Quote from IVtrader:
there are two individuals posting in this thread that clearly have either never really gone through good one on one mentoring or "bad mouth" it for reasons fo their own. one of those individuals has consistently done this and clearly had some "agenda" of their own.
there are some very good mentors out there. I know from first hand experience. and no I wasn't the mentor. I have posted on this before.
in another thread I provided a way to contact myself about this. you'll have to search the archives to find the contact info. and no I don't financially benefit from this
respectfully, IVTrader, I see no reason for you to make people to email you, only to give them Dan Sheridan and Mark Sebastian's websites. I was appreciative of you responding to my questions and thanked you. Still will- so thank you!
When I started my first thread here and got your response, you made it seem like you knew traders and trading companies first hand who were looking for employees to train them into traders (at least that's what I got out of you wanting me to email you privately- only made sense as it could be sensitive information...)
While you did provide me with company names like Group1 (thank you), the two- Mark Sebastien and Dan Sheridan- their names come up frequently in a google search.
Yes we're rookies and are learning but we do know "something"- enough to know some greeks (minus the second and partial orders in some cases). While I do cede there might be succesfull "mentors"
let me give you an example of why, frankly, most of them suck and why people distrust them.
When I first started learning about options around second to third year in university there was a $2500 course (if my memory serves me well- but it was at least a G-note) being offered on the internet- basically CDs and books and all that- a beginner's level course that would really get you grounded. I won't say whose it was.
I couldn't afford that so I focused on stocks instead. Fast track to graduation of my first degree and I'd known enough about the stock markets and options as well- I'd been trading stocks on my own- with some losses as I explained in my email to you.
Around the same time, I saw a web link advertising a course-
only this time a certain beginners level course was being sold for $5 (for shipping handling charges) to a "handful" of interested people- the clock would run out soon and there were only 2000 copies available...
IT WAS THE SAME $2500 COURSE FROM JUST ABOUT 2 YEARS AGO!!!
I sensed something wrong so I went out, bought a prepaid credit card, signed up, and waited in queue to hit the button in the website that would show me the checkout page. Needless to say the website "went down" due to high volume of interest and the day after they released the copy free to everyone because they were "overlwhelmed" by the response. Yada yada yada, a week later, I get this mail with a giant CD case full with 10-12 CDs and book and etc etc.
So I thought, ok, i'll go through this and see if there's any meat to it.
SO SAD!
Everything I read (and watched- a specially created video series) was available on the internet- had been- then and before then!
Imagine all those people- $1000s swindled- only to learn about primers on the greeks, synthetics and reversals (which are of little to no use to everyday retail traders) and etc etc- absolute novice stuff freely available on the internet (provided one searched for them of course).
I don't like them because I've actually studied option theory academically and know where to look for information on the mathematical side of options- I'm here so hopefully I get a peek into the minds of some professional level traders and not people who have been trained by former market makers. Others have their own reason to be disdainful.
In that respect, IVTrader, as successful as you might be, you're no different than us rookies. I don't mean to denigrate you, just saying your word and ours- the "rookie" lots', probably has the same weight (most of the time).
And yes, there is an agenda here- to make sure people don't fall for the traps of these high priced pseudo-courses.
And just to be brutally honest, just because you are successful (we don't know if you are- but for the sake of argument I'll accept it) doesn't mean the techniques you've learnt are sound.
That's all...
