How many people...

[j m]

I would never pay because trading is the easiest thing to teach and the hardest thing to do successfully in practice.

I was fortunate to start my career trading straight out of uni at Goldman's. when I started there I was exepcted to know pretty much everything about trading (technicals,fundamentals,psychology etc) before I started because, that info is so easily accessible. That was the easy part.

The valuable part of my experience was having a team of more senior guys who could help me learn form my mistakes as I went so that I could develop using real money.

The problem with these shops that ask for money up front is that they are not interested in helping you out, step by step. They want you to do the training course then magically know what you are doing which is unrealistic. Add this to the fact they start you out on one contract and sometimes even make you trade remotely and it's obvious the odd's are pretty stacked against you...

It took me a year of good mentoring to find my feet and start being a consistent earner. I doubt many of these shops give you that kind of flexibility.

Much better ways to make it in this game

 

[shmeeko69]

We all have to learn our trade from somewhere ! Buying a course & reading books are probably the best route to take. I have personally bought materials from people who are proven & have made vast amounts of money on trading. It's always better to invest in something/someone who knows their business & then decide which methods suits your personality. Trade what you see & not what you hear & always obey the charts - they don't lie, some humans do ! I spend more time on Technical Analysis & less on Fundamentals (because I trade futures) & most importantly getting to grips with the psychology of the market.

Cheers

Mark

 

[aleclaw]

An interesting proposition.
Several times, normally during losing phases, I've condidered paying for training courses, but have so far resisted. Which one to choose when there are so many? And, as so many commentators have already suggested, course providers aren't really genuinely interested in your future, but in your course subscription - I wonder what the subsequent failure rate might be.
Many courses seem to provide masses of media in order to justify their high fees, and I'm sure that many newbies would be overwhelmed by information overload. A great deal of this information is available free on the web.
There is a school of thought (to which I tend to subscribe), that (after a sensible period of demo trading), £5,000 would be better deposited with a broker and traded. I don't think there's any substitute for trading real money in real time to focus the mind and sharpen one's skills.
Just my opinion. If an aspirant trader believes the investment will pay for itself in a given period, then hey - they should go for it. Maybe investing £5,000 on training would focus the mind as much as trading it!

 

[shmeeko69]

It's fine when people say to trade demo accounts, but you only get the experience of using the brokers platform & placing a trade. The real problem starts when it's real money & when emotions come into play. It can cause strange reactions & you have to learn to conquer those demons & to cut your losses & not move your stop loss & not to take your profits prematurely ! Reading books by proven trading experts is the best value for money in this game, after all who better to learn from than people who have made £m's in their field.

Mark

 

[j m]

Great posts shmeeko69,

I think you need to establish what exactly you want to get out of trading before you go into it. If you want to do it as a hobby I would say give it up now and take up fishing or pole dancing.

If you want to trade for an IB steer far clear of these courses, go back to uni for a year, get a masters of applied finance with good marks and get a spot in a grad program (or get CFA level 1). These trading courses talked about in this thread and the company's that run them are massively frowned upon and will be a black mark on your resume.

If you want to trade for yourself with the freedom to do it your way I would always recommend doing it with someone else's money and therefore I would try and get into a prop house. I would go for one which don't charge up-front like Schneiders/Futex they may be the only one's. These places are extremely competitive to get into so I would recommend getting CFA level 1 or STA (technical analysis course) before you go in there.

I agree with Shmeeko that technical analysis will play a larger role once you are trading than fundamentals but these courses i have recommended give you something tangible which differentiates you from every other monkey that wants to be a millionaire trader. It says to a future employer. "I want to be a trader and I am willing to put in the hard work to be successful."

good luck

 

[shmeeko69]

What I want from trading is Profit, pure & simple ! I'll not go into great detail about it, but I don't want to work for anyone else, as I've invested my time & some money, into finding out what works & what does'nt for me. The books I've purchased are from people who have made £m's from trading & my philosophy is, If you want to learn anything, find out what the top people have done & follow their methods & ways & develop a methodology, which suit your own personality.

Cheers

Mark

 

[j m]

Hey Mark,

The post was not directed at you but just a general statement to anyone looking to make a career in trading. However, I think it's great you are being so pro-active about your learning.

Anyway guys, as I mentioned I am a trader, I work in the city for a pretty big and well established hedge fund and have traded almost everything under the sun and almost every level.

Just trying to give some advice to people who haven't been so fortunate in experience as myself. Good luck!

 

[shmeeko69]

As I've already mentioned, the people that I take advice from are people who are proven & have made lots of money in their chosen field. If anyone wants to learn trading, then learn from the best, need I say more ?

Cheers

Mark

 

[j m]

Mark,

I work for the 3rd biggest hedge fund in the world, i trade more money than you can imagine and the guys you read about in books are people i count as close friends and colleagues.

Keep reading pal.

As i have mentioned, anyone who is looking to make a career in this game and isn't on this site to build their ego (like Mark) PM me because as I have started from the beginning i am happy to help.

That's all i will say on the matter i have wasted too much time already on this bullsh*t

 

[96pills]

Mark,

I work for the 3rd biggest hedge fund in the world, i trade more money than you can imagine and the guys you read about in books are people i count as close friends and colleagues.

Keep reading pal.

As i have mentioned, anyone who is looking to make a career in this game and isn't on this site to build their ego (like Mark) PM me because as I have started from the beginning i am happy to help.

That's all i will say on the matter i have wasted too much time already on this bullsh*t

no need to show off

 

[CavaliereVerde]

I would spend 5000 only if the teacher provides me 10 years of verified trackrecord with an annualized return higher than 15% and every calendar year in green.
Unfortunatelly it is never so because those "professional trading fims" do not make money beating the market but selling courses to believers.

 

[HeavLeighGill]

I never spent money on any courses. Didn’t want to sink thousands into it in case I wound up losing more money. Also try to save when I can do didn’t see the point since the internet is filled with all the free resources you need.