All, I thought it may interest some to read my personal experience with Bright trading week long training program. THis will be a brief overview and my personal observations of how the training is going etc.... Day One; *Mostly an overview and company history day laid out well-enough but I heard <most> of this in the one day seminar that Don and Bob gave in San Francisco, I've also been following Bright's progress for over 3 years so I am familiar with the company history better than some *I must admit during some parts I was bored to death as they were reviewing some very basic terminology and also had an overview of the major players in the industry, but their were great moments of very key information (I'm sorry I don't want to be too specific but want to give you "general" overview) that will be specific to succeeding in trading. Day Two; (Sorry I got this idea last night late) Today a continuation of the "key Players" discussion, some better information on this but still somewhat slow and tedious. Then we moved into a discussion of calculating Fair Value and techniques of how to apply this in a trading environment, better still it was given by Don's brother Robert who is just extremely intelligent and obviously has a mind for mathematics that is incredible, when he started speaking literally I would hang on every word as he himself <IS> and has been a very successful trader and who better to learn from. He also frames the topics in such a way as to be very easy to understand (for me at least) and has, for newer traders, what you might call a "basic" very simple trading style that I can appreciate in it's simplicity. They started to get a little into particulars and tools that we can utilize as prop. traders that you would use in "specific" situations etc....so it was just starting to get very interesting when class ended. All in all the 1st day and half I was starting to get uncomfortable a little thinking, "IS this all their is???" but after Bob started talking I am feeling <much> better and am very excited about tomorrow, OH also we will be allowed to view the opening tomorrow live (1/2 the class will go Wed. the other 1/2 will be on Thurs.) so I am very much looking forward to that to actually see the opening order trade that Don has been talking about in his forum string. I'll report tomorrow night and through the week. Good trading all, mrktwiz
Thanks for the update mrktwiz. Look forward to reading the rest of your posts. Make sure you bust their balls a little; Don will appreciate it.
Day 3, (morning live session); OK, today we watched the open live at Bright Trading, as Don has already posted elsewhere it was a small profit for himself today, <but> a profit none the less. It was extremely interesting to see their Fair Value calculation executed and then see how they used that calc to set up their opening orders, I was very interested in watching a few of their "younger" traders who use (what I believe is preprogrammed scripts) to execute a large volume of opening orders all automated, from my vantage point it was difficult to see exactly what was happening, but I got the sense their are some very smart people trading at this office at least. We then went into Don and his brother Bob's office and the showed us their results for their OO trades and <some> of their past mos's trading results, I really want to say is if I could do 1/2 of what Don and Bob do monthly I would be delighted, needless to say they "regularly" make *very* good money. THey also show us their risk analysis software and how they monitor their traders to make sure they are not getting <the trader> OR the firm into to much trouble, by either losing to much OR by taking on to much risk, this interested me in tow regards; 1) Obviously they institute risk analysis just to be doing "good business" practices and to protect the firm. 2) But I got a real sense that they DO want to protect the traders to and will not hesitate to get on the phone with a branch manager to help or find out "what's going on with Joe?" to <help> that trader through the learning curve, as someone who is probably going to trade at BT, this was very encouraging. OK class start's in a few hours, I was so excited I only slept an hour last night so I'm going to attempt to sleep on about a gallon of coffee, I got out of bed at 4:21am this morning because I couldn't sleep. Stay tuned...don't change that channel Good trading all mrktwiz
incomplete sentences, I'm exhausted and can't type very well right now..........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......woops fell asleep on the keys again....;-) mrktwiz
I think it's great to have an objective view of the class, and I won't defend any of our practices....oh, wait, yes i will.... As far as the first day of the history and the basics involved in trading...it's a "must" since the classes are attended by absolute newcomers, and we do our best to make sure that everyone is up to speed before we head on into more detailed stuff. Not everyone is an "elite trader" - not yet anyway, but I do suggest that they come to the site!! By the end of the week, I hope to see a good review of the class, and hope to see the opinions of others. For one thing, I took value from comments made about our not spending enough time on "Tape Reading" - and so I have prepared an additional hour dedicated to this art. Since everyone is invited to return for any or all of the class "free of charge" - I hope that everyone gets full value. Back to work.... Don
