Online Trading Academy does offer a very good trading education. They use industry recognized methodologies that do create real positive absolute returns.
The problem is that they present these methodologies as thier own and make novice traders believe that they invented them.
Their use of the term "supply and demand" is bantered about as though no one ever considered this concept.
The average prospect tends to be financially desparate. Many are retired, sick, old or just bored. That these people will ever be sucessful as traders is unlikely. Not that I am implying they are stupid, but realistically, most students will never be sucessful.
The program is too long and way to expensive. While real world concepts are taught, there are cheaper was to learn them. I wonder how many lives were made worse by this company.
I have been in sales, so I can tell you that the term Education Counselor and Director of Education are synonimous with Salesman and Sales Manager.
These sales people are highly trained, they control the room in a way that fosters maximum emotion and uncovers pain in the prospect, they will do anything to get you to buy, including offering over priced financing that really goes againt the concepts they teach.
While I would encourage anyone who wants to improve thier personal finances or learn to invest, I would caution them against getting involved with this company until Online Trading Academy changes the business model they operate under.
The training is way overpriced in the thousands of dollars. You have to take the entire thing and cannot take only a part thereby costing up front thousands as much as $20,000 up front. What they teach does not work in the long run. Trading stocks does not work in the long run over time. The statistics prove this. So their system will not pay off and you will not recoup the tuition paid in. Their video TV show that is broadcast every day is useless. they only give what the market did that day which I can get and not have to waste time listening to them. Also all they talk about is Austrian econmics. They do not help investors make money. They do not talk about individual stocks or about individual companies. They give no fundamental research on stocks or companies. Their main thrust is speculation in futures and day trading. Worthless as far as value is concerned.
Wow was I shocked. I had gone to a free seminar at Online Trading Academy in Minneapolis (near the airport in Bloomington), after calling in on a radio show where they promised me some free investing DVDs just for showing up to a free seminar (you have to watch out for this, as it is just a bait and switch).
At that free seminar, they than sold me a $299 3 day class (they really wanted me to sign up on the spot, and not wait, but it seemed like a good deal at the time so I did). They shared all kinds of information that they would be teaching us during this 3 day class which I was really looking forward to. Than I attended this 3 day class, what they called a market timing course. They led us to believe they were going to teach us market timing (and why else would you title the class market timing, right?).
Boy was I surprised to find out it was basically nothing more than a 3 day informercial to sell me their ‘real classes’ that cost between $21,000 and $50,000. This 3 day class covered good, general, feel good information (they did get our blood pressure going real good about how the markets and Jim Kraemer are ripping us off) but there was nothing specific that taught us how to manage our own money, which is what I thought we were going to get. When I told my sales rep I might be interested to start with a 7 day class for $7000 which they had, instead of their $21,000 class (to try out and check out their program (which is still a TON of money for just a 7 day course), I was told by my sales rep the $7000 class didn’t include their continuos education program and without that I likely wouldn’t learn enough in the $7000 7 day course to really make money on my own. When I asked how much than for the continuos education program, I was told $14,000 but then I was told I would need at least $25,000 in my investment account to truly make any money. When I asked what about all their hype during their free seminar where they said a person could make good money off of an account with just $2000 in it, my sales rep said I would need at least their $21,000 education package to be able to make money with just a $2000 account. What? You tell me during your free seminar people can realistically make money on accounts as small as $2000 only to tell me after I sign up and pay you $299 for a class, that I can only do that if I spend at least ANOTHER $21,000 with you to learn this? This is almost fraud, a scam, a ripoff, a bait and switch.
My sales rep seemed inexperienced, confusing and wet behind the ears. It was confusing why we were meeting so much, but then I figured it out, as he wanted to sell me expensive classes and was just trying to butter me up. (I should have known better and seen this coming.) I got the feeling the workers there, except the out of town teacher (which they flew in special for this 3 day informercial), were all sales reps and not actually investing how they were telling us to do, but just trying to sell us these classes. Everyone that worked there would ‘tell us’ how well they were doing investing their own money with what they learned from the classes but no one there would prove it, and it sounded like they were just saying it (making it up). If it’s so good, why don’t you just make money in the stock market like you try to tell us how we should do it, instead of work there?
I should have read all the online reviews I found now, after I attended the class, before I had signed up for their class, because it would have saved me a bunch of time and money, and I never would have signed up. Here’s some of the ones I found but there seems to be more and I ran out of time looking:
I had a very strange experience with Online Trading Academy in Denver. I took the half day class and was intrigued so I signed up for the 3 day course. By the time that I started the 3 day course, I had pretty much decided that I was going to pony up the $40,000 to learn their system in depth. The 3 day course was disappointing in that approximately 80% of it was sales pitch to try to entice the participants into buying the main courses. It got very boring as I had already decided that I was going forward. Anyway, I asked for a copy of the "contract" so that I could review it. There was some confusing verbage in it regarding the refund policy. I had decided to ask my lawyer what it meant and left early on day 3 since the hardcore sales pressure was wearing on me and I had already decided to go for it. I wasn't gone 30 minutes and I received a call from my "counselor". I explained my feelings about the constant sales pitch and the ambiguous refiund language. I asked him what it meant. He was not familiar with it and acted confused. Then, he asked me if I had talked with the other participants during breaks about what they thought of the program. I told him that I had not because it did not matter to me what anyone else had thought about it. I asked him if the advanced classes were riddled with sales pitch like the 3 day. He said no. I told him I needed to understand the refund policy. It was then that he told me that if I had any doubts, I should not pony up the $40,000 and take the advanced classes. That's when it occurred to me that they were nervous about the contract and preferred that I declined continuation. I stopped at that point and did not go forward. I think I dodged a bullet. I think he did me a favor. Very strange.
