19. Interview with Veteran Futures Trader Anthony Drager

In this episode, we are excited to bring to you the first guest interview on the Mind over Markets podcast! We recently had the pleasure to sit down and chat with veteran futures trader Anthony Drager, who is also the founder of Edge Trading Group and a great friend to us at TRADEPRO Academy. Anthony is one of the most experienced and knowledgeable traders that we know in the futures industry and we can’t wait for you to hear and learn from his trials and tribulations! Generally people fail their strategy well before their strategy fails themClick To Tweet His trading journey started on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as a runner in 1991 when Anthony was only seventeen years old. He managed to find his way back into the pits as an arbitrage clerk in 1996 and then became a member of the Chicago Board of Trade in 1999 as a floor trader in the Dow Jones futures pit. As the industry transitioned from the pits to the screens, Anthony was picked up by Chicago based prop firm International Trading Group in April 2000 where he went on to trade European and US futures successfully for the firm. After leaving the prop firm to trade independently, Anthony made it a priority to keep himself around a small network of traders in order to prevent complacency in his trading. It was after spending some time teaching friends of friends about trading that Anthony found his true calling! He wanted to build his own community of traders to trade with! In 2013, Anthony took this concept one step further and created the Edge Trading Group which offers an education program and trading room, which our founder George was actually a part of while on his own journey learning how to apply order flow tools to his day trading strategy several years back. These days a majority of Anthony’s time is spent focusing on growing his community of traders while actively trading the markets! He has scaled down his trading to keep a balance as an educator and we can guarantee you that you will pick up on some golden nuggets from today’s show! Here is a summary of what we discussed:  How Anthony got interested in the stock market 1:50 How he found his way into the trading pits of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange  03:25 The one thing Anthony’s brother told him that changed the trajectory of his life  05:50 The challenges Anthony experienced as a clerk in the pits of the CME and how he overcame them 07:00 How Anthony conquered the fear of putting on a trade after becoming a trader in the DOW pits 08:45 Why Anthony left the trading pits and joined a prop firm as an electronic futures trader 11:30  Why Anthony credits the group dynamic at the prop firm for finding profitability 15:00 Why the trend is not your friend 18:00 Why trading a process reduces the fear of being wrong and taking losses 19:05 The importance of putting yourself around quality people for your trading success 28:00 Why recording his trading sessions helped Anthony identify and learn to keep control of his emotions while trading 35:00 Why you have to learn to anticipate before you participate 39:40 That fearing being wrong will keep you from success in trading  44:20 How Anthony stayed accountable to himself when he went independent 53:00 How to motivate yourself and break out of a plateau 56:00 How traders can best prepare themselves for the mental toughness required in this industry 65:00 Anthony’s EDGE Trading Group education program 73:12 How the Verbal Journal can help you with missed trading opportunities 77:12 Resources  Connect with Anthony’s community online: EDGE Trading Group Connect with Anthony on YouTube: EDGE Trading Group Connect with Anthony on Twitter: @EdgeTradingGro1 Check out the Verbal Journal Software and claim $50 OFF using the TPA50 coupon. Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Here is the YouTube clip of the trade we mentioned at the 40-minute mark: Aut