I have bought a DVD course from John Carter and not it was not worth it and not very helpful. But, it did pump me for a couple weeks. However, I am offering mentoring and that would be very worthwhile.
No, I would not buy Pristine materials. Yes, there are real edges. Yes, there are things that work. No, you will not read bout them in books or it will be hard to decode them. Yes, there is something more then the basics.
No, there is no secret. Yes, I am always looking for training myself and to learn new things. Yes, Dr. Steenbarger is/was the real deal. No, most trading psychologist are not.
No, having a plan is not the most important piece.
What is important is to find a truly experienced mentor who will tutor one over time. I do not know of anyone except myself I would trust. Although, I am always keen on what others have to offer.
If I were to purchase training myself, I would look at SMB Training and SpreadProfessor here. Bone was complaining about paying taxes the other day though, seems suspect for a trader with 18 years of winning trades. In general, I am not interested in paying for training though. I would demand some evidence before I forked any cash over. I would also want to know I could implement/use what I was taught.
I discovered the basis behind all technical analysis about 5 years ago. While, I could be absolutely wrong, I do feel I may have influenced Dr. Steenbarger but could be wrong. We were certainly on the same wavelength when he still updated his blog, that is. I think you could learn a lot from his work.
What else? That's all there is. One thing I do is that I will review what other winning traders are doing, how they approach the market.. I always demand evidence though. I do a lot of research. I stay away from promoters (like Carter/Senters) and try to find real traders. I'm confident in my abilities but feel education is important.
Honestly, I think that many people are mesmerized by the dream. They go to seminars and things but don't trad. They aren't really going to be traders but like to consume/pay for the dream. The dream must come from inside though.
A lot of excellent traders did have real mentoring though, for example Andrea Unger was mentored and has one the world cup several times.
While lacking any real mentor, I do have several books mentors, they would would be: Gary Smith, How I Trade For A Living and Dr. Brett Steenbarger. I also try to pick something up here or there from other traders, whatever I can use and integrate into my work or that is similar.
Quote from PropTraderMTL:
My theory is that most courses teach you the basics... nothing more then any good trading book will show you. People have an innate belief that there is a secret to trading and try to find it by taking courses run by people who claim to have it. Additionally many people fail to realize that it is their own ego problems that are holding them back rather then their methods. Sure some have no method but after reading a few books you can get a bunch of ideas that will make you $$ if correctly implemented.
I think that what many courses succeed in doing is instilling a belief in the trader to trust the method taught. Thus overcoming the ego problems and actually giving traders a plan where they lacked one before.
Having never taken a paid trading course and only undergone minimum training (free) I want to ask the question of WHY people pay and has it worked for you? Also for those experienced profitable traders... have you ever taken a course thats improved your trading?
(Background: I ask this question as I see people having a debate about Prestine and other training firms. I'm a profitable trader but have no real desire to take any additional paid training. I read new books all the time and I'm always watching for good discussion threads / trading videos. I also have started keeping a journal)
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