Now that the kids are away for a bit I will spend some time to tell you about my short experience with the "Academy" so you can have a better idea of what to expect when you go there.
Baiting :
They usually bait most of us by getting our address from our brokerage firm or something like that. In my case, they sent me an offer by mail for a 1/2 day free seminar usually worth X amount of dollars, then they promise you a memory stick full with 4 training videos if you go there, etc.
First warning: You will never see the color of that memory stick. It's just to bait you...
On that flyer, they also give you a very long list of topics they will cover during that half day.
Second warning: none of it will happen. The adivisor there told me right of the bat that this was promo stuff from their head office and that there is no way they could cover 1/10 of that content in half a day, even if they wanted.
Then came the 1/2 day session... which lasted about 1.5 hours... that's a half day at the OTA.
THis was a 100% sales pitch with a bit of room for a few questions. We were a small crowd of about 6 people. The guy is basically probing the crowd to see who can could be a potential candidate.
Then he offered us a subsidized $800 - 3 days workshop. They charged $299 for it... I saved $500...wowwwww!!! That was totally bogus baby...
Since I got nothing in terms of actionable infos during the short sales pitch, I agreed to pay $300 to get the 3 days seminar.
Third warning: they were already starting the sales tactics by telling us we needed to make up your mind fast as there were almost no more seats available.
I asked the guy for my memory sticks at the end. The guy looked at me as if I wanted to borrow his car. "He says, that's just stuff on the flyer, we don't have any of those around"
At least he is direct and does not try to lie by saying: Oh, we are back order, etc. The guys just said flat out: that's just some BS flyer they write at the Head Office.
3 days workshop (or salespitch.)
I will keep this as short as I can. The three days workshop was like 2 days and some. At the end of the second day, they had already signed a few fish and they knew the rest was slipping away from them. Plus the coach came from the States and wanted to go early.
Basically, you will pay $300 for a salespitch... with again no actionable tips or set-ups to bring home at all at the end.
Though I expected some sales pitch, I did also expect some meat around the bones in terms of actual teaching. Well, I was at the wrong place.
The goal of the training is first to destabilize you 100% and to take you from your turf onto theirs of which you know nothing, using their own terminology, etc. so you can feel lost in their world. The only way to make it back to home base is to pay them for their coaching.
Pit Worship:
One of their tactic is to keep talking about the trading pits and how this was a golden era in trading, etc. Many pit traders who were too dumb to cut it with the computers are among their ranks as teachers. Their head is full of anecdotes, etc.
Everything you were told is .... wrong!
The other big part of their tactic is to tell you that fundamental analysis is bogus and that technical analysis is crap as well. Since most of experienced traders are one or the other or a mix of both, then there is nowhere to go other than to start following the OTA teaching, the absolute Holy Grail...
In order to prove their points they have slides with technical charts with a truckload of indicators all at once on the chart so you can't see anything. That makes people laugh at how stupid technical analysis is. However, if someone knows even a bit of TA, they will know that nobody creates charts like that, clogged with way too many lines.
That's their way of doing things: a few jabs at Warren Buffets here, other well-known traders, there. Soon, the rest of the crowed started to realize that only way to trade seemed to be the OTA way.
See, the whole workshop is running on fumes as they keep moving the carrot as the workshop progresses.
The guy that was meeting with me one on one (education advisor) to see sell me the whole course kept telling me that the instructor would take live trades, etc.
Fifth warning: the teacher did not take a single live trade nor a single simulated trade. Not even close. It was Power Point all along.
He talked about stocks, options and futures, showing you how you can have an incredible lifestyle with little effort.
Trading a bit in the morning and making your dough for the day while enjoying the rest of the day hiking, etc.
Basically, they show you how to set your trades so you can leave home and go to work. Once you reach your target, the stock sells on its own.
They sell (or rather promise) a lifestyle: do little and reap huge benefits. You know better than that guys? The market can deliver HUGE benefits... but it can take its money back in a second if you are clueless. It takes TIME and EFFORTS to be good at anything: be it guitar playing, moose hunting, photography, be good in bed or learning a second lauguage.
This whole idea of making tons of money while paying no attention to the fundamentals and having lots of times to play golf, etc. was like a shot of heroin among the group of naive students that were there.
Having made my share of money with a mix of fundamentals and technicals, I knew the coach was blowing some serious smoke. During his workshop he said a lot of things that were highly inacurate. The funny thing is that the stock he kept raving about CLF (Cliff Natural Resources) as a stock that would keep going up to the old highs. As of today's date, that sucker is heading by to its low. Things are not looking good with the US dollar going up either.
Wholesale or Retail?
This is a big phrase in the OTA vocabulary. Do you prefer to pay retail or wholesale? The OTA guys have a total distrusts in stocks making new highs... as opposed to a guy like Bill O'Neil who can't get enough of those stocks. They like their stocks low... but they are not bottom fishers either.
That phrase came again when they made us an offer on the tuition price.
The basic course with one year of XLT training was close to $20,000.00 retail. The guy then asked, do you want to pay wholesale or retail... such a dumb question.
XLT online was $11,500 + the Pro Trader in Class was $7000 - all plus taxes.
