The ‘learn to trade’ industry

[Canulearntotrade]

I am a UK-based freelance journalist and I am writing a long investigative feature on the ‘learn to trade’ industry for one of the UK broadsheet newspapers.

I have read with interest some of the comments on this forum about companies that offer to train beginners (albeit for £2k on a 2-day course) with the skills to trade in stocks, commodities, Forex etc.

Basically the article is: Does it work? Can anyone really learn to trade? Are the claims made by these companies realistic?

I’m keen to speak to people that have attended 2-day workshops organised by companies like Knowledge to Action, Investment Mastery, Win Investing, and others.

Please get in touch with me (wherever you are) and maybe we can have a quick email exchange or skype/phone chat about your experiences?

I look forward to hearing from you

David

My email is: [email protected]

 

[Hakuna Matata]

which newspaper?

 

[malaguti]

no disrespect David, but a hotmail account?
there are disclosure clauses that you sign at one of those, nobody in their right mind should be contacting you via a hotmail account if they've been on one

 

[Lightning McQueen]

an interesting project, but I have a question.

how have you planned to differentiate between genuine user feedback and the inevitable avalanche of company shills, who will no doubt offer up glowing testimonial of their wonderful training experiences?

 

[Lightning McQueen]

which newspaper?

taking a guess.

guardian?

 

[Canulearntotrade]

Hi chaps. Your questions. The newspaper? Lightning McQueen you are correct.The Money section be precise. I'm a freelancer as mentioned. This hotmail account has served me fine with all manner of confidential and complex material up until this point. But malaguti I'd be happy to communicate on another one if you would prefer. Lightning McQueen: I'm totally confident I can see through company shills if indeed I speak to any. I'm very experienced and have well-honed bull**** detector. Leave that to me. The learn to trade industry has been covered before obviously but we've got a couple of new angles we're looking into that will make this story fresh. I just want to speak -- on or off the record -- to people that have spent £2k or whatever on 2-day courses. How was it? Did it work? I can be very discreet on anything we discuss. David

 

[mike.]

The same David Robinson that plays the tenor ukulele ?

 

[Canulearntotrade]

The same David Robinson that plays the tenor ukulele ?

Yes Mike. I really am a journalist.

And I can play a nice version Stairway to Heaven on the ukulele.

Please do get in touch if you can help with my story

David

 

[the hare]

And I can play a nice version Stairway to Heaven on the ukulele.

Post it on you tube, and ill send some people your way

 

[pboyles]

I haven't paid for one of those courses but I nearly did some years ago. I did some background research and found that an award they claimed to have was fake. I think the problem you will have is that many people who pay for these courses are in denial, you'll hear a lot of them saying that they are not profitable 'yet' but they're sure they will be some day.

We could provide you with another excellent story about a training vendor though. How's about a guy that says he is the world champion trader, has lectured at Oxford, has scammed many people out of tens of thousands of pounds and has, despite claiming millionaire status, been bankrupt at least twice.

Now that's a story.

 

[the hare]

We could provide you with another excellent story about a training vendor though. How's about a guy that says he is the world champion trader, has lectured at Oxford, has scammed many people out of tens of thousands of pounds and has, despite claiming millionaire status, been bankrupt at least twice.

Now that's a story.

And of course his fraud was aided by a certain daily newspaper who helped promote his latest crackpot scheme, oh yeah and a couple of major TV channels.

Perhaps the "journalists" responsible for promoting those stories should be held to account. It wasn't as if 2 minutes due diligence using google wouldn't have unearthed the truth

And then of course we have the role of certain trading forums who advertised this chaps business, and censored legitimate criticism. You couldn't make it up, someone bankrupted twice due to trading losses, and found guilty of common law fraud, being protected by the media in exchange for advertising revenue. What a surprise

I thought not

 

[Lord Flasheart]

ive never paid that much for a course but have paid up to £600. Are you going to mention about the software guys as well? I dont have a problem with people charging say £200, but anything over that is wrong as this game cannot be taught as most of it is in the mind IMHO. Its the lies and promises that are the real problem,they just sell the dream. Are you going to have a go at some of the big names,that would be interesting

 

[the hare]

Are you going to mention about the software guys as well?

