Alex Gerchik: The Wall Street Star

Many traders and investors across the globe know who Alex Gerchik is. This trader’s story is truly astounding: he decided to try his hand at trading having only $400, yet was able to make his first million dollars in just a year. He got featured in the Wall Street Warriors documentary and started an international brokerage company. What does it feel like to be a legendary trader? And what’s the secret behind such phenomenal success? We have asked Alex Gerchik himself all these questions and more.

Alex, thank you for agreeing to do this interview with us. Could you tell us why you got into trading in the first place? What sparked your interest?

What really captivated me was the sense of independence. Initially, I didn’t understand exactly what I was getting into. I simply joined a brokerage company without really knowing much about the ins and outs of this business. Imagine that you have never traded before and you are being taken to this huge trading floor where you see the dollar skyrocketing. However, you don’t have a clue about what’s actually going on. That is a very exciting experience. Why have I stayed? The answer is simple—trading is my true passion. I love trading to this day.

Is that true that you started trading practically from scratch, having an initial capital of no more than $400?

Yes, that is all true. I had only $400 in my pocket and four broker licenses I studied really hard to obtain for several months. And, of course, I was madly determined to succeed. During my first year, I worked alongside the alumni of top American universities, whereas I was nothing but a self-taught trader. I didn’t have the academic background they did, so I had to work twice as hard to figure out the market and learn how to make money there.

When did you make your very-first million?

This happened a year after I started trading. In the meantime, I managed to find my own trading style and started trading consistently without major losses. Because of this, the company let me use leverage which is basically this large capital you can take advantage of and make trades with. This way I was able to make big deals and thus big profits.

In 2006, the world learned who Alex Gerchik was thanks to the Wall Street Warriors documentary. Please tell us more about this project and how you got featured in it.

Wall Street Warriors is one of CNBC’s top projects, a reality show which gives a glimpse into how money is made on Wall Street. People featured in it are famous traders who made it big. There was a huge casting, with over 2,000 candidates wishing to become a part of it.

And yet, the producers picked you. Why do you think that is?

I believe my trading performance is what sparked their interest. When I was invited to join the project, my entire statistics, yield, and trades overall for the past 8 years were closely checked. They discovered that I only had 9 losing days between 2001 and 2003. At the time, I traded intraday and made from 1,000 to 1,500 trades simultaneously. What’s more, I haven’t had a single losing month since 1999 which is a rare thing for traders. I suppose that’s what stroke their eye and even made them award me an unofficial title of the safest day trader on Wall Street. By the way, you can still find and watch the episodes where I’m featured on YouTube.

What impact did that project have on your life?

It just basically boosted my popularity, although a lot of traders already knew who I was and wanted me to teach them even before the show aired. Otherwise, there was no dramatic change as such. Thing is, trading is about everyday routine work, market analysis, and risk management. It’s not like being more or less popular will suddenly make this entire process simpler or easier.

Alex, you've been trading for over 20 years now. Not every pro trader can brag about having such extensive experience. What's your secret? Do you use a particular trading strategy?

Level trading is the backbone of my strategy. Levels are these specific areas in the chart where the largest capital is at. If you spot where big players are accumulating their money, and understand why they are doing it, you can make the right decision whether to buy or sell the asset.

And obviously, solid risk management is a must. When trading, I always calculate risks and teach others to do so as well. It’s important to understand how much money you can afford to lose if something goes wrong rather than how much money you can earn.

Risk management is probably the trickiest part of trading. What piece of advice would you give newbie traders who wish to keep risks under control?

My main piece of advice would be to work on building strong self-discipline. It will help you trade solely based on your trading strategy and not let fear, thrill, or greed get the best of you. As evidenced by statistics, people tend to lose everything in 90% of cases when they don’t have proper discipline. However, with the right mindset and preparation, you have every chance to succeed.

Needless to say, not everybody is able to control oneself. And I myself had been wondering how I can help traders who wish and can make money but are having a hard time taming their emotions since they lack discipline. And I found the right solution. At Gerchik & Co, we offer our customers a unique tool called Risk Manager. It is a software solution that controls trading automatically and doesn’t let you take more risks than you can. What you do is set the relevant risk parameters such as risk per trade or per day, and once this threshold is exceeded, Risk Manager disables the trading altogether. Essentially, it acts as an active break assist. And judging by the feedback from our customers, it really does work.

Since you’ve mentioned Gerchik & Co, tell us how you decided to start your own company? After all, there are a lot of brokers in the market as it is.

Indeed, there are plenty of brokerage companies out there. However, I often heard my students wish that they had better trading conditions and services. And started thinking about how I could help them out. In 2015, a talented trader and entrepreneur Ivan Kroshnyi and I founded Gerchik & Co, a company where both newbies and seasoned traders would feel comfortable trading at. In 2021, the company made it to the top 3 global ratings, being recognized for its excellent trade execution quality. What this means is that traders at Gerchik & Co can take advantage of the best and fair quotes. In essence, there are traders, and there’s a market. We simply act as intermediaries. Everything is transparent and straightforward.

Does your being famous affect a company’s reputation and image in any way?

I suppose it does. Many traders and investors end up at Gerchik & Co because they know who I am, know what I accomplished, or saw me in Wall Street Warriors. They understand that this company is credible given that its president is a professional trader himself.

By the same token, my own reputation as a trader and mentor depends on how successful and trustworthy the company is. This is why my team and I make sure that our customers make profits and trade smoothly. This is very important to me.

And last but not least, what are you planning to do next? What are your immediate goals for the coming years?

I intend to continue working as a trader. Trading is something I can no longer imagine my life without at this point. And it’s not just about the money. It’s what I truly enjoy doing. As far as my goals are concerned, I want to teach even more traders. It brings me a great deal of joy seeing my students succeed. Also, I just want to be happy. That’s something I wish for everybody!