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Ariel Hernandez
Ariel Hernandez, known as Real Simple Ariel, is a trader with over five years of experience in the markets. He started as a day trader and later moved to a swing-trading approach built on clean price action. Ariel is known for reacting to market structure instead of predicting moves, using simple daily chart setups and breakout confirmation. He trades the strongest stocks in the strongest groups, both long and short, and emphasizes patience, clarity, and consistency, sharing his process through live streams and educational content.
Table of Contents
About Ariel Hernandez
Ariel Hernandez, known as Real Simple Ariel, is a full-time swing and position trader with an 8-figure track record in the US stock market. He started trading in 2020 with a $30,000 account and grew it to over $10 million in about five years. He is known for a simple, disciplined, risk-first style, for trading both the long and short side of the market, and for being open about both the big wins and the hard lessons along the way.
How Ariel Got Started
Ariel came to trading with no background in it. His friends were making a few hundred dollars a day on their Robinhood accounts, and that pushed him to try it for himself. He funded his first account with his savings and money from selling a motorbike, a chain, and a watch, since he needed to be over the $25,000 pattern day trader minimum. From June to December of 2020, he learned the basics from scratch: market orders, limit orders, VWAP, gap scanners, and how to read Level 2, and finished that first year having made around $90,000, with most of it coming in the last few months once things clicked.
From Day Trading to Swing Trading
In 2020 and 2021, Ariel day traded a very strong bull market. He scalped dips with a "buy red, see green" approach and leaned heavily on sympathy plays, buying the next stock in a hot theme after the leader ran, like AMC behind GME or the solar and EV names behind the big movers. That aggressive, high-frequency style took his account from $30,000 to $3.5 million in 16 months, and he had months in 2021 that ran from $200,000 to $800,000 in profit. When the market changed in 2022, that style stopped working, and he gave back money, so he stepped back, studied traders with long track records, and rebuilt his process into the swing and position approach he uses today.
How Ariel Trades Today
Ariel reacts to market structure rather than predicting moves. He looks for the strongest stocks in the strongest industry groups, names with good earnings and sales that hold up best when the overall market pulls back. He buys breakouts, undercut and rally setups, and flat base breakouts, and he uses progressive exposure, adding positions one at a time and sizing up only when trades are already working for him. He trades both sides of the market, shorting the weakest names when the market turns down. His main risk rule is simple: he knows exactly where he is wrong before he enters, so his trades are mostly small green, small red, or flat, and he avoids big losses. Winners are trimmed into strength and trailed along the moving averages, which is how he holds the best leaders for days to several months.
Ariel's Trading Philosophy
Ariel treats trading as a multi-decade career rather than a way to get rich quick, and he believes the biggest money comes in the later years as compounding takes over. He credits his progress to never stopping learning and studying traders better than him, naming influences like Peter Brandt, Mark Minervini, Bill O'Neil, and Jason Shapiro. He also stresses the basics outside of trading: sleep, nutrition, and a clear head, and points out that the market is one of the most even playing fields there is, where results come from skill and study rather than background.
Learn From Ariel Hernandez on Chart Academy
On Chart Academy, Ariel teaches Building the Foundation: Relative Strength, Groups, and Risk, a complete swing trading system in two lessons. You will learn how to find the strongest stocks in the strongest industry groups, how to grow your account safely with progressive exposure, and how to size every position by stop distance and volatility. He then walks through his core entry tactics, breakouts, undercut and rallies, high tight flags, earnings gap ups, double top short sales, and the 620 setup, and closes with real long and short trade examples on names like Nvidia, Palantir, Coinbase, and ExxonMobil.
The masterclass is now live on Chart Academy. Watch it free here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Ariel Hernandez?
Ariel Hernandez, known as Real Simple Ariel, is a full-time swing and position trader with an 8-figure track record in the US stock market. Starting with a $30,000 account in 2020, he grew it to more than $10 million in about five years by trading the strongest stocks in the strongest groups, on both the long and short side.
What markets does Ariel Hernandez trade?
Ariel Hernandez trades US stocks. He started out day trading small-cap stocks and now focuses on swing and position trading, holding the strongest stocks in the strongest groups for days to several months, and he trades both long and short.
What is Ariel Hernandez's trading strategy?
Ariel is a swing and position trader who buys the strongest stocks in the strongest groups, names with good earnings and sales that hold up best when the market pulls back. He trades breakouts, undercut and rally setups, and flat base breakouts, and he only adds size when trades are already working for him. He trades both sides of the market, shorting the weakest names when the market turns down. His main rule is that he knows exactly where he is wrong before he enters, so his trades are mostly small green, small red, or flat, and he avoids big losses.
How did Ariel Hernandez start trading?
Ariel started trading full-time in 2020 with a $30,000 account, which he funded with his savings and money from selling a motorbike, a chain, and a watch. He learned the basics from scratch and grew the account from $30,000 to $3.5 million in 16 months.
How much has Ariel Hernandez made trading?
Ariel Hernandez grew a $30,000 account into an 8-figure track record, crossing more than $10 million in about five years. During the 2021 bull market he had months that ranged from $200,000 to $800,000 in trading profit.
What can I learn from Ariel Hernandez on Chart Academy?
On Chart Academy, Ariel teaches Building the Foundation: Relative Strength, Groups, and Risk, a complete swing trading system taught in two lessons. You will learn how to identify the strongest stocks in the strongest industry groups, how to grow your account safely using progressive exposure, how to size positions based on stop distance and volatility, and how to execute his core entry tactics, including breakouts, undercut and rallies, high-tight flags, earnings gap-ups, double-top short sales, and the 620 setup. The class finishes with real long and short trade examples on names like Nvidia, Palantir, Coinbase, and ExxonMobil.
What is Chart Academy?
Chart Academy is a free, all-in-one trading education platform designed to help traders learn real, practical skills from world-class traders. It offers in-depth masterclasses taught by real traders across stocks, options, futures, forex, crypto, and trading psychology. In addition to educational content, Chart Academy includes personalized learning paths, downloadable resources, and access to exclusive tools and rewards, all in one place. There are no subscriptions, no paywalls, and no credit card required. The goal is to make high-quality trading education accessible, practical, and easy to follow for traders of all levels.
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