Some of them even charge your credit card twice (allegedly)

:innocent:

I am intrigued at why he wants to target a particular market (2k for a 2 day course) something isn't quite what it appears to be (what a surprise)

 

[NVP]

Yes Mike. I really am a journalist.

And I can play a nice version Stairway to Heaven on the ukulele.

Please do get in touch if you can help with my story

David

hey David

look me up here at T2w .........ive been around the block a wee bit in my time and come from a gambling background/family of bookmakers .....if you want a chat about my opinions on this illustrious industry contact me at [email protected]

N

 

[neil]

Hello David,
Can you show links to your previously published articles?

A quick look at newspaper small ads will show many of the nationals promoting ads promising success in forex and other forms of trading. Would those nationals really want you exposing the dream peddlars of easy riches?

As an aside I have rarely seen newspaper articles in the financial section of manyNationals that allude with any sense of any in depth knowledge of the success or otherwise of trading (not long term investing)financial markets.

If you are genuine you will a very few people who wish to help others succeed by posting free info on site and a bus load of dross and scammers who dilute and obfuscate the educational and "clubby" nature of a site. In addition, you will need a lot more than a few opinions from traders here. Many, like me, are small fry; others swim in a bigger pond;many seek some unobtainable holy grail that promises riches for **** all effort;others pop into T2W to fantasize. Some suffer some form of mental difficulty and come to T2W to vent their frustration on various forums. A few pass the time between trades making "lultz." Good luck in finding anything remotely useful to a reader. Mark you, if you wish to publish an educational article you face an uphill task. Yet, the other hand, if your article is meant as simply filler for a financial column then you should have an easier task.

Look at this guy:james16 Chart Thread @ Forex Factory (ignoring the private )the aspiring trader can learn a lot for free from sites such as this and T2W. There may be other trader friendly sites but I am unaware of them - not that they don't exist but that I haven't felt the need to look for them.

In the end, how deep you wish to research is up to you and your target audience.
Good luck

 

[NVP]

interesting Points Neil.........

What David discovers and tries to publish may not sit well with his customers advertisers/sponsors

hmmmmmmmmmm
N

 

[0007]

Many, like me, are small fry; others swim in a bigger pond;many seek some unobtainable holy grail that promises riches for **** all effort;others pop into T2W to fantasize. Some suffer some form of mental difficulty and come to T2W to vent their frustration on various forums. A few pass the time between trades making "lultz."

What an excellent summary of what goes on around here!

 

[NVP]

Arrange these words in order ...............

Room

Boiler

N

 

[NVP]

hey all

I think David has got all the information he needed now ............

David are you still around ?

N

 

[The Leopard]

I am a UK-based freelance journalist and I am writing a long investigative feature on the ‘learn to trade’ industry for one of the UK broadsheet newspapers.

I have read with interest some of the comments on this forum about companies that offer to train beginners (albeit for £2k on a 2-day course) with the skills to trade in stocks, commodities, Forex etc.

Basically the article is: Does it work? Can anyone really learn to trade? Are the claims made by these companies realistic?

I’m keen to speak to people that have attended 2-day workshops organised by companies like Knowledge to Action, Investment Mastery, Win Investing, and others.

Please get in touch with me (wherever you are) and maybe we can have a quick email exchange or skype/phone chat about your experiences?

I look forward to hearing from you

David

My email is: [email protected]

This ought to be a pretty short article David. It could go something like this:

Dear Graun readers (yes, both of you),

Why would someone who was a successful trader (as all these vendors claim to be) waste their time flogging courses? Most of them claim to make hundreds of pips or points every week, or at least every month. I mean, seriously, how much of this f***ing toot would they have to shift to make it worth their while to stop trading and fleece chumps* instead. IF their claims were real, of course. Or why, if they were successful, would they flog signals instead of trading them to the fullest extent that liquidity in the market allows? IF their claims were real, of course.

If it takes you more than a minute or so to work out why nobody would do this, then you are too thick to be trusted with money, and should be confined to tokens which allow you to buy food, safety goggles, and those mittens with a string connecting them so you don't lose one.

The End

*(er, don't you mean "teach valued students" - ed.)