Best options trading course review

Options Trading Course Reviews.

(Any revisions/new reviews/updates are as of the date above)

I thought I would write an ongoing review as I try(or evaluate) some of the popular options training courses and programs that are available. I am only commenting on ones that I have purchased or at least spent time evaluating.

There are many, many other Options Trading programs on the market but when doing some research these are the ones I saw mentioned in multiple places.

It is important to always be learning when trying to be successful in the stock market, especially with options.

Many new investors will try to read some books trying to learn options and bounce around to different trading forums trying different options strategies and tactics, but that can be a costly way of educating yourself.

If you find a solid, well-laid training course that provides ongoing training and support, then you should be able to get much more returns over your investing lifetime than the initial cost of a training product.

Also, keep in mind that when starting out there is lots of great free information in the education section of many of the popular options brokerages such as how-to articles and quality webinars but it can be hard to put it all together into a defined trading plan.

The best Options Training programs provide a comprehensive and progressive training from beginner to advanced, continued support, and maybe a community of fellow traders.

This post isn’t to focus on reviewing any options trading newsletters or stock picking services because it is better to learn a system and be able to implement it on your own rather than following some newsletter that just spits out trading picks. Your goal with investing in a training program is to teach and provide you with the knowledge to be able to invest/trade on your own and not be dependent on some continual service.

Before reviewing the options trading programs below, I should also mention that there are also many seminars and destination events that provide in-depth options training but they usually are quite expensive and generally do not provide you with ongoing support/updates that you might get with online training programs.

Below are some of the popular Options Training Courses (listed in no specific order) :

Sheridan Mentoring.

Dan Sheridan is widely known in the options world as he does the training for CBOE with webinars and seminars throughout the country. He was a professional options trader for about 20years and knows just about anything you can imagine about options trading. There are lots of free webinars on the internet that Dan has done that you can watch and get a good understanding of his trading style and teaching philosophy. He teaches a lot about proper trade sizing, managing an options portfolio, how to adjust various options trading strategies, and much more. He is more oriented around option income strategies instead of directional trading bets.

His training program is extensive and costs $6500 for access to his training(hundreds of hours) and coaching. If you are serious about how to trade options like a professional then this is a decent choice but it can be complicated to replicate.

It is not cheap so if you want to see the course I like for learning Iron condors that it is simpler to implement and MUCH cheaper than Sheridan then see my review of “How I Make $1,000 a Week Trading Options” course.

Options Trading Basics (3 Course Bundle)

I came across this course because it was so highly rated. It is a very comprehensive course for learning options and the instructor does a very good job explaining everything with lots of example. It is hosted on Udemy so it is backed by a full 30 day money back guarantee and provides fully disclosed customer testimonials from people who have taken the course (which is unique in this industry) . It is very detailed and will provide the important knowledge to anyone interested in learning to trade options.

The cost of this course would be similar to buying a couple books about options trading but this course will teach you more practical application and real-life examples than what you will find in option investing books.

Overall, if you are looking to learn options trading and want a solid foundation then definitely take a look at this course. Click here to read the product page which provides a lot of detail about the course and lots of real user reviews.

“How I Get Paid $1,000 Every Friday Trading Options”

A simple but excellent course that shows how to effectively trade sell Iron Condors for consistent profit. There is a lot of theory taught about Iron Condors and most never tell you how to effectively adjust an Iron condor so this course is one of the best I have seen at providing an effective system for trading Iron condors.

The value is that the teacher has been trading Iron condors consistently for 15 years and refined how to profit consistently with this strategy while managing risk. (It is worth paying for this knowledge than spending years figuring this out with trial and error)

I wrote a review post about the course that provides more explanation but I really like this course as it just keeps it simple.

You can use Iron Condors as a core strategy in your account for generating income. This also is a great strategy if you don’t have time during the day to watch the markets or if you have a small account as Iron condors use up small margin.

Overall it is a pretty inexpensive course with excellent support from the teacher and a 30day money back guarantee.

