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I think it all falls into the category of education, but they main thing with all these programs is that we (I) buy them think they are what will make me a successful trader. I have no complaints about any of the programs I bought. The only one I think was not worth is was the nextbartrading course. His stuff is just taken from VSA. His videos on youtube are what sold me. I really wanted to know how the hell he did it. Well, its really is the person and not the method.
I actually forgot a couple things I spent money on. The one that really had value for me was the Gary Dayton Chart reading course. No software or DVDs. Just a course on how to read a chart with Wyckoff principles.
David
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Dynamic Trader v4 $2k (old scam. NT7 can do all it can do easy with free indicators)
Forex Godfather $97(refunded)
LMT Forex Formula $97
Forex Crescendo $97 (refunded)
Top Dog Trading courses, Barry Burns $400+
Forex Rebellion $97
Timothy Sykes Penny Stock Millionaire $2k (refunded, after much hassle)
Tripletrend.com $200 (hiding/changing losers, inserting after-the-fact winners in public performance "records")
Triplestrike.com $97
Traders-secret-library.com $500, 1 yr membership. (the same 7 people keep posting , rarely... only like 1 or 2 of the winning
surefire trading contest winners didn't have a massive drawdown %, most articles from other vendors' free stuff. webinars by staff only a few hours long, and not enough covered or taught to be consistent.) Quantified Stock Market Trading Strategies & Systems - TradingMarkets.com "powerratings" $99 x 3 months (cancelled, ratings not 80%, more like 50% i.e. throw a dart blindfolded , kept getting ads for "the machine", $3k to use or something)
"traders secret code" Day Trading System $97 Home - Jon Markman's Trader's Advantage by Jon Markman $99 x 2 months (cancelled. very bad losers, single option calls and puts. I don't even think Markman himself chose those trades. Some kind of crap shop hired to make the signal newsletter/website; kept fudging or hiding losers in public performance "records". After this, leery of CNBC, FOX "celebrities"' services i.e. Maria Bartolomo, Larry Levin etc. )
Various trading books, some used/old $200
Somewhat useful:
Wattstrading.com $67
Lindencourt FX $150
Trade What you See, by Pensavento, Jouflas $40
Useful: www.optionincomevideos.com $197 +$60 (bonus videos)
Reading Price Charts Bar by Bar , Al Brooks $60 Brooks trading room $99x2months ( stopped, got all the archive videos for those months. enough to rewatch his
reasoning as Al Brooks doesn't call out trades anyways, room mainly for education)
Just started:
Emini-Watch.com $400 (I like the "better" indicators suite so far. What's so bad about it?) Ninjatrader 7, 3months start $288
The Complete Guide to Option Selling by Cordier, Gross $25
Never went to any paid seminars or other trading rooms except Brooks for 2 months. CJBooths 6E trading room I'm
glad I stumbled upon. Bobbyaicm saying it's the best room he's been in. And others mention his room better than most paid rooms out there.
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there is nothing wrong with the OFA program. As a matter of fact it is probably very good. I think it all comes down to the person or the user though. I do think they charge too much just like most vendors. Selling the dream calls for a big price tag and that's what they bank on.
Key to successful trading:
1. get your mind right 90%
2. method 10%
the 90/10 may be a bit out of balance, but I firmly believe that having the mind in order will make any method better. I struggle every day with the mental aspects of trading.
David
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OmniTrader (several hundred dollars - end of day edition) - got discouraged when losing signals would magically disappear and be replaced with winning signals each time you retrained the software.
Michael Harris's Pattern Finder (no longer available but cost $1000) - basically data mining for patterns. I've developed better stuff on my own since then, although I'm not sure whether machine-directed searches for market patterns has any long-term validity, as the risk of curve-fitting is high.
A couple of years ago, I bought some trader psychology software by Denise Shull for about $1,400. I went through it once and found it to be marginally helpful at the time, but I don't rely on any of her insights anymore. I would not recommend it.
Market System Analyzer by Michael Bryant - this is a good program (and reasonably priced) - if you want to test a particular model for whether it would benefit from dependency rules (that is, whether winners are followed by winners, etc.), equity curve trading, and different trade sizing methodologies. I would recommend it.
MultiCharts - one license for $1,400 - definitely worth it. Great program.
I am probably leaving something out but those are the big ones.
Books:
Gosh, too many to mention! Probably $3,000 - $5,000 in total. Not many were actually good.
The following 3 users say Thank You to furytrader for this post:
I'm happy to say that I have never spent a dime purchasing trading software of any kind. That is, unless you count Microsoft Excel. I do have to pay monthly fees for a platform however...
I purchased Tradestation 2000i for $2,400 shortly after it was released.