If we signed up right then and there that day, we could have the whole thing for about $14,000 a "wholesale" bargain.
I knew my spouse would start to laugh when she would see those prices. She did.
If you take the total package called Total Solution Education Track... that's only $95,045.00... the price of a few good cars... That's the retail price. If I remember they can cut you a deal for $65K if you sign right away.
Before the class, I was asking myself, if these guys are so smart, what are they doing here? I also told myself: how can they make any money with about 15 students at $300 a pop... When I saw the price of their actual course... it took like a quarter of a second to get ALL my answers. They are making a KILLING with those tuition fees. No real need to trade ;-)
Let me tell you that you can lear to trade well for a fraction of that... a very small fraction.
The few folks that signed were the most naive: several Asians got sucked right in and a few retired guys. They sure got about 6-7 suckers signed up. I was about to make a few recommendations to some of them in terms of learning to trade for peanuts as I knew through conversations during the breaks and lunch time that they were clueless but then I saw them come in the class with their OTA software box and their kits Sunday morning, I knew they are swallode the bait, the fish rod and the boat. I was within their school afte all so it was a bit tricky to give them some advice on how to learn to trade for a fraction of that... there were always a few OTA guys buzzing around.
My conclusions:
OTA- stop sending that fraudulent flyer. Tell people upfront that the free 1/2 day meeting is a salespitch and that the $300 seminar is a salespitch on steroid... again, with no actionable set ups. Plus that they will NEVER get that stupid memory stick loaded with video courses.
Would I recommend the $300 seminar for anyone at all? I would recommend it to someone who knows nothing or close to noting about the markets and that wants a decent overview of options, stocks and futures within about 2 days. This could save you a LOT of reading. For someone of average intelligence and very eager to learn, that could save you some time.
Caveat: keep your credit card in the freezer at home and don't sign nothing as if you are green, tender and naive, you could easily be blown away by those pompous claims you will hear all week-end. Yes, their hot tuition deal is only good for a few days... but for your finance's sake, cool down and talk to some friends about it, especially if they are good traders.
Second caveat: Play the game with them. Tell them you have a LOT of dough burning a hole in your pockets like $200K if you are a grown up or 50K if you are just out of school. Telll them that it is sitting in a GIC doing nothing. The reason I am saying that is that if you tell them you are broke or that you have little money... they will more than likely dump you right there and block you from attending. They know they have no chance to upsell their pricey tuition. You need at least $7k for the course... but if that's all you have you have that bogus 7 days course but not money to trade after. A stupid move in case you did not figure it out.
The role of the "education advisor" they put you in touch with is actually to probe the depth of your purse... and your wife's or husband. As a result, get ready to fill out a form asking how much cash you have in the bank, in options, in stocks, etc. If you don't tell them. Bye-bye baby. Just put some BS numbers in there otherwise they won't let you in.
Why put some fake numbers? First, these are salespeople on steroid, they are not Mother Teresa. It's none of their business. Also, at the back of the form it is written in small characters that by registering to the course you agree with them selling or exchanging your information with some third parties. So get ready to get a few calls here and there at night. That's a possibility.
How to learn trading on the cheap:
Many will disagree with me but it will take you years to become a good trader that does not screw up too much with a good defence (learn your defence ASAP.) A muiti-millionnaire guy I know that made his millions trading told me that it took him about 10 years to become a high level trader.
For me that's about that as well... though I am far from having the same money that he has. He went full time early. I took it as a hobby for far too long but not anymore. I am dead serious about it these days... That's why I tested the waters with OTA.
Recently my 19 years old nephew told me that he was very eager to learn about stocks, etc. Pretty bright kid who is starting his first year in Engineering which will already demand a lot of him for the next few years.
My suggestions to him were a few books, then I told him to get some really good but inexpensive stock newsletters so he could read back issues and see where the newsletter guys are coming with their trades, then he can see how their old trade panned out.
I also gave him a couple of books to read though I don't want him to read too much either so he can keep his focus on this studies.
One is the classic from Sam Weinstein "How to Make money in up and down market", the other one is by Jesse Stine: Superstocks and the last one is by Bill O'Neill. His classic "How to make money in stocks" O'Neil is full of himselft at times and he keeps refering to his website every 5 pages... but there is some good stuff in there.
Getting on the stockcharts.com site with a low fee subscription to get some great daily analysis and comments from some pros and great chartist is excellent as well.
Would I ever go to a Big Money course from OTA.
Strangely, the answer is "Yes." If I were millionnaire and living at home with not job, I would take a trip to one of their schools but I would be VERY picky as to who the teacher is though. You don't want to pay $8000 for a week only to find out the teacher is the worst lemon on the roster.
During the 3 days sales pitch I did spot some good kernels of information and they do have some perspective that actually match some successful trades I witnesses myself. It's not all bad. The problem is that until you pay the big bucks, they won't give you the whole recipe.
Podcast:
I am also a listener of their Power Trading Radio podcast where they review the markets almost every day. Their host (Merlin Rothfeld) is actually fairly lively, well informed and he has some nice guests. Not a bad podcast at all. Light hearted and informative.
That's basiclcally it guys. Learn and trade well. I just wanted to give you a "head's up" so you know what you are signing for.
I attended an introduction class to the OTA early 2014, followed by a three day introductory long weekend in London for which I paid £299.
I then signed up for the whole of the Trading Classes, and later cancelled. I was later contacted by my 'Coach' who coaxed me into taking just the basic Forex Trading Class. I am so thankful that I did not take any further extensions to my education. I admit I was 'blinded' by what I didn't know and completely naive when it came to trading, and this is what they rely on to make you part with your money. Don't do it!
