This is a very special episode of my Interview With A Day Trader series! I’ve invited Akil Stokes, a professional Forex trader and a trading coach, and Noah Mayer, a beginner trader and a Twitter contest winner who got to ask us his questions. We chatted about the beginning of the trading journey and how the passion for stocks got developed. As it turns out, both Akil and Noah had school teachers who encouraged them to try out investing with fake money. I think it’s a great way to become aware of the market and try yourself at trading and investing. We talked about picking specific strategies as a beginner trader, and what resources helped us become the traders that we are today. All 3 of us focus on small caps, so we discussed how we track the patterns when trading. We also talked about having an emotional response to wins and losses and the importance of rules and clear repeatable strategies that are easy to follow. Akil mentioned a process called IPDE - Identify, Predict, Decide, Execute - that he lives by in his day trading. Akil sees a lot of value in backtesting and building up the psychological part of trading. He told a great story that taught him to believe in himself and to follow through. Back when he was a part of a group training, very few people followed the original plan on a trade that was supposed to be crazy profitable and cashed in too early. He was one of the few traders that held the position as planned, and that experience stuck with him, proving how important it is to trust the game that you play. I loved a piece of advice that Akil has shared: your position size should be so small that wins don't really make you happy and losses don't make you sad. That’s a great way to keep your head cool no matter what happens! How did you like this interview? What questions would you have asked if you were on the show?