[jackb]

As some may already know, John Carter’s TradeTheMarkets recently brought under their umbrella Robert Hoffman’s PowerCharting, a live daytrading room. They just concluded a 3-day free trial that ran M-W this week. The room maxes out at 1000 and it apparently was full every day during the trial. I couldn’t get logged in on Mon or Tues, but finally did on Wed.

For some reason, I’ve gotten the sense over the years of keeping tabs on Carter, that he was a straight shooter. I’m now inclined to consider otherwise.

Needless to say, Hoffman was less than impressive on Wed, failing to make even one trade and not offering any unique insights or approaches. The big selling point of TTM for this room was that Hoffman hasn’t had a losing trade in over a year and that they had reviewed his trades and could attest to the claim.

Unfortunately, Hoffman doesn’t disclose anywhere on his site a history of his trades, so one is left wondering what exactly the details are behind the claim. That was the reason I wanted to attend; to ask some specific questions. Would it surprise you that those questions went answered? More precisely, since I asked them numerous times, they were ignored.

While logged in, I was scouring the web seeing what others had to say about Hoffman. Threads at ET and Investimonials provided meaningful insights into his style and approach. At the same time, I ran across a positive review…and you’ve gotta love this. A few minutes after stumbling upon it, Hoffman starts regurgitating it word for word as if someone in the trading room had just made the comment via chat. I find that possibility to be highly unlikely. I suspect it was simply a premeditated gimmick Hoffman added to his sales pitch.

As far as the neutral/negative comments, it appears this guy loves to average in and that he takes small wins and big losses. So, he’s a gambler headed for his comeuppance. The sad part is that this is the exact style Carter rails against. The irony is palpable. Not only that, the only time he came close to putting on a trade on Wed was when the crude report got released. Within 15 seconds he has getting all serious about thinking the price action was warranting a trade. He later confirmed that he will trade news events immediately after release. Mmmmm, that’s good gamblin’. Sadly again, Carter comes to his defense and says it’s no big deal.

What I’m hoping is that some subscribers to his room will start posting his trades, complete with detailed information. At a minimum, keep us posted on his “no losing trade” streak. It will come to an end and I don’t think it will be pretty.

Of course, at $300/mo with 500-1000 subscribers (apparently he had around 300 prior to joining with TTM), I think Hoffman will be just fine.

[GainTrader]

I was surprised to hear he didn't have a loser for a whole year. I was a subscriber before 2010. There were losing trades. He would scale in heavily. Losses could wipe out a couple weeks worth of gains back then.

His room is expenseive at $395 a month now. Granted, I'm impressed by the claim of no loss since Jan of 2010. However, even if that's true, I still wonder how easy it is to trade along with him and still be profitable given commissions and subscription fees. Not everyone is going to want to attempt to scale in as heavily as he can, or get the same fills as him. Trading along with someone with futures isn't as easy as some people assume.

Granted he seems like a nice guy and refers to subscribers as "trading room family members" but you're only a "family member" if you pay him expensive fees.

I'd be interested in hearing some UNBIASED accounts from traders who were recent subscribers. Is the average subscriber profitable over time, or unprofitable, after commish and subcription fees?

[TraderGuy101]

I am very busy, but just thought I would post a quick note to try to give a different opinion from the prior two post so that a casual reader might not be left with a fuller view. I realize I hardly ever post (which usually means in a forum that your opinion is flamed if it is somewhat positive as you have no credibility for having to few postings).

Anway, take this for whats its worth. I have been a part of the PowerCharting room a couple years (all of 2009 and 2010). The 3 free trial days was unusual, as there were a 1,000 people there. A person might think his question was being dodged, but how can you answer a 1,000 people asking questions - and they said over and over and over during those three days that the questions were flying so fast many could not be addressed. That makes practical sence if you think about it. However, in the next few days everyone got all their questions answered - even in the nite time session.

In fact, in year 2010 during the trading room hours there were no losing trades made by Robert. I was there I think everyday. By the way, Robert could care less about that record - it just happened in that he had good setups all year.

Yep, he had some losing trades in year 2009 but ended the year up substantially positive. I suspect his 2009 year was more like most great traders would give their right arm for - a good Up year. I suspect he will have some losing trades in year 2011 - but as of Feb. 4, 2011 none in the trading room yet. Again, he could care less about this record - he is more interested in his setups.

Year 2010 was a special year as Robert pretty muched dumped the ES he traded in year 2009 and that paid off big time for him and us. In year 2010 he traded many other instruments (euro, pound, yen, gold, oil, still some es, and othere instruments). In other words, we went where the action was at the time.

No one should make an opinion after just visiting Roberts room for just one day in understanding his trading style. It takes a few months to really learn it and then it can pay off good dividends. I doubt there be another free day as the room is pretty much packed at its 1,000 limit and the only way a person is going to get into the room in the future will be if someone quits. As of this today, the room is not 100% maxed out, but probably will be if you read this at a later time - at that point there will be a waiting list.

Robert's room will NOT work for anyone who is just looking to mirrow trade setups.

Robert's room can work for a person who is wishing to learn setup's that do work, for those needing to learn discipline, and for those who don't think that "huge losses" are just part of trading.