Last year I bought a home learning folder and CD on learning to trade by Vince Stanzione. His course, at the price of £400, shines out and stands head and shoulders above the £4,500 course that I paid for at the OTA. Furthermore, I still havent paid for the whole of Vince's course, as it comes with a full money back guarantee that if I haven't gained £1000 in just over a year, then when he has examined my trading account, he refunds what I have paid. He is also very contactable. Not so with OTA. They are absolutely rubbish at returning calls and enquiries. Every single staff member is also very tense. Also OTA will encourage you to take out loans etc. to pay for their courses, whereas Vince Stanzione's level of integrity doesn't allow him to follow that way of thinking. OTA just want to take your money. Even an 80 year old man was co-erced into buying their course so that he could make money for his grandson.
OTA don't offer money back in any shape or form. If you have the tiniest amount outstanding, they are very quick to get in touch with you, but if you are still short on a bit of the education owing to you, as I am, then they don't bother. They really aren't fit for purpose, and I am suprised they are allowed to continue 'trading' their wares as they really are flying close to the wire.
Whatever you do don't be fooled into parting with your money to OTA. If you want to learn to trade, follow Vince Stanzione's method as his works!
Online Trading Academy held a free information session to promote a three day "Market Timing Program" for USD 300. The program is nothing but a sales pitch to promote Online Trading Academy's tutorial programs and they make you pay to attend their sales pitch. I attended the session with a view to learn about forex markets but they had nothing much to offer; their entire focus was on selling their programs and their platform. I will not comment much about the tutorial programs as I decided not to attend this but much of this is available else where at 1/4th the cost. On the second day of the program, I expressed my displeasure to my contact ( educational counselor aka sales guy ) on why the "market timing session" turned to be nothing more than a sales pitch; he immediately said he would refund my 300 USD even before I asked for the same. Guess they knew that some would definitely react. His immediate senior wanted me to walk out of the session and said that they did not find me a right fit. The guy was very curt and was probably concerned that I might negatively influence other prospects. A very poor attitude for sales guy.
One of the attendees who left along with me mentioned that Online trading Academy is selling several similar programs (CDs and books ) on Amazon.com for 100-150 dollars, which they never mentioned during their sales pitch.
I generally don't write reviews but had to write this and alert others so they may think twice/ thrice before they spend their hard earned money on programs like this.
I signed up for the course at Online Trading Academy. They made great promises as to how much money I would be receiving whoever after 1 month I did not receiving my books or made the money my counselor said I would be making I requested a refund. He said he was out of town to give him another chance. I told him I didn’t like that because OTA should have somebody take his place. I paid a lot and I mean a lot of money and was expecting to make it back. However I gave him another chance. After 2 month I still didn’t receive any of my materials and of course I was not making any money I demanded a refund. They blamed me it was my fault because I didn’t register (I paid you and I have a piece of paper that said I was registered). Then they took the payment out of the wrong account and caused me to bounce checks. Of course it was my fault even though I have the paper work to prove that they made the mistake. Finally the owner called me and started to tell me to shut the F***up, F***you (very Professional) so I hung up and called the home office. So they granted me my refund however only with the finance company. They still owe me for the down payment and the bank fees. They said the checks in the mail well after 3 weeks I did a test and sent my son a check. OTA is 3 hours away and my son is 10 he received his check and I’m still waiting. Let’s face it OTA never mailed the check and won’t pay for the bank fees. I think that’s because they are in financial problems that why the owner was so irate and unprofessional. Yet they are teaching financial market. Calling the home office is a waste of time and after 3 weeks I never got anywhere with them. I am told it was exculpated but nobody called me why? This is a business that pays the sales people very well and many of these companies are closed because of false pretence. Think about it if you are making the money they tell you are making the why would you need a job to travel from home to make a living. If I am making the kind of money they claim I’m sitting at home with my family. As a disabled veteran I am amazed people will take such advantage over somebody else and can go to sleep at night. The people at online trading academy can. I as to talk to the home office owner who founded the company and he doesn’t care either. I have not received 1 phone call from anybody except 1 who can’t do anything about it and keeps telling me he has sent it to other people. Well now I am hiring a layer about it and they said with my paperwork online trading academy will have to pay damages.
FREE SEMINAR WHICH IMPLIES THEY HAVE SECRET SAUCE OF TRADING. EXTEMELY GOOD SALES PITCH WITH THE 'BEST' SALES PRESENTERS. CAREFUL; LEADS TO INEXPENSIVE 2 DAY SEMINAR WHICH IS ALL INTENDED TO LAND U FOR THEIR VERY EXPENSIVE 2 WEEK SEMINAR WHICH COULD BE TAUGHT IN 2 DAYS. REPETITION OF INFO WHILE ALWAYS AVOIDING RESULTS OF PROGRAM. WHEN U PUSH FOR RESULTS THEY SAY IS IMPROPER OR ILLEGAL
TOTALLY FALSE! OTHER TRADING ED SERVICES PUBLISH RESULTS. WHEN U TRY TO FOLLOW UP TO REPORT FALLCIES OF SYSTEM THEY RIDICULE AND PUT U OFF AND EVENTUNALLY DON'T RETURN CALLS. LOST 5K ON THEIR SYTEM PLUS 12K FOR COURSE
Online Trading Academy Reviews
Online Trading Academy does offer a very good trading education. They use industry recognized methodologies that do create real positive absolute returns.
