Life In The Fast Lane
He was a hard-headed man, he was brutally handsome … and the stock market was terminally pretty.
Stocks held him up, and he held them for ransom — in the heart of the cold, cold city.
He had a nasty reputation as a cool dude. Some said he was ruthless; they said he was crude.
But, Great Ones, he has one thing in common with Great Stuff: We’re both tryna make you profits in this crazy market.
Faster, faster, the stocks are turning red!
That’s life in the fast lane, Great Ones. And I have just the cool dude to help you drop a gear, burn out and profit in a hurry. Just go easy on the clutch, will you?
This week, Banyan Hill’s very own Chartered Market Technician, Chad Shoop, wants to show all y’all how you too can live life in the Fast Lane … without losing your mind.
Everything, all the time.
So, without any further ado, let’s get to it! And, if you’re lucky, Chad might even show you a little radar love on your way out…
Mr. Great Stuff:
Chad Shoop! One of the OG options masters here at Banyan Hill. You have no idea the honor it is to have you sounding off in these here virtual pages. Welcome!
Now, we have a treasure trove of questions here, selected by the Great Ones themselves.
One reader asks: “What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?” Another wants to know if your neighbor has three rabbits.
And finally, I want to know: Why are they called “apartments” when they’re all smushed together?
Chad Shoop:
Joe … I thought you were only like this at parties. Why am I not surprised?
Mr. Great Stuff:
Wait, did you want to talk about … like, trading and stuff?
All right, all right. We’ll stay work-appropriate and dig into the market, if you insist. So, tell us a little bit about Chad Shoop, the trader … well, and Chad Shoop, the human, too. You are a true man of mystery, so start yappin’.
Chad Shoop:
Truth is, I’m a simple man, Joe. Just working to provide a life for my wife and kids, all while doing what I love for a living. Can’t ask for much more than that.
I’ve spent my life studying the stock market and how to profit from it. That’s led me on one heck of a journey over the last decade, and it’s all culminated in what we’re talking about today: my brand-new Fast Lane approach to options trading.
It’s taking everything I’ve learned — from how to analyze the stock market, to mastering the potential of trading options — all into one strategy.
Mr. Great Stuff:
Life in the fast lane, huh? It’ll surely make you lose your mind. But let’s back up a bit. How did you come to discover this “Fast Lane?” Or, as the kids these days would say … sauce?
Chad Shoop:
I guess you could say the roots of this began as I was studying to become a Chartered Market Technician.
Only a rare handful of people have this credential. It means I devoted my education to understanding technical analysis — reading charts to spot trends and upcoming breakouts in the market, essentially.
The professors doled out textbooks for us to read through … and I did my reading … begrudgingly.
See, I’m not much of a book guy. I prefer to learn hands-on. So, all I really wanted to get my hands on was the charting software that partnered with the CMT program, Optuma.
This is high-level charting software, offering access to some of the most advanced indicators and tools available to analysts today.
Once I had it, I dove in headfirst. I wanted to know everything it was capable of.
That’s when I stumbled, literally by luck, on the foundation of my Fast Lane approach. It was hidden inside this charting software as a unique way to analyze the markets…
Mr. Great Stuff:
Now that really does sound like some secret sauce. What was this hidden gem? This diamond in the rough?
Chad Shoop:
It’s something I’ve started calling the “Profit Radar.” It looks like this:
See those four colored boxes? They each represent the behavior of a sector or stock in the market. Red is lagging, blue is improving, green is leading and yellow is weakening.
Depending on where a stock plots on this chart, we can see how it’s behaving relative to whatever we want to compare it to.
This is actually a fairly niche indicator called the “Relative Rotation Graph.” But I’ve modified it with a custom bit of scripting — my Fast Lane Code — to show me which stocks are moving into the fast lane of the markets and which will stay stuck in the slow lane.
Mr. Great Stuff:
Ah, so it’s not as simple as just getting this Optuma charting software … I knew it!
But, man, you’re programming now?
I fancy myself a bit of a programmer and computer guy too, but this is a bit above my paygrade.
