I have always been intriqued by the stock market and wanted to be an investor. My grandfather told me the massive gains he made by buying coke cola stock and wal mart and others as well as some railroad stocks. He amassed a nice bundle of money. I inherited a bunch of money and heard about Online Trading Academy on one of their ads on CNBC. Also recieved a postcard in the mail as I also subscribe to IBD and other investment publications.
Usually I pass off these types of companies as ripoffs. For some reason, Online Trading Academy seemed different. It seemed like the real deal. I like the fact that they taught technical analysis and didn't seemed to be a lot of hype like so many other companies that have come and gone.
Their Pro Active course in particular fascinated me. This porgram was supposed to be for people who wanted moderate amounts of returns using stock technques that would be less than daytraders returns but far better than conventional investments.
The gentleman who taught this class was a tenderly older grey haired man who claimed to have a lot of experience in the markets. I believed in him as did the others who signed up because this guy had than grandfatherly look about him. And he talked the talk.
The course lasted 7 days and felt like 7 weeks. It was long and tedious. A lot of us that the material was hard to understand. Later we figured out that it wasn't the matierial, it was the instructor. While he anunciated and spoke clearly, he wasn't making any sense. He didn't know to how communicate very well. Nobody knew what he was talking. Most of us just assume that it was the material and I reallyt hink that OTA does this deliberately.
He talked about covered calls and cash supported puts. Selling puts and calls, the way he explained it appeared to be a safe way to earn 8%-12% returns and it sounded great. He even said that cash supported puts are safe because you are only risking your own money, not using margin as in the case of naked puts. And with covered calls, you are covered by owning the stock. Seemed easy and foolproof. Being new and naive I believed this. Looked like a easy and safe way to earn 8%-10% rates of returns. A real no brainer, we thought.
Some of us asked about the risk of losing money. The instructor explained that you can always buy the call or put back and essentially "roll it" over to another month so we were all assured that this was fairly risk free and save enough to be used with retirement and emergency money.
Unfortunately, those of us who used it lost money by the bucket load. Selling puts and calls sounds so attractive on paper, but in real life, it doesn't work out all that well.
During the training class, the instructor also made a case against mutual funds citing expenses. But when I asked a question and told him that I KNEW MUTUAL FUNDS with low 12/b1 and maintenance fees and no commission (no load) he just ignored me and moved on. This irritated me.
Unfortunately, those of us who used it lost money by the bucket load. Selling puts and calls sounds so attractive on paper, but in real life, it doesn't work out all that well.
During the training class, the instructor also made a case against mutual funds citing expenses. But when I asked a question and told him that I KNEW MUTUAL FUNDS with low 12/b1 and mainteneance fees and no commission (no load) he just ignored me and moved on. This irritated me.
They were big on ETFs and I own some myself. But when I asked the instructor to go more into detail about the expences associated (commissions), once again, my question was totally ignored. Another person asked about the huges losses many incurred with ETFs during the "flash crash" Once again, this question was totally ignored and the only response from the trainer was a sneer.
The course cost $5, 000 but in reality wasn't even worth $100, if that. The t/a that was taught was so basic, you could find it for free on the internet. The exaggerated safety of selling puts and calls also bothered me and there was a lot of hard selling. On top of this $5, 000 course, the instructors and staff were really pushing an XLT course for the Pro Active program. After paying the $5, 000, we were more or less told that this course, by itself, could not stand on it's own (no kidding) so we would have to cough up another $10, 000 for the real meat (or more of the same bad advice on aggressively selliing calls and puts??)
Some other observations:
One gentleman had bought a "Passport" program for $1, 000 down and 18% interest and later we found out that he didn't even have enough money to open a trading account with the recommnded broker that Online Trading Academy suggests. He wasn't advised of this untill after the 3 day right to cancel had expired.
Most of the people were very old or very young and had no investment or trading experience. Rank and file novices i.e hungry and gullible.
No one in the class made any money. We exchanged email addresses and phone numbers at graduation. Most of the class lost money by the bucket load OR were still to scared to use the program. The scared ones were smart and at least did not lose any money.
We overheard the instructor talking to staff members asking how soon they could book him for another class as he really needed the money. Hey, aren't these guys supposed to be making so much money trading that they really don't need the money from teaching?
Hard selling was nonstop literally during every break and many times during the class itself on time we paid for.
Online Trading Academy had a huge double sign outside of their facility in the office complex and their people were soliciting people who had come to this business area to transact business with other non related companies. They totally ignored the no soliciting sign.
The area that OTA in Orlando is located in is a run down, high crime area. Not the best area for any business. I would never go back there. Every day of class I feared that my car might be vandalized as I had heard had happened to so many others.