The problem is that they present these methodologies as thier own and make novice traders believe that they invented them.
Their use of the term "supply and demand" is bantered about as though no one ever considered this concept.
The average prospect tends to be financially desparate. Many are retired, sick, old or just bored. That these people will ever be sucessful as traders is unlikely. Not that I am implying they are stupid, but realistically, most students will never be sucessful.
The program is too long and way to expensive. While real world concepts are taught, there are cheaper was to learn them. I wonder how many lives were made worse by this company.
I have been in sales, so I can tell you that the term Education Counselor and Director of Education are synonimous with Salesman and Sales Manager.
These sales people are highly trained, they control the room in a way that fosters maximum emotion and uncovers pain in the prospect, they will do anything to get you to buy, including offering over priced financing that really goes againt the concepts they teach.
While I would encourage anyone who wants to improve thier personal finances or learn to invest, I would caution them against getting involved with this company until Online Trading Academy changes the business model they operate under.
The training is way overpriced in the thousands of dollars. You have to take the entire thing and cannot take only a part thereby costing up front thousands as much as $20,000 up front. What they teach does not work in the long run. Trading stocks does not work in the long run over time. The statistics prove this. So their system will not pay off and you will not recoup the tuition paid in. Their video TV show that is broadcast every day is useless. they only give what the market did that day which I can get and not have to waste time listening to them. Also all they talk about is Austrian econmics. They do not help investors make money. They do not talk about individual stocks or about individual companies. They give no fundamental research on stocks or companies. Their main thrust is speculation in futures and day trading. Worthless as far as value is concerned.
Wow was I shocked. I had gone to a free seminar at Online Trading Academy in Minneapolis (near the airport in Bloomington), after calling in on a radio show where they promised me some free investing DVDs just for showing up to a free seminar (you have to watch out for this, as it is just a bait and switch).
At that free seminar, they than sold me a $299 3 day class (they really wanted me to sign up on the spot, and not wait, but it seemed like a good deal at the time so I did). They shared all kinds of information that they would be teaching us during this 3 day class which I was really looking forward to. Than I attended this 3 day class, what they called a market timing course. They led us to believe they were going to teach us market timing (and why else would you title the class market timing, right?).
Boy was I surprised to find out it was basically nothing more than a 3 day informercial to sell me their ‘real classes’ that cost between $21,000 and $50,000. This 3 day class covered good, general, feel good information (they did get our blood pressure going real good about how the markets and Jim Kraemer are ripping us off) but there was nothing specific that taught us how to manage our own money, which is what I thought we were going to get. When I told my sales rep I might be interested to start with a 7 day class for $7000 which they had, instead of their $21,000 class (to try out and check out their program (which is still a TON of money for just a 7 day course), I was told by my sales rep the $7000 class didn’t include their continuos education program and without that I likely wouldn’t learn enough in the $7000 7 day course to really make money on my own. When I asked how much than for the continuos education program, I was told $14,000 but then I was told I would need at least $25,000 in my investment account to truly make any money. When I asked what about all their hype during their free seminar where they said a person could make good money off of an account with just $2000 in it, my sales rep said I would need at least their $21,000 education package to be able to make money with just a $2000 account. What? You tell me during your free seminar people can realistically make money on accounts as small as $2000 only to tell me after I sign up and pay you $299 for a class, that I can only do that if I spend at least ANOTHER $21,000 with you to learn this? This is almost fraud, a scam, a ripoff, a bait and switch.
My sales rep seemed inexperienced, confusing and wet behind the ears. It was confusing why we were meeting so much, but then I figured it out, as he wanted to sell me expensive classes and was just trying to butter me up. (I should have known better and seen this coming.) I got the feeling the workers there, except the out of town teacher (which they flew in special for this 3 day informercial), were all sales reps and not actually investing how they were telling us to do, but just trying to sell us these classes. Everyone that worked there would ‘tell us’ how well they were doing investing their own money with what they learned from the classes but no one there would prove it, and it sounded like they were just saying it (making it up). If it’s so good, why don’t you just make money in the stock market like you try to tell us how we should do it, instead of work there?
I should have read all the online reviews I found now, after I attended the class, before I had signed up for their class, because it would have saved me a bunch of time and money, and I never would have signed up. Here’s some of the ones I found but there seems to be more and I ran out of time looking:
I had a very strange experience with Online Trading Academy in Denver. I took the half day class and was intrigued so I signed up for the 3 day course. By the time that I started the 3 day course, I had pretty much decided that I was going to pony up the $40,000 to learn their system in depth. The 3 day course was disappointing in that approximately 80% of it was sales pitch to try to entice the participants into buying the main courses. It got very boring as I had already decided that I was going forward. Anyway, I asked for a copy of the "contract" so that I could review it. There was some confusing verbage in it regarding the refund policy. I had decided to ask my lawyer what it meant and left early on day 3 since the hardcore sales pressure was wearing on me and I had already decided to go for it. I wasn't gone 30 minutes and I received a call from my "counselor". I explained my feelings about the constant sales pitch and the ambiguous refiund language. I asked him what it meant. He was not familiar with it and acted confused. Then, he asked me if I had talked with the other participants during breaks about what they thought of the program. I told him that I had not because it did not matter to me what anyone else had thought about it. I asked him if the advanced classes were riddled with sales pitch like the 3 day. He said no. I told him I needed to understand the refund policy. It was then that he told me that if I had any doubts, I should not pony up the $40,000 and take the advanced classes. That's when it occurred to me that they were nervous about the contract and preferred that I declined continuation. I stopped at that point and did not go forward. I think I dodged a bullet. I think he did me a favor. Very strange.
