Ryan Jones - the final frontier in snakeoil!!

Discussion in 'Commodity Futures' started by 50 cent, May 5, 2004.

  1. They all sink eventually. And I have seen even the 'sacred' ones, the 'purest' ones, such as Vad from RealityTrader and the famous Jim Wykoff, sink. It just wasn't as shocking as Ryan Jones, so I didn't bother making a fuss of it. I leave that to lazybones, the snakeoil hunter.
     
    #31     May 7, 2004
  2. So where are the real traders? Are they quietly trading and do not even know what The Elite Trader Web Site is? Is this just a place for losers or someone trying to sell something? All the things that I have learned here, is this just waste product?

    Michael B.

     
    #32     May 7, 2004
  3. You need to be able to answer that - if what you learned worked, then it's good stuff. Otherwise it isn't.

    There is never a clear cut answer. Some ET members are losers and some aren't.

    There is never an absolute truth.
     
    #33     May 7, 2004
  4. First - I am moving away from selling to consulting and developing systems, I rather deal with business entities as it is my expertise for 17 plus years. OK, I wrote two books and software that I am giving away for free...
    I have a publishing company in case I ever want to print my books. If that makes me a 'vendor' so be it.
     
    #34     May 7, 2004
  5. TraderD

    TraderD

    My comment referred to people who did not read anything at all on money management. I do not know about really advanced book on MM. I have read Ralph Vinces book a while back, the rest of the info is spread throughout trading books. Possibly good place to search would be Amazon with its matching service.

    If you think about it, your meat and potatoes Fixed Fractional method is given in most of the trading books.
     
    #35     May 7, 2004
  6. TraderD

    TraderD

    Unfortunately I can't, it is integrated with my system.
     
    #36     May 7, 2004
  7. TraderD

    TraderD

    There are a lot of gems here. Finding them is hard work in which addiction to ET helps:)
     
    #37     May 7, 2004
  8. 007Arb

    007Arb

    >>>>...The exception is "guru" Gary Smith. He's the "average Joe" trader that has done pretty well for himself. Very honest.<<<<<

    Thanks for the compliment but definitely not a guru, not even close. Just a small time trader who made good. Someday I should revise something I posted elsewhere a few years back titled Crooks, Con Men, and Charlatans - Lying for a Living. Better yet, all one has to do is read the archives of the enforcement actions at the CFTC web site, although they have barely made a dent in uncovering the fraud that goes on in Vendorland.

    It's funny, I almost posted to this thread the other day. There is big money in Vendorville. Not writing books (unless you self publish) but pandering expensive courses, tutorials, systems, etc. promising easy wealth. I knew someone years ago (and he was actually a legitimate trader, a rarity in Vendorville) who grossed $1,000,000 in less than two years marketing trading videos. Some of the less legitimate ones have made as much. One well known vendor (and who has made millions) fabricated his entire trading background to create a trading persona in order to market an assortment of trading related products.

    I don't condone the tactics of the Dream Merchants but they won't go away as long as the trading public continues to believe as true that which they want to be true, i.e. that trading can be made easy and there are shortcuts to trading success if you sign on with some self proclaimed guru purporting to have all the answers for a fee of thousands of dollars.
     
    #38     May 8, 2004
  9. No more fund switching in a down/sideways market?

    Let me tell you something. There are snake oil salesmen and there are decent people who wish to research and sell books etc, software on a side, you know.
    Many years ago when I was in Chicago, trading at the midam and later the CBOT. I wanted to have mentor - someone to show me the ropes. I was trading on the floor and it was scary. First my personality is not a type A so all that yelling and screaming and sweaty macho guys in the pit were just turning my stomach.
    So I have traded from the CBOT cafeteria upstairs and paid my own tuition. So what if I spent some of that on a mentor? Big deal! I wish I had ran into a system builder who would have showed me mechanized system trading back then. Of course all the overpriced hyped up stuff is too much but like buying a car - buyer beware, there are Fords and there are Toyotas out there.
    Rookies pay one way or another.
    My point is - do not knock people's need for a mentor and guidance. The fools will buy all the crap and never get off the research, but many will just jump in and lose everything and more. It is human nature to seek guidance in the unknown and trading can be scary especially on the floor.
    My experience in vendoring is that it is hard unless you are a crook and tell people what they want to hear instead of the way it really is. I am a system's developer and computer guy from IBM with 20 years of trading and systems behind me. I rather peddle my stuff to startup hedge funds that the average joe because I will not lie and BS them - I rather trade one lots for the rest of my life but sleep at night.

     
    #39     May 8, 2004

  10. The thing is, that people don't even look for gurus to teach them to trade. Rather, they look for gurus because they don't want to THINK. They want the guru to do the thinking for them.

    If you have the patience and courage to learn to trade by yourself, rather than by another person, it will pay off ten times fold.

    I constantly review educational material, and learn what I see fit from it. Books don't cost much and there is tons of free stuff on the Web, and that's all you need. How do I know which educational stuff is good and which isn't? By researching the history and reputation of the guru? NO. So how do I know? Simple. I use my BRAIN. I love my brain.

    If you substitute your brain for a guru, it's going to be a really painful head surgery. Trust me, I've been there, and I've also seen it first hand on a countless number of traders. You don't want to be in their shoes when they wake up from the illusion. I've seen it a thousand times.

    Cheers
    50
     
    #40     May 8, 2004