Most 16 year olds spend their weekends watching Netflix. I spend mine analyzing stock setups.

My name is Rithvik Chethan, and from a young age I had one goal, financial freedom. Seeing people my age build real wealth early on made me realize I didnt want to work a 9 to 5 or get rich only after I was 40.

So I opened a brokerage account and got started. Except I had no idea what I was doing.

My First Mistake: Thinking I Knew Everything

My first instinct was to buy stocks everyone uses. I bought Colgate because it's the number one brand in dental hygiene. Everyone brushes their teeth, right? How could it go wrong? It didn't work out the way I hoped.

So I tried the next easy solution, copy trading. I found traders on social media and just mirrored their moves. That didn't work either. I was impatient, jumping in and out of trades without understanding why, buying stocks with zero research and no chart analysis.

The hard truth I had to accept was that there is no shortcut.

Learning the Right Way

After the easy routes failed me, I committed to actually learning. I took courses, spent hours on YouTube, and found trading mentors who taught me how markets actually move. That's when I discovered swing trading, a strategy that fits my schedule as a student and plays to my strengths as a patient and analytical thinker.

What Is Swing Trading?

Swing trading is a style of trading where you hold stocks anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, until the stock goes up in price. Unlike day trading, you're not glued to a screen all day. Unlike long term investing, you're actively looking for momentum setups with clear entry and exit points.

My focus is on small to mid cap stocks using technical indicators like MACD, RSI, and EMA crossovers, combined with chart patterns like bull flags and ascending triangles.

What You'll Find on This Blog

This blog is where I document my journey. Every week I'll be sharing my watchlists, trade breakdowns, market analysis, and lessons learned along the way. Whether you're a complete beginner or already have some experience, my goal is to make swing trading approachable and show that you don't have to wait until you're an adult to start building financial knowledge.

I'm still learning. But that's the point.

— Rithvik Chethan