Where Should I Turn For Option Education?

Posted by Pete Stolcers on August 14

Option Trading Question

Today Kanu B. states, "I am interested in options and I have attended some free seminars given by http://www.TradeToBeFree.com. I paid for a 3 day seminar and learned nothing! Now they want me to commit to 3 more days @ $3500. I declined the offer but they are constant with the calls and e-mails. I'm confused and I want to learn very basic options strategies and I don't know where to turn. I'm willing to pay a reasonable fee to learn. Is this industry regulated?"

Option Trading Answer

All phone solicitations and advertisements are regulated by the FCC. The next time they call, get the person’s name, record the date/time and tell them to put your name on their “Do not call list”. If they call you again, notify the FCC. Ask to unsubscribe from their mailing list. It they continue, report them to your ISP for spamming. Finally, be vocal about how they are hassling you in forums like this. If the word gets around, they will either stop this practice or lose business.

I’m not commenting on the quality (or lack thereof) of http://www.TradeToBeFree.com, I don’t know these folks.

In general, there are many firms that snare the greedy with claims of fame. The harder they push and the more they charge, the more suspicious you should be. The normal game is to get you to come to a free seminar. The seminar has little educational value and their intent is to sell you a high priced course. Anything over $1000 should be seriously questioned. Visit chat rooms and bulletin boards before you pay to attend a seminar. People that have attended and who have nothing to gain/lose are an honest source of information. Do not place any value in testimonials!

My suggestion is to spend $300 - $400 on some good books. The Compleat Option Player (Ken Trester), Options As A Strategic Investment (Larry McMillan), Candlesticks Explained (Martin Pring), Rules of the Trade (David Nassar) are a few of my favorites.

I know it is easier to park butt in a seminar and take notes. Trading for a living is hard work. The sooner you roll up your sleeves, the better. If you want to go to the Holiday Inn and pay an outrageous premium to hear a wannabe trader “teach” what has already been written, that’s your prerogative.

You will learn much more by spending $400-$500 on great books and when the time is right, trade tiny size with the understanding that you will probably lose $3,000 in the process. Keep a log of your trades and write down what went right and wrong. Review your notes over the weekend. You will learn far more this way than you will the other.

Now I’ll toot my own horn. READ MY BLOG - IT’S FREE! Help me build this resource and tell as many friends as you can.

Thnx for the question Kanu. Now you can try one of my services free for a month.

If you have had any good or bad educational experiences, please help your fellow traders and share by commenting.

Option Trading Comments

• On 08/30, JoAnn said:

  I spent 6500.00 to learn option trading with TopTraders. This is the biggest mistake or loss i have had in option trading. Big rip off.

• On 08/30, Pete Stolcers said:

  Hi JoAnn,<br><br>Thanks for the comment. It will help others. Please spread the word to other option traders and help me grow this free resource.<br><br>Pete

• On 09/15, David said:

  I have found in my research optionscentral.com is best for free online classes and videos

• On 09/15, Pete Stolcers said:

  Thank you David. I can’t confirm or deny your claim because I have not seen the videos. However, R.F. Lafferty specializes in option execution.They have been around a long time and I have found their pricipals to be very knowledgeable.<br> <br>I’m currently evaluating an educational program. It has all of the makings of a good one. I’ll keep you posted.

• On 09/21, Dan said:

  The OIC (Option industrial council) provides free seminars, webinars, and option information including calculators, which are pretty good. The instructors are from the CBEOE (Chicago Board of Option Exchange). Of course, the CBOE is an excellent source and they offer reasonable priced seminars and webinars too. Of course, this site and others including Schaffer, McMillan and the like have a lot of information on their sites. I have included links to the OIC and CBOE below. I hope this helps a little.  <br><br><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.888options.com/seminars/default.jsp">http://www.888options.com/seminars/default.jsp</a><br><br><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.cboe.com/">http://www.cboe.com/</a><br><br>Respectfully,<br>Dan! <br>

• On 12/19, the finance ninja said:

  My input is read books, do practice trades, and watch a few stocks to learn them like human beings.  If you read Introductions to Options it will tell you everything you need to know for $7 on amazon.com Then check out Professionl Candle Stick Tradings by Bigelow which will run you $20-80 on amazon.com

  And I’ve traded both Puts and Calls making money with bull and bear markets

  Those two books alone are worth $20,000 to me.  -FN

• On 03/07, Ronaldo said:

  What’s your opinion about Option education by Options Unversity??

  Thanks,

• On 03/07, finance ninja said:

  I think Options University is a ripoff.  Save your money and goto the local library to borrow some books for FREE.  You will learn something from the course, but you are overpaying for information you can receive in any technical or how to book on options and stock charts.  One of my friend spent $10,000 on the videos and uses their system and makes $0 and still doesn’t even trade.  Just practice trading options and you will learn more that way then any other.  Sure, it doesn’t sound like fun, but if it doesn’t then you are in the wrong business of making money.  I do options because I absolutely love it and I’m full of zeal when trading.

  good luck -FN

• On 03/07, Pete said:

  I don’t feel that the Options University is a rip-off. I have reviewed a decent portion of their content and I felt confident enough in it to put it in my blog. The content is accurate and informative and illustrative. Anyone who was a Specialist in Dell knows options.

  As for the Finance Ninja’s comments, there is truth to what he says. Most of what can be learned has already been written. Buy Larry McMillan’s book - Options As A Strategic Investment and you will never suffer from insomnia. Larry is a good friend and I say that jokingly. Read it many times. If you understand half of it, you will know more than 90% of the people trading options. The Ninja is also right on another point. Going to a seminar or watching a video is not going to guarentee success. It will only help pave the way.

• On 05/11, Brian said:

  Hi,

  I just read this post and wanted to let everyone know that there seems to be 2 businesses going by the name of tradetobefree.com.  I’m the founder of tradetobefree.com and we have been in business and have owned the domain name since late 2004.  We have never offered any seminars or training other than one-on-one phone support.  Our services include a weekly trading newsletter focusing on stocks with strong earnings estimate revisions, low valuations and with strong technical setups.  We also sell a book which teaches our trading system in detail for $39 and we do not recommend options at all. Perhaps Kanu has the wrong business name or there are simply 2 businesses with that name.  I’m not sure.  However, I do believe strongly in our trading methods and encourage anyone to try it themselves by paper trading the picks in our newsletter.  You can have a 2 week free trial by signing up on our website.

  We are headquartered in Holly Springs, NC.  We are also a member of the better business bureau in very good standing.  Anyone can check out the previous versions of our website at alexa.com and see we have never offered a seminar.

  Sincerely,

  Brian C Neall
  Founder - Tradetobefree.com

• On 05/11, Pete said:

  Hi Brian,

  Thanks for clearing that up. As I mentioned, I’m not familiar with your firm or services. It sounds like you’re on the up and up. I hope you find the folks that are tarninshing your good name through strong arm tactics.

  I’m glasd you happened across my blog and responded.

  All the best,

  Pete

• On 05/14, Hans said:

  is there anyone that has done freely’s options seminar by clemen chiang ? is his method really working ?

• On 04/06, Nadia said:

  very helpful ideas.I feel reading books from libraries will also provide some useful knowledge and then you can decide upon attending the course to get more info.

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