Why do people pay for trading courses/training?
- Thread starter PropTraderMTL
- Start date
Agreed 100%. That describes all of the would-be traders who hope & pray that following some trade-signal room will pave their path to riches without time or effort involved.
Those are the 95% who churn thru this profession and lose. that group also includes those who think they can follow some random alias in public message boards or twits and tag along their trades. Certain failure is the guaranteed outcome, every time.
But for the relatively small percentage of aspiring traders who are serious about this profession, they soon realize that following threads where (supposedly) mature adults fight over paper trades and archaic systems to the point of lawsuit threats ain't teaching them anything.
The same serious students of trading soon realize that threads in here where endless rotation of new aliases make random calls without rhyme or reason, blow up and fade away until new aliases repeat the cycle ain't teaching them anything.
Public boards like this may offer mindless entertainment, but there's nothing educational happening at all. So the serious students look elsewhere for professional knowledge. Maybe they find it and maybe they don't, but it sure as hell is not available inside here.
Training courses might help in making a trader more disciplined, but my experience shows that most of the discipline, or lack thereof, comes through during actual trading in any case.
They buy the courses because the Dream Merchants are adept at convincing a naive trading public that you can knock down 10% returns on a monthly basis. Yet, strangely enough, not one of these panderers has ever come forward with a multi-year track record with real money at a real trading firm showing how they have done it themselves.
Very true, and I'm going to venture a few honest comments (with the understanding that my words may be misconstrued, biased, or even an attempt to market our training..... well, I'll go ahead and make it easy for those that might think that way... Don Bright = sales guy, promoter, Don King in securities garb (I like that the best)..... those who really know me, I think know better... I have taught classes in several colleges, lectured at MIT, mentored via radio and TV, and yes, have done my best to help hundreds over the last 30 years)......
for those with an open mind, let me try to explain my feelings about "training" (yes, with quotes) and training (no quotes)....
I have had experts come to classes, hedge fund managers, heck, one of the founders of Ameritrade came and joined the Firm, LOL. I have also had the brand new-bie, the naive (yes, many)... the nay-sayer, the skeptic... the full gamut of traders, and those who would like to be.
I have never, ever, told anyone that I can teach them how to make money. Pretty sad, eh? Why, because NO ONE can. I have told everyone in my groups that there are no systems, no gimmicks, no easy road, no rose colored glasses.... etc. etc. etc. My brother and I have made a lot of money trading (and yes, BTrading is a profitable organization as well, even though "training fees" are a very small percentage)..... my focus has always been simple......
... my focus has always been education...education from people who have and are making money... in very different ways, from the markets. When asked if training is mandatory, I always say "no, but are you sure you want to dive into this without at least knowing the basics?" I am usually told...(in one way or another)... "...I want to use my strategies, my systems..etc." and I say "ok, but would you mind learning a bit more?"
I have a bird's eye view to virtually all types of traders and strategies.. and what I try to do is share current "stuff" - what I, and my group was teaching a couple of years ago has changed dramatically, as have the markets. So many people just want to be "traders" - much like so many people love the idea of being a "professional gambler" (without knowing the work involved in either)..... (Please take a few minutes and read this, just as a little back up: http://www.blackjackforumonline.com/content/Brightint.htm
... I don't make this stuff up... my brother and I have lived all this "fantasy" of being "the guy who takes money from casino's and wall street" ... We have both offered others $$ to play professional blackjack... IF THEY WOULD DO THE WORK and pass a simple test (counting down a deck, showing proper betting strategies, ratios etc.).. and No One lasted more than a week of studying the basics of "Basic Strategy" or a simple "plus minus" count. They would rather sit next to one of us, and just follow what we do, show us their cards, and ask if they should hit or stand, double down etc.... "ARE YOU F#$%^ kidding me people?" (sorry, for that, not my usual style, but I get the same darn thing from wannabe traders).....
My brother paid Lawrence Revere http://www.amazon.com/Playing-Blackjack-Business-Lawrence-Revere/dp/0818400641 cash money to attend his advance class. Mr. Revere asked those who paid money for this class a few questions, asked them basic strategy questions, and then returned the money to over 75% of the students... and said "thank you, come back when you care about your career." NOTE: I just called my brother to verify this story (30+ years ago), it was actually 80%, and Mr. Revere had slides showing simple hit or stand or split or double down questions. So, my brother and one other were given the privilege of staying and learning from this mentor. As you can see from the above Blackjack Forum article...
....this was probably money well spent.... BUT, AS THE QUOTE ABOVE SAYS... YOU HAVE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY YOURSELF AS WELL.
The exact same scenario takes place in every one of my workshops, classes, advanced courses etc. We can teach you "Market Mechanics" (why the markets move up and down), we can teach you How the market moves up and down, heck we can even teach you which button to push to make money on routing... BUT we can't teach you to care about your profession (or your latest "fantasy" about being a TRADER).
I can go on and on with stories about wild success and dismal failure, but at the core you will find that, YES... paying the right people for the right training CAN (yes, just "can") be very helpful.. but the best training in the world is lost to those who will not take this whole thing seriously.
I'm sorry to ramble on, and I sincerely hope you ... those who really care about their trading careers, will take what I have written in the vein for which I meant it... to motivate you to be serious, check out who you're dealing with.... don't fall for "chart guys" or "made a $zillion in 12 months" or "buy when green, sell when red" nonsense. And be warned, that if by chance you end up in one of my brother's classes, you will be forced to listen, work, and probably even get "yelled at" (I'm the "nice" brother, LOL).
Anyway, all the best to you all....
Don
Don great post. Really. But I just hate it when any vendor tells the world about the money they have made trading, yet refuse to document such claims via a multi-year (preferably three or more) real money track record. Instead you get 1001 excuses why you guys won't do that. I would think any vendor (and I can think of only three over the past 30 years or more) would be more than willing to back up their words with real money trading statements for three years or more to validate themselves. True, it might not mean others can duplicate their results, but it at least gives them credibility - a trait sorely lacking in Vendorville.
If you're seriously asking to see our GS sheets, I can't do it on a public board, but if you would like to PM me with your name and phone number, I will call you and post up a temp web page with our various GS accounts for 2010 and 2009... they only go back 2 years. I think it is a bit of "grandstanding" to show what we make, heck I only post up a small "tutoring account" when I posted up my opening only trades for years on here. The fact that Bob and I can make a bunch of money trading does not mean there is any single thing that others can do, as you, so correctly, stated.
I like your alias, and have always liked chatting with skeptics. Heck, I've had to worry about toooo much attention in the old days, when it came to profits in blackjack et al as well, LOL.
All the best,
Don
PS: maybe we can chat about your trading, maybe I can help you... no charge of course.... let me know how you're doing in today's markets. (I'm serious) ?
Somebody is starting to feel a little better. Getting your second wind eh Donny boy? Good to see you stretch your sea legs. Welcome back. Now battle!
I can trade all the other methods I mentioned except fundis, that bollingers, channels, fibs, ma crossovers etc, I prefer my method because it is far more prcise. I am confident that 5 years fulltime study and three years live trading priceaction has equipped me with enough of a clue to adapt to changing markets, however the method I have devised has been proved to work (by myself) on 20 years of data across all currency pairs, that is enough for me.
I like to use the phrase, "trade like a machine", I do not need to worry about news or fundis at all. Events like the recent Japanese earthquake just meant I avoided jpy trades until the dust settled.
I get up 5am ish gmt look for valid m5 m15 setups place the trade and go back to bed, 5 days a week, it works for me and limits screentime to an hour or so a day.
Sorry for the long answer but you did ask.
Keep it simple