Hi Novice,
It's great that you are taking the time to do your own research before committing to any particular Option Trading course...
I personally know over 20 graduates of one of the courses you have mentioned, and you might be surprised to hear that only 1 of them managed to achieve consistant profits for a number of months after completing the course. Recently, though, they had a situation occur where a single trade failed badly and cost them most (if not all!) of their profits they had made up until that point in time. Ouch!
My opinion: I suspect that the courses marketed for thousands of dollars fail to give an accurate enough portrayal of what can go wrong when trading Options. Furthermore, it seems that their claims of "easy money" are often exaggerated and unlikely to be achievable by the majority of their attendees. (It makes sense, doesn't it, that if a promoter charges a lot for their course, then they have to make it sound particularly good for anyone to be interested in paying for it?!)
The disturbing part of all of this, is that I have personally noticed first-hand that most people are more interested in chasing fantasies, rather than knowing all the facts about what they are interested in.
Which of the following do you think most people would choose?
1) An expensive and "professionally" run course, revealing the "secrets" of trading for a living by spending just "minutes a day" with virtually "no risk"; OR
2) An inexpensive guide that explains how Options work,
without making any claims of easy or guaranteed profits, but requires the reader to think for themselves and be responsible for their own trading decisions.
Despite what anyone says, the actions of most people appear to demonstrate that they think choice 1 is the most appealing. Yet, most people end up losing money trading!?
Ask anyone who's been in the market long-term (let's say AT LEAST 3 years) to tell you about their trading experiences, and their response usually isn't very glamorous. These people will tell you that trading takes a lot of discipline, careful money management, dedication and a significant amount of time (especially in the early days) to determine what approach actually works for them and to plan their trades. Furthermore, most have read many Option Books, spent hours studying Pay-off diagrams and also backtested multitudes of trading systems & strategies...
Here is one simple fact about Options: For every Contract traded, there must always be another party involved in the transaction taking the opposite side. Whatever profit one party makes, the other party is losing. In isolation, Options are simply a way of transferring wealth from one person to another.
It would be impossible for everyone in the Option's Market to all profit simultaneously.
Does it seem strange that someone who is successfully trading Options would wish to share their exact trading system with you, knowing that this could potentially lead to a situation where their "successful" system will no longer work due to an eventual lack of participants in the market that are
NOT using their system? Furthermore, does it seem strange that they would feel a need to share their winning strategies with you, if it was so easy to generate their own profits consistantly? And why would they need to create a live seminar environment to share their teachings? Couldn't it just be written in a book, or distributed via the internet as an EBook for example?
Wouldn't it be tragic if many of the Option Trading Courses on offer were based on one (or more) of the following factors:
a) A method of introducing more people into the market, encouraging trading in a manner which gives the presenter/promoter more trading opportunities by trading a
different system to what is being taught.
b) A method of generating income for the presenter/promoter, as they understand some theory, but are unable to personally achieve the results that they are claiming are so easy to attain.
c) Offering a course which has little more going for it than simply flipping a coin to make trading decisions, but making it
seem sophisticated and then counting on the fact that most people would blame themselves, or be too embarassed, or just have too much pride, to talk about their losing trades with others.
d) Not revealing how all traders are disadvantaged with frequent trading, due to the continuous brokerage charges gradually eating away at the wealth being transferred from one participant in the Option's Market to another. (Without some kind of "edge" to your trading, trading Options long-term will most likely ultimately lead to losses. Ooops! I bet that's not something anyone wants to hear!!).
... Ok, so this all probably sounds a bit gloomy by now. But that's not really my intention. The point I'm trying to make is that being a successful Option Trader is not necessarily an automatic outcome just from attending a seminar. In fact, attending some of the seminars on offer could
reduce your chances of achieving success!
In my experience, trading Options is an ongoing, evolving process, where many of the most important aspects of it were not revealed to me without experiencing a lot of "real-life" lessons along the way. It seems that characteristics such as my level of motivation & discipline (and also passion for what I am doing), have become more important than where I source my knowledge. Indeed, all the knowledge in the world is of no benefit, if it is not applied in some useful way.
I suggest being very careful not to get too caught up in the hype used by many presenters/promoters of Option trading seminars/courses. Very few people even recover the costs of the course, let alone go on to make a full-time living out of it. Some end up much worse financially and would have actually been better off reading a book or two to see if Option Trading is something that really was of interest to them. Believe it or not, trading Options
isn't for everyone!
One other point: I have heard of at least two seemily reputable seminar companies that have very strict policies in place which make requesting a refund very difficult. I suggest checking out any conditions imposed on issuing refunds before handing over any of your money.
Whichever way you choose to go from here, I wish you all the best with your pursuit of knowledge and achieving your financial goals...
Kind Regards,
Jason.
P.S. What I have written is simply my opinion as at the time of writing. No part of this post should be considered as any form of endorsement, disparagement or investment advice.