Mindful Trader Review

Mindful Trader Ratings at a Glance

From an economic perspective, the easiest route to financial freedom is to invest in a franchise, real estate or stocks. If you choose stocks, you most likely will need a  financial adviser or expert to help you select  the right stocks to invest in because not all of them are profitable. Although relatively calm during certain cycles, the stock market is a very chaotic trading environment rift with high and low periods.

Individual stocks display even more volatility, moving up or down depending on industry activities, company news, political upheaval or geopolitical changes. A company's fortune can therefore change for good or worse in a moment. The unprecedented declines and gains in 2020 brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic are a typical example of how chaotic the market can get. For instance, at the heat of the pandemic, there was a historical 34% decline. Such a historical drop rarely happens unless investors start panicking.

Because of the volatile nature of the market, investors can sometimes enter a trade based on emotion rather than statistical facts. However, entering a trade based on emotions, rumors or unwarranted enthusiasm has only one certain outcome: loss.

Mindful Trader founder Eric Ferguson understands this perfectly well, having been trading stock for years. He knows that the traditional approach to trading based on news and trends may not always yield the necessary results for investors. Having tried different strategies and found them inconsistent, he needed a radical approach and data-driven solution that would forestall unnecessary losses. Through his quest for a solution he created Mindful Trader—a stock picking and trade alert service devoid of gut or good feelings, sentiments or bias toward any particular company. 

Ferguson is first and foremost a great math guy.  His love for numbers played a major role in helping him graduate from high school as a valedictorian. In addition, he was among the few students to earn a perfect score on the math portion of SAT. 

When he applied to study economics at Stanford University, the reputed institution was eager to accept his application. As an economics major, Ferguson had the opportunity to sharpen his mathematical mind, which he then applied in analyzing stock market trends. After analyzing and testing various traditional strategies with inconsistent results, he concluded that the inconsistency was because  he was trading without an edge or understanding of the historical success rate of his chosen strategy. Ferguson then began to define his trading strategies.  

For each strategy, the historical success rate is evaluated based on more than 20 years of back-testing, enabling Ferguson to identify strategies with long-term profitability. In the more than 20 back-tests of his strategies, the median annual returns were 181%. On November 2, 2020, Ferguson transitioned from a hypothetical results-based analysis to live trade. 

Stock pick or trade alerts

Stock-trade alerts are at the core of the services Ferguson provides his clients through Mindful Trader. The alerts service provides simple and specific information for a client to move forward regarding what, when and how to invest in a particular stock. A typical trade alert will appear as follows:

 “Bought AMGN at 245.63. Set profit target at 255.21. Set stop-loss at 236.05. Closing by 12/04/21.”

If you break down an alert, you will be able to determine:

Position 

The position tells a client whether to go long (buy) or short (sell). The position in this alert is "buy." Ferguson does more buying than selling. Although, you'll get an alert for "short sales" sometimes. Both work pretty the same.

Ticker

Each company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has reference ticker letters that represent its stock. The ticker in this alert is AMGN, which is for Amgen Inc., a pioneer biotech company.

Price

The price tells clients the amount Ferguson paid for his position (his entry price). In this alert, the price is $245.63. There might be a slight change in entry price by the time you execute your trade, but that won't significantly affect the target profit.

Profit target

The profit target is the price at which Ferguson will close his position and take a profit. In this alert, Ferguson will take a profit when the price hits $255.21.

Stop-loss

Stop-loss is used to minimize loss. It defines the price at which it is assumed no profit can be made for a trade and will close the position. In this alert, the stop-loss is $236.05.

Time limit on trade

This tells the client when Ferguson hopes to close the trade regardless of where things stand. It is also referred to as maximum holding time. By defining the time limit, Ferguson shortens the time your money is exposed to risk. There are 3 things that can happen:

1. Your trade hits the target profit and closes.
2. Your trade hits the stop-loss and closes.
3. None of the above happens, and your trade closes on reaching the time limit.

The frequency of alerts is largely influenced by market activities, which can be high or low. The average is usually 1 to 3 per day or 6 to 8 per week. Ferguson doesn't trade stocks that are not signaled by his back-tested trading strategies, which are supported by statistical models such as the Monte Carlo method of random sampling using more than 10,000 different variations and stands true going back more than 20 years. Ferguson takes time to break down every little step so that you can place a trade within 3 minutes of receiving the alert.

During high market activity, more trades are likely to signal Ferguson's back-tested strategies. Therefore, clients tend to receive more daily trade alerts. During market lows, days may pass without clients receiving trade alerts.

Educational materials

Ferguson has recently made trading education a key part of the Mindful Trader services; the educational video contents are excellent resources for clients, especially newbies. It details Ferguson's Mindful Trader strategies as well as  stock trading in general, trade indicators and guidance on trading platforms. The options and futures trade education provides clients basic information specific to these classes of assets and is worthy of their time and money.

Paper trade

Paper trade is the same thing as demo trade. Mindful Trader doesn't incorporate demo trading because it isn't a brokerage platform. Still, Ferguson recommends trying  his strategies first on a demo account in your brokerage platform to better grasp the process.

