Jeremy Biberdorf
By: Jeremy Biberdorf
Dec 10, 2023

Mindful Trader Review 2024

Jeremy Biberdorf
By: Jeremy Biberdorf
Dec 10, 2023

Disclosure

Disclosure: This page may contain affiliate links. This means we earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you) if you purchase a product through our links.
Disclosure: This page may contain affiliate links. This means we earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you) if you purchase a product through our links.
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4.9/5

4.9 rating based on 5 ratings

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In a Nutshell: Mindful Trader is a stock market trade alert service focusing on swing trades. Its data-driven approach has regularly produced triple-digit annual returns.

Those who are looking for a no-nonsense swing trading service that can help them easily beat the market will love Mindful Trader. Read our Mindful Trader review to learn why.

FeesService Type
$47/monthSwing trade alerts

Mindful Trader provides swing trade alerts to help you make better trades. Its data-driven approach means you won’t have to wonder if the numbers support its trade decisions.

Pros & Cons
PROS
  • High Value: Mindful Trader offers substantial value for its cost, especially considering the quality of the trade alerts and educational content.
  • Proven Track Record: The service boasts a solid track record of success, backed by data-driven analysis.
  • Comprehensive Analysis: Subscribers benefit from in-depth, data-driven market analysis, enhancing their trading decisions.
CONS
  • Cost Consideration for New Traders: The monthly fee might be a significant consideration for newer traders with smaller portfolios.
  • Specific Focus: The service’s specific focus on swing trading might not align with all trading styles or preferences.

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Mindful Trader Video Review

Full Mindful Trader Review

Mindful Trader was created because its founder, Eric Ferguson, wanted to design a better swing trade alert service. He did just that with Mindful Trader, which focuses on trades that have a statistical, quantitative edge.

What is Mindful Trader?

mindfultrader.com website

Mindful Trader is a stock picking service that focuses on swing trades. Swing trading is a form of short-term stock trading to capitalize on short- to medium-term price increases. Eric developed the service using 20 years of data and statistics. Subscribers receive stock trade alerts whenever Eric makes a trade for himself, from his actual trading accounts…with his own money.

Eric graduated from Stanford University with a degree in economics and even scored a perfect score on the math section of the SAT. He launched the service because, despite his background in economics, he initially lost money in the financial markets when he started trading. He began looking for a service that suited his needs, but much to his dismay, he couldn’t find one.

Eric found that there were no good trading services out there that fit his preferred trading style that were research-backed and the service wasn’t based on just making a sales pitch. He wanted something better—something that was backed by research and with a track record of success.

Thus, Eric started Mindful Trader to fill the role he found had been lacking.

External Mindful Trader Reviews & Ratings

SiteRating
Tradewise Community4.6
Benzinga4.5

What We Like About Mindful Trader

There’s a lot to admire about Mindful Trader, starting with the founder, Eric, and his unwavering commitment to providing a quality trading service. Here are some of the aspects we particularly appreciate:

Steadfast Focus on Trading

Over the years, Eric has remained consistent in his approach, concentrating on what he does best – trading. His primary focus isn’t marketing his service or making extravagant promises; instead, he dedicates his energy to identifying profitable trades based on rigorous data analysis.

This level of dedication is quite rare in the trading world and certainly adds to the appeal of Mindful Trader.

Simplistic Website Design

While some may find Mindful Trader’s website a little outdated, we see it as refreshingly straightforward. It’s easy to navigate and find the information you need without being distracted by flashy graphics or unnecessary fluff.

Authenticity and Transparency

Mindful Trader is a breath of fresh air in an industry often cluttered with over-the-top sales language and gimmicks. There are no pop-up discounts as you navigate away or pictures of luxury cars and lavish lifestyles used to lure in potential subscribers. Instead, what you get is genuine, straightforward information about the trading service.

Focus on Service, Not Sales

One of the most compelling aspects of Mindful Trader is Eric’s focus on providing a top-notch trading service rather than being a skilled salesperson. He doesn’t use high-pressure tactics to draw you in; instead, his trading results speak for themselves.

This approach suggests a high level of integrity and a commitment to his subscribers’ success, which is exactly what you’d want if you’re following someone’s trades.

In short, we admire Mindful Trader’s no-nonsense, data-driven approach and its emphasis on service over sales. The simplicity and authenticity of Eric’s offering truly stand out in the trading service landscape. It’s clear that his priority is his subscribers’ trading success, which is precisely what makes Mindful Trader such an appealing choice.

