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My Trading Quest - a 90 day Trading Course Challenge
I am starting a new journal on my trading quest journey that I have been thinking about for a long time.
I have been trading on and off for over 20 years and I have many scars to prove it. Recently, I became a funded trader with Topstep Trader using my own scalping system on US 30 Year Bonds. In the past I have traded Futures and Forex manually and with my own coded systems.
I have completed many trading courses and seminars. Most of the time I could not replicate their results! They often promise the world but most do not deliver.
Like most of us, I have been burned by these trading companies.
It is time to test these trading companies and see who can deliver.
My Approach
I will journal my progress which will include:
How I go about choosing a profitable course
How I research courses to be placed on my short-list of contenders
Development of the short-list and why I chose each individual course
Why I chose the winning course for my first 90-day challenge
I will then discuss the process of starting the course. back testing and sim trading
I will share all my results, processes and views but I will not share anything that is proprietary.
My goal is to be profitable in 90 days
If I fail, then I will start again with another 90-day challenge ... until I find a profitable course.
I would love it if people have questions or can suggest things along the way.
If anyone would like to suggest a trading course to add to my list, I would appreciate it.
I am NOT associated with any Trading Company.
I am excited to share my journey and my results with you.
Come along with me on My Trading Quest!
Cheers
Garry
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
Do you want to spend the next 10 – 20 years to learn how to trade profitably OR do you want to tap into someone who has achieved trading profitability and be profitable in 90 days?
If you read the forums you will see that there are a lot of readers that believe that if courses are sold then the product cannot be any good or it should be given away for free. WHY?
Why is this industry any different to any other?
The best way to learn, is from a mentor or coach who has achieved what you want to achieve and the conscious competence and skill to impart that knowledge to the student.
It costs a lot of money to learn to become a doctor so do we really believe that we can become a profitable trader without putting the same cost and effort in?
I believe that I can become profitable quicker with the help of the right mentor, coach or course.
The Other Side of the Coin – the student
I have been discussing the course, company and educator but there is another side to achieving success with trading.
The student must put the work in, otherwise you are wasting your time and money.
It is time to test these trading companies and see who can deliver!
My Trading Quest is to find those courses, put them to the test and ensure I put in the work to fairly test the process.
The problem is finding those courses through the marketing haze.
If I have to kiss a lot of Frogs, I will.
Can I find a Trading Course that can help me be profitable in 90 days?
How to increase the odds when choosing a trading course
There are many trading companies out there that look like they can get you results.
But can you believe them?
Can you replicate their results?
Just remember: No matter how good a course is … YOU must put the work in!
Begin With the End in Mind
The first thing you need to do before you choose a Trading Course is to understand why you want to become a trader, what you want from trading and what you are willing to do to achieve this goal.
Some questions to ask yourself
Why do I want to trade?
Can trading help me achieve my goal?
How much money do I want to make from trading and by when?
How much time can I put into trading? Both learning and trading.
What time of the day will I be able to put into trading?
How much money can I put into trading, that I can afford to lose?
These questions are important as they will help you choose what market and method of trading is for you.
My Answers to these questions are:
I trade to replace my income with a reliable and not limited source of income that gives me the freedom to explore the world.
Yes, I have seen personal proof of people achieving financial freedom by using a trading vehicle.
The goal of My Trading Quest is to be profitable in 90 days. For this Quest, I will aim for $1,000 per week (Average $200 per day) within 90 days. This is to be achieved by trading only 1 contract per trade.
As each trading system can be effective at different times of the day, I will initially track all the trades each day to determine when it is the best time to trade. I want to achieve my goal of $200 per day by only trading about 2 hours per day.
For the Quest, I will look at reducing my costs as low as possible.
Some costs I cannot reduce such as the Course, Indicators, Data, Platform, and Internet fees
Initially, I will trade in Sim until I am profitable. Profitable means that I am averaging $200 per dayand have doubled my account.
