I did offer a constructive suggestion: 1) buy some good books, and 2) practice by trading 10 shares at a time. This thread asked for opinions of people who actually went to the course, and I actually went to the course and gave my opinion. Sounds constructive to me.
They seem to focus on the level II / totalview - That might have been good years ago, but now? Maybe if you're great at tape reading you can watch the T&S. If they taught that it might be worthwhile, but don't see it mentioned.
I have attended the OTA 7-day course. Twice. First time in 2003. Then a repeat in 2007. The material has been updated a little bit over the years. But most of the contents are just about the same. Since Redneck has listed the curriculum, I wouldn't repeat here. My eval on the course: It is a very basic trading training course. Most of the time seems to be spent on the mechanics of placing trades (how to use the Level-2 screen, what the different order types are (e.g. limit versus market, etc.)), and how to read time-and-sales. Also some time was spent on reading charts and indicators (e.g. stochastics, etc.). These are great for someone who has absolutely no trading experience (their target audience). But seems a bit trivial to those who had traded some but want to "trade the right way, and make money". In a driving analogy, this is a course teaching you how to drive (the basics). This is not a course teaching you how to win in a Grand Prix. No specific trading strategy will be presented. You are strictly on your own in deciding how/what you will trade. But I can't believe that they are still teaching "how to trade using the Level 2"... spotting the "Ax" on a stock, follow the Ax. Man! This is so 90's! The time to mark the Ax and follow the Ax is LONG GONE with decimalization and ECNs. Any market maker can disguise their intention on Level 2 and do their real business in the anonymous ECN. Why are they still wasting their time on this is beyond me (as least as recent as 2007). There are a couple more things that I don't like (considering them as waste-of-valuable-time): one section on what websites to use to find about news, earning, the day-to-day checks on gap-up/gap-down/volume kind of thing. Anybody who does his/her homework on the Internet probably has already known how to do it. Those who don't shouldn't need to pay about $800 a day learning about this. Another section I don't like: The stress of trading. I don't need to pay $800 a day for someone to tell me that I should get up and take a walk every now and then during a trading day, and not let losing trades work up my blood pressure. It's just all common sense. Can't believe they create a section out of this. The head instructor Mike McMahon claimed to have earned over 200k trading in 2007. I have no need to doubt the figure. Or else everything they say may be lies. But if one can make >200k, I think, would be more leaning towards being able to trade everyday to make more money. How much money can an instructor make teaching a class? Must be more than trading to justify for it, right? 200k... that's about $800 a day. If that is me, I would rather spend the time to trade all day and make more than $800 than teaching a class. You really can't teach all day in front of students and trade at the same time. ("Hey... you guys excuse me for a minute... I need to place an order to short MSFT") I asked another instructor why he teaches. "Teaching can keep me on my toes and make me a better trader". That's their answer (seems a party line). Take it or not. Is the course worth it? Well... Don't ever think you will only pay $500 for a course like this. Nobody is going to work for nothing. The street price for a trading course is about $600 to $1000 a day. For some this can be money well spent. They will otherwise lose it on trading. For some this is not. If you are very self-motivated, and you can learn a lot of things from just reading books and doing it. That's fine. You probably don't need to attend this course. Especially considering you need to travel to one of their training locations. (But they are all over the USA now. You don't need to take it in Irvine like I once did.) I would say that if you write off the tuition fee for your taxes, and can take advantage of their tuition rebate through trading commissions with one of their partners, it will be the way to go. I did that. Did I become a good trader after the course? Not the first time. For a few years I was still inconsistent. But after the second time, I had gotten some motivation and inspiration from the course and I subsequently had put in more efforts and hours into self-learning about trading, I became consistently profitable since then. One thing I do like very much: They hold a weekly virtual training session for all OTA graduates. Each week is on a different subject, presented by different instructors. I would say this is a great thing. I learned more from this free, weekly program than any of the course material. They also are very keen in selling you the next step, which is the mentorship. For $6000. For a few weeks or months or something. But the head mentor would tell you to scan, scan, scan the Nasdaq 100 stocks each day (a few times a day actually) to look for trading opportunities. When the opportunity arise, you get in and trade your 200 shares, 1000 shares or whatever to get a $200 here and there. A bit pathetic to me now. But when I was losing consistently, $200 gain per trade was very attactive. Indeed if you can keep it up and do it all day long, those $200 gains do add up nicely (the main issue is not losing big). They do emphasize highly on controlling risks. Which is good. Everything they sell if rebatable. Take advantage of it if you can. IMO that's the only way I can justify spending my money on these training courses. Can you learn all these yourself by reading books? Sure you can. It's up to the individual how hard one wants to work. Like: can you become an engineer without going through college? Sure you can. Now... can you become a brain surgeon by reading books alone? Or flying a plane? Hell no. The real issue is: you gotta do it in addition to what you can pick up from a book. Having an instructor around can give you some degree of help in getting started and questions/puzzles are answered interactively. (You really can't ask a book to explain again how to read the stochastic indicator.) I don't like others who have the "hell no" attitude towards any training offers. I think compared to those "teaching you how to get rich quick", I-have-never-heard-of-except-on-ET outfits, OTA is a lot more legitimate and trustable. Anyway... I told my experience like it is. If you want me to expand more, let me know.
P.S. After I submitted my trading plan for the OTA instructor to review, the instructor specifically advised me not to trade AAPL (Apple Computer). "It moves too fast for you". LOL! In 2007/08 I made thousands of dollars trading AAPL alone. Yeah... They tell you to trade those dog-shit stocks which wouldn't move more than 20 cents in a hour. Well... better safe than sorry. One thing though: many of the students in the class are retirees. OTA emphasizes only do "day trades". Don't hold positions overnight. These poor seniors just need to shake out of bed at 5:00 am PST and stare at the computer screen all day. To me that would be a shitty way to enjoy the golden years.
Jodistrict Granted you did and I apologize if I came across too blunt â I had just finished up trading and I get in that mode "Trading 10 shares" is a great idea â keep it small and minimize risk when one first starts out As for âbuy some good booksâ â How about offering him specific titles youâve read and benefited from Take Care Redneck
Started my OTA FX trading class...and taking the stock course at the end of feb...lets hope this isnt a scam/rip off. Today was my first day, and looking in hindsight, I could see a potential scam if there are hired actors (as students) and theyre pulling a few "paying students" into this class room bc the money is just THAT good...maybe im thinking conspiracy theory but I wonder if I should make the remaining balance (paid 2/3, own another 1/3) offering a feel of confidence and legitimacy to it.
During the Gold Rush in CA and AK, only about 0.05% of the prospectors made money, the rest gave their money to the Supplies. You know, the ones that MINED the MINERS. Now, that's how you make MONEY!!!
yeah, i think it was buyers remorse mixed with seeing some reviews i didnt catch earlier about it. It turned out to be a better experience than I thought. Yes a lot can be learned/found on the internet but it was a good crash course that saves some time spent on the learning curve. I like the fact that you can re-take this course with same instructor or others to get a feel for each individuals trading style. It definitely boosted my confidence with going live. I am taking the necessary steps now to get myself ready to go live next week. Yes it is expensive...but factoring in taking this course again to maybe grasp some concepts you may have missed the first time, and then retaking it with different instructors whenever you wish to change things up, it was not so bad (although of course I wish it was cheaper) I dont 100% regret it but I think if I did not take this course I would of waited an additional 4-6 months before going live and still make some big newbie mistakes (them hammering in risk management and self-control def was a plus for me) I am already looking to sign up to retake this course with the same instructor in a few months after I have some screen time under my belt. Then maybe again in the summer with another instructor who has a different trading style