A new Mentor or another Shark?

Firstly, I'll say high, my wife and I are new to Forex trading, based in Australia the Asian markets are open when we are awake so that is what we look to trade as we are not night owls. Following weeks of demos, we have burnt oursleves rather beautifully on some live trading when our systems and strategies didn't work. anyway that's another story.

Out of the blue I had a call from the US from a training company 'Platinum Inovations', they then linked me through to a subsidiary, Stella Forex Consulting. Stellar Forex Consulting: Stellar Forex Consulting Group (SFCG) My wife and I have tried to research this organisation and have come up with zip, zero, nix, which we find interesting. It's like they don't exist! Not even sure how they got my home number, mad some claim about training for FapTurbo users, so FapTurbo could get some more testimonials...Wierd!!

Now a days, one cand find out most things on the new, good and bad, even Googling my own name pulls up more info than either of these companies have, so putting it simply, this rings alarm bells loud and long.

A simple question: Has anyone heard of this company? Are they newbies, scam artists or what???

Following our live trading experiences, we have realised that even reading extensively can still get one in the s**t, so we are looking for some good mentoring and training from active traders, the ones one can watch and talk to as they trade live, thereby getting a good handle on their strategies, thoughts and methodologies.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

theres 2 option for you.

1.) no need to learn trading, but get to know somebody work as dealer in casino and make out some deal with him/her. when you or your wife plays he/she let you win.

be conservative and dont be too greedy. set your target like win 5k only per trip. then split the profit 50/50 with the dealer.

2.) learn how to trade fx the hard way.. and mind you. this business has no guarantee your chance is much better going in option 1 if you can, just my opinion

Thanks for the constructive response. The whole reason we wish to learn is because we do not want to be Mug Punters. There is way too much evidence that many FX traders are punters and lose their shirt and more. Yet there is knowledge out there, from experienced and successful traders, it is simply or not so simply a matter of tracking them down and negotiating a fair price for their services.

I am pleased to see your tag line is in recognition of your obvioulsy undisputed abilities for losing, I sincerely hope your card counting is better than your trading.

Thank you for your input.

Dihusky said:

Thanks for the constructive response. The whole reason we wish to learn is because we do not want to be Mug Punters. There is way too much evidence that many FX traders are punters and lose their shirt and more. Yet there is knowledge out there, from experienced and successful traders, it is simply or not so simply a matter of tracking them down and negotiating a fair price for their services.

I am pleased to see your tag line is in recognition of your obvioulsy undisputed abilities for losing, I sincerely hope your card counting is better than your trading.

Thank you for your input.

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Every technical or fundamental sys will fail at some point ..

Reference : http://www.trade2win.com/boards/gen...erstanding-market-fluxuations.html#post659798

Dihusky said:

Thanks for the constructive response. The whole reason we wish to learn is because we do not want to be Mug Punters. There is way too much evidence that many FX traders are punters and lose their shirt and more. Yet there is knowledge out there, from experienced and successful traders, it is simply or not so simply a matter of tracking them down and negotiating a fair price for their services.

I am pleased to see your tag line is in recognition of your obvioulsy undisputed abilities for losing, I sincerely hope your card counting is better than your trading.

Thank you for your input.

Click to expand...

Hello Dihuski,

Just joined this board myself yesterday and while cruising to get a feel for how things work came across your post. Looking at the only reply that you have had so far, from a "senior member" I think I'll be moving on.

My advice would be to take a look at Forex Factory lots of info there.

Good luck.

Myrllin

Myrllin said:

Hello Dihuski,

Just joined this board myself yesterday and while cruising to get a feel for how things work came across your post. Looking at the only reply that you have had so far, from a "senior member" I think I'll be moving on.

Myrllin

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Yes, 'Ill be moving on' but only after I've inserted the link that was my sole aim of posting anyway

anley said:

Yes, 'Ill be moving on' but only after I've inserted the link that was my sole aim of posting anyway

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Bad guess.

It is clearly apparent that becoming a senior member only relates to the number of posts one makes and has no reflection on the quality of information and guidance offered. This particular section of the forum is titled "First Steps" and I would have hoped that contributions would follow a philosophy of encouragement and help for new members wishing to start trading in the financial markets.

I find it interesting that a new member 'Myrllin' can offer a useful link, and for that I extend my heart felt gratitude, yet a senior member can only offer notes of failure.

Yes 'everyonerich' I am well aware that fundamentals and technicals can fail at some point, that is the very reason why successful traders develop strategies to minimise losses in these events.

The reality with any trading is that Win vs Loss is around 50-50, but if the appropriate strategies are implemented, profits will always exceed the losses. The trick is developing these strategies and testing them extensively before trading hard earned cash.

