TradingLife Podcast with Brad Jelinek

Hosted by Brad Jelinek

BusinessInterviews guestsExplicit

Website RSS feed

Episodes

253

Latest episode

Dec 2025

Language

About the show

Short form audio discussing life as a trader. My focus will be on how to think, how to learn from mistakes, and how trading relates to so much more than the markets. I will also do some self reflection on my own journey. I’ll bring up market setups, lessons from trading, and trends I’m seeing. I will speak on cryptos, stocks, futures, and certain evolving situations. My goal is to have the content be timeless so listeners can get value regardless of when they tune in.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

December 26, 202519 min

The Joy of the Game, & The Great Simplification

In this reflection, I explore why longevity in this business requires genuinely loving the "mundane" work—plotting charts, reading research, and tinkering with data—rather than just grinding for a paycheck. I draw parallels between my trading journey and starting Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in my 40s: you don't have to be the most athletic or the fastest to win; you just have to love the puzzle enough to keep showing up.Key Topics:The "Grind" Fallacy: Why survival is impossible if you don't actually enjoy the game itself.Evolution of Style: Moving away from high-stress, noisy futures trading toward longer-term swing and position trades that allow for cleaner execution.Technical Strategy: How I'm using AI to build custom indicators (like adapted McClellan summation indices) and focusing heavily on improving exits—learning to sell into euphoria rather than just focusing on the buy.2026 Resolution: Ruthless simplification. Cutting out the "energy vampires" (short-term noise) to double down on the strategies that actually work for my personality.

December 19, 20255 min

Getting Centered, The China Pivot, & Commodity Breakouts

In this episode, I talk about the discipline of "getting centered"—why nothing good ever comes from FOMO or fear, and how I train myself to sit on my hands until the setup is perfect. I break down my recent long positions in Chinese equities (betting on the sentiment pendulum swinging back) and why I am seeing massive opportunities in commodities like Glencore while everyone else is chasing US AI.Key Topics:The Mental Game: Why I don't trade unless I'm centered and acting with "aggression and firmness" rather than anxiety.The China Thesis: The AI arms race and buying when the market is "uninvestable."Commodities: How I use custom price-action baskets to spot breakouts in hated sectors.Market Outlook: Why I'm waiting for better entries on US Tech/AI.

December 16, 20251 min

Building a Stock Sentiment Tracker: Pivoting from Seeking Alpha to Reddit

I’ve been working on a new project this week using the "Yutori Navigator" API. The original plan was to scrape Seeking Alpha articles for comment volume and upvotes to catch market sentiment, but I realized they guard their data too closely, so I switched to Reddit. I'm having much better luck there and have already found some interesting sentiment trends on stocks like Duolingo and PayPal. I'm also tracking a theory that "silence"—when the chatter suddenly stops after a big price move—might actually be a powerful turning point signal. I’m going to keep refining this to see if I can build a solid automated tracker.

December 13, 20252 min

6 AI Projects I'm Building: Killing QuickBooks, Automating Substack & Trading Tools

People often ask what I’m actually building with AI all day. In this episode, I break down the 6 active projects I’m coding right now to automate my work and save money:The QuickBooks Killer: Replacing a $30/month subscription with a custom Python & Plaid script for automated tax reporting.Content Agent: Automatically converting podcast audio into a written Substack newsletter.Voice-First Trading Journal: A system to log trading results and tax liabilities verbally into a secure database.Global Earnings Tracker: Monitoring earnings revisions across US and global markets.The Buffett Scan: An automated scanner finding stocks that meet Warren Buffett’s investing criteria.Yutori Scouts: Using a new navigator API to dig up better market intel than Google News.

December 8, 20254 min

The "Top Player" Rule & 4 Other Lessons

I’ve been refining my process for longer-term holds, and the market just handed me 5 painful but valuable lessons.In this episode:Management Integrity: If they miss guidance, get out.Buy the Leader: Don't nurse the loser (NVO) when the winner (LLY) is running.Positioning: Be okay with half-size until the chart proves you right.Crowded Trades: Beware of "Value" stocks that are actually just stuck longs.Execution: Never add to a loser until fundamentals and technicals improve.Listen in for the full breakdown.

December 5, 20251 min

Why I Pay for Information (And You Should Too)

Is a subscription fee holding you back from a winning trade? In this episode, I break down why paying for premium market information is one of the best investments you can make.I discuss:Why I commit to 6–12 month subscriptions to test value.How paid info helps identify narrative breakdowns and ownership data.Real-world example: How I used paid research to successfully hedge with "story stocks" during a market downturn.Why having more tools in front of you leads to better decision-making.Don't trade in the dark—load yourself up with the best ideas possible.

December 2, 202511 min

Building AI Trading Tools, The MSTR Premium, and "Old School" Sentiment

After a brief hiatus, we are back to discuss the evolution of a modern trading workflow. In this episode, we cover the transition from standard spreadsheets to custom, AI-built Python tools—including a new voice-to-text trade logger and qualitative scanners based on "Rule Breaker" investing principles.We also dive deep into current market mechanics, blending old-school sentiment analysis with new-school data. We break down the "Investor Day" top in Nvidia, why the disappearance of the MicroStrategy (MSTR) premium removes a critical bid for Bitcoin, and why China and commodities might be the next contrarian play.Key Topics:Workflow Evolution: leveraging Claude to build SQL databases and voice-logging tools.Market Psychology: How "Investor Days" and retail euphoria signal tops (The NVDA example).The Crypto Thesis: Why MSTR losing its ability to issue equity at a premium signals a potential drop for Bitcoin to the $50k–$60k range.Global Macro: A contrarian look at China and commodities amidst the AI arms race.

May 22, 20255 min

New AI Ideas!

I share with you some personal projects that i amdoing with artificial intelligence that I think you might find interest in.

May 16, 20258 min

Maintain perspective by zooming out

I discuss my interaction with a younger Trader and how we are working on zooming out and maintaining proper perspective when developing new trading strategies and when reviewing trade results.

April 14, 202514 min