Mindful Trader Trading Style

Mindful Trader, led by the acumen of Eric Ferguson, adopts a unique trading style that stands out in the realm of stock market trading. This style is deeply rooted in a statistical and data-driven approach, reflecting Eric’s dedication to empirical analysis over speculative trends. Let’s explore the nuances of this trading style:

Data-Driven Decisions

At the core of Mindful Trader’s methodology is a reliance on hard data and statistical analysis. This approach ensures that each trade is backed by a solid foundation of research, minimizing potential losses and maximizing opportunities.

Trade Frequency and Strategies

While maintaining a focus on swing trades, Mindful Trader’s trade frequency is thoughtfully calibrated. Eric’s strategies are fine-tuned to capture the right market movements, balancing the number of trades with the quality of each opportunity.

Development of Trading Skills

Subscribers not only receive trade alerts but also gain insights into the rationale behind each trade. This aspect of Mindful Trader is particularly beneficial for those looking to enhance their trading skills and understanding of market dynamics.

Trading Experience Enhancement

Whether you’re an experienced trader or a newcomer to the market, Mindful Trader’s style is designed to enrich your trading experience, providing a blend of education and practical trading plans.

Alignment with Individual Trading Accounts

Mindful Trader’s strategies are adaptable to various trading accounts and platforms, offering versatility and ease of integration for subscribers.

Each strategy is tested with the Monte Carlo method, which means he uses random sampling of data to model the probability of different outcomes. He uses more than 10,000 different variations during these tests.

Mindful Trader Returns

The performance and returns of Mindful Trader under Eric Ferguson’s guidance continue to impress. With a clear focus on delivering substantial returns, here’s an overview of the recent achievements:

  • Solid Track Record: The past six months have highlighted the effectiveness of Eric’s trading strategies, with notable gains in different trading accounts.
  • Impressive Gains in Options Trading: The Extra Options Account has seen remarkable returns, significantly outperforming average market returns. This underscores Eric’s expertise in options trading.
  • Consistency in Stock Trades: The Main Account, focusing on individual stocks, has also shown a consistent performance, aligning with general market trends.
  • Transparency and Educational Value: The transparency in sharing trade details provides an educational aspect, allowing investors to learn from Eric’s trading decisions.

Overview of Mindful Trader’s Strategies

The strategies employed by Mindful Trader are a testament to Eric Ferguson’s commitment to rigorous statistical analysis and market understanding. Here’s an overview of these well-crafted strategies:

  • Diversification: Mindful Trader’s trades span across a variety of stocks and options, covering numerous industries. This strategic diversification helps mitigate risk exposure.
  • Long-Term Backtesting: Every trading strategy undergoes extensive backtesting (historical data analysis) for at least 20 years. This ensures that the strategies are versatile and effective across various market conditions, from bullish to bearish and everything in between.
  • Raw Edge: Each strategy possesses a significant “raw edge”, meaning it isn’t overly reliant on specific conditions for profitability. The strategies are robust and demonstrate profitability across varying profit or loss criteria.
  • Monte Carlo Testing: Mindful Trader employs Monte Carlo simulations to assess the potential drawdowns of a strategy. It provides a stress test for strategies, simulating multiple hypothetical scenarios to identify worst-case outcomes.
  • Correlation Tests: The service conducts statistical correlation tests to ensure that individual strategies within the portfolio are not too closely correlated. This measure further diversifies the portfolio and shields against potential synchronized strategy failures.
  • Out-of-Sample Tests: To avoid overfitting, out-of-sample tests are performed. This means that strategies are not only backtested on one historical sample but also validated across different time periods to ensure their effectiveness.
  • Standard Deviation Tests: Once the strategies are live, their performance is continually monitored against their 20-year standard deviation lines from backtesting results. This helps ensure that the strategies are performing within the expected parameters.
  • Commissions and Slippage: All backtests account for transaction costs and slippage (the difference between the expected price of a trade and the price at which the trade is executed). This leads to a more accurate representation of potential returns.
  • Multi-Faceted Trade Strategies: Each trading strategy is multifaceted, covering a range of market scenarios. This diversity ensures that the strategies remain effective across different market conditions and trends.
  • Risk Management: A key focus is on managing risks associated with each trade. Strategies incorporate measures to mitigate potential losses, ensuring a balanced approach to trading.
  • Adaptability to Market Changes: The strategies are dynamic, evolving in response to market changes. This adaptability ensures that the strategies stay relevant and effective.
  • Consistency and Reliability: The strategies are designed to deliver consistent results. Through rigorous testing and refinement, Eric ensures that each strategy meets high standards of reliability.

