Of course he is.....I'm impressed he's able to "sell" this service. What Trading Academy is missing is a "tie-in" to a prop shop. However, that may be missing because no prop shop wants to partner with them. I was actually seriously considering signing up until I discovered the tie-in was missing.
And is it just a coincidence that FX STREET.COM is on eof Online Trading Academy's partners? http://www.tradingacademy.com/about-us/Partners.aspx Right from their own website. Enough said!
And is it just a coincidence that FX STREET.COM is one of Online Trading Academy's partners? Isn't there a conflict of interest there? What's next, Trade Station, the broker that OTA recommends so highly names Sam or one of the other OTA trainers as the best in the industry? Wow. What credibility! OTA busted again. http://www.tradingacademy.com/about-us/Partners.aspx Right from their own website. Enough said!
Explain the following to me. http://www.tradingacademy.com/courses/Forex-Trader.aspx "Forex Trader Course Learn professional currency trading skills that can help you succeed in the fast-paced marketplace of Forex trading. In Part 1 (two days), youâll learn to trade currency pairs using the latest tools and software. In Part 2 (four days), youâll work the Forex market with a trading professional using live streaming data as you develop your own Forex currency trading system. Most students take both parts together, although you can also take them separately for convenience. Forex Trader Part 1 (2 Days): $1995 Forex Trader Part 2 (4 Days): $2995" Why the hell do *I* have to develop my own trading system? Am I not paying them kilobucks to teach me THEIR can't-lose trading system? LOL -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have talked with several people who have taken the Forex class at OTA and said it was a total waste of money. Very basic stuff. Instructors are not that good. And another thing; on the phone they tell you will trade with real money, but once you get there and pay for registration, they say that was a mistake. Ooops. Oh so sorry!
How to develope my own trading system is the one thing I would hope they would teach. There isn't a "can't lose trading system" that works in all markets.
deaddog wrote: How to develope my own trading system is the one thing I would hope they would teach. There isn't a "can't lose trading system" that works in all markets. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The way it is explained by the OTA Counselors (used car salesmen) is that OTA training is likened to getting a personal trainer at at health club. OTA trainers will teach you and walk you through the processes, train you, set up a trading system and show you how to set up a trading plan or even do it for you. The real issue that I and so many others have against OTA is that they sell you on one idea and once you sign up, it is a completely different animal. The training is so basic that even the most naive to trading will find it boring. I do agree with you though that the individual should set up their own system. That is exactly what I did and without coaching from OTA and now I am making money on my own and without paying $10,000 to $65,000 for XLT and Passport programs. In another regard, I saw the new OTA informercial and have to wonder where in the world that was filmed at? The informercial makes the OTA centers look like a large building, almost like a school with lot's of offices and large training rooms. The OTA center I went to was nothing like that. The training room was small, and could squeeze maybe 20 people in there elbow to elbow. The dining area was also very small with two small tables and perhaps 6 chairs total. Off to the side there were some 2 offices that could probably accomodate three people. Quite different from what was shown on the informercial, but why be surprised? The trainers were not all that accomodating as the informercial shows. Basically it was a lecture format with the trainer walking around making sure everyone knew how to use the computers correctly. Most ot the time the trainer spent time in one of the offices or chatting with OTA personel. Many people made money in training, however, as mentioned in another thread, when they went home and did it on their own using the same techniques it was quite another matter. Whether or not OTA uses "real money" in their classes is questionable and many of the students feel that this "live trading" is really just in a demo account. Nothing wrong with using a demo account, but why not tell it like it is? Once again this is quite different from what the informercial shows. Does that suprise you? Regarding the retake provision. If even 10% of the people who joined retook the class, where in the world w ould you put them when the small classroom only accomodates 20 people and that is a tight fit! As I stated before, CAVEAT EMPTOR!
@ Steve. I've been to the IBD classes and they are excellent. They are priced fairly and they have competent trainers. The only bad thing is that they require you to travel in most cases. But they are worth it. Now back to OTA.... I don't know if I would call them a blatant scam, but they do overpromise and under deliver. The workshops are a blatant sales pitch sort of like going to an Amway meeting, only worse. A lot of hype. No real meat. Just a lot of bologna. Mostly style with very little substance. Traders I spoke with at the center said they were all losing money. One indicated that he was barely breaking even after retaking classes numerous times for about a year and spending over $20,000 in courses on upsells. The classes themselves are very generalized information, hardly worth the prioce they charge. The retake is a joke, much like the old Glenn W. Turner "Dare To Be Great" motivational courses which also offered lifetime retakes but the company kept getting shut down and you had to enroll all over again. So my question to OTA is, what is lifetime? Online Trading Acadmy has been around for about 20 years. It has had many name changes since it started as Momentum Securities, then Block Trading, then Newport Beach Securities and finally Online Trading Academy. Why all the name changes? The classes are very expensive starting at $5,000 but they will attempt to upsell you to a $65,000 program and tell you that you are getting a bargain. Trainers overall are so, so. Not that great and not worth the price they charge. OTA is now aggressively pushing informercials much like Teach Me To Trade and so many other get rich quick schemes that have dissappeared. It has been assumed that the people appearing in said informercials are not real OTA students, but people who have ben compensated for their endorsements and may or may not be real traders. Decide for yourself. The Forex training is pariticularly bad. In the class and on the CD-ROMS, the trainer indicates that one of the advantage of FOREX is that there are no downgrades like what happens to stocks? Come again? What about the downgrade the US got last spring and the one Greece is getting now? Who trains these guys? A lot of noise is being made about an award that Sam Seiden got and those of us who know about Sam, know that he is an excellent trainer. However, the award came from one of Online Trading Academy's partners. Do I see a conflict of interest here? Is he really the best? Not if the trainer I saw in class was trained by him. One more point, in the OTA informercial now airing all over, Sam Seiden is very comspicously conducting a training class that implies he is training students. However, according to OTA, Mr. Seiden does not conduct these kinds of classes to students, only trains OTA employees. Looks like deception to me. Wasn't there a guy name McCorkle who got busted for doing this same sort of thing? Traders who have taken the class indicated that they were not making any money trading and only made money in class. Many have spent from $20,000 to over $65,000 on upgrades to other programs seeking more education but no results to speak of. Suggest that you pass on this one. Besides, these companies come and go every couple of years or so.
