Hi! I'm Chris Ryan, the "Passionate Trader."

This website is essentially a journal of my stock market trades, starting in January of 2022. This site is not to be considered financial advice, but more a running diary coupled with day-to-day thoughts of the overall market. I decided to create this site as a labor of love and a sort of trading blog to myself and anyone else who might be interested. As mentioned in my FAQ, I truly am passionate about stock market trading - I am constantly watching the market, studying, learning, and attempting to apply that knowledge to my trades.

How Did This Site Come to Be?

It's a long story, really, but I'll try to keep it short. I've been interested in the stock market as long as I've known people could make money in it. Many years ago, I decided to give trading a try, and I failed miserably! I tried again several years later, only to lose around $25,000 through failed trade after failed trade. Never one to quit, I decided I'd keep trying until I found something that worked.

Around that same time, I had learned about Investor's Business Daily and their "CANSLIM" approach to investing in stocks. I was fascinated by what I learned, and I decided to see if I could apply that knowledge to my trades. Unfortunately, I still failed! I then learned of someone named Dan Zanger, who basically took the concepts behind CANSLIM to an extreme. He was incredibly successful and wound up creating his own website: chartpattern.com. I eventually signed up to be a member of his site, and even with all the suggestions, stock picks, and advice his site provides, I still managed to lose money!

Fast forward several years, and my wife and I, somewhat frustrated by the lack of growth in our savings accounts, decided to have a financial discussion. We had been using a financial advisor for several years, but we eventually came to the conclusion that we'd never truly make a lot of money unless we managed our money ourselves. I had continued to study the markets, and I wanted to see if I could put it all together and finally find success.

I never initially set out to become a full-time trader. In fact, I spent the majority of my adult life working in the corporate world as a software engineer. Ironically, the COVID pandemic turned out to be a catalyst for me to be able to trade with the savings my wife and I accrued. Like so many others, I was forced to work from home once COVID hit, and while at home, I decided to keep a stock market charting app open on my home computer's monitor. Having an eye on various charts (while also managing to do my job quite successfully) enabled me to better understand various patterns. I eventually had a stronger ability to recognize what looked like potentially winning trades, typically in very short time frames.

Starting in January 2022, I began to apply a new strategy I had been considering. Rather than trying to apply my chart-reading knowledge to individual stocks, what if I instead applied it to ETF's? I decided to give it a shot, and before I knew it, I had a few successful trades under my belt. I then decided to put more money on the line with each trade, and I slowly grew my confidence as 2022 went on. By the time the year ended, I had more than doubled the savings my wife and I had in the beginning of 2022!

I quickly realized I'd made far more money using the trading method I employ now than I ever earned in the corporate world. After some discussion with my wife, we both decided it'd be worth it to have me switch to trading full-time rather than continuing to work in the corpate world. This website has become the next chapter in this wonderfully amazing adventure!