Update at 10:56am on Feb. 4, 2011 - just a quick note a short time after I posted the above while we were waiting for a setup. This has been a slow week for Robert (few small trades each day), but his setup just kicked in couple minutes ago and he made 4 digit profits on an oil trade. He doesn't need to post his winnings on the web, so I am respecting that.

[smithson]

I have joined Rob Hoffman's trading room in Jan 2011 and can verify the previous comments. Till today, April 27th 2011, he has not had a single losing trade in the 4+ months since I have been a member. And I have bben in the room every day. Secondly, he only takes high probability trades and if the setups don't oocur then he will not trade. So, yes, there are days when he does not take any trades such as today (FOMC day) and yesterday. But, there have been days such as Japanese Earthquake etc when he has made $21k in a week. He trades live on his real account in full view of all and doesn't trade a simulated account or announce his trades after the event.

However, membership to his room will not suit everyone. It particularly will not suit those who just wish to take trades every day or just copy Robert's trades irrespective of thier account size or psychological abilities. It is suited to those who wish to learn patience and only taking the trade when the setup is right for their account size and their psyche.

I just felt to give some alternative perspective form someone who has seen Robert trade every day for the last 4 months. I have found Rob Hoffman to be a successful trader who has / will go out of his way to teach his techniques / setups to his 'student family'. This is also true of John Carter and Hubert Senters.

Incidentally, I also first heard of Robert through the TTM's 3 day free webinar to intorduce Rob Hoffman. I had NO problems logging in every day.

[Tams]

Originally Posted by traderguy101 »

i am very busy, but just thought i would post a quick note ...

.......... L. O. L. ..........

[Tams]

Originally Posted by smithson »

However, membership to his room will not suit everyone. It particularly will not suit those ....

then why are you bothering us?

[steve46]

Interesting isn't it Tams

Apparently the gentleman (Hoffman I think his name is) is enjoying astounding success and yet he is interested in marketing himself to Trade The Markets....lol....why do you think that is....?

Could it be that (assuming that there are 1000 living breathing humans in the room) that TTM would like nothing more than to have that captive audience in one place to market their products and services.....hahahaha

and as was pointed out...I have to wonder how a person can obtain anything in the way of an education there...for instance how does one have the time to trade, and respond to questions and comments from a crowd of 1000 observers? How many days or weeks does it take to get a response to a question about a strategy or a trade? I am going to be working with 20 people in my class and I imagine I will still have trouble keeping up with all the questions (especially at the beginning).....lol....oh I forget...in order to get into Hoffman's room, one has to purchase a bunch of "educational" DVDs........hahahahahahah a. Talk about marketing genius..

As a final comment, I would say this....every skilled professional has a couple of high probability "layup" kind of opportunities that they hold in reserve...offhand I can think of oh, 3 or 4 that occur every week...and I imagine that if I wanted to restrict my trades to only those entries I could have a very (unrealistically) high success rate on trades...the problem is that students wouldn't learn much from these kinds of trades...and because they happen infrequently a trader would have to put on significant size to make money with them...(I am guessing that is what the gentleman in question is doing)....I can see where it would be attractive to a large population of folks who want to be told when to buy and sell in a greenlightbuy/redlightsell fashion...but as far as actually teaching a person to act independently in the markets I would say its probably not effective...I would be more interested to hear from someone who is no longer in the room and is trading on their own...to me THAT is a better indicator of long term success.

Well I have to take my hat off to that person...in terms of marketing this person is a natural.

All I can say is "good luck kids"

[MightyMouse]

Originally Posted by smithson »

I have joined Rob Hoffman's trading room in Jan 2011 and can verify the previous comments. Till today, April 27th 2011, he has not had a single losing trade in the 4+ months since I have been a member. And I have bben in the room every day. Secondly, he only takes high probability trades and if the setups don't oocur then he will not trade. So, yes, there are days when he does not take any trades such as today (FOMC day) and yesterday. But, there have been days such as Japanese Earthquake etc when he has made $21k in a week. He trades live on his real account in full view of all and doesn't trade a simulated account or announce his trades after the event.

However, membership to his room will not suit everyone. It particularly will not suit those who just wish to take trades every day or just copy Robert's trades irrespective of thier account size or psychological abilities. It is suited to those who wish to learn patience and only taking the trade when the setup is right for their account size and their psyche.

I just felt to give some alternative perspective form someone who has seen Robert trade every day for the last 4 months. I have found Rob Hoffman to be a successful trader who has / will go out of his way to teach his techniques / setups to his 'student family'. This is also true of John Carter and Hubert Senters.

Incidentally, I also first heard of Robert through the TTM's 3 day free webinar to intorduce Rob Hoffman. I had NO problems logging in every day.

I have to admit that I was a skeptic but after your post, I am convinced and want to sign up and trade every day without losses too. I will do anything necessary to learn to trade without losses. I want to be a part of the family too. Please send me a link or allow me to PM you my credit card number, my checking account number, and my social security number so I can sign up and start on the path to financial freedom. Can I make enough money and only work 2-3 hours a day too?