Mindful Trader Features

If you are going to pay a monthly subscription fee for a service, you probably want to be sure you are getting your money’s worth. Let’s take a look at what Mindful Trader has to offer.

Stock Picks

Stock picks are the main feature of the service. You can expect to receive 6-8 picks per week on average, but that can vary quite a bit. Some weeks may not have any picks, while in others you may see a double-digit number of picks.

Each trade alert has a few different parts to it. Here is what you will see when you receive an alert:

  • Bought or shorted: “Bought WMT” or “Bought ETN”: ticker of the stock he traded. Note that there could be times when it says “shorted” instead of “bought,” as he does short-sell. However, most picks will be for buys.
  • Sale Price: After the “bought” or “shorted” indication is the sale price. This is the price he either paid or sold the stock for.
  • The target price: This is the price the stock must reach before his next action. If he just bought a stock, it must go up to the profit target before he can sell it for a profit. In the case of a short, the price must decline to the target before he can buy the stock back.
  • Stop Loss: This is a basic tool for all active traders. If the stock moves in the opposite direction he expects (and the opposite direction it must move to turn a profit), you can have a stop loss price. That will allow you to automatically sell (or buy) at a certain price to cut your losses, then move on to the next trade.

As you can see, the picks are simple, straightforward, and easy to follow.

Note that Eric sometimes deals in MES futures, which you can see in the snippet above (indicated by /MES). These are somewhat like trading in the S&P 500, but they use leverage.

This makes them riskier, and futures can be particularly speculative. If you aren’t comfortable with that style of trading, you could always ignore them; the other trades should still make the service worthwhile.

Mindful Trader Pricing

The cost of Mindful Trader is $47/month. That is more expensive than buy-and-hold services like The Motley Fool, but it’s less costly than day trading services such as Investors Underground. Expected returns for Mindful Trader fall in between those other services, too, so the pricing seems right on point.

Plus, Eric spent $200,000 of his own money developing the service, so you’re getting a deal by comparison! Currently, there is only one monthly plan available.

Who is Mindful Trader Best for?

Mindful Trader is an ideal service for several types of investors and traders:

Swing Traders

The service is specifically designed for swing traders who look to capitalize on short to medium-term price movements in the market. Eric’s data-driven approach to finding swing trades provides a robust framework for these types of traders.

Busy Individuals

People who are interested in trading but lack the time to do the necessary research will find Mindful Trader extremely valuable. The service does all the hard work of data analysis and presents subscribers with clear, actionable trade alerts.

Data-Driven Investors

If you prefer making decisions based on quantitative data rather than gut feelings or qualitative factors, Mindful Trader is a good match. Eric’s methodology is heavily reliant on rigorous backtesting and statistical analysis.

Learning Traders

Those who want to understand the rationale behind each trade will appreciate the educational elements of the service. Eric often provides detailed explanations of his trading strategies, which can be a valuable learning tool. A beginner trader could learn a lot from Eric.

Who is Mindful Trader Not Ideal for?

While Mindful Trader has a broad appeal, it might not be the best fit for certain individuals:

Long-Term Investors

If you’re a buy-and-hold investor who prefers to keep stocks for years or even decades, Mindful Trader’s swing trading approach may not align with your strategy. The service’s focus is on short to medium-term trades, which typically last a few days to weeks.

Day Traders

Mindful Trader may not be the best choice for day traders who make multiple trades within a single day. The service’s trade recommendations are based on swing trading, which involves holding positions for more than one day.

Risk-Averse Traders

While Eric employs risk management strategies, swing trading inherently involves a higher level of risk compared to long-term investing. If you’re uncomfortable with short-term market volatility or the possibility of losses, Mindful Trader might not be for you. That said, Eric trades in very popular, and highly liquid stocks. He is not a penny stock picker.

Mindful Trader Alternatives

This section explores other prominent trading and investment services, providing a comparative overview for potential subscribers to understand how Mindful Trader fits into the broader spectrum of trading services.

Morningstar

Known for its in-depth research and comprehensive stock analysis, Morningstar is a great alternative for investors who prefer fundamental analysis. It provides detailed reports on the stock’s financial health, future growth prospects, and overall investment viability.

The Motley Fool

Specializing in long-term stock investments, The Motley Fool is ideal for investors looking for a stock picking service with a focus on high-growth stocks. Their service is characterized by thorough fundamental stock analysis and an impressive track record of identifying successful long-term investments.

