Trader Education

My good friend JE over at the 'ES Trader' (http://myestradingjournal.blogspot.com/ ), recently blogged about the value of 'trader education' and Don Miller's new trader training program. This post has generated considerable interest with other trader's and bloggers posting their comments on these two topics.

I felt compelled to add my two cents on 'trader education' and my experience with VCM's (Velez Capital Management's) 'Trade for Life' Program(http://myestradingjournal.blogspot.com/2009/07/don-millers-jellies-group.html). Here is a copy of what I posted:

je,


since i am not familiar with don miller's trading method or his training program, i cant speak to their pro's and con's...

however i do want to speak on the value of a trading education...

i do believe that trading can be taught...i believe some people would be better students than others, like with any skillset...i also believe some people would be better teachers than others, especially when it comes to trading...

as you know, i am a prop trader with velez capital management's 'Trade for Life' program...i paid a fee ($9000) to learn the discretionary daytrading and swing trading methods vcm teachs, and to get access to vcm's capital...their training model and their prop trading model is working for me...

some of the highlights of vcm's training/trading model include: i can retake the 2 day training seminar every month for the rest of my life for free...i can retake their online trading lab every month for free for the rest of my life...i get access to their twice daily update every day for the rest of my life...i get daily access to two different chat rooms that are monitored by very advanced traders, some of whom are significantly advanced, and who generate trading gains nearly every single day...i get to network and share ideas with other vcm prop traders via 2 vcm facebook sites...i get access to vcm's capital every day for the rest of my life...the better i trade, the higher the % of profits i get to keep, and the more access to capital i get...i love the model of their training/trading program...

yeah, i paid $9000 up front, and now the price is up to $12,000, but for this kind of education and access to capital, it is almost cheap...i have literally booked millions of dollars of gains trading the markets since 1996, and have booked millions of dollars of losses since 1996...so paying $9000 for professional training and access to capital when i was looking for help and another means to generate a trading earnings stream, was a no brainer for me...

again, i cant speak to the pro's and con's of don's training program or his trading method...i can say the vcm training/trading program works for me...i am still a pretty poor discretionary day trader on a technical basis, but i am making progress...however, the psychological training that is an informal part of their training has significantly helped me become a better systemic swing trader when it comes time to execute my models...

we will all pay our market tuition one way or another...the teachers at vcm suggest it will take anywhere from 18-48 months for someone to fully understand the methods and be able to execute them consistently...however, some will never make it...just like the students who drop out of their vocational, undergrad or grad school program...so if someone is a quick learner and is on the 18 month track, then the current upfront vcm tuition rate of $12,000 comes out to about $32/trading day for daily training and access to capital...this sounds pretty cheap to me...

overall, i guess trading is not for everyone...but for someone who is inclined to trade, and can find someone they trust to train with, then the odds of success can only increase for that trader...trust is the key word here...i like to believe that vcm will still be here 3, 5, 10 years down the road...i have no reason to believe they wont, but who really knows if they will...so far, they have been everything i hoped they would be...

whether don's training and trading model will work with his students remains to be seen...i hope that don and his students are very successful...vcm's training and trading model is working for me, and i am very happy to be part of their organization...

i do think trading education can work, but it has to be with the right students, the right teachers, and the right program...

adam