It is well recognised that the biggest failing in FX and many other trading environments is the Trader themselves, and their emotional quotient, not the system, so for beginners that join this forum and othes like it, having the senior and hopefully more experienced (questionable so far) members offering constructive advice should help the newbies over the first hurdles. If they stumble at these, like many do, then they can be wiped out of a highly profitable game before they even start.

So as a thankyou to Mryllin I offer this link Forex Trading Made Easy, step by step course manual, video bulletins, mentoring I am currently reading his book and this wiley old Scot offers some terrific advice from over 30 yrs of work in the UK financial sector as a trader. I only found this yesterday and in my humble opinion it's a gem.

Cheers all

Dihusky said:

Firstly, I'll say high, my wife and I are new to Forex trading, based in Australia the Asian markets are open when we are awake so that is what we look to trade as we are not night owls. Following weeks of demos, we have burnt oursleves rather beautifully on some live trading when our systems and strategies didn't work. anyway that's another story.

Out of the blue I had a call from the US from a training company 'Platinum Inovations', they then linked me through to a subsidiary, Stella Forex Consulting. Stellar Forex Consulting: Stellar Forex Consulting Group (SFCG) My wife and I have tried to research this organisation and have come up with zip, zero, nix, which we find interesting. It's like they don't exist! Not even sure how they got my home number, mad some claim about training for FapTurbo users, so FapTurbo could get some more testimonials...Wierd!!

Now a days, one cand find out most things on the new, good and bad, even Googling my own name pulls up more info than either of these companies have, so putting it simply, this rings alarm bells loud and long.

A simple question: Has anyone heard of this company? Are they newbies, scam artists or what???

Following our live trading experiences, we have realised that even reading extensively can still get one in the s**t, so we are looking for some good mentoring and training from active traders, the ones one can watch and talk to as they trade live, thereby getting a good handle on their strategies, thoughts and methodologies.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

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Dihusky,
Try this site Learn to Trade The Market: Forex Training, Forex Education, Forex Videos, Price Action Trading by Nial Fuller (found it in another thread by Neil).Have a look at all the free stuff and vids and see what you think.Judging by the accent Nial is a fair dinkum aussie m8.

Thanks Sighthound, havn't had time to drill yet, but will look into it tomorrow, looks interesting. Just got to make sure I don't fog my mind with too many strategies, what I am testing is working well so far and the demo ballance is looking sweet.

Thanks again,

YouTube - 02/14/09 Weekend Webinar

I suggest watching Oscar's free videos - they are mostly about the S&P500 but the lessons can be applied across the board. he is a bit of a whacky character, but don't let his persona put you off, he is very very knowledgeable and willing to share. There is no pressure to join his paid services. Just enjoy the free lessons in technical analysis and see what you can apply to your chosen market.

The other free daily videos I recommend are by john carter at Day Trading / Online Trading - Trade The Markets
Again, little in the way of forex but what he tells you about the S&P, Gold, Oil, Currency Futures etc is worth it's weight in Gold.

Finally, my own very personal opinion is to ditch forex altogether.
If the time difference means you can't actively day-trade the S&P/Dow, then use that to your advantage and trade Daily, Swing trade.
And if you MUST trade currencies, look into Futures rather than Spot Forex.
IMHO spot forex is a graveyard for newbies, littered with charlatans, idiots, seekers of the Holy Grail etc, all up against the biggest Banks/Companies/Countries in the World who use the forex market for Hedging not so much for speculation.

I see someone already pointed you towards forexfactory. While I don't doubt that there's some good stuff there, surely the fact that there are a million and one "methods", which all then get endlessly tweaked and "improved" shows the futility of trying to get ahead in forex. It's a suckers market for suckers.

** Just looked at the link to the Ian Williams' site you posted - that picture of a Porsche says it all !! What a load of krap **

best of luck,
Garry

Dihusky said:

Thanks Sighthound, havn't had time to drill yet, but will look into it tomorrow, looks interesting. Just got to make sure I don't fog my mind with too many strategies, what I am testing is working well so far and the demo ballance is looking sweet.

Thanks again,

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Dihusky,
Yes, I did receive the same phone call, and opted to join the stellarforex consulting company. The cost was prohibitive, and the training is at best, not much better than you can get for free if you look around. After the high-pressure salesman on the phone convinced me I would make back the cost of the course in just a few months, (making $5000 or more every month) I took the bait, and now am paying the price. Searching Google for more info on the company, I came here - read your post & saw the insulting response to your request and decided I'd probably not stay on board here. But I wanted to give you my little tidbit of info before I leave. Pipcop.com is also a good place to look for reputable mentors, but the Stellar Forex group was not listed. Good Luck

Dihusky

Dont get offended - just a bit of banter.
I have to say Rathcoole is spot on about the spot forex market (no pun intended). Ask any institutional forex trader about the spt market and he will scoff. They deal mainly in the futures or options markets on fx.Looks at MF global for their options on currency futures.The currency futures during US hours are very liquid.
But obviously if you can use options and have a medium/daily term basis then thats best. Dont go into the fx spot market - its for losers and newbies - just look at the obscene leverage they offer.

