• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Trading Heroes

Trading Heroes

Forex Trading Education

  • Blog
  • Shop
  • About
  • Login

Greg McLeod: How A South Central Public School Teacher Became A Successful Forex Trader

This is a great interview from our friend Shaun Overton at One Step Removed. He talks to Greg McLeod, a former co-worker of his at FXCM. Greg used to be a public school teacher in South Central Los Angeles, where he actually taught trading to his students. There are a lot of great tips and fun stories, so take a lot of notes and enjoy!

Home / Successful Trader Profiles / Greg McLeod: How A South Central Public School Teacher Became A Successful Forex Trader

By Hugh Kimura

greg-mcleod

I interviewed Shaun Overton in Episode 16 of The Trading Lifestyle Podcast and he gave us some great tips about how to create automated trading systems. Shaun also has a YouTube channel where he interviews different trading personalities.

The interviews that I like the most are the ones with people who aren't “big name” traders.  People who are killing it in trading, but don't have a late night infomercial.

One interview that caught my eye was with Greg McLeod.  He used to be a public school teacher in South Central Los Angeles, one of the roughest areas in Southern California.  This fantastic interview goes through the story of how trading has affected his life and gives us a peek into how public school education can be made more relevant and interesting.

I found this interview particularly refreshing because Greg gives honest answers about what it means to be a professional trader and the process he went through to get where he is now.

In This Interview

  • How a weather station became a covert trading room
  • Why he decided that it is better to help people from outside the classroom
  • How he teaches by example
  • Why he is sending his kids to Chinese language lessons
  • How he has turned some traders around in as little as 30 minutes
  • Why you shouldn't trade on Mondays
  • Courses he has bought
  • And more!

To get more notes on this interview, they are provided after the video. This interview is almost an hour long, so I obviously didn't provide notes on the entire interview. But if you want to decide if you want to invest an hour into this video, the notes can help you make that decision.

SEE ALSO: The Easiest Way to Automate Your Trading Strategy (without knowing programming)

How He Got Started In Trading

He was watching TV one night and saw a commercial for commodity trading.  The brokers on the program were telling viewers how they could use leverage to purchase large quantities of things that we use everyday.

So he promptly opened an account and bought some November Soybean options and the worst possible thing happened to him.  He ended up tripling his account.

This was a bad thing because he did not know anything about trading, but it made him feel invincible.  He didn't even look at a chart when he placed the trade and trades still had to be done over the phone.

After some lessons from the school of hard knocks, he switched from options to Forex and figured out how to trade consistently.  Shaun has personally seen him double accounts when they both worked at FXCM.

How He Taught South Central Los Angeles Kids Trading

Greg found that most of his students didn't want to learn the traditional subjects like history and math because they didn't see much practical use for it.  But when he showed them what he was doing in trading and that they could make money without resorting to stealing or selling drugs, a lot of them got very interested.

So he made a deal with them.  He would teach them to trade, if they agreed to pay attention in the traditional subjects.

What he discovered was that they were actually excited to learn things about history, math and economics when they could apply it to trading, an endeavor where they could see the direct correlation between knowledge and potential income. They traded paper accounts and his students bought stocks like Clorox.  His students were engaged, where not ditching class and not calling him names.

As you might imagine, the school soon shut the program down because the bureaucracy kicked in and didn't see the value in teaching trading. That is when he decided that it was time to leave teaching.

SEE ALSO: The Trading Books That Changed My Life

Teaching His Own Kids To Trade

When Greg's kids were 6, he started teaching them about trading. In order to make it understandable to young children, he simply taught them about bulls and bears.  Bulls push things up with their horns and bears pull things down with their claws.  This is great advice for people who want to expose their kids to trading, but don't want to make it too technical.

In the interview, he tells a funny story about how his daughter helped him realize that he was on the wrong side of the trade. He switched his position and ended up making money.

Conclusion

So if you want to check out Shaun's other interviews, you can subscribe to his YouTube channel.  I would recommend that you follow him because he has some very educational and fun interviews with people like Jim Rogers.

If you want to find out more about Greg, you can visit his website at Forex Pay Days.  Yes, the logo is a little cheesy, but he has some great information on his blog.  Here is a screenshot of some of the trades that he shows on his website. I haven't taken any of his training, but I look forward to finding out more about him and possibly getting him on the Podcast in the near future.

past-trades

I hope you enjoyed this video interview and I will post more when I find them.

To see a case study of Greg's success, go here.

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: Some links on this page are affiliate links. We do make a commission if you purchase through these links, but it does not cost you anything extra and we only promote products and services that we wholeheartedly believe in. 

Related Articles

I Interview Trading Hero @BubbleBoyTrader And Find Out If He Can Prove the Existence of God
Paul Rotter - The Legend, The Myth, The Man
How Rafael Veron Taught His Wife To Trade Better Than Fund Managers // EP10

Category: Successful Trader Profiles Tag: Success Stories

About Hugh Kimura

Hi, I'm Hugh. I'm an independent trader, educator and researcher. I help traders develop their trading psychology and trading strategies. Learn more about me here.

Top

 

Share This Article


First posted: December 2, 2014
Last updated: May 25, 2022

Primary Sidebar

Trading Guides

How to Figure Out Your Trader Personality Profile

The Best Trading Books Ever

The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Forex Backtesting

How to Create a Precise Trading Plan (with PDF worksheet)

Footer

Company

  • Support
  • About Trading Heroes
  • Trading Courses and Education
  • T-Shirts & Trading Gear

Tutorials & Guides

  • Recommended Trading Resources
  • Free Forex Trading Course for Beginners
  • The Trading Blog
  • Best Trading Books
  • Forex Trading Strategies
  • The Trading Lifestyle Podcast

Community

  • YouTube
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Private Trading Community
  • Contact
Trading involves substantial risk and there is always the potential for loss. All content on this website is for educational and informational purposes only and is not trading, investment, or medical advice. You should be aware of the risks associated with trading and seek advice from an independent certified financial adviser if you have any doubts. Some links on this page might be affiliate links, where we get a small commission if you purchase through the link. It doesn't cost you anything extra and we only recommend products that we absolutely love. This site uses cookies and using this site means that you agree to the use of cookies.

 

CFTC Rules 4.41 - Hypothetical or Simulated performance results have certain limitations. Unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading. Also, because the trades have not actually been executed, the results may have under-or-over compensated for the impact, if any, of certain market factors, such as lack of liquidity. Simulated trading programs, in general, are also subject to the fact that they are designed with the benefit of hindsight. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profit or losses similar to those shown. Testimonials appearing may not be representative of other clients or customers and is not a guarantee of future performance or success.

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2007–2022 TrueLiving Media LLC | Terms | Privacy | Risk