Due Diligence

There are very few people to who $5,000 or $6,000 is not a lot of money. If you were buying a car for that amount then how much time and money would you spend checking it out?

Please, please, please, before you sign up for a course, chat-room, software, books, mentors, coaches etc. do some due diligence and make sure that they are telling the truth.

If a person is making claims that they are getting a $ value return or a percentage return then they should have no problem giving you their broker's number to confirm that. If they have already revealed their returns then the broker is not giving away any confidential information but just substantiating the claims made by the vendor.

A broker should not have a problem doing this because it gives the broker a chance to talk to a trader and find out if he can make the trader a better deal with commissions and win his business.

If you don't want to call the broker yourself then send me an email with the broker's numbers and I will call and confirm for you.

I agree 1,000% with everything DT points out, everyone please take your time and be careful.

As we are seeing on many threads here, its a lot harder to sort this out after you pay for the service than before. Take the time up front to verify the legitimacy of the service being offered before paying any money.

It is clear to me, these vendors are looking for easy pickings, the low hanging fruit on the tree. If someone asks too many questions, asks for objective verifiable facts, asks to verify with a broker, they get the convenient brush off... "your not suitable for us"... "you have to much prior baggage (issues) from past experiences"...ect.

If the vendor is legitimate, they will respect your right to perform your due diligence and will work with you in this process, going the extra mile to earn your business.

If a systems seller rejects a prospective customer, perhaps he has that person's best interest at heart. Why take someone's money if you believe upfront they're going to be unhappy. And let's be honest, there are many unhappy malcontent traders out there. In these circumstances--with no money changing hands--there is no harm done.

An unscrupulous person will take anyones money and as fast as he can; he will never give the person a reason not to send his money. It's counterintuitive to his objective.

quote:

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Originally posted by ahk

If a systems seller rejects a prospective customer, perhaps he has that person's best interest at heart. Why take someone's money if you believe upfront they're going to be unhappy. And let's be honest, there are many unhappy malcontent traders out there. In these circumstances--with no money changing hands--there is no harm done.

An unscrupulous person will take anyones money and as fast as he can; he will never give the person a reason not to send his money. It's counterintuitive to his objective.

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Point taken... as long as the vendor makes that reasoning clear to the customer. Where I have a problem is when the vendor turns it back against the prospective customer saying (directly or indirectly implying) the customer is at fault somehow. My point is, the customer is coming to the vendor for help, if the vendor screens the customer based on a criteria of suitability, then fine, make that clear up front. Simply inform the customer, based on my experience and screening criteria, you are not a good fit for my service. Don't make it personal or attack the person coming to you for help.

I just was on the phone with them for two hours and went through the same treatment with no explanations. Looking forward to hearing more and I will post as I do my research as well.

im sorta new to the futures world. done alot of reading and visited a few of these chat rooms. are you guys saying that if i cant get trading statements i should take a pass on these rooms? i don't mind spending $5000 if my learning curve would really shorten and i could start making money faster than figuring it all out by myself.

i keep reading that less than 10% of traders make a profit. that sucks.
if anyone here is a consistent winner i'd really like to hear what you have to say.

thanks in advance. max

Search the forum for posts by pt_emini. He has some very wise things to say about trading.

If you're looking to drop $5,000 on a trading course or system get some type of guarantee and make sure that your money goes into escrow and not to the vendor. Even with a money back guarantee you're not going to see your money again if they disappear with it.

If the vendor makes claims then ask them for proof. Ask to see their trading statements or ask if you can call their broker and confirm their monthly returns.

If the vendor has not traded the system with real money then ask to see detailed back tested results and try and get these audited for realism. It is easy to make errors in back testing and this can make an impractical system look possible.

ty day. ill do that. if there is anyone in the forum who is consistently making money can you please chime in and share some steups or techniques. i don't think my brain can take any more books or articles on trader psych.

max

max: I've kicked off a new topic to answer your question: DVA after RE

Anyone considering purchasing the products or services offered by a trading advisory service should first take time to read the following information provided to consumers by the CFTC:

[url]http://www.cftc.gov/enf/00orders/enfposting4-tradingsystem.htm[/url]

[url]http://www.cftc.gov/opa/brochures/opafutures.htm[/url]

[url]http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/daytrade/[/url]

Thanks for the links PT! I encourage everyone to read that advice from the CFTC.

I agree with catpurley. Research before you buy any program as probably 75% of available programs are junk. To make sure that I never buy on impulse, I always wait a week if I find something that seems interesting. In the week time I either find out it's junk or reconsider and most times I filter the bad out. A few programs that I have tried did turned out to be legitimate and beneficial to my trading though, so sort out the bad to find the good.