Now that the kids are away for a bit I will spend some time to tell you about my short experience with the "Academy" so you can have a better idea of what to expect when you go there.
Baiting :
They usually bait most of us by getting our address from our brokerage firm or something like that. In my case, they sent me an offer by mail for a 1/2 day free seminar usually worth X amount of dollars, then they promise you a memory stick full with 4 training videos if you go there, etc.
First warning: You will never see the color of that memory stick. It's just to bait you...
On that flyer, they also give you a very long list of topics they will cover during that half day.
Second warning: none of it will happen. The adivisor there told me right of the bat that this was promo stuff from their head office and that there is no way they could cover 1/10 of that content in half a day, even if they wanted.
Then came the 1/2 day session... which lasted about 1.5 hours... that's a half day at the OTA.
THis was a 100% sales pitch with a bit of room for a few questions. We were a small crowd of about 6 people. The guy is basically probing the crowd to see who can could be a potential candidate.
Then he offered us a subsidized $800 - 3 days workshop. They charged $299 for it... I saved $500...wowwwww!!! That was totally bogus baby...
Since I got nothing in terms of actionable infos during the short sales pitch, I agreed to pay $300 to get the 3 days seminar.
Third warning: they were already starting the sales tactics by telling us we needed to make up your mind fast as there were almost no more seats available.
I asked the guy for my memory sticks at the end. The guy looked at me as if I wanted to borrow his car. "He says, that's just stuff on the flyer, we don't have any of those around"
At least he is direct and does not try to lie by saying: Oh, we are back order, etc. The guys just said flat out: that's just some BS flyer they write at the Head Office.
3 days workshop (or salespitch.)
I will keep this as short as I can. The three days workshop was like 2 days and some. At the end of the second day, they had already signed a few fish and they knew the rest was slipping away from them. Plus the coach came from the States and wanted to go early.
Basically, you will pay $300 for a salespitch... with again no actionable tips or set-ups to bring home at all at the end.
Though I expected some sales pitch, I did also expect some meat around the bones in terms of actual teaching. Well, I was at the wrong place.
The goal of the training is first to destabilize you 100% and to take you from your turf onto theirs of which you know nothing, using their own terminology, etc. so you can feel lost in their world. The only way to make it back to home base is to pay them for their coaching.
Pit Worship:
One of their tactic is to keep talking about the trading pits and how this was a golden era in trading, etc. Many pit traders who were too dumb to cut it with the computers are among their ranks as teachers. Their head is full of anecdotes, etc.
Everything you were told is .... wrong!
The other big part of their tactic is to tell you that fundamental analysis is bogus and that technical analysis is crap as well. Since most of experienced traders are one or the other or a mix of both, then there is nowhere to go other than to start following the OTA teaching, the absolute Holy Grail...
In order to prove their points they have slides with technical charts with a truckload of indicators all at once on the chart so you can't see anything. That makes people laugh at how stupid technical analysis is. However, if someone knows even a bit of TA, they will know that nobody creates charts like that, clogged with way too many lines.
That's their way of doing things: a few jabs at Warren Buffets here, other well-known traders, there. Soon, the rest of the crowed started to realize that only way to trade seemed to be the OTA way.
See, the whole workshop is running on fumes as they keep moving the carrot as the workshop progresses.
The guy that was meeting with me one on one (education advisor) to see sell me the whole course kept telling me that the instructor would take live trades, etc.
Fifth warning: the teacher did not take a single live trade nor a single simulated trade. Not even close. It was Power Point all along.
He talked about stocks, options and futures, showing you how you can have an incredible lifestyle with little effort.
Trading a bit in the morning and making your dough for the day while enjoying the rest of the day hiking, etc.
Basically, they show you how to set your trades so you can leave home and go to work. Once you reach your target, the stock sells on its own.
They sell (or rather promise) a lifestyle: do little and reap huge benefits. You know better than that guys? The market can deliver HUGE benefits... but it can take its money back in a second if you are clueless. It takes TIME and EFFORTS to be good at anything: be it guitar playing, moose hunting, photography, be good in bed or learning a second lauguage.
This whole idea of making tons of money while paying no attention to the fundamentals and having lots of times to play golf, etc. was like a shot of heroin among the group of naive students that were there.
Having made my share of money with a mix of fundamentals and technicals, I knew the coach was blowing some serious smoke. During his workshop he said a lot of things that were highly inacurate. The funny thing is that the stock he kept raving about CLF (Cliff Natural Resources) as a stock that would keep going up to the old highs. As of today's date, that sucker is heading by to its low. Things are not looking good with the US dollar going up either.
Wholesale or Retail?
This is a big phrase in the OTA vocabulary. Do you prefer to pay retail or wholesale? The OTA guys have a total distrusts in stocks making new highs... as opposed to a guy like Bill O'Neil who can't get enough of those stocks. They like their stocks low... but they are not bottom fishers either.
That phrase came again when they made us an offer on the tuition price.
The basic course with one year of XLT training was close to $20,000.00 retail. The guy then asked, do you want to pay wholesale or retail... such a dumb question.
XLT online was $11,500 + the Pro Trader in Class was $7000 - all plus taxes.
If we signed up right then and there that day, we could have the whole thing for about $14,000 a "wholesale" bargain.
