Why do people pay for trading courses/training?

PropTraderMTL,

You only talking about fee services dealing with psychological help (e.g trader psychologists) because it seems like many of the replies I see are orientated to other types of vendors (e.g. trade methods).

Mark

 

the reason is they want to get rich quick:

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showt...o people want to get rich quick&pagenumber=42

 

Yeah I really should have phrased the question differently. I have no desire to pay someone to learn an edge or a system. I was curious about the "noggin" stuff and whether experienced profitable traders have used it.

In the future I will be way more specific with my question

Thanks for the links I will check them out...

 

I actually started a journal here on ET about 2-3 months ago. I think this has helped me be more accountable and understand my current thinking.

It notes my trades but I'm always talking about how I'm feeling and what I was thinking during the day. I have found it good to get my frustration out and also look at my trading objectively

 

Thanks for your input, I'm basically of the same opinion about these paid courses teaching trading.

As I stated in my last posts I'm more interested in the "improving me" rather then "improving or learning a system"

 

Another note from a client regarding a live trade:

And I quote:

"Nice to see and appreciate you sending along. I didn’t send but I had 3 trades last week that netted 1,600. I only traded one day though. My absolute monster to work through is time – getting to a consistent routine, reviewing markets to identify entries and then being able to handle entry intraday. It’s that crazy simple though just a bear to work through. I’m really thinking about ditching the job ~August and trading fulltime to alleviate this issue. "

Closed quote

 

I have probably read or skimmed 300+ books about trading. As we all know, most of them are crap. (I keep looking because about every 30th book contains one really good idea.)

So while it's true that everything is in a book somewhere, there is no guarantee that if someone chooses to read as opposed to paying for "training" they will be provided with any better methods. If you read ten or twenty books, they could all end up being the crappy ones.

However, it seems to me that people who read might be more likely to succeed, primarily because they are willing to sit quietly and study something. The way to really learn to trade is to study your own trades, discover what works and does not work, figure out why, and tailor your techniques to your temperament. If you aren't willing to study your successes and your failures, I do not think you will succeed. Some people do this by journaling. Some look at charts nineteen hours a day. I keep spreadsheets of all past trades and of paper trades of new systems, and I look at them regularly. And I suppose there are other methods.

Here is an analogy: if you drive, ask yourself how you learned. Yes, maybe someone stuck you in the car when you were young, taught you a few rules, helped you practice, and possibly even gave you a book. But you drive much better now than you did then. Over years of driving, you get better and better at it, because you keep seeing your own mistakes, near misses, and other drivers' mistakes, and you become more able to stop making mistakes and to avoid other drivers who create dangerous situations. No one can really spoon feed you into being a good driver or give you a book about driving that will do that for you. You have to tweak your methods to achieve maximum safety, by paying attention to what is going on all the time.

 

I read the thread and I looked at you journal.

I found out the breadth of your experience and how you relate or do not relate to the financial industry.

Attendance at Expos involves thousands of people and the exhibitors who come year after year well demonstrate how the industry is progressing.

Learning to trade involves many steps. Postponing them slows the learning process. If you find out where you are in the process then it becomes easier to take the next steps.

Expos give a person exposure the the size of the pond and who in the pond. A few years of attendance can afford a person with and open mind the chance to acquire a lot of colleagues.

 

Most non-professional traders use trading as a hobby. Going to courses/training, even sales events are entertaining. People go to Gun Shows and Antique Shows for the same reason.