has anyone had any good/bad experiences w/ any of the following options mentoring programs 1- optionetics gold mentoring 2- online trading academy 3- dan sheridan mentoring 4-optionvue's mentoring program I am willing to spend up to 10K and want the most intensive, inclusive program out there. any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. If there are any others that would be worth looking into i'd appreciate the input. HJ p.s. for anyone who is going to throw in the old "...don't waste your $$ just read some books and start throwing your cash away..." remarks, please don't even bother. thank you. I am not trying to be sarcastic there. I've already read mcmillan, cottle, natenberg and hull. I feel I would like to work w/ an experienced trader before investing any real $$$.
Read every post written by the following handles and you'll gain more than any of those books could tell you. riskarb atticus optioncoach If you're too lazy, pay me 5k and I'll compile a book based on their public teachings. (kidding)
I have never taken either of these but if you are willing to spend money, go with Cottle and his seminars. I think his website is Riskdoctor.com or something like that. OPtionetics is as pricey but I think they glam up options too much and skip the important basics. OTA i do not know. Lot of positive reviews on Sheridan's mentoring here on ET so search. Optionvue has some good stuff but I thouht Sheridan did his mentoring through optionvue, I cannot remember. Despite my name I dont offer any mentoring for hire but i gladly answer questions for free P.S. riskarb is good but atticus is a nutcase.
Unless you feel you did not understand the above books, I do not think that any of the programs will help you. I however think that your desire to learn from someone who is doing it and who can teach you is a good route. The things that really work are not in books. In addition, you need someone to teach you in a way which is compatible with your experience, background, etc. I would suggest that if you find multiple candidate, you hire 3 for 1k each for an introduction, then take the best (assuming there is value in the best of the three) for the remaining 7K that you can spend. I think that under any mentoring, you must trade your account. If you have traded, a good mentor would first focus on assessing your knowledge, and detecting errors, fundamental mistakes if any. Then teach the material correctly, and on solid foundations. Later, share the little secrets of the type that a father pass to a son. What is your trading experience and knowledge level?
thank you all for giving sincere, honest replies. It is greatly appreciated. No sarcasm, rudeness...nothing. I love it, really. I do truly value your opinions. I feel I do understand >95% of what I have read, but there seems to be a large gap between understanding and putting that knowledge into fluid practice. by nature my primary problem is "paralysis by analysis" and while I am willing to read every book and listen to every tape, I want someone to walk me through the process of real life trading. At least for a little while. the sums of $$$ I will be eventually putting in my trading acct far exceed the cost of any mentoring and I just don't feel like wasting my time. If I felt I had to enroll in several courses, I would. I would like to avoid that by doing my due diligence and carefully assimilating the opinion of experts, like yourselves, into my decision making process. the stuff by riskarb and optioncoach is great, already read them (as well as optioncoaches book, also great stuff). not familiar w/Atticus. I have also read good things about sheridans course, but the issue I have been having w/ that is that it seems too limited. I would like to learn about multiple different strategies first and then specialize in one or two. I don't want to pigeon-hole myself into being a 1 trick pony right up front (esp if I don't care for that particular trick). I really want to gain a comprehensive foundation and then, and only then, decide which strategies I care to pursue and master. I have read good things about that course though. By nature, I work my ass off at everything. I am 100% certifiable OCD. I will fully dedicate myself when I decide how to best allocate my resources. I have already read over ~40 books on the various subdisciplines of trading. I just don't want to waste anymore time. I'd like to work alongside a bona fide expert, and I am willing to pay real $$ to do so. a most sincere thanks on your serious input, so many threads quickly degenerate into pettiness. your professionalism is greatly appreciated. HJ
If you've read all the books and the threads as you've stated you should at least be able to pick out the strategies you want by now. Your OCD is the problem.
Hello, the very same topic can be found here: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=87573&highlight=option+mentoring Here are my 2 cents: When we ( students ) look for a mentor we can only ask for so much. A lot of people/companies offer themselves as a mentor. If you really were a good trader you would trade. Yes I know that out there, there are a few good traders with academic ambitions, such traders do research and at times teach....however the majority of good traders trade. What one can find in such programs are people with excellent communication skills, but such people are mentors first then traders. Given the complexity of the topic you can indeed learn something however take everything with a grain of salt, the fact, the reality check is the following: They ( the mainstream mentors/companies ) all have an excellent bio but go ahead and ask for a track record ( what happened in the personal account in the last 3 years of your future mentor) to any of those traders/companies and they won't give it to you. If one focuses on seminars and mentoring and teaching then that's what one does and that'is fine, just keep in mind that one can NOT be a teacher with a bunch of students, all year long seminars, AND trade full time with a bunch of money. I hope you get my point. Unfortunately like I said we can't have very high expectations when we look for a mentor; should you ever find someone who has an excellent track record chances are that he is not teaching anything he is probably managing other people money and if he is really willing to teach you he is going to charge more than anyone else. What you will find in such mentoring programs is exactly that, good mentors, not (necessarely) good traders. Good Luck
in resp to blackchip: absolutely untrue. I need to see these strategies implemented in real trades BEFORE deciding which ones fit my personality best. There have been dozens of different strategies that seem reasonable and advantageous given the right market conditions. The issues i am discussing center around position management after the trade is in place and how to best marry a strategy to the given market conditions at that time. These are topics that simply cannot be optimally learned from written material. for what it is worth I have seen multiple strategies that look especially promising to me, taking into acct my personality and objectives. I still can't get around the fact that in my papertrading there seems to be a sizable chasm b/w theory and practice. that's all I am saying. you are correct that my OCD is a problem. I genuinely hope that it is simply an impediment to getting started. This is how i was when i began playing poker, but after getting started I have won numerous tournaments in vegas and have been a consistent money maker for 2 yrs now.