Just now I was looking for their banner ad, which I could not locate. Are they still a sponsor or have they withdrawn their account? Can someone confirm?
If you look at any of Brandon's posts, under his name, you'll see it no longer has the title of his company.
I don't know Brandon personally...but, I can say this, I spent about 3 months in the TFMS chat room and they consistently made excellent calls. Could someone do it on their own? Yes, but it sure helps having 4 sets of eyes scanning for ideas (no different than many prop offices). So... arrogant & obnoxious...maybe (aren't we all at some times)...but a scam artist... I don't think so.
One thing about these "chat rooms" is that the moderator can play the role of the Pied Piper or manipulator of a stock. The mod in effect can cause movements in stocks to his advantage. Take for instance a thinly traded penny stock. The moderator loads up on it over a few days then releases the name of the stock to his paying chat room sheep to buy it. While the chat room sheep are buying it up, he quietly sells it. What happens to the chat room sheep? Well they either bid it up foolishly where they are left holding the bag as the penny comes back down or the general public become the greater fools and start biding it up where the chat room sheep may have lucked out and are now selling. I say lucked out since the chat room sheep may not have known the true intentions why the guru mod bought it and recommended it in the first place. The mod could've taken advantage of the thinness of the penny and the gullibility of the chat room sheep. If the penny didn't work out and the chatters lost on it and start complaining then the mod apologizes and says he lost a bundle. What a clever way to steal money. I'm not saying all moderators or owners of these chat room are deceptive or were solely there to rip people off. I'm just pointing out that this time period sure did have a lot of stories that may not be told years from now and the idea of a paying chat room sure was clever.
So what is the deal with brandon? Did he just drop out as a sponsor, has he been "jacked" or what? Did he in fact leave because of the roasting he got over that profit-splitting scheme? I thought it was a little odd that he never defended it. This place is turning into a regular soap opera.
Brandon is a successful trader and a very good educator, IMO. He left ET because he got tired of putting up with all of the crap that people throw around on this site. People may or may not like his 'marketing' on this site (totally legit as a paying sponsor, I might add), but he was among the best in providing good educational information for everyone to benefit from, at no cost, here on ET. I think ET's lost a valuable contributor and hope that he returns sometime soon. Note that I'm a profession fulltime trader supporting myself with trading since the late 1990's, not some clueless newbie. I have never subscribed to his services, but have read his posting both here and on SI. I think the biggest idiots on this board are the newbies and small potato folks trying to look and act like pros... They think the best way to do this is to challenge the abilities of others and put others down... In the end, they only hurt themselves and the other newbies that could benefit from the experience of others such as Brandon. My two cents... -Eric
surely the benefits of this site would outweigh the negative in terms of marketing. what gives ?? best, surfer