Seeking Alpha

A robust platform for those who prefer a mix of crowd-sourced and expert opinions. Seeking Alpha offers detailed financial metrics, dividend payer analysis, and market insights, making it suitable for investors who appreciate a diverse range of viewpoints and a deep dive into stock research.

Each of these services offers unique advantages, from Morningstar’s comprehensive financial health analysis to The Motley Fool’s long-term stock picking service and Seeking Alpha’s diverse expert insights.

While Mindful Trader focuses on swing trading with a statistical approach, these alternatives provide options ranging from fundamental analysis to a community-driven platform, catering to a variety of trading and investing styles.

Mindful Trader Review – Final Thoughts

In an industry saturated with trading services, Mindful Trader distinguishes itself with its data-driven, transparent, and rigorous approach to swing trading. The service’s commitment to backtesting, diversification, and risk management, combined with a track record of impressive returns, makes it a compelling choice for many traders.

Eric’s methodology and knowledge about trading, grounded in extensive data analysis and statistical techniques, offers a level of robustness that is quite rare in the trading world. His commitment to transparency, evidenced by sharing every trade he makes, provides not only potential financial gains but also an excellent learning opportunity.

The service is not without its caveats – it’s not ideal for long-term investors, day traders, or those who are risk-averse. However, for swing traders, busy individuals, data-driven investors, and those keen to learn more about trading, Mindful Trader presents an exceptional offering.

The pricing, at $47 per month, may seem a bit steep for newer traders. However, considering the quality of the service and the potential returns, it appears to be excellent value for money. The fact that Eric has invested $200,000 of his own money in developing this system speaks volumes about his confidence in the service.

For those who resonate with its trading style, it represents a solid investment in your trading future.

Click here for Mindful Trader pricing and details.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have questions about Mindful Trader and how it fits into your investment strategy? We answer the most important questions below.

By signing up for an account with Mindful Trader, you are not giving the platform access to your money or investment portfolio. No sensitive information is required to create an account, only your email address.

The core focus of Mindful Trader is data and providing swing trading alerts for you to emulate through your usual broker. Since the platform provides no access to your portfolio, Mindful Trader is perfectly safe to use.

Mindful Trader is a relatively new service, therefore there is currently no dedicated mobile app. Although alerts can be accessed via mobile, the platform isn’t optimized for mobile devices.

For the best experience, use the platform on your desktop or laptop computer.

Many similar platforms tend to focus on penny stocks. These are the stocks of micro-companies priced at mere pennies. Unfortunately, these are vulnerable to “pump and dump” schemes, therefore many swing traders are vulnerable to missing the rush and buying high.

As a result of these problems, Mindful Trader focuses on large-cap companies, which are less likely to experience wild fluctuations that could leave swing traders getting burned.

Stock alert services often focus on trades that require up-to-the-minute action. Miss the alert and you’re either left holding the bag or waiting for that next trade.

According to the Mindful Trader website, the stock alerts triggered utilize preset profit and loss points, therefore they’re extremely low-maintenance. Each trade lasts for about a week, so you don’t need to be glued to your computer to take advantage of Mindful Trader.

Other than signing up for the service, all you need is a brokerage account and some cash. Eric uses TD Ameritrade, but whichever brokerage you prefer will work. While it’s possible to emulate Eric’s strategy with less starting capital, he recommends at least $10,000 to start.

That might sound like a lot, but one thing to remember is that The Mindful Trader charges a flat monthly fee. Services that charge a flat monthly fee are almost always more beneficial the larger your portfolio is.

That’s because they aren’t charging a percentage of your portfolio, so how much you pay in fees never increases. Of course, The Mindful Trader isn’t managing your portfolio for you, so the flat fee makes sense.

Mindful Trader is priced at $47 per month, offering a comprehensive swing trade alert service with in-depth market analysis.

Yes, in addition to trade alerts, Mindful Trader offers valuable insights and explanations, contributing to subscribers’ trading education.

Absolutely. Mindful Trader’s in-depth analysis and data-driven approach can enhance the strategies of experienced traders.

While returns can vary, Mindful Trader has demonstrated impressive results, with substantial returns in both stock and options trading.

Yes, Mindful Trader’s alerts and strategies can be adapted to various trading platforms, catering to a wide range of traders.

Through careful strategy development and risk management techniques, Mindful Trader aims to minimize potential losses.

Trade frequency varies, with an average of 6-8 picks per week, though this can fluctuate based on market conditions.

Yes, the strategies are designed to be versatile and effective across various market scenarios.

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