Used it for about 9 months, did the annual license update once, then threw it back into the box. Ouch!
I would probably like some of the new products if they have walk forward testing so that I can see the system entries/exits on the charts in multiple timeframes. That is what I really want out of a backtest.
I really don't know where to start except at the beginning (this is almost embarrasing to recount)...
Online Trading Acadamy (2002 version) - free (borrowed from friend) - fairly useful at the time
TradeStation Easy Language Boot Camp - $1500 (including all expenses to Florida) - Very useful
John Carter - $1200 - Indicators/Training CDs - Useful info at the time, don't use the indicators anymore
Hawkeye Gold Package - $3700 - decent/basic indicators, but don't use them anymore
Hawkeye Training Cruise - $2500 - Great trip, learned things that I still use today, very good time with Nigel
Artemis for MetaTrader - $900 - Made all $900 back and more, stopped using after they stopped optimizing
Hawkeye for eSignal - Free - wasn't any better with eSignal
TradersExpo (3 trips) - $2500 (in travel expenses) - Prefer to surf websites now, and avoid the TSA searches...
NeuroShell DayTrader Pro - $3700 - The best optimizer/WFO around, use it for uncommon indicators almost daily
Chaos Hunter - $1200 - Very advanced tool, but haven't devoted much time with it yet
NeuroShell Advanced Seminar - $3000 (course+expenses) - Quite informative, much of the material made more sense two years after hearing it.
NeoTicker - $1100 - Very interesting capabilities, but don't care for the user interface or support/user group
AmiBroker64 - $300 - Probably just as powerful as NeoTicker, just haven't had time to explore all the features
Custom TradeStation strategies and indicators - $3000 - still use some of them daily
MetaTrader custom EA's - Free (I created them) - Use them from time to time, not too crazy about MT4
NinjaTrader7 - Free (with PFG) - The best platform I have - use it every day.
Novy Training w/NeoTicker - $4000 - 5 month interactive course that helped change my trading habits
SuriNotes ABC - $800 - This is very handy in the TradeStation platform, with RadarScreen on long term trades
SuriNotes CMI - $600 - A bit disappointed with this one - other things for free do better
NoxaPredict for NeuroShell - $500 - spent a year with this indie, I'm starting to learn them finally!
Bowfort ZeroLag/Wave for NeuroShell - $600 - These rival Jurik and are great in NeuroShell
Jurik for TradeStation - $600 - One of my main indicator sets - use them daily on Forex (JMA and CFB)
EminiScalp - $900 - a complete unbelievable ripoff and waste of money - cannot forgive myself on this one
EminiWatch Better Indicators - $600 - Very well done, love listening to the regular videos
EminiMethods for Sierra Charts - $1100 - I really liked reading through this material and using Sierra, but re-wrote these (myself) into TradeStation
Zunaa - $3800 - VWAP, DPOC, and other interesting goodies. Use the VWAP/StdDev constantly!
Books: I have about 50-60 books/kindle - Amazon loves me!
I've had TASC for years, and read through almost every article, and use some of the free indicators
Should mention that I bought RSKSys for $5000, but promptly got a refund - complete disappointment!
Not sure I feel any better now, but I suppose that was my tuition into this business. Even from the failures and ripoffs, there was something to be learned. Amazingly, I'm finding extremely simple systems (daily forex with a 30 SMA for example) to be profitable on long term trades.
-Harvester
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I am quite impressed how many software programs exist that I have never heard of.
I have evaluated some software packages without purchasing (Amibroker, MultiCharts, MetaTrader, VisualChart, ProRealTime, ButtonTrader, Bracket Trader and others), but there have been few packages for which I have actually spent money.
This is what I have paid for
- annual subscription for Quotetracker, until 2007 ($ 60)
- license for NinjaTrader ($ 995)
- membership for Big Mike's Trading Forum
The last investment had the highest returns.
I am fond of reading trading books and books on economy, and I am a subscriber to the Financial Times, TASC (Technical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities) and Active Trader. I admit that I have spent about $ 3500 on books related to trading, finance, economics, econophysics, statistics and game theory. Amazon loves me, and I do not regret the money spent. I would purchase about 75% of those books again, about 25% were a waste of money.
Software is not an answer to trading questions, it is just a tool. In an orchestra you cannot play different instruments at the same time (I am playing music). Mastering one instrument requires to focus on that instrument. Mastering one software package already takes a lot of time, and that is the reason that I have not yet engaged in playing around with another one. I plan to get a license for MultiCharts though, not because I believe that it is better, but because it is an alternative and may reduce my dependency on NinjaTrader. I don't want to stand on one leg forever.
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I do have to pay monthly fees for a platform however...