I knew my spouse would start to laugh when she would see those prices. She did.
If you take the total package called Total Solution Education Track... that's only $95,045.00... the price of a few good cars... That's the retail price. If I remember they can cut you a deal for $65K if you sign right away.
Before the class, I was asking myself, if these guys are so smart, what are they doing here? I also told myself: how can they make any money with about 15 students at $300 a pop... When I saw the price of their actual course... it took like a quarter of a second to get ALL my answers. They are making a KILLING with those tuition fees. No real need to trade ;-)
Let me tell you that you can lear to trade well for a fraction of that... a very small fraction.
The few folks that signed were the most naive: several Asians got sucked right in and a few retired guys. They sure got about 6-7 suckers signed up. I was about to make a few recommendations to some of them in terms of learning to trade for peanuts as I knew through conversations during the breaks and lunch time that they were clueless but then I saw them come in the class with their OTA software box and their kits Sunday morning, I knew they are swallode the bait, the fish rod and the boat. I was within their school afte all so it was a bit tricky to give them some advice on how to learn to trade for a fraction of that... there were always a few OTA guys buzzing around.
My conclusions:
OTA- stop sending that fraudulent flyer. Tell people upfront that the free 1/2 day meeting is a salespitch and that the $300 seminar is a salespitch on steroid... again, with no actionable set ups. Plus that they will NEVER get that stupid memory stick loaded with video courses.
Would I recommend the $300 seminar for anyone at all? I would recommend it to someone who knows nothing or close to noting about the markets and that wants a decent overview of options, stocks and futures within about 2 days. This could save you a LOT of reading. For someone of average intelligence and very eager to learn, that could save you some time.
Caveat: keep your credit card in the freezer at home and don't sign nothing as if you are green, tender and naive, you could easily be blown away by those pompous claims you will hear all week-end. Yes, their hot tuition deal is only good for a few days... but for your finance's sake, cool down and talk to some friends about it, especially if they are good traders.
Second caveat: Play the game with them. Tell them you have a LOT of dough burning a hole in your pockets like $200K if you are a grown up or 50K if you are just out of school. Telll them that it is sitting in a GIC doing nothing. The reason I am saying that is that if you tell them you are broke or that you have little money... they will more than likely dump you right there and block you from attending. They know they have no chance to upsell their pricey tuition. You need at least $7k for the course... but if that's all you have you have that bogus 7 days course but not money to trade after. A stupid move in case you did not figure it out.
The role of the "education advisor" they put you in touch with is actually to probe the depth of your purse... and your wife's or husband. As a result, get ready to fill out a form asking how much cash you have in the bank, in options, in stocks, etc. If you don't tell them. Bye-bye baby. Just put some BS numbers in there otherwise they won't let you in.
Why put some fake numbers? First, these are salespeople on steroid, they are not Mother Teresa. It's none of their business. Also, at the back of the form it is written in small characters that by registering to the course you agree with them selling or exchanging your information with some third parties. So get ready to get a few calls here and there at night. That's a possibility.
How to learn trading on the cheap:
Many will disagree with me but it will take you years to become a good trader that does not screw up too much with a good defence (learn your defence ASAP.) A muiti-millionnaire guy I know that made his millions trading told me that it took him about 10 years to become a high level trader.
For me that's about that as well... though I am far from having the same money that he has. He went full time early. I took it as a hobby for far too long but not anymore. I am dead serious about it these days... That's why I tested the waters with OTA.
Recently my 19 years old nephew told me that he was very eager to learn about stocks, etc. Pretty bright kid who is starting his first year in Engineering which will already demand a lot of him for the next few years.
My suggestions to him were a few books, then I told him to get some really good but inexpensive stock newsletters so he could read back issues and see where the newsletter guys are coming with their trades, then he can see how their old trade panned out.
I also gave him a couple of books to read though I don't want him to read too much either so he can keep his focus on this studies.
One is the classic from Sam Weinstein "How to Make money in up and down market", the other one is by Jesse Stine: Superstocks and the last one is by Bill O'Neill. His classic "How to make money in stocks" O'Neil is full of himselft at times and he keeps refering to his website every 5 pages... but there is some good stuff in there.
Getting on the stockcharts.com site with a low fee subscription to get some great daily analysis and comments from some pros and great chartist is excellent as well.
Would I ever go to a Big Money course from OTA.
Strangely, the answer is "Yes." If I were millionnaire and living at home with not job, I would take a trip to one of their schools but I would be VERY picky as to who the teacher is though. You don't want to pay $8000 for a week only to find out the teacher is the worst lemon on the roster.
During the 3 days sales pitch I did spot some good kernels of information and they do have some perspective that actually match some successful trades I witnesses myself. It's not all bad. The problem is that until you pay the big bucks, they won't give you the whole recipe.
Podcast:
I am also a listener of their Power Trading Radio podcast where they review the markets almost every day. Their host (Merlin Rothfeld) is actually fairly lively, well informed and he has some nice guests. Not a bad podcast at all. Light hearted and informative.
That's basiclcally it guys. Learn and trade well. I just wanted to give you a "head's up" so you know what you are signing for.
I attended an introduction class to the OTA early 2014, followed by a three day introductory long weekend in London for which I paid £299.
I then signed up for the whole of the Trading Classes, and later cancelled. I was later contacted by my 'Coach' who coaxed me into taking just the basic Forex Trading Class. I am so thankful that I did not take any further extensions to my education. I admit I was 'blinded' by what I didn't know and completely naive when it came to trading, and this is what they rely on to make you part with your money. Don't do it!
