[stevenann]

Has anyone ever taken any trading classes or have any information on this trading school?

[SAM HOLLANDER]

Stay far away from Pacific Trading Academy. No backup & after you finish your on your own. A lot of MONEY. Try a Live trading course. Maybe E-Mini Day Trader. Looks like a reasonable price.

[Minis Trader]

Originally Posted by stevenann »

Has anyone ever taken any trading classes or have any information on this trading school?

I have not taken any classes from them but I do know someone that has.

The thing that I like about their system compared to some others is you actually trade their money (in small dollar abounts) to learn what it is like to be in a trade. Most other companies use a tell show strategy, theirs is tell, show, do!

[stevenann]

Minis Trader,
Thanks for the info. I liked the fact that you actually trade and you can also retake the classes at no extra cost.

[Minis Trader]

Originally Posted by stevenann »

Minis Trader,
Thanks for the info. I liked the fact that you actually trade and you can also retake the classes at no extra cost.

If you take the class let me know what you think about it.

[mckinneyseller]

OTA has a lot of different types of classes: options, forex, equities trading, etc.
I took the equities trading 7 day class - Professional Trader I and II. The first time it was horrible. Didn't learn anything. May have written 1/2 page of notes over the entire 7 days! I had more knowledge from books than the instructor who may have been trading for a few years but hadn't taught himself anything!

I signed up for a retake and that experience was much better. The instructor was incredibly knowledgeable. I took about 30 pages of notes over the 7 days. If I do another retake, it'll cost me money but luckily I shouldn't need to after this instructor.

Bottom line: it is completely dependent on who the instructor is. Some are terrible, some are wonderful, most are medium. I talked with a lot of other students at an alumni event about their instructors. They concur with me.

It's a lot of money so think carefully. Read a few books first. The course is an odd mix of very basic information (what is bear/bull market) and technical tools (using Fib. for retracement).

OTA does offer a free 1/2 day to sell you on their courses. I think the free 1/2 day is worth your time. You get to know who is running the training center and how sincere they are.

[JONX]

Hi! Who can say whether it's useful to take courses at such academies? Will I improve my trading skills? How long will it take?

[diablo272]

I've never taken a trading course, but in my experience, trading is something that you have to do yourself. It seems to me that taking a simple 7 day course won't help you much because trading is just like any other profession--it takes a lot of time and dedication to learn how to succeed. You don't become a doctor without several years of education, right?

If you're completely new to trading, a profitable trader could tell you their strategy and everything they know, but you would most likely still lose money in the beginning. This is hard to explain, but knowing someone's strategy and knowing how to make money are two completely different things, and knowing how to make money only comes after you've spent many, many months watching your market every day for as long as you can afford to. Once you feel that you have some kind of grasp over what happens on the screen you're watching, start trading live. Some people will tell you to sim trade, and sim trading is very valuable, but you won't really know a HUGE part of trading until you're traded live, using real money. When your own money is on the line, all the rules you've made for yourself and all of the knowledge you accumulated take a back seat until you learn to trust yourself and the strategy you've created. If you don't have a strategy, you will probably lose money. I could go on and on, but instead I'll give you these links that will probably be much more helpful than any course you might pay for. I advise that you read all of these articles, browse this forum, and watch your selected market as much as you can. It's very important that you take this as seriously as possible--make it your LIFE--and you will have a great advantage over the majority of people who try to trade. Links:

http://www.trading-naked.com/Articles_and_Reprints.htm (make sure you read the articles on risk management)
http://www.trading-naked.com/library/Prologue.pdf (this "Trading as a Business" series is pretty good, I recommend that you read all of them)
http://www.traderscalm.com

I should add that I discovered those three links on this forum after I had already learned much of what is contained in those links the hard way--that is, through experience, trial and error, and a lot of reading. So I give credit to those who originally posted those websites here. One final piece of advice is that you throw your ego out the window and never look back. If you're new to trading, you have no idea what you're getting into. You might think you have some idea, at least the smallest idea, of what this is all about. You don't. You don't know what you're in for, but prepare yourself for the worst, NEVER even THINK about giving up, and you will probably have a decent chance of "making" it.

Keep in mind that I only have a little less than two years of trading experience, so I have a lot to learn myself, I'm sure.