In this game,mate - speak to the pros if you can - not even the longstanding members here - get proper advice from traders who work in banks or funds. Account execs at big brokers will also be helful - but thats cos they want your money ! But still good advice.

At all costs - avoid every one who claims to do the type of stuff you wrote about initially. Be skeptical - its the only way to win in this business.
CT

Dihusky,
Welcome to t2w.
I see from your badge that you are a "trading systems vendor".
I'm not sure if you meant to choose that option and have an involvement in the site with the link in post #8 or are as you suggest in your opening post :
"so we are looking for some good mentoring and training from active traders".

Anyway, my views are similar to rathcoole_exile's except that I day trade US stocks for a living and personally am not keen on FX for the following reasons:

Some people think shares must be a great deal more difficult than Forex, currencies, commodities, index futures etc. I don’t see it that way. For example consider futures or Forex pairs. You only really have a handful of liquid trading instruments in these types of instruments. With stocks there are literally thousands of trading vehicles. This means thousands of opportunities to find the type of stock you are looking for, whether they are trenders, reversers and bouncers, whatever. What percentage of the time does a Forex pair or an index actually spend trending rather than sitting in a range? Only a minority. Remember that apart from a few option strategies you will only actually have the chance to make money when your trading vehicle is moving.
No movement = no potential profit.
Money tied up in stagnant positions is money not earning its keep. Most people employ methods which take them into mediocre probability positions because they are constantly looking for a reason to take a trade in their chosen index, Forex pair etc. because there are so few high probability situations available – their universe of choices is severely limited.
Compare that with the many thousands of stocks available to trade. In that far greater universe it is so much easier to find trending vehicles – ones that are actually moving in a clear readable direction. You are now in a scenario of choice and opportunity.
Many people fear they might be overwhelmed by that choice. They worry they will be swamped and unable to find the right stock to trade. Well of course there are ways of finding what you are looking for in this business – and it is a business – just as there are ways of finding most things in life if you know where to look.
This is just an explanation of why I prefer stocks, but is merely my opinion plus experience.
Again welcome to t2w and I'm sorry the first response to your post was, errr......unrepresentative of most experienced traders on this site.
You'll soon learn who to take notice of and who to ignore.............
Richard

Mr. Charts said:

Some people think shares must be a great deal more difficult than Forex, currencies, commodities, index futures etc. I don’t see it that way. For example consider futures or Forex pairs. You only really have a handful of liquid trading instruments in these types of instruments. With stocks there are literally thousands of trading vehicles. This means thousands of opportunities to find the type of stock you are looking for, whether they are trenders, reversers and bouncers, whatever. What percentage of the time does a Forex pair or an index actually spend trending rather than sitting in a range? Only a minority. Remember that apart from a few option strategies you will only actually have the chance to make money when your trading vehicle is moving.
No movement = no potential profit.
Money tied up in stagnant positions is money not earning its keep. Most people employ methods which take them into mediocre probability positions because they are constantly looking for a reason to take a trade in their chosen index, Forex pair etc. because there are so few high probability situations available – their universe of choices is severely limited.
Compare that with the many thousands of stocks available to trade. In that far greater universe it is so much easier to find trending vehicles – ones that are actually moving in a clear readable direction. You are now in a scenario of choice and opportunity.
Many people fear they might be overwhelmed by that choice. They worry they will be swamped and unable to find the right stock to trade. Well of course there are ways of finding what you are looking for in this business – and it is a business – just as there are ways of finding most things in life if you know where to look.
This is just an explanation of why I prefer stocks, but is merely my opinion plus experience.

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I agree with all above (and rathcool's advice on forex). Out of the thousands of stocks available it's always posssible to find a few that "become meaningful" to your system and produce results on a consistent basis. I've found that difficult to do with forex - and in those ill-disciplined moments it can lead to a trade that you shouldn't really have done if you'd been on your best behaviour! As our learned friend points out above - there's limited choice. I also think that forex etc is more susceptible to political and financial influences and reacts quicker - that all make trading more difficult IMHO. I've found that day trading the slow stodgy boring FTSE100 shares is quite lucrative. I only move down to the FTSE250 when I can't find anything suitable in the 100. I'm not convinced that forex etc is the best place for a novice - but that's only my opinion!

Mr. Charts said:

Dihusky,
Welcome to t2w.
I see from your badge that you are a "trading systems vendor".
I'm not sure if you meant to choose that option and have an involvement in the site with the link in post #8 or are as you suggest in your opening post :
"so we are looking for some good mentoring and training from active traders".

