After about 40 hours of patrolling the Education section, this was my first post. Thoughts so far: None; but at least I didn't pay not to have any.
I've taken the ProTrader 7 day course and agree it is a good introduction and/or review of the basics of TA. As mentioned earlier, OTA does not teach a specific strategy, this is only a foundation to get you started. I do believe that it is overpriced, especially since they do not pre-screen the people who come in. You get a wide variety of people who come in - some want to dabble, some want to start a business, etc. Some just want to take control of their own finances since no one watches your money like you do - which could be good or bad, depending on your view. Although it may not seem important, the ability to retake the live class does help. It is beneficial to get someone else's perspective on the market and which the methods they find the most useful. The instructors trade for a living so it does add some credibility to what they teach. Of course, the company itself is out to make as much money as it can. They are running a rather aggressive campaign right now and I have found that it is distracting them away from the core mission of supporting their customer base. The main product now is the online Extended Learning Track (XLT). From what I understand it started out as an excellent program a few years ago, but the main developers left last January and the program has not been able to recover. In its current form, I would advise people to stay away from the XLT program. Because of contining problems, many people have given up in frustration and have moved on to other mentorship programs. What more do I need to say? If you are interested, check the free information available on the site before spending any money. They provide a substantial portion of their best content in the free newsletters. If you do decide to take a live class, then resist the hard sell and only commit more funds once you are consistently profitable. It is one thing to say that the investment is worth it if you keep from losing a ton of money, but it is quite another to keep pouring money into a pit. Marqui
The same videos they also sell for $6,000 you can get for a few hundred bucks on EBay. Still a few hundred too much
Marqui, I couldn't agree with you more on the XLT. I purchased it when it was still under the old instructors and got a ton out of it. Once it changed over, it just didn't stand up to the quality that I expected. I also didn't like being sold individual attention and then being put in a virtual room with 75-100 people at times. I have brought up my issues with OTA before and no one returns my call. They only seem to be about making money now and not helping the customer succeed. I did attend their "All Star" event and it was an all day sales pitch like the types I have come to expect from companies like InvestTools. There was a time OTA was value for the money but now I feel like it is just a constant upsell like everyone else. The customer service level stinks, the hard pressure sales tactics just me sick, and I for one will not be doing business with this company anymore.
The main problem with OTA is they paint pictures of people making 10-15% a month, becoming wealthy, and a lot of other nebulous hype, but if one examines their course topics, you realize that it is a $6,000 trading 101 book, featuring a lot of methods out of a standard trading techniques book In other words, their "edge" stuff does not work. Would be surprised if it ever did. Anyone should directly challenge their salesmen for AUDITED RETURNS OR BROKER STATEMENTS DEMONSTRATING SIZABLE OUTPERFORMANCE. There is a large amount of other complaints about them on various sites, for those who care to read.
I am a new trader (learning) and I looked into these guys as well. I ended up signing up with a free 8 week live online course offered by I had a friend who went through their free course, and said it was pretty good. I have just started the class, have had 3 of the classes so far and am documenting in in a journal here at elitetrader. The cool thing about it is the course is a live webinar, so there is interaction, and I can ask questions. There are 2 teachers, as I think its a pretty new shop, but they seem to be very knowledgable. and the best part is, it was free. I'm sure they will have something to sell at some point, but I'm ok with getting 12 hours of free live training. And if its good, I will probably buy what they have to offer. Hope this helps.
Jan 13 to quote you: I have heard from a friend that did it, that its supposed to be good. (I dont want to seem like I am promoting it, so I'm not going to mention the name)
Hi, all I am a new trader in the game. I have been actively trading for a year. I blew up half of my account due to listen to others, self-learning from books and wrote naked puts. You can't say I am lazy and didn't spend time to learn. I did spend lots of time learn and observe my investing. I am just in the phase of not sure what to do next with half of my account. So here I go. I enrolled OTA. I am attending the 7 day Pro-Trader class in Feb. I am looking at most of your posts. Most of you think the courses are wasting money and time. I will have to say I am skeptical about it too even though I have already sent money to them. But I really don't know what else I should do with my account. I need education and be more confident! I want to post here and let everyone know whether the course benefits me or not. I would like to share my experience with all the new traders who are serious about trading and willing to learn. I attended both the All Star event and the Pro trader event. To be fair, I have to say I was very disguised by those "hard-sell". They are selling education not clothing, fish and groceries. Being that desperate just degrade their brand and products. People might want to sign up but will be turned off by their selling approach. What they have been doing just make people doubt that there might be a scam... Good luck on my trading classes!