I will then participate in a Trading Combine to become a funded trader with the system. If I pass the Combine then the company will fund my trading account and pay me 80% of all my profit. There are costs of completing a combine (test) to become a funded trader, usually around $100 – $200 per month until you pass the combine. This should be a fair test of the system!
If I plan to double my trading account, at an average of $200 per day and if I started with a starting Balance of $4,000 … it would take 20 days (4 weeks) to double my account.
Do You believe my goal is realistic?
Questions to ask before committing to a Trading Course:
How do you choose a Trading Course when you cannot believe the reported results and testimonials? Guru’s who do not trade, change the results, pay people for testimonials and many other devious “marketing” secrets!
There are a number of excellent trading companies out there so how can we find them?
Some of the best questions to ask before someone commits to a Trading Course are:
Is the trading method profitable?
Are other traders profitable trading this method?
Can I do this?
Do I have time to do this?
How long will it take me to be profitable?
How much is this going to cost me?
How much capital will I need?
One of the most forgotten question, that is critical to your success and psychology:
What is the Risk to Reward. How much am I risking in each trade compared to how much I can make (Reward). I will discuss this more in later posts.
These are all great questions that need to be considered when looking at trading courses. Don't just trust what people say ... ask for proof.
If they cannot or won't provide proof then maybe that is telling you something.
All this may seem basic but people pay good money with doing sufficient due diligence. Don't just follow the emotion of the marketing haze.
Okay, I know this is more of an personal journey but out of curiosity..
You said you have traded on and off for 20 years? And have done many courses and seminars?
But are still persistent with finding the "right course"? Goal/testing period of 90 days?
Why so? I mean I was turned off by world of courses in like less than 2 years, in fact I can't take the name here but there are thousands of courses floating on free side of the internet, some of them were very informative but that was just that. I can't imagine someone with considerable experience going still the "course" way. Am I missing something?
You also mentioned you code, so I assume you have coded indicators, so you must also be aware of inbred fallacies of those "if this happenes on indicator we do these philosophies or market did this because this happened xyz indicator", sad to say but course is often just that in round about and nicely packaged way.
I'm not saying mentor or course is not the right way, I just want to see the comparison here with where my thinking took me and why someone else had some different conclusions, I might be missing something important and I may find it by discussion here.
I believe life is about learning, experiencing and continuous improvement.
I have learned something from every course and seminar.
The internet has many free courses or information and I have explored, coded and tested many. Not much of the FREE stuff is that useful (my opinion)
My worst enemy was my own psychology. So I studied that to help me.
Someone great said "You cannot solve problem with the same thinking that created it" Albert Einstein. So it seems obvious to me to seek out and be coached, mentored or trained by someone who is doing better that myself.
Coding has helped me clarify how a system works and allowed me to test my ideas easier and with greater accuracy.
Having traded automated systems, I have found the disadvantages and advantages of using them. WIth the potential issues such as the latency, internet issues etc I have found it better for me to manual trade using rules based systems.
So back to the question of the courses.
I have always looked at trading courses and have found a number which appear impressive and I would like to see if the courses match how they look. I am using the posts to hold myself accountable to be more process and action orientated. If someone can see something I don't see then I appreciate their input.
The best way I could think of doing this was with a challenge and with a time limit. One month is too short and six months is too long. It sets a boundary for myself to do the work. Most people don't put the effort in to courses to be successful. The posts will hold me accountable to actually doing the work. Otherwise, I am sure someone (or many) will call me out.
If I can save other people from spending the many dollars the I have spent then that is definantly a good thing.
Interestingly, a lot of people have been critical of what I am doing The best statement was " What is wrong with you".
So, this is already an interesting exercise
I hope I have given you some insight to my thinking.
If you have any comments or questions please post.
