When Evan Medeiros started his first blog about stocks, he never intended for it to turn into a full-fledged business. The Trade Risk was meant to be a personal record, or as he calls it a “public diary” to share his thoughts, experiences, and observations in stock trading.  

But years later, Evan is a much sought-after educator in stocks and investments. Today, The Trade Risk is a go-to website for traders to learn about data-based investing. Evan himself has been interviewed and published in finance-focused media, such as MarketWatch, Investor’s Business Daily, Stocktwits, and The Money Show.

In a way this is not surprising—Evan hails from an impressive entrepreneurial background. Computer-related work in particular appears to be in the blood:

  • His father launched his own web design agency, Slocum Studio, after a successful car dealership expansion.
  • His brother Matt Medeiros is well-known for delivering WordPress news through his newsletter and podcast, The WP Minute.

Evan himself has an academic and professional background in computer science and software development. Leveraging his 25+ years of coding, he has built a catalog of automated trading tools, stock scans, and custom indicators. The Trade Risk the leading third-party developer for the Worden TC2000 trading platform.

I didn’t start blogging on the Trade Risk with the intention of turning it into a business – that part all happened organically a couple of years later as my readership grew and traders began reaching out to me for more of what I was sharing on the site.

—Evan Medeiros
Banner Image for The Trade Risk Case Study

Table of contents

The Transition to Paid Services

From its earliest genesis, The Trade Risk was built on WordPress. This platform choice is in part thanks to the experience and insights of Evan’s brother, Matt Medeiros. Matt was instrumental in helping Evan set up his nascent blog. Evan says that WordPress’ DIY, open-source ethos makes it the perfect fit for an evolving website like The Trade Risk.

I knew that if I was going to produce additional daily or weekly content I would need to offer ongoing access and so a membership model made the most sense.

—Evan Medeiros

With time, as demand grew for his stock market analyses and individual trade ideas, Evan decided to add paid services. He realized he could deliver value to traders who might want to save time following the research and analysis that Evan was already preparing for himself.

Evan built his first membership model using Paid Memberships Pro. The site offers extra content, extra access, and expanded market analyses and trade suggestions to paid members.

With all the huge changes WordPress has undergone in the past ten years, it is notable that PMPro has been one of the most continuous and stable plugins on the Trade Risk website.

PMPro has been one of the longest-running plugins on my website and it really hasn’t required much attention or upkeep throughout the years.

—Evan Medeiros

The Trade Risk Exclusive Content

The Trade Risk stresses an approach to investing that is “rules-based,” supported by data and research. Its approach is meant to help investors avoid an emotional, often knee-jerk response they may have to market fluctuations. Evan and his team analyze markets by building scans, trading tools, and quantitative systems—all of which are based on rules.

A substantial amount of trading education is available at no cost on the website. Free content includes a library of videos, podcasts, tutorials, articles, and a weekly newsletter.

However, for those traders who want to level up with exclusive market research to help manage their portfolios, Trade Risk offers three turn-key trading systems (Merlin, Lamorack, and Galahad), each with different parameters. 

Screen shot of the Trade Risk Education Center

For serious traders who own the Worden TC2000 stock analysis software, Trade Risk also sells a variety of scans and indicators. All this in addition to a weekly curated list of high-quality growth and earnings stocks. More specifically, those stocks expected to trend higher and outperform the market in the months ahead.

How PMPro Drives The Trade Risk

Evan outlined some of the features of PMPro that are critical for powering The Trade Risk’s services.

  1. Easy Set Up: The initial setup was self-explanatory, making it easy to implement limited access to members-only pages. 
  2. Critical Integrations: PMPro integrates with the payment processors and email marketing CRMs Evan uses. The integration with MailChimp is particularly convenient, as membership levels via PMPro sync with segmented campaigns and user lists. Evan can send content and announcements according to each specific membership level.
  3. Member Level Home Page:  This PMPro feature automatically redirects a member to their respective “home base” on the website, displaying different content according to their membership level.
  4. Intuitive User Interface: The Levels settings page makes it convenient for Evan to update and monitor member levels.
  5. Add Ons: PMPro’s Add Ons allow Evan to customize and add specific functionality according to his website’s requirements.
  6. Engagement: PMPro encourages engagement with users and members who come back to the website consistently. With so much new member content uploaded daily, the site has become very sticky. This includes content like the latest stock market commentary, new stocks on The Trade Risk’s own TR150 Watchlist, or the latest trading system portfolio positioning.
  7. Support: PMPro’s support forums have been helpful, responsive, and timely with advice.
Infographic for how PMPro drives The Trade Risk

On Evan’s PMPro wishlist are checkout options that include cryptocurrency, and a “buy now, pay later” option for lifetime or annual memberships to help boost conversions.

[PMPro] does what it’s supposed to do and what it promises to do. There’s not a tremendous amount of complexity or bloated features.

—Evan Medeiros

Guiding Principles Behind The Trade Risk

While Evan currently is weighing his options for future scalability, he holds to two strong non-negotiable principles in guiding his business. Number one is operating The Trade Risk with a strong moral compass by offering products that he personally uses and that provide value. 

The second principle he shares likens running a business to investing: it’s best to optimize with a long term outlook over short term gains. This outlook that places trust and reputation over quick profit.

Always execute with a long-term view in mind…  If I can sacrifice short-term profits for long-term trust, reputation, and gains, I want to make that trade-off every time.

—Evan Medeiros

Likewise, Evan advises investing in the stock market with the long haul in mind. While nearly anyone can invest using current technology, those who want to dig deeper and learn more about it can start learning with The Trade Risk’s weekly YouTube videos and free e-newsletter.

You can also follow Evan Medeiros at:

Jean Roth

Author: Jean Roth

Jean Roth is a design consultant and digital presence specialist who has been tinkering with WordPress one way or another for over thirteen years. The multi-faceted background in marketing, branding, writing, and intercultural awareness she brings to her web and graphic design consultancy is the result of working in academia, tech, non-profit and diplomatic environments, some overseas. She’s been the recipient of certificates of appreciation from the City of Los Angeles for design work in volunteer community outreach, and enjoys a work space that nearly always has cat or two around.

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