Interview, Webinar
What 43 Years in the Markets Teaches You · Stephen Kalayjian
- Stephen Kalajian has 44 years of trading experience, beginning his career on the American Stock Exchange floor on August 1, 1983.
- His career path shifted from potential professional baseball (accepted by the Mets but declined to finish high school) and football to trading after receiving a "D" in an economics course in college.
- Kalajian secured his first position on Wall Street through his father, Jack Kalajian, who was a member of the American Stock Exchange.
- Peter Kellogg, a former exchange executive, hired Kalajian immediately upon his introduction as "Jack Kalajian's son" and later gifted him a check for approximately $900,000 when Kalajian decided to trade his own capital.
- Early in his career, Kalajian blew through his initial $3,000 savings on American Can options, averaging down aggressively before recovering the loss only after a sharp price reversal.
- His father taught him a critical lesson to never average down on losing trades, a rule Kalajian adopted as a cornerstone of his risk management.
- Kalajian worked with trader Joe Salentano, where he adopted a daily profit goal strategy, aiming for $100 daily and scaling up to $400, which helped him generate $1.8–$1.9 million in 1991.
- He was the only individual in the United States to receive a $1 billion line of credit from Peter Kellogg, allowing him to trade massive volumes without violating Regulation T.
- Kalajian was identified by his clearing firm as the world's number one day trader with a 97.4% hit ratio, trading between 30 to 50 positions simultaneously across 90 to 100 different names.
- At his peak volume, Kalajian accounted for 1% to 10% of the daily trading volume in specific stocks like Compact Computer (CPQ) and was the largest trader in the "bullet" derivative.
- Following market decimalization, Kalajian spent approximately 10 years and $2 million developing proprietary software to forecast price action, moving away from purely discretionary floor trading.
- His trading system utilizes divergences, multiple timeframes (3 timeframes), 5 conditions, and 10 strategies to identify repeating patterns and anticipate market moves.
- Kalajian went nearly 10 years without a losing month or year while utilizing his proprietary systems and high-volume trading strategies.
- He declined a request from AIG in 2002 to manage their capital, stating he needed one more year to develop his technology before attempting to manage institutional money.
- He teaches a methodology to traders globally, having built a community spanning over 100 countries to counter the narrative that day traders cannot succeed.
- Kalajian's daily routine begins at 4:30 AM, involving global calls, lessons for students in Europe and Asia, a 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM live stream, and trading the Asian session for a prop firm.
- He maintains a 50/50 mentorship model with a global community, providing direct phone access and refusing to sell affiliate products for prop firms.
- Kalajian identifies the primary reasons traders fail prop firm evaluations as a lack of a structured game plan, rushing the learning process, and trading without stop-loss mechanisms.
- He advocates for a "rule-based" approach, comparing chart analysis to a medical diagnosis where technicians (analysts) interpret data to confirm a "broken wrist" (trend) before treatment (trading).
- His five core rules for trading consistency are discipline, confidence, patience, passion, and humility, which he attributes to his sports background and father's influence.
- Kalajian plans to establish "The Traders Cafe" in West Palm Beach to host international traders and further his educational mission.
- He attributes his longevity and health at 68 to a lifestyle free of smoking and alcohol, maintaining a disciplined physical and mental regimen similar to an athlete.