"Those who can't do, teach." Don't get me wrong, i value our teachers and educators and think they should definitely be paid more. That said, i'm strongly against these charlatans who promise to teach you how to make big money by either trading or making a website. Here's why you shouldn't be wasting your money on these courses.
What's the value proposition of these courses?
For the most part, they package a lot of material that is readily available online into a structured course. Is there value in doing so? Well, it does help people who are interested in learning save time so they don't need to trawl through forums and blog posts in order to find the information they need, but that's about it.
Will it guarantee or improve success though? I highly doubt it. Just as reading ten books on karate won't make you a black-belt, attending a trading course isn't going to make you an expert trader. You need to practice, you need to experience what it's like to be stop-hunted, what it is like to take profits too early or let your losing trades run. No trading course can give you that experience.
Is there a secret to becoming an expert trader?
It isn't sexy but the only way to become a winning trader is through good money management. The reason why most traders fail is because they aren't disciplined and can't take a loss. Not taking a loss isn't a big problem if you're not leveraged but once you are, you need to make sure that a market swing doesn't make you blow your account.
In contrast, there are so many ways to pick a potential winning trade and they all "work". Take a look at how people are able to both make and lose money on the exact same trade. The trick is managing the position once we're in the trade and that comes with experience.
Let me save you some money
Go read up on the following and practice on a demo account. It's basically all you need to know about selecting a winning trade.
- Moving averages
- Candlestick patterns, especially pinbars
- Supply / demand zones
- Indicators - Stochastics / RSI / Volume
- Trading strategies (Divergence, News scalping)
A good place to start would be the ForexFactory forums. Probably every trading strategy ever thought off has been covered there at some point.
Final Thoughts
Unless you're in a charitable mood or are really pressed for time, don't waste your money on a trading course. It isn't going to make you a better trader; it is only going to make the trainer rich. On a historical chart, only an idiot can't tell you where to buy and sell. It's a lot harder to do when trading live and that only comes with experience.
All images via pexels.