Is Trader’s University worth it for you?

I have been asked by many different people whether Traders University is worth it. I have decided to write a post here detailing my thoughts on the course and to try to answer this question. I would recommend reading the other posts I have made about TU as well to get a full picture with my different views at different times.

Firstly, Trader’s University offer a system, or an edge, to allow you to execute your trades with a system which is more likely to win over time than lose. This edge is fully detailed and explained in the book ‘The Spread Better’s Handbook’ by Malcolm Prior. (see Buy the books link on the right hand side of this blog). The book adds some very good things which were not mentioned on the course as well.

It is extremely difficult to follow even the simplest edge. This is for a number of psychological reasons (which are outlined expertly in ‘Trading in the Zone’  by Mark Douglas).  It is therefore very helpful to have the three one to one sessions that are provided by TU to help you make sure you are following the edge correctly. You can see in my previous posts how this helped me.

If you are new to trading and have never actually placed a trade before, TU will help you to get started, by giving you the confidence to actually start and place your first bet. If you have traded before, this will be of less use.

Don’t use the broker they recommend (Echelon) as my opinion is they were rude, unfriendly and don’t open the account quick enough and want loads of documentation. (See my post on choosing a broker)

Every Wednesday night, they (TU) hold a telephone session that you can dial into and listen to, key speakers talking about the market that week. This gives an overview and other people’s opinions about what is happening now. I have only listened to this once but thought it was of great value and have been meaning to listen in again. The history of conversations is available for graduates to download after the call is over.

The most fundamental thing you will learn is how to mechanically handle risk. This is a simple calculation about where to place your stops and that you must always place them. You can learn this from almost any trading book, but they do really drum it in so you don’t forget on the course. Placing stops and managing risk is the most essential part of betting and placing ‘mental’ stops is a massive ‘no no’. Don’t do it!

The course is very friendly and I was not oversold other items they offer. The sell was definitely there, but not over bearing as I have heard others say.

They will give you a lot of confidence and you will come away feeling like you are going to be the next biggest thing on wall street, and there is a general feel that you will make 10-15% profit per month using their system.

I have not yet met anyone who has, I certainly haven’t, I am actually down since I started, but then I have not dealt with all the items discussed in the ‘Trading in the Zone’ book yet.

 

In conclusion I would say that if you have never placed a trade, don’t know anything about spread betting and are worried you might lose your house and the shirt of your back, and you have £2K to spare then the course is probably a good idea to get you going with confidence.

If you have placed trades before, and are looking to try to win consistently then I would recommend reading ‘Spread Betting Hand Book’ first and then ‘Trading in the zone’ second. If that doesn’t help you and really need the one to one help, then go on the course.

Do not expect to make your £2K back quickly through the knowledge you have learnt. It will take a long time to become proficient in trading just like any other skill, so stick with it and keep managing your risk.

For beginners who are looking at day trading, you would have to make a lot of mistakes before you lose the same money as the course fee (£2K) and learn a lot in the field so to speak. So, manage your risk to 1% per trade, don’t place more than 5 trades in any one day and read the above books and you can learn a lot before worst case you lose £2k on bets. So you’ll need to balance what you can learn by actually trading with what you can expect to learn on the course.

Everyone is different, so I cant say if it is definitely right for you, it certainly got me into trading, but in retrospect I could have learnt what I did with the above books. However, I needed to go on the course and meet people to find those books, so hopefully I can help you to get there quicker and miss out the expensive step of doing the course.

Good Luck what ever you decide.