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I always liked www.stcusa.com
Also remember you have to have a sponsor to take the Series 7 www.hdvest.com is a broker dealer easy to work with and will sponsor you to take the exam for a price.
There are 6 ratings on Amazon, copied them all (not selecting the bad ones, only).
...bad, but all you need ...The worst study guide of all time ...Buy something else if you can ...worthless Failtrak ...Crude but effective ...there are better options
This was part of a course I took. Reason I took a course? If you passed within 6 months of joining Dean Witter and made a certain score, DW reimbursed the cost, & put you up in a hotel in Orlando. I made a mini vacation out of it.
I passed it 1st time and scored really well. Though it was a lot easier than the series 7.
R.I.P. Andy Zektzer (ZTR), 1960-2010.
Please visit this thread for more information.
I just posted because of the psychological aspect. The ratings do not reveal anything about the book. Those who did not pass started rationalizing that probably the course was quite bad. Then they took revenge by posting a bad rating. One of them calls the course a "worthless Failtrak", quite revealing, how he chose his words.
If you go further, you can assume that those who passed the test were just happy and and saw no need to rate the course. The unlucky ones however had a stronger incentive to rate via Amazon. I believe that the customers, who posted the ratings are not representative for all the customers who bought the course.
So you cannot conclude anything from the ratings.
There are some elements that also apply to trading. Not taking full responsibility, but blaming the course book. Taking a revenge on the offending course. Rationalizing, i.e. explaining the outcome with hindsight, not stating the just causes.
Having held these licenses, I can tell you that once you have them, anything you say can AND will be held against you. You say something in a bar and someone acts on it and loses money....watch out. The lawyers smell blood.
I would take the courses or the home study books for the knowledge, but unless you are serious about trading other peoples money, I would not get the license. As a licensed person, you are the one with the target on your back. The broker you hang your shingle with does not care about you one little bit and if you make a mistake, you are the one on the hook and the broker will hang you out to dry. Don't kid yourself about this. I've seen it happen over and over again.
Plus there is the cost of annual CE along with E&O insurance. Then there is the disclosures required every time you open an account of any kind, the annual FINRA certifications.....yuck....trading is supposed to be simple....
If you start the hedge fund, my understanding is you can trade up to 15 other peoples money without registering....you may want to research that though just to be safe....
Thats my two cents.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
I would get it . . . it seems like good education for the background of trading AND if you ever want to use it in the future to manage clients accounts or manage a hedge fund, you can.
Here's the advantages (IMHO) Also if you manage say a Futures account, you have to wait for the client to pay you your commission based on your agreement. However if you ghave your CTA license, you submit that and your disclosure agreement to yourbroker that you are trading through, and they handle the commission and remove it from the account automatically per your agreement (This is what Mirus Fuutures and Global Futures has told me). I like that. I hear about many who trade privately for an individual for a month, make great returns and then the client never pays. Because they are not licensed, the broker can't and won't do anything . . . . so you wasted a month slaving away at someone's account to make them money while you get screwed. Having a CTA license protects you from this.
Also some brokers list you on there website as a partner, and list your returns, so you will get clients easily that way as well.
Here's the disadvantages:
You do take on a liability- but that is life. You always have to take responsibilty for what you say and do.
AND
I heard that you do get "audited" and they review your PnLs, etc. I am not surehow true that is but I am sure there is some ways around this