Last year I bought a home learning folder and CD on learning to trade by Vince Stanzione. His course, at the price of £400, shines out and stands head and shoulders above the £4,500 course that I paid for at the OTA. Furthermore, I still havent paid for the whole of Vince's course, as it comes with a full money back guarantee that if I haven't gained £1000 in just over a year, then when he has examined my trading account, he refunds what I have paid. He is also very contactable. Not so with OTA. They are absolutely rubbish at returning calls and enquiries. Every single staff member is also very tense. Also OTA will encourage you to take out loans etc. to pay for their courses, whereas Vince Stanzione's level of integrity doesn't allow him to follow that way of thinking. OTA just want to take your money. Even an 80 year old man was co-erced into buying their course so that he could make money for his grandson.
OTA don't offer money back in any shape or form. If you have the tiniest amount outstanding, they are very quick to get in touch with you, but if you are still short on a bit of the education owing to you, as I am, then they don't bother. They really aren't fit for purpose, and I am suprised they are allowed to continue 'trading' their wares as they really are flying close to the wire.
Whatever you do don't be fooled into parting with your money to OTA. If you want to learn to trade, follow Vince Stanzione's method as his works!
Online Trading Academy held a free information session to promote a three day "Market Timing Program" for USD 300. The program is nothing but a sales pitch to promote Online Trading Academy's tutorial programs and they make you pay to attend their sales pitch. I attended the session with a view to learn about forex markets but they had nothing much to offer; their entire focus was on selling their programs and their platform. I will not comment much about the tutorial programs as I decided not to attend this but much of this is available else where at 1/4th the cost. On the second day of the program, I expressed my displeasure to my contact ( educational counselor aka sales guy ) on why the "market timing session" turned to be nothing more than a sales pitch; he immediately said he would refund my 300 USD even before I asked for the same. Guess they knew that some would definitely react. His immediate senior wanted me to walk out of the session and said that they did not find me a right fit. The guy was very curt and was probably concerned that I might negatively influence other prospects. A very poor attitude for sales guy.
One of the attendees who left along with me mentioned that Online trading Academy is selling several similar programs (CDs and books ) on Amazon.com for 100-150 dollars, which they never mentioned during their sales pitch.
I generally don't write reviews but had to write this and alert others so they may think twice/ thrice before they spend their hard earned money on programs like this.
I signed up for the course at Online Trading Academy. They made great promises as to how much money I would be receiving whoever after 1 month I did not receiving my books or made the money my counselor said I would be making I requested a refund. He said he was out of town to give him another chance. I told him I didn’t like that because OTA should have somebody take his place. I paid a lot and I mean a lot of money and was expecting to make it back. However I gave him another chance. After 2 month I still didn’t receive any of my materials and of course I was not making any money I demanded a refund. They blamed me it was my fault because I didn’t register (I paid you and I have a piece of paper that said I was registered). Then they took the payment out of the wrong account and caused me to bounce checks. Of course it was my fault even though I have the paper work to prove that they made the mistake. Finally the owner called me and started to tell me to shut the F***up, F***you (very Professional) so I hung up and called the home office. So they granted me my refund however only with the finance company. They still owe me for the down payment and the bank fees. They said the checks in the mail well after 3 weeks I did a test and sent my son a check. OTA is 3 hours away and my son is 10 he received his check and I’m still waiting. Let’s face it OTA never mailed the check and won’t pay for the bank fees. I think that’s because they are in financial problems that why the owner was so irate and unprofessional. Yet they are teaching financial market. Calling the home office is a waste of time and after 3 weeks I never got anywhere with them. I am told it was exculpated but nobody called me why? This is a business that pays the sales people very well and many of these companies are closed because of false pretence. Think about it if you are making the money they tell you are making the why would you need a job to travel from home to make a living. If I am making the kind of money they claim I’m sitting at home with my family. As a disabled veteran I am amazed people will take such advantage over somebody else and can go to sleep at night. The people at online trading academy can. I as to talk to the home office owner who founded the company and he doesn’t care either. I have not received 1 phone call from anybody except 1 who can’t do anything about it and keeps telling me he has sent it to other people. Well now I am hiring a layer about it and they said with my paperwork online trading academy will have to pay damages.
FREE SEMINAR WHICH IMPLIES THEY HAVE SECRET SAUCE OF TRADING. EXTEMELY GOOD SALES PITCH WITH THE 'BEST' SALES PRESENTERS. CAREFUL; LEADS TO INEXPENSIVE 2 DAY SEMINAR WHICH IS ALL INTENDED TO LAND U FOR THEIR VERY EXPENSIVE 2 WEEK SEMINAR WHICH COULD BE TAUGHT IN 2 DAYS. REPETITION OF INFO WHILE ALWAYS AVOIDING RESULTS OF PROGRAM. WHEN U PUSH FOR RESULTS THEY SAY IS IMPROPER OR ILLEGAL
TOTALLY FALSE! OTHER TRADING ED SERVICES PUBLISH RESULTS. WHEN U TRY TO FOLLOW UP TO REPORT FALLCIES OF SYSTEM THEY RIDICULE AND PUT U OFF AND EVENTUNALLY DON'T RETURN CALLS. LOST 5K ON THEIR SYTEM PLUS 12K FOR COURSE
VERY EXPENSIVE LESSON BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE
TOM, SAN ANSELMO, CALIF