I just attended a Online Trading Academy introduction seminar and wanted to post a few observations and questions. The guy giving the class stated that the XLT service results are audited by a 3rd party accounting firm. He also stated that they are an approved NASDAQ partner and as such NASDAQ required all instructor trading accounts to be audited. The guy giving the class said that no instructor ever has a losing month. If they ever had a losing month they would not be approved as an instructor. I was so impressed by that statement that I told the account rep that I would cut a check for the 2nd tier packages ($12,500) if he could provide the audited statements. The account rep invited me to the next class with the VP as the instructor and he would answer my questions. I told him that I didn't want to waste his time or mine if I would not be provided the statements. He then proceded to un-invite me to the class. It appears from the intro class that the week long class goes over some interesting content. The instructor was very confident that everything I have learned about trading from books, broker webinars and chat rooms was wrong and they were the only school to provide those secrets. My question to this thread is is there anything magical about the way OTA defines supply and demand zones? I was also interested in the way OTA can tell from level 2 if the "axe" is baiting the retail jerks. In summary, I enjoyed the class and felt like it would be a beneficial community to an active trader. The thing that turned me off most was the close. You go in a office alone with the sales rep and they do not want to let you out until you purchase. It smelled of time share, oil and gas investment sales tactics. I have never known anyone to feel like they got a good deal when pressured into this type of transaction so for me the sales rep actually killed the deal. I don't know the exact content that they provide in the class but I did find it offensive that they claim that no valuable information can be gained outside their school.
My personal experience with Online Trading Academy (OTA) is that they make a lot of promises, a lot of statements but fall far short on delivering. If in fact their trading is audited by a third party (don't hold your breath), why won't they release it? If they had such a document, it would be posted on their walls, on their presentations and in their literature. Since it is not, isn't it safe to assume that it doesn't exist? The OTA model is based on time share sales gimmicks. You come in for a FREE presentation with the promise of FREE gifts and then once you are in there you are nailed with a 1980's type of boiler room broker selling mixed in with a used car salesman approach. Easy to see why OTA is running so many ads and informercials desperately trying to get people into their "time share" like facade. Their strategy is not working. However, it should be noted that it's not fair to compare OTA to Time Share. The Time Share presentations are more professional and the gifts are better. And if you think the Power Trading Workshops (PTW's) are a joke, try attending one of their "offsite" or "ALL STAR EVENTS" These are just glorified versions of the PTW, only instead of just 1 used car salesman-speaker, you have 5,6 or more and again it is just one big sales pitch. They will tell you that they have special speakers coming from all over the world. For example, the event in Orlando last January, the primary speaker lives in Orlando about 2 miles from from the Orlando OTA office. The other speakers came from the corporate office in California and are part of the "seminar team" headed by a guy name Lance Straus who has worked with all of the seminar companies that have come and gone starting with Wade Cook and moving up. He has a horrible reputation in the industry. But wait a minute; I thought OTA was not a seminar company and didn't run hotel seminars? Guess again. This one was the Crowne Plaza in Orlando. Oh well. The PTW and the ALL STAR EVENTS I attended had most people walking out. The food was cheap danish, a lousy sub and the gifts were not even worth $5, let alone the $207 they claim. The cash prizes are just gift certificates intended to lure you to buy more of their overpriced products. And even though they will tell you the classes are being discounted, they are overpriced by at least 50% just to pay the expences of the seminar team that flies in from the corporate office in CA and the gal who drives 2 miles in Orlando. You were wise to see what was going on and killed the order. And you are not alone, my best guess is that at least 95% who go to the OTA circus do the same. To be fair, my association was with the OTA office in Orlando. Itis posisble that the other offices around the country are run more professionally, but from what I have been h earing, doesn;t sound like. By the way, I went through the PRO TRADER CLASS and then was shifted into the FUTURES CLASS and attended part of the PRO ACTIVE CLASS, FOREX and the OPTIONS CLASS. I didn't see any earth shaking information. The manager allowed me to shift around as I was totally unhappy with the flagship class PRO TRADER. The trainers, with the exception of t he Futures Class were not that good and in fact downright boring. They was a lot of selling being done right in class that we paid for. Not the PTW which was a blatant sales scam, but the classes. Just wanted to give you a preview of that to expect if you signup for this gig. Their sales pitch is right out of a tin can. Save yourself a lot of time and aggravation and skip this one.