I agree with most everything you've said. However, there are a few (very few) vendors out there that do genuinely want to help others. And they are entitled to charge for their time and run a business. Everything below is strictly my personal opinion based on my own personal experiences in the world of trading. I am not speaking about any one particular vendor.
You can identify these "good" vendors if their website doesn't focus on how much money they made, doesn't focus on selling you indicators or a system, but instead emphasizes the importance of personal trading skill and education, risk and
money management, psychology and discipline, etc. And bear in mind, these are the hardest things in the world of trading to conquer so finding the right vendor or mentor that has the experience and skill necessary is not an easy task.
Like your momma always said, if it's too good to be true, it probably is. Sites that just talk about how easy their indicators are to use, or how much money they made today, this week, or this month with their system, etc, are sites to be avoided.
I think this thread could serve as a template of how to identify a genuine vendor who deserves your business and who can teach you something.
Here is a short list to get us started. In my opinion, what you are looking for is a trading coach. Just like a personal trainer at the gym, a trading coach can help you one-on-one in the exact areas you need help. He can focus you, he can personalize your training, and he can hold you accountable. This is what you need. Not indicators. Not auto systems.
Focuses on teaching you a method with emphasis on proper risk and money management, trading psychology, and discipline.
Does not try to sell you an indicator package that they claim will make you money if you follow it.
Does not try to sell you an automated trading system that they claim will make you money if you follow it.
Clearly/visibly lists their phone number.
Call the phone number and verify you can speak to the owner of the company.
Clearly/visibly lists a physical address.
Use Google Maps and see what the address is. Do a Google search on the address and see if it's a virtual office space, or a real address. If virtual, question the owner about why he needs a virtual office space address.
Check to see how long ago the website was registered, sites like DomainTools | Whois Lookup, DNS Lookup,
Reverse Whois Lookup can help.
They should have a money back/refund option that is clearly defined on the website. Don't let them tell you there is no refund option because of their special indicators or system. You don't want special indicators or a system.
They offer one-on-one coaching, unlimited time/questions for no additional cost.
Do a google search for their company name and read all the reviews you can find from sites like futures.io (formerly
BMT). Any reviews made by any poster with less than 50 posts should be thrown in the trash, and I am speaking from direct experience - an overwhelming number of vendors register multiple accounts to promote their own products performance (btw, they get banned on futures.io (formerly BMT) when I catch them).
I hope others can add to the list.
BTW, if you want me to make recommendations - sorry. I have no recommendations to make on where you can go find the above service. Instead, my recommendation is to just forego the search for this type of help and instead focus on helping yourself. Can a personal trainer help you lose weight? Yes. But you also can lose weight on your own, without their help. Your best bet is to read the rest of the posts on futures.io (formerly BMT) and learn from the many great threads and thousands of posts on this site. And if you say that is too much to learn or read, then just give up trading now... it takes a lot more discipline and a lot more time than you apparently have
Hope this helps.
Mike