Chad Shoop:
You know, I actually started to learn computer code at one point. I wasn’t trying to switch careers but wanted to work through some of it with my son. Like really basic stuff. But he gave up pretty quick, and so did I.
I realized, though, how valuable coding is when it comes to creating proprietary trading systems.
So, I was able to apply what little I knew about actual coding and implement it on the charting software systems I was using.
And having some knowledge of how coding works, along with my experiences and skills in the stock market, I get to have a lot of fun analyzing different trading strategies.
Mr. Great Stuff:
You and I clearly have different ideas on what constitutes “fun.” Wow. Great Ones, this is the type of guy you need doing all the heavy lifting. A guy who loves coding, analyzing and getting down and dirty with numbers.
Sounds like you really dig this stuff, Chad….
Chad Shoop:
It’s probably my favorite part of trading, aside from making money. But the two go hand in hand.
I look at my successful trading career and give a lot of credit to my ability to write these lines of code that can spit out trades that generate profits.
And the line of code associated with our Fast Lane strategy is no doubt the best one yet.
Mr. Great Stuff:
I like the cut of your gib, my man. So, how do we turn this thing on? Where’s the accelerator?
You’ve already done all the hard work, Chad, so I’m assuming all we have to do is floor it and … boom! We’re off like a shot!
Is it really that easy?
I’ve heard your Fast Lane Code spits out two trade opportunities a week — what do these trades usually look like? And how do you pick stocks to trade?
Chad Shoop:
Simple is what it’s all about. If any trader shows you some over-complex trading system, odds are it simply doesn’t work.
But our single line of code is as easy as it gets.
It’s a two-pronged approach that makes total sense when you see how it works.
We start with five broad indexes and look at them relative to the global market. Indexes like the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Russell 2000. These five major indexes cover essentially any stock that’s worth trading.
Then, when we run that simple line of code through them, we can figure out which indexes are in the fast lane or slow lane of the market.
What we look for is the moment an index enters the fast lane. That’s when we want to jump in and ride a strong move over the next few days.
That’s step one. Next, we take that index and pull it apart. We want to look at all the stocks within it and pick the single stock that’s expected to make the strongest move over the next few days.
So, if the Russell 2000 looks like it’s about to enter the Fast Lane, I’ll drill down and find the top stock of those 2,000 that’s set to move the fastest.
And this is all using that Profit Radar I keep talking about. It’s a one-of-a-kind approach to viewing the market that allows us to take a relative look at all the price moves that go on.
Mr. Great Stuff:
Profit Radar … aka stock speed gun? You’ve got a literal radar detector to filter out all the slow-moving junk — nice!
You had my curiosity, now you have my attention.
What kinda gains have you scored so far with this trading method? Beta tests, back tests, live trading … doesn’t matter. Give me the deets, man!
Chad Shoop:
Actually, we’ve done all of the above. That’s the key to vetting these strategies to perfection.
I started with a 10-year back test to flesh out my idea. And it beat the Dow Jones Industrial Average 3-to-1. So, we did a beta test for three months with just a few of us around the office. And the results were even better.
On my first-ever trade, I picked up a 308% return in eight days. And this was on a boring old ETF…
Once I saw that, I knew we were on to something special. In the three months that followed, we booked gains of 111% in four days … 137% in 24 hours … 183% in 12 days…
And then, when I started sharing the trades with my subscribers, the gains kept rolling in: 148% in three days … 158% in five days … 109% in one day … and even 269% in five days. It’s truly been incredible.
Mr. Great Stuff:
That’s no joke!
Now Chad, not to be a Negative Nathan on you here, but I’ve got another question about living life in the Fast Lane … and it has to do with volatility. The dirty word!
With how things have been in the market lately, we need a trading strategy that can shift gears faster than a ‘69 Olds 442 with a Hurst slam shifter.
Would you say that this an all-weather kinda trading strategy? What market conditions make the Fast Lane extra … well, fast? Do you live for broad market volatility or try to avoid it, generally?
Chad Shoop:
A Negative Nathan? That’s the first time I’ve heard that one, Joe. I always use Negative Ned, but I get your point.
