people offering courses

[neeeel]

Whats with all the traders starting to offer trading courses recently. I have noticed that Jack Birkhead and Sam wilson, 2 traders who I respected and followed with interest, are both offering courses( I knew that Jack offered courses in spain, but he has set up a site that looks a lot like a dodgy e-book).

[TonyK]

People willing to pay and all that

[ron]

Easy money from new traders?

[Scumbag trader]

Easy money from new traders?

I think it's more easy money from losing traders maybe ?

[neeeel]

I suppose, but from reading their blogs I got the impression that they weren't like that

[1/4 of a millionaire fund]

I suppose, but from reading their blogs I got the impression that they weren't like that

All depends if their courses are any good , plenty of money to be made from training so it's only natural some people will cash in. Doesn't Webb charge something like £400 so doesn't take many of them a day to make more than you would trading the markets yourself.

[nigelbleddfa]

All depends if their courses are any good , plenty of money to be made from training so it's only natural some people will cash in. Doesn't Webb charge something like £400 so doesn't take many of them a day to make more than you would trading the markets yourself.

If an individual is so lacking in confidence in his own abilities that he needs somebody to show him how to back and lay horses with software, which is as fast and simple to use as The Toy is, then he should consider giving trading a miss.

If he is incapable of applying himself to learn the simple mathematics required to trade successfully, he should give trading a miss.

If he is content to delude himself by thinking that there are "special people" who can impart "special powers", he should give trading a miss.

Nobody should feel the need to go on any trading course. Frankly. I would feel ashamed to attend one. Also, I have genuine appreciation of the value of money as I have had to work hard for everything that I own. Giving somebody £400 for this sort of tripe is something which I could not bring myself to do.

[Timstertoo]

I think all these things are difficult to have a black and white opinion on.

If someone does a course for a reasonable amount and teaches a n00b some basics and gives them a bunch of ideas to start building strats on it could give them that kickstart to get through the first hard bit.

Same with an e-book or even regular book. I bought the Racingposts guide to betting exchanges (or the title is close to that). Most of you would probably say it's complete rubbish now. And admittingly it's completely outdated as it's published years ago. But when I read it I had no idea about betting exchanges yet and it was a real eye opener to me to read all the different ways you could approach and exploit it. In fact it got me enthousiastic enough to be here now.

Most people aren't pro's and just do this for fun. They don't want to spend hours and hours of siphoning through numbers and papertrading to find a marginally profitable strat. For them paying to be spoonfed some info is the same as paying to see a movie, it provides them with entertainment.

The ebooks and courses that I hate are the ones that promise you great riches with no work at all. They tend to end up with people who are desperate enough in their personal lives that they want to believe this is their way out. The prey on the weak and the needy and add nothing to the industry. In fact they sooner chase people out by giving them one disappointment after the other depriving us of the opportunity of slowly ridding them of their money whilst keeping them interested by the couple of wins the get every now and again. And we really need a steady influx of people who don't mind losing a bit of money just for the thrill of maybe one day hitting the jackpot. If you play the National Lottery you're our target audience.

As my father always says, playing in the lottery is an investment for people who are bad at math and I reckon Betfair is the same for the vast majority of their customers. Yet both provide entertainment and we tend to forget that that's the biggest reason for most.

[Scotty_73]

having been on a couple of courses I can attest that you are not going to come away thinking you have found the holy grail. Guys like Jack and Sam are pro traders using stakes with which they can sometimes move the market so this helps a lot when you are trying to make a living from the markets. If you are using small stakes then you are not going to be able to do a lot of these things, you need to try to figure out what these guys are upto and jump on. I think there is enough material around to help out beginners... the rest I am afraid can only be learned by sitting in front of the markets watching the manipulation and learning how to read it. I think the way society is today people are always looking for some kind of shortcut to success and that there is some kind of magic formula you need to learn to be able to make money at this.

[mark]

If an individual is so lacking in confidence in his own abilities that he needs somebody to show him how to back and lay horses with software, which is as fast and simple to use as The Toy is, then he should consider giving trading a miss.

If he is incapable of applying himself to learn the simple mathematics required to trade successfully, he should give trading a miss.

If he is content to delude himself by thinking that there are "special people" who can impart "special powers", he should give trading a miss.

Nobody should feel the need to go on any trading course. Frankly. I would feel ashamed to attend one. Also, I have genuine appreciation of the value of money as I have had to work hard for everything that I own. Giving somebody £400 for this sort of tripe is something which I could not bring myself to do.

Perfectly put Nigel, if anyone has £400 to spare then put it into a trading account and get trading and learn that way as it is so much better.

[1/4 of a millionaire fund]

I think the problem is there's too many shisters and duff courses out there. When anyone starts a job they'd get some form of training rather than being left to get on with it, some people just need a push in the right direction to get them started , if they can find that info online fair enough but for a lot of people seeing someone actually trade and telling them why they're making the decisions would be a lot more use.

No courses around when I started but if there were any decent ones I'd have considered it £400 well spent if they'd saved me a years self training. Plenty of new traders will stick that £400 in an account and still be none the wiser after it's gone and realistically £400 to some isn't that much to spend.

[mark]

I think the problem is there's too many shisters and duff courses out there. When anyone starts a job they'd get some form of training rather than being left to get on with it, some people just need a push in the right direction to get them started , if they can find that info online fair enough but for a lot of people seeing someone actually trade and telling them why they're making the decisions would be a lot more use.

No courses around when I started but if there were any decent ones I'd have considered it £400 well spent if they'd saved me a years self training. Plenty of new traders will stick that £400 in an account and still be none the wiser after it's gone and realistically £400 to some isn't that much to spend.

Have to disagree with you there MF as if someone loses say £400 trading small and they dont pick up anything at all then certainly trading is not for them.

[bazbaz]

Although there are plenty of scammers I don't think its fair to automatically assume that anyone whos offering courses is scum of some sort. Having said that, from the ones I know about the vast majority who leave these courses will not become traders, for most its a waste of time and money. People travel from australia for pee wees courses ffs! Anyone thinking of going on one of these courses should consider the fact that most people really aren't suited to trading. Think about it - even IF you are being taught by a genuinley great trader with great knowledge, and even IF that person also happens to be a great TEACHER (which is a completely different thing remember) who manages to impart a large amount of his knowledge (and doesn't just cherry pick and keep certain things back) it still doesn't mean you have a good chance of making it. Say Lionel Messi (who it turns out has fantastic teaching ability) started teaching 10 amateurs with dreams of hitting the big time...... how many of them would become pros??! Whether or not you go on a course you still need to be lucky enough to be suited to it and willing to put a huge amount of time in and work a lot out for yourself.

[neeeel]

You hit it exactly BazBaz, too many variables, and its unlikely that the person will be a great teacher, I know that on the course I went on, I learned pretty much nothing. As you say, most people arent suited for trading, I know, Im one of them and it has been a monumental struggle to get where I am now. I dont think any number of courses would have helped me get there faster, unless they really concentrated on the mental side of things, and maybe had intensive 1 to 1 tuition and guidance over a long period of time.

[westerner]

I paid £400 and went on Peter's course last year.

More out of interest than anything else and whilst I didn't learn anything particularly new, the course did give me comfort that I wasn't missing out on something.

This has proved invaluable.