Additional email alerts

In addition to the main stock trade alert services, Ferguson sends clients market commentary emails that focus on financial markets, stock-pick updates, current positions and planned changes. You can also send your questions and suggestions.

A subscription costs $47 a month.  After the 1st month, you can cancel at any time. Mindful Trader is costlier than buy-and-hold services such as The Motley Fool Stock Advisor but less expensive than day-trading services like Investor Underground. Mindful Trader’s  pricing seems fitting considering that expected returns fall in between these  other services. Again, viewed in the context of the $200,000 Ferguson invested in developing this strategy, $47 a month is reasonable.

You can subscribe using either Paypal or a credit card. You also need a brokerage account to get started. Ferguson uses TD Ameritrade, but you can always choose your favorite brokerage. 

Although there's no fixed capital required to emulate Ferguson's strategy, he recommends at least $10,000 starting capital. This makes sense because he charges a monthly flat rate. Larger accounts are usually favored by services charging a flat rate because your service charges remain constant with an increasing portfolio.

The customer service review is overwhelmingly positive across platforms because of the efficiency and speed with which Ferguson attends to his clients. Direct access to Ferguson is one of the benefits you receive after you sign up. 

Contact Ferguson via email anytime during business hours.

Mindful Trader Mobile App

Mindful Trader is relatively new in the market, and there currently is no mobile app for the services. 

Many users reported  considerable increases in their upside in a matter of weeks while also testifying to a radical change in their trading approaches. Mindful Trader’s stock-picking and trade-alert service is hassle-free, and Ferguson does all the data crunching for you. All you need to do is execute the trade after receiving the alert and await your returns. The alert is set up in a way that you can jump into the trade at any time and still earn reasonable upside. 

The core benefits clients enjoy is the stock trade alerts which come multiple times a day. Although, sometimes, alerts may take days since Eric doesn't pick stock without a quantitative edge. Every trade is tested against his strategy before being selected.  

You’ll enjoy other benefits like.

• Regular emails from and to Eric with trade commentaries. You can ask questions, make suggestions and exchange ideas
• Access to educational video content detailing Eric's Mindful Trader strategies, stock trading in general, indicators and more
• Access to the Wealthy Heart blog that focuses on emotions around money, mindfulness, patience and well-being

Mindful Trader doesn't manage your investment portfolio and has no access to your money or other sensitive information. At its core, Mindful Trader provides you stock trade alerts for you to emulate and execute your trade. 

Signup requires only your email. The security of your account is the responsibility of your broker. Choose a broker that guarantees maximum security of your portfolio.

Mindful Trader aims to provide a solid performance regarding easy-to-follow and quantitatively data-driven stock market trade alerts, backed by prominent industry-level statistical research. The monthly subscription is affordable at $47, and the educational content is also rich and beneficial, especially for newbie traders signing up to the platform. 

The videos provide a faster way of understanding the platform and the philosophy behind the trading strategies better. Customer support is highly efficient and fast.

Mindful Trader vs Competitors

Mindful Trader has a few similarities and differences compared to other  trade alert services. These may or may not give it a competitive edge.

Pricing

At $47 per month, Mindful Trader is within the price range for most alert services. The Motley Fool Stock Advisor costs $199 per year without the flexibility of a month-to-month subscription. Investors Underground costs $297 per month, and OpenStrategiesInsider costs up to $167 per month.

Designed for swing trades

Most popular stock picking services like Trade Ideas and Investor Underground are designed for day trades—that last for minutes and hours instead of days. Day trade alerts are very time-sensitive as small changes in entry price with time can make all the difference between making a profit and losses. 

You have to stay glued to your computer for trade alerts to pounce on. In contrast, Mindful Trader is designed for swing trade—which takes days. A delay between entry price or time doesn't make much difference, so you don't have to stay glued to your computer waiting for an alert.

Penny stocks

Penny stocks are micro company stocks and are susceptible to pump and dump. Once the alert goes off, the price can skyrocket if enough people rush to buy. If you're late, you'll buy "high." 

Now once people start selling, the price will tank and you are left holding the back. Unlike say Tim Alert, Mindful Trader focuses on large-cap companies like Apple, Facebook, and more since the stocks of such companies don't undergo such wild fluctuations.

Historical price research

This is the most distinguishing feature of Mindful Trader compared to other alert services. In Mindful Trader, alerts are only sent out for trade after the stock has been back-tested against historical data and proven to yield returns. 

Eric doesn’t trade stocks that are not signaled by his back-tested trading strategies. This highly minimizes the odds of running into losses. However, sometimes it can take days to find stocks that signal the requisite trade strategies.

Mindful Trader Tutorial

There are rich educational video contents where Eric detailed his Mindful Trader strategies, stock trading in general and indicators. Eric also recently added a tutorial videos section on options and futures trading. These videos are very beneficial, especially to newbies and can be accessed either on the Mindful Trader site or YouTube.

Frequently Asked Questions

Methodology

For brokerage reviews, Benzinga created a weighted scale based on the following criteria: usability, services offered, customer service, education, research, mobile app, account minimums and fees. We aim to provide the most up-to-date, impactful and trustworthy reviews. For an in-depth look at our process, read the full methodology process.