Today's class we quickly moved into and continued the previous day's discussion about bullets and conversions, we then had a representative from their trading platform (Sorry guys I ate something at dinner that didn't agree with me and I didn't sleep at all last night so I can't remember the name of your quote system) anyway the rep went over their filtering features and that was nice, it shows that they have current and extremely competent platforms to trade on. We moved onto a discussion of what Index's are appropriate to watch and which are not, other than a few rambling "war" stories and a few digressions from the topic by this particular lecturer I felt it was a good subject and I did enjoy his comments. I particularly enjoyed the discussion on the VIX and IV (Implied volatility) I have used these myself with great success. OHHH before this was another lecturer on "reading the tape" this was by far the most cogent and intelligent presentation today. I was really hoping that he would continue talking as this particular lecturer was <obvioulsy> extremely talented and his particular trading style appealed to me, it was also mentioned that he "mentored" new traders and I talked to him briefly after class and made a mental note that I would really enjoy spending some money to learn his techniques and evaluate <my> trading and hopefully improve and cut down my learning curve. TO the end we just started a discussion on the "psychology" of trading, we have just started this topic and will finish it tomorrow, I believe this can be one of the MOST important parts of the training so I am very interested in seeing what exactly they point out, pitfalls to avoid, proper mental attitude etc....more tomorrow! tomorrow after class we are all having dinner together so I may have to post Thursday experience Friday morning. Good trading all, mrktwiz
Ok Thursday was a little different as we had a large break in the middle of the day when they tried to accommodate all the traders who were ready to sign up right away and move ahead quickly. I'm still putting my equity package together so I, w/other took a long break. Anyway we started (like everyday) with a review of yesterdays discussion and taking any questions from the students, I have to admit they try to make it very interactive and this really helps...it's not just a long lecture droning on,and on, and on....I find this really helpful. We immediately heard from one of their most successful traders who is very good poker player also ;-) He went into his particular style which started our talking about "Pairs" trading. THis was very interesting to me as I had never heard of this type of trading style, I won;t go into particulars but it a form of hedging a position that I can clearly see how it could help you or provide a good "crutch" for new traders especially. One point that this lecturer brought up that I found interesting was his comments on the "Sqwak Box" of the S&P Pits, he is so comfortable hearing the commentator over the box that he says he doesn't even have to watch the "tick" chart every moment but can hear and watch the tape and that 1-2 seconds of information BEFORE it translates to a tick chart can make the difference between a winner and loser trade. I found this lecturer to be especially informative and it's good to every day hear from BT who are MAKING MONEY and doing well, it re-enforces the fact for me at least that if I do what they show me and <repeat> winning strategies that <<<I>>> can make consistent money, I'm more sure of that than ever. We moved on to Don's older, wiser brother (that was for you Don) Bob, who went into a deeper talk of there "different" types of pairs trading, NOW some of these strategies are for more advanced traders but it was nice to get a glimpse of them for future reference and to know that this is not jut a static "do this every day" type of event or company. It's dynamic and every trader needs to establish his/her own trading style. I forgot to mention the talk from the BT trader also brought out that he trades within a small group of 3 other traders who all somewhat, trade similar stocks and how by joining in a "collective" if you will 4 sets of eyes and cranium matter can be more efficient than just alone, a group of us were riding to dinner last night talking about how we wished we 4 could all trade together as this idea struck me as making sense, I will try to get into a pair or set up a situation with one or more other traders as this group of four is extremely successful in the Las Vegas office of BT. We also heard from the manager of the Las Vegas office and he spoke of his "style" od mentoring new traders that come to the Vegas office to trade. He mentioned that after every Tues and Thurs. he holds a "skull session" with his new traders, it can be rough, he's from New York (I think) and he's not mister politically correct , BUT I definitely got the impression that he'll really walk with you closely <IF> you listen to what he has to say! Many don;t, he told us a few examples of those who don;t listen, want to trade using what hasn't worked for them and lost their money and left, it happens BT will very clearly tell you that. Their not shy of telling you about the guys that "tapped out", I appreciate that this is a serious commitment to start <MY> new business and you need to treat it as such. If anyone is serious about trading with Bright Trading I >highly> recommend you consider trading out of the Las Vegas office's, they have trading class's all the time, their on-site mngr hold new trader class's every Tues and Thurs and then (I believe this is right) Bob holds a training session every Weds night. You have the best "edge" here in Las Vegas but I will be working out of the San Francisco office but I want to come out to Las Vegas about 1 week every mos, to trade here JUST to be close to the obvious WEALTH of information and consistent winners really! I've met them, and I can't think of a better environment to trade in regularly. Anyway if I cannot get a room for tonight, I may have to immediately drive to Santa Cruz so I amy have to post Friday's comments a little late. Good trading all.... mrktwiz
mrktwiz, using < and > for emphasis can cause all sorts of formatting problems - italics in this thread and a small font in the Blatant Spam Radio thread, which in the latter case affected subsequent posts as well. I wish you the best with your trading at Bright.
Sorry thanks for the heads up I'll remember to not use them in the future good luck to you too. mrktwiz
Thanks for posting - and even the "not so great" comments are appreciated. Your class was the first to get a full dose of "tape reading" at this level...and this was encouraged by prior ET members. We do our best to give out as much as we can...and you know you're welcome to return for free, as is everyone. Don