Merit Academy

Are you ready to Trade Naked?
When you start learning naked trading, you will understand what it’s like to feel the market’s pulse.

Naked Trading: what is it and how to trade with no indicators? How to trade with no indicators? Naked trading is a trading strategy that uses no indicators or indicators that have been filtered out.

Can you really make money trading the news?
Many traders still make the mistake of adopting the opinions of financial journalists and analysts in their trading strategies.

Why is Trading the News not working? - The Merit Academy Trading the news may be profitable, however, there are several factors to consider before using this trading strategy. Or not use it at all.

What happens when a flash crash hits the market?
Here are some examples of market crashes to learn from, which will help you avoid repeating the same mistakes.

Market Flash Crash explained with examples - The Merit Academy The growth of financial markets has raised lots of new concerns and challenges for market players. While an active trader’s primary activity is to buy and sell securities, the concern of systemic risk has recently risen to the forefront. Whether trading currencies, futures, or stocks, significant ...

Allison Ostrander
Allison graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre. Wanting to make sure she wasn’t going to be a starving artist while pursuing theatre, Allison took up trading options after seeing her father successfully do the same. What started as an experiment with a paper trading account quickly grew into a passion. She decided to pursue trading full-time while investing in personal coaching classes. As a result, Allison was so successful that she made back her investment in her first trade! After that, there was no looking back.

Fast forward to today, Allison has become an integral part of the Simpler Trading family. With her decade of options trading experience Allison continues to grow as a trader, sharing her knowledge within our community. Her experience in not only trading, but teaching others how to trade, shines through in her videos and blog posts. She has experienced and seen other traders go through the ups and downs of trading. Her goal is to help traders minimize the downs, so their ups can outshine in their account. Allison is able to explain complex trading strategies and chart patterns with ease for both beginners and advanced traders. Her unique view of how to look at Capital Risk, the Chart, and the Option Chain can give any trader a new perspective on investing.

For those who have trouble with position sizing, chart reading, or options trading, Allison’s Recycling Risk sessions are a “must watch.” You can often find her participating in the Options Trading Room and the Training Room throughout the market day, or catch her outside of market hours teaching classes and hosting member webinars for the Simpler Communit
https://themeritacademy.com/teachers/allison-ostrander/

Sam Shames
Sam specializes in options, equities, and macro trading using short-term signals.

He started trading in 2007. He began his career by trading index futures and equities intraday and later branched out to options which are now his trading vehicle.

Sam’s strategy is top-down – the tide first, boats second.

A typical path Sam will take before entering a position is understanding the setup on the index such as S&P or Nasdaq first, then the sector, such as technology, second, and the stock third. This gives him an edge in trading as it shows the money flow from the broad market to stocks. Once he has a found a setup he looks for an entry using multiple timeframe analysis to ensure that the signals are aligned on the weekly, daily, and intraday charts. The strongest setups have clean alignment from the intraday to the weekly.

Sam uses two unique indicators, the Trend Oscillator and the HiLo Stochastic to determine the structure and momentum in a stock setup. Both provide important information about the momentum in a chart.

Sam is primarily a shorter term swing trader but as long as the setups and market momentum signal continue to be valid, he will hold the trade. He will also cut a trade if any of the underlying conditions change, take profits, and look for a re-entry when the clarity of the trade setup returns.

You can find Sam’s live content daily in the Options Gold Room, Options Training Room.
https://themeritacademy.com/teachers/sam-shames/

Chandler Horton
Chandler was introduced to trading at an early age, his father Jim ran a wealth management company, and his older brother Taylor had started trading at age 16. Following in his brother’s footsteps, and not wanting to settle for something he did not want, Chandler began homeschooling in 7th grade. He eventually realized the college track was not for him and dropped out of High School his sophomore year.

Chandler then worked until he saved enough money to start his own marketing business which inadvertently led to the process of learning about the markets. Chandler first dabbled in trading in 2017; he saw Taylor’s interest in it and started taking interest himself, so he asked his brother to teach him. Chandler’s first trade ever happened with Taylor by his side. This trade showed him what was possible with options when he made $350 in five minutes. Chandler continued learning and was eventually introduced to John Carter’s video on squeezes which inspired him to take classes on trading. One of Chandler’s favorite classes? John’s “Small Account Mastery/Secrets.” Chandler became a full-time trader in 2018, since then he has worked on developing his trading every single day.

Nowadays Chandler focuses on day trading and typically holds all his trades under an hour. He likes day trading because it allows him to wake up fresh everyday with no negative emotions going into his trading day. Chandler only trades options, and his must have tools are mean/moving average, Squeeze Pro, The Cloud, and Point of Control. Chandler’s trading style consists of finding the best stocks in play and taking advantage of breakouts and strong momentum while leveraging weekly options. Chandler puts a lot of hard work into his trading by planning his setups at night and reviewing them in the morning. Chandler’s prep begins 2.5 hours before the market opens, during this time he watches the news, goes through his focus list, and runs through all the squeezes. Chandler’s favorite tickers are GOOGL, AAPL, and SPX.

