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I don't see Alex trying to scam anyone into anything. He's not saying, "Here.. trade the way I do and you'll make money." He's saying, "This what works for me." He encourages everyone to do their own work to find the system that works for them. Since he's not selling anything, nor even saying that he has found the holy grail of methods, I don't see why anyone should need to see brokerage statements. If you're interested, go to his room, watch his trades. If you learn something, great. If not, no sweat.
True enough that ANYONE that believes someone else will turn them into a successful ANYTHING is doomed.
True enough that FOOLS lose lots of money. Without the fools all of us that have provided a consistent, ongoing and often lucrative standard of living from speculation or trading would have to find some other vocation.
There was a way in the works for live trading orders and confirmations to populate a thread here at fio. What ever happened to that? I do agree that ANY broadcast of any type of trade is highly suspect without such seamless and systemic verification. Corollary to that you have some set of balls to demand like you do that @Big Mike do anything, especially force someone to turn over trade confirms and statements.
There were periods where I simply stopped posting at BMT because I was not going to divide time to answer detractors. What could I possibly gain from making shit up and taking the time to post it. I was not going to copy and redact statements and confirms because someone thought I got a boner from lying in an internet forum. If you don't believe what someone says state your difference and wait for a reply, if no adequate common understanding comes, stop reading that person, simple.
Here is the biggest fraud: if the kid @rocksolid68 posted seamless trade confirms that validated claims he has never made...say right 80%, winners 3:1 larger than losers and 10-15 trades of 10 contracts per day...how many forum participants would subscribe at even $1,000 a month?
I've seen information, guidance, indicators etcetera literally worth millions of dollars posted here for free, I've also seen tons of useless bullshit for sale at hilarious prices. Retain what is valuable, discard without harm what is not valuable, again simple. I'm sorry if the learning curve is too steep or too expensive for many of the hopium addicted dreamers. Take a chance and click the button, or don't, but be responsible for yourself. You are among alpha predators in the most competitive vocation on Earth.
Mike has gone to great lengths to maintain a terrific forum.
I do not know if I am simply a sucker, but I decided to vote for unban as well, much for Dan's reasons.
Actually, "reason" has not got much to do with it. I'm acting on my gut, not my head.
I will be really, really pissed if I turn out wrong. But that's always the chance you take.
I hope no one is influenced by my vote; I hope everyone who votes makes up their own mind. But I did want to say something, since I had expressed my disappointment earlier.
So far I have bit my tongue while soaking in all the information regarding this situation. I was always curious how the kid went from this in late March:
to this
Seems he really moved quickly to go from a struggling trader, to passing a combine, through funded trader prep and traded enough as a funded trader to open a real brokerage with enough $$ to hold multiple GC contracts overnight along side ES and CL positions... I've been around this industry for 2 decades and I must say this is quite the turnaround.
I have also been puzzled by the fact that when he came back, his new journal was opened in the NON Elite section whereas the old one was elite.
All this could easily be accounted for so I will move on to what really bothers me:
Alex, you claim that a few of us are your "mentors". I've personally spent a bunch of my time replying to your questions and offering assistance. We have all shared our ideas in the forums and ask for nothing in exchange but a "Thanks" every once in awhile... How can you, in good conscience, take what others have graciously put out there for your benefit and attempt to monetize it under the guise of helping others? Whether you ultimately charged people or not, the fact that you were initially inclined to do so speaks volumes to me about your character. I have yet to determine my vote as I fear you will gather more information here and one day make another attempt but the other side says to give the kid a break. I truly feel used and abused- I hope this is a good life lesson for you at a young age and no matter what the outcome is, you can learn from this experience as well as all the others made available on FIO.
Even though I don't trade ES, I have been to the room maybe 3 times.
Honestly, I did not find any unnecessary talk in the room. It was quite, nice and simple. Very useful to the new traders IMHO.