Anyway, my views are similar to rathcoole_exile's except that I day trade US stocks for a living and personally am not keen on FX for the following reasons:

Some people think shares must be a great deal more difficult than Forex, currencies, commodities, index futures etc. I don’t see it that way. For example consider futures or Forex pairs. You only really have a handful of liquid trading instruments in these types of instruments. With stocks there are literally thousands of trading vehicles. This means thousands of opportunities to find the type of stock you are looking for, whether they are trenders, reversers and bouncers, whatever. What percentage of the time does a Forex pair or an index actually spend trending rather than sitting in a range? Only a minority. Remember that apart from a few option strategies you will only actually have the chance to make money when your trading vehicle is moving.
No movement = no potential profit.
Money tied up in stagnant positions is money not earning its keep. Most people employ methods which take them into mediocre probability positions because they are constantly looking for a reason to take a trade in their chosen index, Forex pair etc. because there are so few high probability situations available – their universe of choices is severely limited.
Compare that with the many thousands of stocks available to trade. In that far greater universe it is so much easier to find trending vehicles – ones that are actually moving in a clear readable direction. You are now in a scenario of choice and opportunity.
Many people fear they might be overwhelmed by that choice. They worry they will be swamped and unable to find the right stock to trade. Well of course there are ways of finding what you are looking for in this business – and it is a business – just as there are ways of finding most things in life if you know where to look.
This is just an explanation of why I prefer stocks, but is merely my opinion plus experience.
Again welcome to t2w and I'm sorry the first response to your post was, errr......unrepresentative of most experienced traders on this site.
You'll soon learn who to take notice of and who to ignore.............
Richard

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Cracking post, thanks for that.

Thank you everyone for some terrific input, it is always interesting seeing how a post can develop once one gets past the initial idiotic comments.

I am sorry to hear of your experience with Stella, chipope. They got back to us several time but were totally incapabe of getting the time correct, on one occasion they suggested we look them up on Forex Peace Corp, as we suspected, they didn't exist. I smelt a rat a while ago with this mob and your tragic experiences confirm my beliefs. My wife, who has a much more level head than I, I'm a film cameraman so tend to go off on artistic tangents which do not bode well for trading, did some more research into Forex/trading education and came up with a very comprehensive course. She purchased it for not a lot of money, compared to some, and is finding it absolutely brilliant, fairly conservative in its approach, and offers excellent explanations on all aspects of the market, controlling trades, entry and exit strategies, risk minimisation the works, it is put together by Dr Barry Burns at Forex Swing Trading Stock and Emini Day Trading Index and Futures. It would certainly rank up with the best courses we have found and my wife considers it to be a bargain, for the quality of instruction and content. It will take 10s of hrs to go through all the material provided, anyway have a look..I hope this might help.

To combotrader and 007, thanks for your input as well. We used to trade shares and got got caught by Enron for a fair bit, fortunately we were well diversified, but it still hurt and the bruises didn't heal for a while, so we looked to other areas for investment diversification, mechanically trading the Rydex has been interesting and very profitable as has real estate, a friend of ours trades Naked Options! now that's seriously scary, saw him a while ago and he was still smiling, but I am not sure how his blood pressure is doing right now.

We found Forex a new and interesting challenge, and quickly realised how essential a good understanding of it is, that's why we are persuing the path of further education from experienced traders before committing serious money, and yes, done right there is money to be made, some might say, off the backs of newbies who rush in blindly and lose their shirts or what ever else they have left. It's like everything in life, if you don't have a challenge, why get out of bed in the morning. I love the challenge of underwater film making and cave diving, my wife...money, it's a perfect partnership and Forex is a new and profitable vehicle when done right.

Thank you again everyone for your contributions.

Let me add my bit.

You can learn everything and have the best system in the world but still lose money because your personal psychology will interfere with the rules. Unless you master this aspect or have a natural, winners mentality (extremely rare in truth) all your learning will not make you a profitable trader. We all have self destructive desires buried in our psyche to a greater or lesser degree and trading is the perfect place for the subconscious to let them loose!

Some famous and successful trader (I forget who) said that everyone gets exactly what they want out of the market. Considering over 90% lose, I'm quite sure that nowhere near 90% would acknowledge they started trading to self destruct...

Thanks to all for your input to this thread, I too have been contacted by Derek from Stellar, and the to true to be real bells where ringing, i am sorry to hear of your experience chipope, but at least you have warned others, again i thank you for that and I wish you success in your future endeavours. I purchased the fapturbo :-O after 1st month was up a whole $40 (deposited $370) it lost $30 in the first week of second month :-( luck i have only invested what was unhappy to loose. We will see what happens.

Fapturbo seems to be great in the beginning and then just starts losing money, ive seen this a lot of times on many forums.