I don't think there is anything wrong with you, so don't worry, we have just different outlook on things here
My interest was only in "course" part, the free courses I say are actually not free and quite expensive in their originality, most of them are considered to be "holy grail" level by new market entrants. I'm not saying everything is garbage but you would be really really hard pressed to find anything useful if you are not a straight up new to the markets. Only usefulness those have is getting quick info on topics that are not previously known to me. Usually they have some make-shift or half baked systems getting pitched in it or side products like "higher level course/some proprietary indicator" or "training/coaching/trading room/sometimes portfolio management service"
I wont comment on coach, I've never tried that so maybe that can work. So I wish you good luck on that.
Please continue with your detailed posts, it is very useful for people like me. If you do find something useful in some course, we can also look at it, as I mentioned there are just too many going around.
Researching trading courses can be difficult and time-consuming.
It is critical that you do your due diligence before spending your hard-earned dollars on any course.
How do you know if what a trading company is telling you, is truthful?
You need to ask plenty of questions.
Can you trust:
Testimonials – some pay people to praise them in testimonials
That they trade a live account – some look like they trade but don’t!
Results – are they real? Some only record wins!
Videos – are they cherry-picking winning trades?
Do they keep changing the rules?
If you are in a losing run, do they say “everyone loses … you will be profitable in the long run”
If they do not have statistics for their setups?
Don’t follow their own rules
Won’t let you talk to their students or allow only hand-picked students
Won’t return emails promptly
the list goes on …
I have noticed that a number of courses are being taught by people with questionable pasts. Just within 1 hour from where I live there are at least 5 trading course companies where the head trainer has either spent several years in jail, lost their financial license, banned from being a Director or had numerous complaints against them for false/misleading advertising.
I am not trying to scare you but trying to impress upon you the importance of doing proper due diligence. Also, it is not about holding someone’s past against them … it is just about being informed so you can make informed decisions.
My Approach:
Learn as much about a company from the internet and personal contact with the company. It is amazing how much you can learn on the internet from complaints, reviews, past presentations, hidden results, documents, old and new videos and much more …
Participate in any activity they put on including webinars, live workshops, conferences, free courses, Live trading rooms, Facebook, etc
Ask questions of their students. Contact with these students can often be via the live events, Facebook or if all else fails then by asking for some names and contact details of students.
Ask questions of the trainers and ask for proof
Do not accept what anyone says ... trust but check
The Quality of Answers is a direct reflection of the Quality of the Questions
What am I looking for:
Trust and Transparency
Are they trading what they teach, successfully ?
Are their students achieving good results using the system?
I want to know that I can do it!
What is the Risk/Reward for the trading setups?
Some basic statistics eg: average win, average loss, winning percentage, average trade net profit, max consecutive losses, max drawdown, number of trades per day/week and how long have they been trading this system
What does their course cover and how is it delivered?
What is the initial cost and ongoing costs?
Remember, Do not accept what anyone says ... trust but check
A Quick Update: I will be attending an all-day webinar on Saturday to gather more information in my development of a shortlist. Hopefully, by early next week, I will share my shortlist of courses.
Until then I would like to ask you:
Would you be happy with my goal of averaging $200 per day ($1000 PW) using 1 contract, in 90 days if you were doing this quest? If not, then please tell me why.
Garry,
$200 a day on 1 contract (NQ) is what the training aims for, at Nobstrades (dot)com. They challenge you to sim trade this every day and quit when you have reached $200 for the day. Sim trade this for 30 days and then go live, while in their trade room. I did pay to become part of their trading/training room but do not join in much, as the trading times kill me and I don't like a 1 min chart (they start after US market open and I am based in Eastern Australia).
(Disclosure): I dont have any financial interest in this vendor, and to be fair, it seems that some have come through this training and are increasing contract size, using their approach and seem to be doing very well. They are allied with MboxxWave, which I like (as per another Mboxxwave thread), but that training does not use the Mboxx software, just a series of EMA's with specific clear rules.
No matter which training you might settle on and FWIW, $200,- a day for 90 days seems a very reasonable aim
