It is late so I will try to be brief, but it will be hard. I have lots of mixed feelings about Gary.
But first:
- I trade for a living, MBA, etc. - but futures only - 5 yrs
- I took his entire basic 5 session program three times (lots of info to digest in his 4-5 hour sessions)
- took several one-off classes on advanced topics
- took the advanced program ($7500) twice : 12 meetings, 4 hours each, 1 per month
The good:
- I use many of his basic teachings in my daily habits and strategies now, but totally differently and for futures, not options
- amazing marketeer, self promoter, no one sells the dream of riches better than this guy, and I do mean NO ONE
- extremely interesting and persuasive speaker
- geniunely appears to want to help those in financial distress and believes that he can
- massive amounts of info on trading options boiled down in lay terms
- I have ZERO doubt he personally made millions trading options starting from nearly scratch. Seen his house and have several friends that know him well. Believe he made most in the late nineties.
- I learned a ton from him that I still use today, including market timing, chart reading, advanced options strategies, numerous techniques and strategies, discipline, intensity etc.
- generally teaches very conservative techniques - nothing too exotic or risky
- stresses practice, practice, practice
- overall, can't complain too much about the cost per hour of his training and overall value received
The bad:
- he has some serious ego and control problems that keep him from hearing student feedback
- grossly over-estimates his ability to teach the "art" of trading that he has learned over the past 20 years to total trading newbies
- he doesn't trade nearly as much as he use to and doesn't realized how dated much of his stuff is now
- is the master of showing trades that would have worked after the fact
- sometimes represents or implies that he took a trade that he didn't - we caught him many times contradicting himself
- claims < 5% of his trades are losers (only after being confronted aggressively by several of us did he admit that he does not count small losing trades as losers)
- is 110% against collaborating with other traders or varying from his rules
- doesn't teach money management well at all - says cuts all losers immediately while also preaching patience and giving trades times to work by focusing on the indicators and not the price action resulting in every holding onto trades until it is too late.
- does not teach fixed stop losses!
- uses religion to build his credibility and customer base
The ugly:
- by nature of his style and word of mouth marketing, he has taken money from literally thousands of elderly (>60 yo) folks who don't have the money to lose over the past 10 yrs
- I have interacted with probably hundred or so folks over the years that have taken his classes, NOT ONE achieved anywhere near the results he promised on a sustained basis (more than a year), many quit their jobs, lost their money and then had to go crawling back to work
- he clearly and liberally threatens lawsuits agaist anyone that speaks out against him, he aggressively pursues sites and threads that discuss him and seems to be effective at getting them removed
In sum, he teaches a lot of really really solid options basics and strategies but he does not teach enough for the average person of average wealth to make 5-25% a month consistently as he claims. And worse, he discourages you from trying anyone else, ever, for any reason.
So, if your friend is one of the fortunate .1% that make it from rags to riches under Gary he will be happy. Otherwise, he will spend alot and learn alot, but in the end realize there is much else to learn - hopefully he will still have some money and self confidence left to do so. That's the only reason I survived GW.
Disclaimer: the above represents my personal experiences and observations and beliefs. I cannot prove many of my comments, they are just highly educated guesses from a studious, thoughtful, and concerned former student of Gary Williams.
