There are a lot of sellers of (options) trading strategies, some cheap some more expensive. Anyone bought such a thing? Overall they DO sell, so there are people who buy them. I guess from a beginner point of view it's better to trade using a system than randomly. Obviously no such system for sale is going to make you Karen but isn't it just possible than some of them are not totally useless? Like at least better than random. So paying $50 bucks for a system might be better than losing a lot more than that trying to come up with it.
If those were prolific strategies no one would be selling them because they'd make more money keeping them proprietary ie trading them...
I'm not at all in favor of giving your money to "gurus" who promise that you'll make a million in five minutes starting from a $5 account, but I'm not sure that the above is 100% accurate. If you have a strategy in, say, SPX that takes a month to run, you could make a bunch of money selling it while it's running. Get a couple of thousand subscribers at $500 apiece - and you just might, if the strat is a valid one - and trading becomes just another money stream. If it gets taken up by the Big Guys, then yeah, it'll be arbitraged away in no time at all - but by that time, you'll have made your pile. I'm not insisting that it absolutely does work this way, but it seems like a reasonable model.
The only way to learn trading is by doing it, fuckups and all. Wouldn't you rather have a real skill you understand from the inside out, rather than relying on someone else?
For $50, it's a fairly certain bet that you're just going to lose $50. But outside of that - how would you know which of the thousands of these "systems" will work, and which is just a complicated-sounding way to lose your money? I suppose you could buy half of them and hope that at least one will have a positive return... shouldn't take more than a few million dollars. Let us know, once you've filtered them down.
While I have never bought a trading strategy, I sure have paid for some, profitable or not. A key in development of a new trader is knowing himself(His pyschology), learning various trading methods in broad terms at first, and then perform extensive back testing. In depth knowledge of statistics, trading platforms, and programming, are helpful, if not required. Consistent money managment is fundamental to success. On Elitetrader, there is a lot of great information for traders if you are willing to do a lot of sifting. At the end of the day, no else looks at or reacts to things quite the same as you do. One hint, if so many new traders lose money with short term trading such as day trading, does it not imply the path of success is counterintuitive? Bottom line, there are no shortcuts into putting time and money into learning this craft that so few are able to earn a worthwhile living from.
Have probably, bought over 200 books on stock and options trading, not counting numerous DVDs by various traders. Also, bought trading DVDs with manuals from ex-students of the Pristine Method, DVDs and manual from Timothy Sykes ex-students to study them. I am a self-taught trader and did not have any mentor. I learned everything on my own including, how to trade options. Took the best portions, from various sources and created my own trading system which I use today as a Swing Trader.
I have a similar story - took me 15 years to develop and perfect my trading strategy. It has now just started to show results...very happy with how I spent my time. Would not change a thing - not all the tears, pains and suicidal thoughts. Worth it all.
I agree. I am only 5 years in, and spent and lost lots of money on trying to learn trade. I am just able to my head above water right now. That said, there are lots of things for free that you should be able to glean enough information to get you started.