A large number of complaints have been made against Online Trading Academy online but nothing compares to the complaints that were made during classes by the paying members to the staff.
There are many unhappy campers at Online Trading Academy. Don't you be one of them. My advice stay away.
Usually I pass off these types of companies as ripoffs. For some reason, Online Trading Academy seemed different. It seemed like the real deal. I like the fact that they taught technical analysis and didn't seemed to be a lot of hype like so many other companies that have come and gone.
Their Pro Active course in particular fascinated me. This porgram was supposed to be for people who wanted moderate amounts of returns using stock technques that would be less than daytraders returns but far better than conventional investments.
The gentleman who taught this class was a tenderly older grey haired man who claimed to have a lot of experience in the markets. I believed in him as did the others who signed up because this guy had than grandfatherly look about him. And he talked the talk.
The course lasted 7 days and felt like 7 weeks. It was long and tedious. A lot of us that the material was hard to understand. Later we figured out that it wasn't the matierial, it was the instructor. While he anunciated and spoke clearly, he wasn't making any sense. He didn't know to how communicate very well. Nobody knew what he was talking. Most of us just assume that it was the material and I reallyt hink that OTA does this deliberately.
He talked about covered calls and cash supported puts. Selling puts and calls, the way he explained it appeared to be a safe way to earn 8%-12% returns and it sounded great. He even said that cash supported puts are safe because you are only risking your own money, not using margin as in the case of naked puts. And with covered calls, you are covered by owning the stock. Seemed easy and foolproof. Being new and naive I believed this. Looked like a easy and safe way to earn 8%-10% rates of returns. A real no brainer, we thought.
Some of us asked about the risk of losing money. The instructor explained that you can always buy the call or put back and essentially "roll it" over to another month so we were all assured that this was fairly risk free and save enough to be used with retirement and emergency money.
Unfortunately, those of us who used it lost money by the bucket load. Selling puts and calls sounds so attractive on paper, but in real life, it doesn't work out all that well.
During the training class, the instructor also made a case against mutual funds citing expenses. But when I asked a question and told him that I KNEW MUTUAL FUNDS with low 12/b1 and maintenance fees and no commission (no load) he just ignored me and moved on. This irritated me.
Unfortunately, those of us who used it lost money by the bucket load. Selling puts and calls sounds so attractive on paper, but in real life, it doesn't work out all that well.
During the training class, the instructor also made a case against mutual funds citing expenses. But when I asked a question and told him that I KNEW MUTUAL FUNDS with low 12/b1 and mainteneance fees and no commission (no load) he just ignored me and moved on. This irritated me.
They were big on ETFs and I own some myself. But when I asked the instructor to go more into detail about the expences associated (commissions), once again, my question was totally ignored. Another person asked about the huges losses many incurred with ETFs during the "flash crash" Once again, this question was totally ignored and the only response from the trainer was a sneer.
The course cost $5, 000 but in reality wasn't even worth $100, if that. The t/a that was taught was so basic, you could find it for free on the internet. The exaggerated safety of selling puts and calls also bothered me and there was a lot of hard selling. On top of this $5, 000 course, the instructors and staff were really pushing an XLT course for the Pro Active program. After paying the $5, 000, we were more or less told that this course, by itself, could not stand on it's own (no kidding) so we would have to cough up another $10, 000 for the real meat (or more of the same bad advice on aggressively selliing calls and puts??)
Some other observations:
One gentleman had bought a "Passport" program for $1, 000 down and 18% interest and later we found out that he didn't even have enough money to open a trading account with the recommnded broker that Online Trading Academy suggests. He wasn't advised of this untill after the 3 day right to cancel had expired.
Most of the people were very old or very young and had no investment or trading experience. Rank and file novices i.e hungry and gullible.
No one in the class made any money. We exchanged email addresses and phone numbers at graduation. Most of the class lost money by the bucket load OR were still to scared to use the program. The scared ones were smart and at least did not lose any money.
We overheard the instructor talking to staff members asking how soon they could book him for another class as he really needed the money. Hey, aren't these guys supposed to be making so much money trading that they really don't need the money from teaching?
Hard selling was nonstop literally during every break and many times during the class itself on time we paid for.
Online Trading Academy had a huge double sign outside of their facility in the office complex and their people were soliciting people who had come to this business area to transact business with other non related companies. They totally ignored the no soliciting sign.
The area that OTA in Orlando is located in is a run down, high crime area. Not the best area for any business. I would never go back there. Every day of class I feared that my car might be vandalized as I had heard had happened to so many others.
A large number of complaints have been made against Online Trading Academy online but nothing compares to the complaints that were made during classes by the paying members to the staff.
There are many unhappy campers at Online Trading Academy. Don't you be one of them. My advice stay away.