Hi mr_byte31 yes they do. I have also spoken to Mastermind students who are very clear that OTA are trustworthy, and that their strategy works well which is why I was rather confused by the comments above.
If I sold traders on the notion of "Buy support, sell resistance, chase breakouts, and use stops"... how much could I get for that?
I have a different opinion. I attend the OTA and have listened to the same sales pitches as everyone else. I take the classes, attend the extended learning tacks, do the labs, read the manuals which are now all online and everything required to be successful at trading. But the one thing that I don't think that most students do is sit down with student support or the education counselor and go over their trades and get feedback about their trading. These folks are real people and they are there to help you stay focused and on track. My trading has improved, and I am profitable. Not local to a center? you get everyone’s email including the instructors and I don’t have problem getting through to someone. It may not happen overnight, but I do get my questions answered. If I didn’t then I would be on my center’s owner about it and I will get my answers. As far as instructors going cowboy and teaching their own philosophy of supply and demand core strategy, I have watched OTA evolve over the 5 years I have been in the OTA community and a lot of those instructors are gone. Teaching a strategy takes those who teach it to be on the same page and yes, for a while, it seemed like the message was being diluted with personal philosophy and it was annoying. The instructors have visibly changed their "personal curriculum" and are now focusing on the strategy that is core to OTA and that was brought about by students like myself who gave their feedback to their education counselor and even the owners themselves about the lack of focus on core strategy by some of the instructors. They listened and reacted for the positive. OTA has changed quite a bit over these last 5 years and for the better. I'm not saying that everyone who has been to OTA has been successful any more than all the student who attend college go on to be successful either. But I can go back to retake my classes at OTA until I get it, live or more conveniently, online. I can’t go back to the University of Colorado and retake classes there if I wasn't able to make it as a lawyer or a doctor or what have you. I'm not going to judge anyone who hasn't made it to success, YET, from the training at OTA , I would just say that if you are still a student, take another visit and start taking the classes you paid for as well as take advantage of all the training material that you receive from the school. What I have learned there is real and while I only trade part time, I am getting ready to retire this year from my job and I absolutely know that I can be profitable at trading. I was not profitable before the OTA. Let’s have some perspective here, EVERY business and even college has a guy that has to sell you on the idea of anything under the sun in the business world. That is life. The reality. I admit that the cost is high at OTA and I was not always comfortable paying the $40K or so to take all of the assets but the money I paid to CU Boulder yielded nothing and I AM trading now and will be in the future from where ever I choose to live on the planet. I have a mindset that the education I received, whatever the cost, will be what sustains me when social security cannot. I won’t believe any other way because you must believe in what you are doing no matter what or you will fail at it. People who haven’t been to the OTA can only throw stones at the window. Those who have still have options. I can only walk in my shoes and I don't pretend to walk in yours but if you paid for the OTA then walk back in and give it another try. I think you would be really surprised at the depth of what is given to students, now more than before, for them to be successful. If you aren't getting it, talk to student support or to the education counselor or even your center's owner. I can’t speak for other centers, but our center’s owner has an open-door policy and I just sat down with him to give my critique about a newly offered class and I know that my opinions are taken seriously and so will yours. Focus on YOUR education, your personal situation and not this broad notion that no one can succeed at the OTA because that is not true. Some of you sound like your bitterness is holding you back from re-engaging. If I was pissed about my steak not being prepared right, I would keep sending it back until it is right. When I walk out of a class and I didn't get it, I retake that class until I get it right. I have taken some of my asset classes 3 and 4 times because trading is not easy. Learning risk management is not easy. We are creatures of habit. Trading takes a personal reformation of all the bad habits we have been programmed to do in our lives. That is not easy. If it was then everyone would be doing it, and no one would need to be trained how. If I can be trained to trade the markets, then anyone can be trained to trade. I am determined to get my money’s worth. I will venture that not one of these FTC prosecutors have taken classes at OTA. I assure you it isn't the Donald Trump University situation that the FTC is making it out to be. If you paid the OTA, walk back in the door and do it again with the perspective that not only is trading for a living possible but that you will be one of those who can do it. If you have never been to the OTA then don’t rush to judgment until you have.
Finally.. "The United States Federal Trade Commission has finally exploded the Online Trading Academy. On February 12, 2020, the FTC filed a massive 8000+ page lawsuit alleging that the Online Trading Academy ripped off thousands of consumers for a total of $370 million dollars, since at least 2014." https://www.tradingschools.org/online-trading-academy-yes-its-a-fraud/
And yet we still have online classes and other support from OTA while everyone is locked down over the Corona Virus and the folks who wouldn't put in the time and work to get better at trading continue to throw rocks. A company cowering in fear from the FTC ?....... I don't see it. Trading Schools.org is just another complaint board ... that's it. What they print could be sold in grocery stores as more toilet paper.