The MindShift Podcast

How to Trade the Bond Market with Jason Sweeting

1/19/23 3:06 PM

6 Minutes Read

Episode 70

Jason Sweeting turns people into ATMs and teaches them how to trade the bond market inside his trading academy.

He has no magic powers. He’s a guy that got serious about trading. He worked hard and studied the market for countless thousands of hours. The knowledge that he has shared has helped himself and others gain control of their financial life.

Don’t miss out on this episode as Jason drops a high-level introduction masterclass on trading the bond market.

Why you should How to Trade the Bond Market with Jason Sweeting

Why Jason chose the bond market.
Learn how the market works.
What makes the bond market predictable.

Episode Highlights

Jason’s start in the world of trading

- He was visiting a friend and asked him what are those squiggly lines on his computer screen.
- His friend told him that he would make either $1700 or $1100 that day, depending on the last trade.
- Jason asked his friend what he was doing to make that kind of money and read many books.
- The book? Trading in the zone by Mark Douglas.

Trade the bond market, when did he start

- His first trade was in 2014.
- He stepped away for a couple of years and started a business with his wife.
- In 2017, he came back into trading.

What questions Jason asked himself

- Ask yourself if you want to learn something fast or slow.
- Then ask if you’re going to learn something that is high paying or low paying.
- Also, ask yourself if you’re going to learn something erratic or predictable.

What is cancel culture

- Jason didn’t want cancel culture to affect his trading.
- A CEO of a company comes out in favor of something that’s not popular. Cancel culture is going to grab that position, and it will fall.
- An example that he gave is the CEO of Papa John’s.

What makes the bond market predictable

- Jason says that the bond market trades the way you should trade.
- The way that buyers and sellers communicate over the asset is the way that they do it.
- He says that you don’t get the erratic emotionalism of indexes.

Financial freedom – Turning people into ATMs

- When does an ATM get money? ATMs give money.
- When he turns people into an ATM, Jason says he will make them a resource that others can come to and get what they need.
- He says that it’s not about that you want a million dollars. It’s that if you have it and your friend has a $25,000 problem, your friend doesn’t have a problem.

The Bond Bullies

- Jason says that an alliteration is a great tool for memory.
- He feels as though the market has bullied us for too long.
- The market consists of participants, and if enough people can come together, amazing things can happen.

Have retail traders had the short end of the stick?

- Yes, because they have taught the masses that this is alchemy.
- That there are only a few that can do this.
- People have underestimated themselves because the market has made it, so people who can control the information have.

Why did Jason go back and teach

- A friend of his told him he’s a great teacher and that no one can teach trading as he can.
- Jason believes whether you’re the janitor or the producer, they should acknowledge you on the record.
- Facebook isn’t the product, it’s the bait, and you are the product. College isn’t the product, it’s the bait, and they sell you to the lender.

High paying versus low and what is a tic

- Bonds are the highest paying in the financial markets.
- The tic value is the pricing structure of the market.
- The numbers are achievable.

Is trading nothing more than gambling?

- Jason says, don’t trade like you are going to Vegas; trade like you are Vegas.
- He says that there are some games that Vegas won’t deal with because they don’t have the statistical edge.

Becoming the house in the market

- The market is always dealing a game.
- Don’t play the markets game, play the games that you wish to play.
- Jason compares it to the weather report. If there is a 30% chance of rain, at what percent do you grab your umbrella?

How do markets work

- The purpose of a market is to facilitate trade.
- He says that if you are at the supermarket, it’s trade because you give them money, and they give cereal.
- Another example is the job market, and you give them skills; they give you a paycheck.

The one thing Jason wants to be remembered by

- He says that it’s not about whether you succeed or fail; it’s about whether you try or give up.
- He wants to leave an example for his family that you can dream and then dream again.

3 Powerful Quotes from this Episode

The Shift

9:35 – “I got started of a desire. I was in Atlanta, Georgia. I was going to hang out with one of my friends. And I got there a little bit early, and when I got there, I asked him, and I said what those squiggly lines are? On the way out? He said, well, you know, either Today I’m going to make 1700 or 1100 depending on what happens with this last trade, and That’ll be that. And I asked him what his trading was at the time I was a full-time musician. I was doing pretty good for myself, you know, making good money I was playing four or five nights a week might have been taken home, seven $8,000 a month. So it wasn’t a bad living. But here I was watching a guy who was making 1700 or 1100 a day, and I was going to what kind of Vodou is he doing? to do his because I’ve never seen anybody do it. And man, that was my entree into training. He said, Oh, I’m trading. I say, Oh, well, what’s that? He said, Well, here’s the book. Here’s a book. Here’s a book go. And that was all I needed. I just started devouring books, reading, reading. Interesting. You know what, everybody does YouTube University. And you try and jump in and jump in and jump in. So I just failed and failed and failed. And that was it.”

Making people into ATMs

18:59 – “It’s not that I want a million dollars. It’s just that if I have it, and my friend has a $25,000 problem, he doesn’t have a problem. Because we got that, that’s not a problem anymore. And that’s really the vibe I turned people into ATMs. Yeah, you’re gonna make a lot of money. I mean, cool. The thing is, now we can be better dads. We can be better moms, and we can be better sons and daughters, we can be better sisters and brothers. We can retire our wives or retire husbands and we can pay college tuition or high school tuition. Maybe if our kid’s friend needs a little help with their cap and gown, we can pick up that cap and gown for graduation. You know, we can be a blessing to the people around us. We can be a team.”

Trading is like the weather report

39:10 – “You are a probability person. Because when you wake up, you read the weather report. Will it rain today? There’s a 30% chance of rain. While at what percent? Do you grab your umbrella? Because that’s a trade. If you can read the probability, there’s an 80% chance of rain, and you grab your umbrella. You know that there’s a highly probable chance you get wet today. Even if you don’t, you still feel good about it because you had your umbrella. Now the market is always dealing a game. Only play the games that you know how to play where you have the edge. Don’t play the markets game, play the games that you wish to play. As the market presents as the buyers and sellers express themselves on the screen in front of you. Your job is to not pay attention to any of the noise. Then they’ll give you one that you can pay attention to. And when that time comes, you have a high probability scenario for yourself, and you know what can happen next. If that is the case, then you’re no longer taking risk. All you’re doing is grabbing your umbrella because there’s a good chance that you’re going to be wet.”

About Jason Sweeting

He has no magic powers. He’s a guy that got serious about trading. He worked hard and studied the market for countless thousands of hours. The knowledge that he has shared has helped himself and others gain control of their financial life.

His market proficiencies include the 30-year bond market and the S&P500 futures. After working more than the requisite 10,000 hours, he finds comfort in knowing that his hard work isn’t in vain. He finds joy in sharing what he knows about the market. He started the Jason Sweeting Trading Academy so he could teach the average person how to trade the bond market like a pro.