A good work-to-life balance is extremely important to Chandler, so when he is not trading you can find him playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, watching shows such as Shark Tank and Money Heist, watching sports, reading, and practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. This balance allows Chandler to maintain mental calmness and patience which he believes are key in trading. Chandler’s mindset towards life and trading is one that breaks mental barriers which he thinks are the biggest obstacles to becoming a successful trader. To Chandler, trading is the ultimate form of self-mastery and fulfillment. He loves trading because there is always room for improvement, and he can get better daily as he strives to become the best version of himself.

If you are looking to get into day trading and mastering set ups that will make you successful in your day-to-day trades, Chandler is your guy. Be ready to have his trading mentality spill over into other areas of your life as he motivates you to not only improve your trades but improve yourself.
https://themeritacademy.com/teachers/chandler-horton/

David Starr
David is Simpler Trading’s “Mad Scientist”. He is the creator of the popular Voodoo Lines(r) and Ready, AIm, Fire! indicators. A trained theoretical mathematician who later took his MBA first in his class, he now trades full time in addition to helping Simpler Trading clients achieve their own success. Many might consider David’s academic achievements and his experience as a strategic management consultant, building companies, and taking them public, to be some of the most respected as ideal preparation for success in financial markets. However, he is passionate in stressing that the key to trading success is understanding and managing one’s own emotions. David’s consulting clients prize his ability to provide customized insights into unique business situations. In the same way, traders who have taken David’s classes or listen to him daily in the Simpler Futures room use his insights to take their trading to the next level. David understands that the same trading style which might allow one trader to approach markets in a calm, collected manner is ideal for reaping profits. Be that as it may, this might provoke the emotional demons that incite account-destroying behavior in another.

Generally, more experienced traders are able to quickly assimilate the trading lessons. David shares his trading lessons and his talent for solving problems in new and refreshing ways. Yet, traders of all experience levels make use of his technical indicators and the out-of-the-box thinking which lead to their development. Even if you don’t yet use one of these tools, you might be surprised to learn that you already make use of his technology on a regular basis as his patented innovations in wireless technology are inside virtually every smartphone on the planet.

For his own trading, David relies heavily on Elliott Wave analysis, sharing his insights into market trends nightly in his Elliott Wave dispatch and interacting daily with the traders in the Simpler Futures room. Viewed by many as too complex, arcane, or unreliable to use regularly, again our Mad Scientist has his own out-of-the-box approach. David regularly hears from clients that his “language of the market” analogy, which describes how Elliott Wave is a language markets use to communicate with us, finally made this style of analysis easily understandable and that his Elliott Wave analysis of markets provides them actionable trade ideas.

Even with a more accessible approach, not every trader wants to learn about Elliott Waves. So, David went into his lab and found a way to turn Elliott Wave analysis on its head and make all of its weaknesses into strengths. Too many people abandon the style of analysis viewing it as too subjective or only accurate in hindsight. If everyone agrees it’s accurate in hindsight, David thought, “let me create a tool which projects current prices from waves which occurred long enough in the past that there’s no argument about the pattern.” Voodoo Lines was the result and not only do traders love how magically it tends to find support and resistance, they also appreciate that all they have to do is look at lines on a chart without any complex wave knowledge required.
https://themeritacademy.com/teachers/david-starr/

Tammy Marshall
With a passion for Fibonacci analysis, Tammy will always be here helping you learn how to trade more accurately using specific entries and exits. Always looking to provide insight, Tammy takes her unique background in teaching, a deep understanding of the Fibonacci sequence, and her ‘stay-at-home’ lifestyle to create a sense of acceptance in the room. She does her best to answer each and every question about a chart — and why, or why not, she thinks it’s a good trade to take. She tries to build her sessions around you and your needs! She helps traders see the benefits of reaching financial freedom while not having to sacrifice being a stay-at-home mother to two beautiful girls.

Tammy began her career as a school teacher after she graduated from Georgia Southern University and, as luck (or fate) would have it, she met and fell in love with her now husband, Bruce Marshall. Bruce immediately piqued her interest in trading in 2010, constantly showing her options strategies on ThinkorSwim. Through Bruce’s affiliation with Simpler Trading, Tammy then met Carolyn Boroden on a company trip in 2014 — that was when it all began to click. Carolyn had been looking for someone to mentor and train in her room when she realized that Tammy was the ideal choice.

