over 100 trading coaches/instructors

  • Professional public speaker, author, and media guest

  • Founder of Trader Tactics

  • Founder of multiple companies over three decades

  • Published trading author

  • Inventor of multiple trading methods, systems and SaaS

  • B.S. in Business Management with an emphasis on Entrepreneurship

  • Lover of bullet points, cooking, and dad jokes

Chris
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POSITION:

Trading Quant Analyst & Developer

DUTIES:

Keep the trading algos running!

ABOUT:

When Chris was little, his dad would have copies of IBD laying around the house that he'd pick up and read. He wasn't sure what he was reading but he knew he loved it.  He loved the numbers, the tables, the charts, the winners and losers, everything.

 

Chris took his first trading class from Ryan and he was hooked. He took an interest in the analytics-based, data-driven aspect of trading just as Ryan did. And being an avid programmer, he and Ryan built dozens of back tests looking to prove (or disprove) trading strategies. He trades by following the data, testing what you trade, and tracking what you trade.

 

Chris is now our in-house coding king. He has developed many trading algos, trade bots, trading grey boxes and trading software to assist in our trade room and evidence-based trading method.  Many late nights and weekends have been spent with nothing more than an energy drink and leftover pizza in order to finish coding a good trading method. His software creations have proven to be very helpful, and he continues to create “art” in trading, and on the canvas!

Brandon
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POSITION:

Trading Coach & Trade Room Moderator

DUTIES:

Virtual trade room trading, coaching & mentoring, weekly market analysis newsletter

ABOUT:

Brandon became interested in the financial markets just after the 2008-2010 mortgage crisis.  His driving force to acquire more education was understanding that trading the financial markets is a skills-based endeavor and that market direction is irrelevant when you can trade both directions.  He took both live and online classes starting in 2011 and continued researching various methods to practice and filter out the best ways to trade the markets.  Although his primary focus is swing trading equity options, he understands the value of discerning the markets to recognize opportunities across all trading markets. 

In 2020, he reconnected with Ryan Watkins for some in-depth coaching and mentoring which was a game-changer.  His revelation, “Simplify, the brain can only handle so much.  Therefore, I will demand to take the perfect setup for all my trades.”

 

In his spare time, Brandon is currently the President of the Dallas Tennis Association, a 501c3 dedicated to providing tennis, education, and life skills to the under-resourced youth in the Dallas, TX community.  He also volunteers for USTA at the National level and is an active member of the Knights of Columbus.  He enjoys most all sports and as well as outdoor activities, especially tennis, and playing championship golf courses.

 

With an engineering degree and an MBA, Brandon takes a methodical approach to his preparation and planning of his trades which serves him well in looking for opportunities.

Alexander
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POSITION:

Trading Coach & Trade Room Moderator

DUTIES:

Virtual trade room trading, coaching & mentoring

ABOUT:

While in college, in late 2008,  Alexander started down the path of trading and investing.  At this point, he was so new to the field he didn’t know the difference between common stock, preferred stock, and livestock but that quickly changed.  He became a student of the market, devouring everything he could from books, websites, magazines, and his own trading experiences.  It was during this time he got involved with an up-and-coming trading academy.  There, he was introduced to many different styles of trading and traders.  This was a blessing and a curse.  A blessing because it allowed Alexander to experience many different styles with a hands-on approach most do not get to experience.  A curse because inconsistency coupled with a mindset of needing to know everything led to devastating results.

 

Stepping back, Alexander knew something had to change.  Specializing in Foreign exchange and commodities he started to put more value on price action, reduced his trading setups, and focused on what’s most important, psychology. This was truly a turning point for Alexander.  Over 4 years he was able to prove consistent results allowing him to become a trading instructor for the academy in 2014.  Bringing together Supply and Demand technical analysis, relative strength, and trader sentiment, Alexander honed his style of trading as an instructor winning “best instructor” awards in 2016, 2017, and 2019.  This was an incredible achievement for Alexander!  Winning these awards against his colleagues, some with many years of experience above his own, led to worldwide recognition.  The classes taught were primarily focused on forex, but he also taught classes on stock portfolio construction and management utilizing ETFs, single stocks, and options.

 

Today, Alexander trades for himself.  He believes consistent profitability in the market can only be achieved once the structure is created with objective rules, allowing the trader to perform consistent actions that can be measured over time.  His passion lies in the markets!  He sees the market as a never-ending flow of opportunities open to any trader willing to make the right adjustments.  Trend trading Forex and commodities are his primary focus, but he also has an appreciation for the power of stock dividends. 

Fernando
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In 2016, Fernando ignited a passion for trading and investing, fueled by an ambition to transform his family’s financial trajectory. His journey was not solitary as he took both live and online classes, and learned from key trader psychologists in the industry but everything changed under the coaching and mentoring of veteran trader and investor, Ryan Watkins (or as Fernando likes to call him, the Bill Belichick in our field).

Fernando is armed with both a FINRA Series 7 and Series 63 license, his commitment to the financial markets took him to work for renowned institutions: working at TD Ameritrade’s Trade Desk in Chicago, he honed his skills in options and trade executions, while his role at CBOE (Chicago Board of Options Exchange) as an options investigator offered him a unique perspective into the “black-edge” of hedge fund traders and the complexity world of options trading.

 

Presently, Fernando rises up before dawn at the howl of his two Siberian Huskies, symbolizing the beginning of another trading day (not so much for the next-door neighbors). Their howls serve as a natural alarm, echoing the market’s unpredictable nature, he rises inspired by their vitality, preparing himself mentally for the day of opportunities and challenges. He is also pursuing the Chartered Market Technician

(CMT) designation; where he currently sits as a Level II candidate, to further solidify his dedication to the financial realm and world of technical analysis and his aspiration to be the pillar of change for his family’s financial legacy.

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