I'm interested why so called professional traders are willing to train other individuals, especially if it is remotely and for a fee. It's understandable for a trader to take on a son of a family friend or a passionate kid that contacted his firm. I just don't understand those traders that try to charge money for their guidance and more importantly try to teach people remotely, through a website! Why would a consistently profitable trader take the time to create a website with videos and chat rooms? That to me sounds like a waste of time. If I was making consistent money 75% of the time and gradually increasing my positions, I would eventually be making some serious cash. I used to trade at a prop desk and saw the head trader/owner make about $5,000 (which for him is nothing now) on average 80% of the days. I've also heard from him that many of his buddies in NYC consistently have $100,000 days (on a 5,000,000+ accounts though). For this reason, why would someone take the time away from working on their trading to achieve some of this success (a $5,000,000 account) and instead charge $50 to $300 a month to teach new traders? Time is money and this doesn't make sense. When I traded prop, our parent company consisted of international arbitrage traders. These guys were capitalized with million dollar accounts, some 30,000,000+ and sometimes made $500,000 in one morning. These guys were intense and I am unaware of any of them that trained people for a fee and/or ran a training website. On the other hand, I once visited this shady firm in Westchester, NY... there were like 20 traders crammed in a small room. One of them was looking for a assistant for his "trader training website". I don't know if this guy was profitable, but the operation looked very suspicious, unprofessional at best. So what justifies someone training some to trade? Is it a big industry? Are these instructors just trying to teach people the basics of the market? From what it seems like, most claim to teach individuals how to become profitable (with the small disclaimer printed on the bottom of there website). I'm not going to buy the "we're giving back to the community argument" when you charge any fee whatsoever. My former prop boss, who was the CEO of Broadway Trading in the 1990s created a company that capitalized twenty recent college graduates with a $350,000 account each. After 8 months, the business was practically closed because each of us lost more than we made... It was not a financial problem but a issue of potential though. Anyhow, the training from one of the most experienced day traders on Wall Street was 100% free. Furthermore, we payed NO Commissions, NO desk/quote fees.... no one was responsible for a penny of their loses. What I will say is that in the 1990s, he did charge new traders a small tuition fee ($1,250) but they easily made the money back when stocks traded in fractions. They were the SOES bandits and apparently took over $1 billion from the market in a decade, before they went bust during the tech-bubble. I am not trying to spam, but the only legit company that I know the traders have a training site and actually make money is T3. This is where some of my former boss's traders work now and there are some of the 100,000+ day guys. The profits you have to put into perspective though... 1% on a 10,000,000 account is $100,000 and apparently some of their guys swing $25,000,000 accounts...maybe not at T3, but I know that some of the Lightspeed affiliated people do. Can anyone list any traders that they are sure are actually profitable and have blogs or training sites?
<i>"Why would a consistently profitable trader take the time to create a website with videos and chat rooms? That to me sounds like a waste of time."</i> I'll answer your question in detail, if you'll first answer mine. With all your noted experience rubbing elbows with mega-successful traders, why are you moderating a public message board instead of honing your skills as a trader? During live trading hours, to boot. That to me sounds like a monumental waste of time.
Because I traded and failed... I lost $8,500 total which is not bad. I actually resigned from the firm in end of February when I learned it was closing in May of 2009. I was surrounded by some serious traders, but the operation failed. So now I have plenty of time... I don't want to open a retail account because I don't have enough capital. After trading a $350,000 account, a leveraged $50,000 account won't do it. I can't afford to scalp as I did at the prop desk. I don't trust most other prop firms with my money, especially remotely. I've been applying to many legitimate ones (First NY, and many Chicago firms) but with no success. I have plenty of time to spend on ET, trying to have a couple answers questioned and learn some things. I'm also studying for a CFA Level I to make myself for more competitive for the investment banking world when job demand remerges. Also working on some Excel, VBA trading systems. So yea, as a failed trader alongside many high net worth people, I have a lot of free time now.
OK then, your to-date cost of education is -$8,500 to learn everything you currently know to build on from here. One final question. Regardless of why you haven't been successful yet, what is your plan for creating what has eluded you so far?
This has been dealt with a number of times on ET and other forums. Why not do a little research before having people re-give the explanations over and over again?
Just a few possible reasons: 1. Helps him to keep focused. 2. Helps him not to get bored, companionship. 3. Good for his ego. 4. Extra income. (always good) 5. Extra income because he can't scale up for various reasons. (specially good) 6. He actually likes to teach. 7. It actually helps his system when more people take the same position at the same time. 8. He wants to leave a legacy. 9. He likes to help others, but why should he do it for free? Also, most people don't appreciate/recognize value for free.... 10.etc.etc.etc. blah-blah-blah
please... leave rcanfield out of this discussion. Bad enough he pollutes every other thread on this message board with the same inane drivel puked out repeatedly. If you want to read his stance on trading and traders in general, five minutes spent inside his post history will tell you more than enough about that.