Fast forward to today, Carolyn has been training Tammy in Fibonacci analysis using the program Dynamic Trader. Carolyn hired Tammy officially in 2019, and recently, Tammy has joined the staff at Simpler as a Content Provider in the Fibonacci Room. During her sessions from 8:15 – 8:30AM, she focuses heavily on providing analysis on the indices every day before the market opens (as well as taking chart requests Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday).
Her goal is to teach you how to trade more accurately using specific entries and exits based on Fibonacci analysis. Her charts focus on the numbers derived from the Fibonacci sequence to help design the right setup whether you’re trading stocks, options, or futures. If you’d like to be more consistent in your trading and have defined zones, the Fibonacci trading room is the place for you.

You can find Tammy daily in our Fibonacci trading room before market open, sharing her Fibonacci analysis and potential setups with our members. In addition, you can find her in the Training Room.
https://themeritacademy.com/teachers/tammy-marshall/

Jack Roberts
Hailing from the small town of West, Texas, Jack brings a light-hearted composure to Simpler Trading. A composure only maintained through almost two decades of trading and a solid grasp on trader psychology. Jack has a special relatability factor in the room — a characteristic that’s made many members feel right at home with his easy going mentality and thirst for knowledge. He tackles complex ideas in a way which allows for traders of all experience levels to understand, while taking a more humorous and entertaining approach of explanation. He’ll be the first to tell you that you never stop learning as a trader – that’s the only way to get better! After all, that’s what started his path to becoming a full-time trader.

With his grandfather as his mentor, and later on, John Carter, Jack took it upon himself to pursue trading from a self teaching perspective. He spent his first four years trading only stocks, then moved into options once he saw some additional opportunity for faster growth. His ‘aha’ moments came when he got a jump start on Elon Musk’s pipe dream and bought options of TSLA, which have since skyrocketed, as well as being one of the first to get in on both AMD and TASR (which is now known as Axon). That’s when he realized he has a knack for seeing things before most and used that to build his trading career into what it is today.

Today, Jack can be found giving what he calls ‘unique ideas and perspectives’ in the Live Trading Chatroom. His trading style is one of composure and clean setups. For Jack, it’s all about transitioning the setup around where fear and optimism are, with the help of our Simpler trading indicators, of course.

Being a very knowledgeable and experienced trader to follow, Jack enjoys both Micro-Futures and Options on all time frames and strategies. He specializes in growing small accounts as well as trading micro-futures and his favourite sectors to trade are semiconductors and strategies on the NASDAQ. He highly values and respects risk parameters and utilizes his understanding of them to prevent over-positioning. Jack focuses heavily on only getting into trades he truly believes in and he won’t chase a trade once it’s left his risk parameters. If he’s not in a trade he’s probably cracking jokes. If you find yourself struggling with chasing trades or feel that you lack confidence when entering trades — or if you just like being on the front lines and seeing what others generally don’t, Jack’s your guy. You can find Jack daily in our trading room, sharing his analysis and trade ideas with our members.
https://themeritacademy.com/teachers/jack-roberts/

Henry Gambell
Henry is the absolute “zen master” when it comes to being a trader. He portrays the cool, calm, and collected side of trading – a side most traders struggle with for years. That’s what makes him so invaluable as the Lead Content Provider and as a fantastic options trading mentor. He helps traders see the analytical approach to trading, and why you should or shouldn’t logically jump ship with his day trading tips and tricks.

Henry began his career as an IT professional with Geek Squad, and as luck (or fate) would have it, he landed at John Carter’s door to help with a tech issue one day in 2010. John knew right away, Henry’s calm demeanor would be fantastically utilized in trading, so John decided to train him in the art. He was immediately drawn to it, and he began helping John run a certain business out of just an apartment.

Fast forward to today, Henry can be found diving into the Live Trading Chatroom at the opening bell as the Vice President of Simpler Trading. During his sessions, he focuses heavily on scanning for new setups, managing open trades, and walking traders through new trades. He has a knack for breaking down hard to understand macro topics to a finite, easy to digest, micro-level. His expert option market thoughts that he shares in the twice daily Trade Alert emails will carry you through from open to close.

For him, simplicity is easiest. Whether it be in home life, where he meditates daily, or in the world of trading, where he keeps his indicators to a minimum. He loves the Squeeze, Ready Aim Fire, and Voodoo Lines Indicators as they pair nicely with his strict analytical approach to the markets. As a primarily conservative, directional trader, he looks at the markets with a trend following, conservative take. While he sits in the middle for difficulty with complex, income generating options strategies — you can utilize his strategies for any level of trading difficulty as he uses butterflies, unbalanced butterflies, and credit spreads with occasional long calls and puts.

One thing he excels at, which makes him ideal to follow, is risk to rewards scenarios. Henry has a true grasp on what his risk is, and how much he’s comfortable with allocating into a trade or having on the board altogether. This is ideal for traders who struggle with overloading the boat or blowing their account out. You can find Henry daily in our trading room, sharing his analysis and trade ideas with our members.
https://themeritacademy.com/teachers/henry-gambell/