Nitro, I respect your opinion, but I would like to make some comments on it. Please do not think that I wasn't trying to get something out of it, I most certainly was - but in the end, I found very little.
For example, when I went to the course, part of it was talking about what was acceptable behavior at a professional trading office and what was not. I thought it was complete common sense. However, I understood that the "training course" was also Bright's last "stand" to make sure that it was weeding out the people that did not have the proper mental attributes to be handed $1M of buying power and the capacity to blow themselves to bits in a day, and then, like Mark Barton, come back and take it out on his peers. So I listened and I am glad I listened, because I don't have the greatest etiquette in the world and I was glad to know what was proper and what was not. Does it help my trading per se? Hard to say...
You mean you couldn't simply use your common sense to determine that it's inappropriate to throw chairs around or bang the keyboard?
The training course is not Bright's last chance to "weed out" people, it's the last chance to sell them on joining. It would take an absolute total dip shit to not get accepted by Bright. What are they gonna judge you on? It's not like they interview before letting you join...come on man.
Now, let's talk about the "Food Chain." Well, I can plainly tell you that understanding this has not helped me read the tape so much (though it has some) but it has given me other insights that have helped my trading. Again, perhaps not so plainly, how much thought have you given to this? If something doesn't come to you right away, it is automatically worthless? I read and REREAD what was taught to me by the Bright class once a month as my trading progresses. I find myself regurgitating it, over and over in my mind, and each time, BECAUSE I HAVE MATURED AS A TRADER, more and more of it makes sense to me. You see, we see things as WE ARE, not AS THEY ARE.
The "Food Chain" as you call it comes down to big money and small money. Who has the big money? Mutual funds, hedge funds, pension funds etc Who has the small money? Retail and Prop traders (and depending on the stock, they may be BIG money). Now, when you look at the tape, you see big prints and small prints, right? Does it MATTER whether it's a pension fund or a hedge fund? Not really. It's not like you're gonna say, 'ooh, that's a mutual fund man, it's gotta be. Well then, that means I'm gonna do this.." Sure it's important to understand - but it does NOT warrant spending 2 freaking hours talking about it, especially when the whole course is 20 hours.
As for Earl. When I took the course, Earl was responsible for talking about Trading Psychology. For example, he talked about how, some traders, after making some decent money, decided to stop trading so as not to "give it back." He then went on to explain, how the same trader, when he is down, is glued to his screen the whole day trying to get his money back. He went on to explain how this was completely BACKWARDS - you should hit hard when you are doing well, and you should step back when you are not. I knew this coming in, but it is one thing to think you know it and another to KNOW IT - thanks Earl, I always remember...
Earl is a damn joke. This guy single handedly wasted about 2 hours with endless trading war stories and other silly anecdotes. i don't know about you, but I prefer getting VALUE for time and money.
The "psychology" thing was pretty lame if you ask me. There is nothing that this guy said that has not been said a thousand times better in a book like, "Trading In the Zone". Also, he's the last person who should be talking about psychology. Have you ever asked this guy a question? I doubt that he even listens. It's like he can't hardly wait for me to finish asking my question before he starts talking.
Earl was telling us about how he correctly predicted that T-Bonds woudl stop being issued by the government, (we were talkinga bout using them as a leading indicator) and somone asked him, "yeah, but they still trade them don't they?" Earl's answer: "No.." WHat?? THIS guy is educating us and he doesn't even know that T-Bonds are still traded?? PLease!
Swing Trading. Earl asked: "what's swing trading?" SOmeone tried to answer but Earl cut him off mid sentence, "swing trading is adding to your position when it goes against you, so that you can cash in when it goes your way." Need I comment on the accuracy of this definition?
There are many other examples - I can talk about how Jim Nichols, the old manager of the Chicago office looked at the market and his routine in the morning - I really appreciated that Jim. Or how a couple of first rate traders, at each of the courses, get up and talk about how they are doing and how they got over the learning curve - I appreciated that too Jeff...
Then there is Bob - the ultimate traders trader. What can I say? I just listened and took it in...Thanks Bob.
There is no denying Bob is a great trader, it's just a pity that he seems to have trouble articulating exactly what made him great. My personal impression was that Bob really lacks the patience to be taking a "school". Too many times he seemed to get upset with people that didn't understand his explanations.
Then there were the spread traders - Oh my, don't get me started on this...
Don't get ME started on spreads. How's this for a dangerous example of trading advice:
According to the Brights, adding to losers on a spread is perfectly acceptable and is encouraged. They gave an example where the trader has $50k in his account and the risk on the spread is $10. Then they say to split this risk into about 6 units and add to the position as it goes against you. So far fine. Except that in their example the ultimate risk added up to $40,000. According to Bob though, that's fine. Bob:"$40,000 is that much money..."
Hey? When you only have $50k it sure freakin is! In other words, you are encouraged to bet it all on one trade. I've just gotta shake my head at that....the way I understood trading was the idea is to stay in the game...who knows, Bob's a much better trader than me, maybe I'm wrong..
Also, anyone that's read Don's comments on ET knows how much he is against paying for trading "lessons" "courses" etc.
Yet, lo and behold, on Day Four the Brights permit one of their traders to give us a half hour presentation on his spread trading website ($200/month) and a "trader coaching clinic" for $3500. Hmm. Double standards wouldn't you say?
Really, the list goes on and on...For me, it was a gold mine, and I was like a kid in a toy store....
The list goes on for me too...
