Not necessarily. It depends on the situation. People have different learning styles and many people prefer to find a "one-stop solution". A few years ago, I was far more likely to recommend the the first choice because the places like T3, SMB were charging a ridiculous amount but it's been the better part of a decade since those type of firms started gaining market-share. There's a lot of competition in that space so products have become more attractive and comprehensive over the years. There's also more access to experienced traders & things of that nature. There is value in both type of options. "What's best for me?" is a subjective question in and of itself. The way the costs are accumulating, the most affordable way to "get your feet wet" or learn part-time have double and tripled in price over the last 2 years. My experiences have led me to these conclusions. A few years ago, I would have never recommended T3 or SMB BUT looking at the options new and intermediate traders have these days, those programs, particularly the ones like Maverick and Alpha 7 which are more affordable at like 3k, offer someone looking to learn the most opportunity for the least amount of upfront investment - which I personally believe is in the best interest of a new trader. I've seen so many cases of people blowing up their accounts over poor risk-management when they start that the self-education model doesn't help you accelerate your learning curve quickly enough to cut down your risks and keep yourself alive. In a perfect world, everyone would be self-education but people these days are so lost and confused that it seems most people I run into can only progress with baby-steps. just my 2 cents.
Tower Hill backs you with 5 shares of stock. I mean literally 5 shares. You will trade this amount for 1 to 2 years. You will also sign a contract that is unlike any I have ever seen. It stipulates that if you leave with the 2 year time period, you will owe them 25k for the training they give you. I think if you leave after one year, it's only 15k. And they WILL go after you for that money. The only benefit I can see is it allows one to trade 5 shares of stock and not have the PDT restriction. It's not like one can open a 5k stock account and daytrade.
When i look for futures prop firms there still seem to be some out there, if you have a proven track record that is. Found a few but i'm not sure how hard it is to get in.. DE Trading Corp Gelber Group Geneva Trading HTG Capital Partners Transmarket Group Propex (maybe?)
Ask any of these "education" firms for audited returns of their student's success. They won't give you any. None of them teach anything special. None of them teach you anything you can't find in 100 books. If you don't have the discipline to self study....trust me on this....then you will fail as a trader!
I agree with you. You can't "teach" trading any more then you can "teach" poker. You can show people how to use software but that is about as far as you can go. Unless you are teaching someone the mechanics of making markets which is highly mathematical and structured. The real value I think of trading at one of these firms is simply being in an office environment. When I started at Worldco 13 years ago, being able to sit next to 7 figure traders and emulate their daily habits was priceless. There IS value in that. But in "teaching"? Teaching what? LOL.
I can think of a lot of things right off the bat that can be taught: risk-management skills like calculating and implementing stops and targets, order-entry techniques, pattern-recognition, etc. Other aspects like market psychology and controlling your emotions are more innate characteristics that are difficult to mold. I often also think of these things from only my perspective but since these firms are so successful at recruiting, people are obviously finding value in the product. Books are great but you won't learn as quickly as sitting next to someone or talking to other people on a daily-basis. Somehow, over the last 20 years businesses have become less profit-driven and more about the social experience which is why T3 is successful in my opinion. They are giving traders who would be trading from home access to education, other traders, desk-space, etc. In a place like NYC, there are lots and lots of young finance people who probably would prefer to lose their 10k trading in an office and making friends and experiences along the way rather than lose it trading the markets. like I said earlier though, it really is a subjective question and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. People just have to do due diligence and find a program who's criteria meets their schedule and their needs.
All those things you list can be taught in 100 different books. PM and I will suggest a few. I agree that sitting on a trading floor with successful traders is a benefit. But these "education" firms market mostly to remote. This is because all you are doing is watching stale old videos that probably haven't been updated in years, then answering an online quiz. It is very profitable for the education firms because they "write it once and sell it a hundred times".