Remember, you have to find your own path. I unbanned him as my opinion to help others using the forum.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
@bobwest I'd hate to be wrong too. I'm not endorsing the room or the approach, BUT I could be convinced either way by the kids consistent actions. What I am saying is that I questioned, like many, that Mike let it go on in the first place. We all have experience seeing all kinds of BS perpetrated here. This could end like that. Everyone has to evaluate for themselves those things set before them. Alex has not set anything down that proves he's anything, yet. For me, I will judge by how he responds to specific questions...like the one I posed in the last thread post prior to ban.
Full disclosure from the wldman: I see potential in the kid across a few specific talents. I am not sure, as I have posted before, if I will return to regular intraday directional speculation as a vocation, as a hobbyist, or at all. For a long time I've considered organizing as a RIA or hedge fund and going full speed back into institutional professional trading. 2% and 20% is dead, but passive is too. Given that it would take in excess of a million bucks to get off the ground and doing so would guarantee me 12-14 hour work days I am always on the lookout for items that could sway the decision. My thought, upon meeting the kid, was that he has skills that I do not have. (as do many members) Let me see if I can investigate and cultivate a relationship that would allow me to make a determination.
The kid lost a lot, often and early. He adjusted his approach. He learned from mistakes. He pressed forward. I have yet to hear a complaint, or a negative word from him. He is humble. He is grateful. He is positive. He communicates well. He gives credit where due. He takes responsibility. He has attempted to give before asking anything.
Yes, I look at all of you through that prism.
Possible the house is built on sand, yes. What is the upside? Everything is a trade, it is an affliction...but this one is still open.
I wonder the same. The kid went from struggling to sage faster than anyone I've seen. But his statements are not over the top...public or private. Alex is an interesting cat for sure. I put it in a context of a guy that just turned 18 and then compare it to me when I was 18. That is intriguing. If the kid is legit, dang, I want him on the team.
I very strongly believe the ban should be maintained.
All of below is my personal opinion of course.
Alex and his father Chris Sielaff have in my personal opinion been playing games with us. These men are relatively intelligent and I must believe were manipulating the crap out of members here with forethought.
Alex the kid takes over his father's account (starts rockyroad journal) after his father (by writing style) has spent a lot of time looking at many vendor reviews. Lots of research there in his posts. He and his father I believe had a long standing plan to open a commercial trading room:
In order to gain market share for free they sought out popular rooms on FIO while playing for compliments and support from the more experienced guys using Jr's, just a 17 year old kid, emotional tug. "Sharing" the account one can observe odd changes in writing style from rocksolid68.
Why? Money and lots of it I have to think. Alex the 17 year old when he started working on us has previous worked as an "instructor" for Global Trade Room who have quite an interesting history of their own and many accusation thrown around. We know from CTFC investigations that vendors can make millions and GTR was maybe in trouble (early this year) due to a spat with Emmett Moore a while back.
Despite taking many tips and tricks from GTR he was still, at best, a mediocre trader so it takes quite a lot of gall to take hundreds in fees for his room beyond say 5 bucks per person to pay for Gotomeeting or whatever he used.
If Mike had said not said no to him plugging ZeroGravity commercially on FIO (as is normal) he would have switched to a two day trial (scammer length IMO) and activated the commercial zerogravity site as was his father's plan since January.
Also Alex (or the rocksolid68 collective) did not wish to lose "Wizard" status by becoming a vendor. You cannot be both in the FIO forum system he told me in a PM. A vendor is nobody really but a "Wizard" can highly influence new members so he would gain followers faster for the planned switch to commercial.
the "rocksolid68 collective", Alex and Chris would have MASSIVELY benefited from market-share gained via the "stolen valor" of a kind from Spoos and Scalpers thread guys; seasoned people who would have behaved differently knowing their complete past.
I feel he tried to deceive me, lies of omission are lies nonetheless in my reality.
If he deserves to come back or not, I do not know. If he has good intentions or not, I do not know.
He, coming back or not, already have enough popularity.
Those who do not like him did a great job!