And it’s not negative at all.
For traders, volatility isn’t a dirty word. We love it actually. That’s when our trades make some of their biggest gains.
So we don’t get shy around volatility. We embrace it.
That’s because our Fast Lane strategy naturally works in all sorts of markets — bullish, bearish, whipsaw and so on. The short-term nature of it — and the fact that we can play both sides of the market — keeps us ahead of the curve.
Fast Lane naturally flips on the spot, and can shift from being all-out bullish, to placing bearish trades the very next day.
All we do is essentially flip our main line of code to spot the indexes and stocks that are running too hot to continue. Essentially, they’re overheating after they entered the fast lane, and now the odds of a slowdown are more than likely.
So, we flip the switch. We’ll go from a bullish trade to a bearish trade to another bullish trade, all within seven days — sometimes sooner.
The volatility in the markets is what drives our trades, showing us when things are set to breakout, or when an index is about to hit a traffic jam.
And from there, we know exactly how to trade it.
Mr. Great Stuff:
So, let me get this straight. Your system doesn’t care what a company does. It doesn’t care what direction the stock’s moving in — especially after you flip your switch — and it doesn’t care about volatility, rather it thrives on it?
Holy cats, Chad. This thing fits with practically every market scenario I can think of, and it completely takes emotion out of the equation.
It almost sounds too good to be true … not that I’m doubting ya!
But enough of all this serious chitter-chatter. It’s probably pretty obvious considering your whole “Fast Lane” schtick, but I hear you’re a real car guy.
So, I’ve gotta ask: What’s your dream car? Are you driving it already?
Chad Shoop:
Oh man, that’s tough.
Definitely not driving it already. My current car is fun, but it’s a family car. The Porsche Panamera GTS. So it has some sport, some power, and still has four doors to haul the family around.
But I’ve always loved fast cars, so it would have to be something that’s quick. And nowadays, all these cars are quick.
I think Tesla makes one of the fastest 0-60 cars on the market. And there are some other supercars that hit top speeds above 300 mph.
For some reason, I’ve always loved the Porsche 911. The GT3 version. Something about the curves on the Porsche always made it stand out to me compared to the Ferraris and Lambos of the world. Those cars are awesome, but I still prefer the look of the Porsche lineup.
I think that’s a big reason why I like the Panamera. It’s not the stylish two-door cars they make, but it’s as close as you can get to the real thing.
And with a wife and two kids, I’ll take that any day.
Mr. Great Stuff:
Ah, yes, the Porsche! That’s my family car of choice too… Pay no attention to the pre-financial crisis minivan in my garage … my Panamera is in the shop.
Anyway … thank you again for joining us between two virtual ferns, Chad! I know you’re too polite to brag about the Fast Lane once more, so … allow me!
Great Ones, Chad’s about to release this strategy to the public for the very first time. Using it, Chad says he’s able to target the fastest-moving stock in the fastest-moving area of the market every single week. But that’s just the start.
By trading the right option ticker along with these targets, Chad can leverage this Profit Radar to produce gains like 109%, 137%, even 246% — all in the span of just one day.
But … he can only take on 500 people to start. Chad writes to nearly 100,000 people each week. Close to 1,000 folks have already signed up to watch his presentation today.
That means if you’re not signed up to watch Chad’s presentation as soon as it drops, you’ll want to put your name down right here ASAP.
Once more for the people in the back?
Chad Shoop! Fast Lane trading! Sign up to check it out! Pronto!
And with that, we bid you adieu. Until tomorrow, at least.
Let us know what you think of these Great Stuff interviews! GreatStuffToday@BanyanHill.com is where you can reach us best.
In the meantime, here’s where you can find our other junk — erm, I mean where you can check out some more Greatness:
- Get Stuff: Subscribe to Great Stuff right here!
- Our Socials: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
- Where We Live: GreatStuffToday.com.
- Our Inbox: GreatStuffToday@BanyanHill.com.
Until next time, stay Great!
Regards,
Joseph Hargett
Editor, Great Stuff