UPDATE – The author of the above course has another terrific system for put writing. The course is also on Udemy and very inexpensive. He had 100% win rate on his picks for the entire last year following this system which is pretty incredible ( My required disclaimer - I am not making any claim that you will achieve 100% win rate or guarantee any returns) . Here is link to course . Side note – There is a service for this course where he gives his trades following what is taught in this course but it NOT needed to be successful with this course.

Options MD.

Options MD is a options training course created by Doc Severson of Trading Concepts INC. It is oriented around providing a step by step training for trading options for a living. It is more about options income trading. I will be honest and let you know I haven’t gone through this course except some of the initial training as I have been focused on learning Futures.

I went through one of their other products about Futures called E-mini Success Formula – See my review ) which I thought was well done and thorough.

Again, their products seem very well organized in a step-by-step training, ongoing support, and a satisfaction guarantees. Options MD isn’t always open, so you can click on the link here for more information or to get on a waiting list if it isn’t currently for sale. They seem to offer some free introductory videos when they launch the product so you can at least have time to evaluate if the program is right for you and learn from good information for fee.

Simpler Options.

Simpler Options is run by well-known trader John Carter. I came across him a while back when he gave some training for using his TradeTheMarkets indicators that are part of the ThinkOrSwim charting platform and he was trading a lot of futures and options with them successfully. (They are useful indicators to use if you have ThinkOrSwim as your broker) . He has some decent training on SimplerOptions and does a lot of weekly options.

I like how he shows his real trades in his real account and provides perspective on different trading styles(short term and long term). There is a nightly free video he sends out on that you at least see some examples of his real trades in his real accounts.

He seems to be transitioning to less intraday trading and he uses those free indicators I mentioned above that are available for free on ThinkOrSwim. He does a pretty good job simplifying how he trades.

My one complaint is it can be hard to replicate his trading style as he seems to use lots of inputs(different timeframes, indexes, chart setups) when he analyzes the market and decides on what options strategies to implement. If you start watching his daily videos you will see that his charts, indicators, timeframes can vary a lot.

Overall, I’ve bought an options course from John Carter and was satisfied with it and he is a great teacher. He has some unique trading setups that are understandable but my only complaint(like I mentioned above) is it might he difficult to follow his style and I think a lot of people will end up jumping around to too many trading strategies and indicators.

2017 Update on SimplerOptions – I bought one John’s courses in 2016 with a new indicator he offered and 3days live trading. I wasn’t that impressed with it and don’t find the indicator that useful. Simpler options seems to be coming up with lots of proprietary indicators now and more classes so it can be easy getting caught up in all the trainings they offer and not really making any progress. For example, every couple months they seem to have some “amazing new indicator” for sale that is a “must have” so you end up having all these indicators and making it more complicated.

In general, they have good training but don’t really have a specific “system” or steps to follow so can be hard for a beginner to not get overwhelmed. TIP – The “Squeeze indicator” from John Carter is a free indicator if you have ThinkorSwim account and it is a useful indicator if you use it with a solid chart pattern and Fibonacci pullbacks. (Just google how to use John carter squeeze indicator to learn how to read it).

Options University.

2/14/2014 I think they closed or sold to someone else as the original guys aren’t there anymore on their website. It doesn’t seem the same quality level as it used to be.

OLD REVIEW: Options University is run by professional traders that have worked as floor traders and appear on CNBC. They offer a wide range of training products and services and it high quality.

You can look thru their products and they offer some free training when you sign up for free. I’m on their list and sometimes they open up their services for free for a couple days and provide some excellent free real-time trading examples. Their product offerings seem to change sometimes and I haven’t looked at them recently.

Options Animal.

I came across Options Animal in 2010 after watching a webinar with the CEO Greg Jensen in the education section of a popular Options brokerage. He did a good job on the webinar discussing a specific type of options strategy and I decided to look at their website. The only thing I found about it online independently was some reference to a past options training company called “Spread Trade Systems” that Options Animal founder had a partnership in.

From what I read that past partnership didn’t end well and was the reason for the start with Options Animal. I didn’t find much for independent reviews of Options Animals training and I listened to some of their webinars they provide to explain their training methods. The only negative I have for it is the sales funnel they put you through requiring you to talk with a sales consultant about the products offered.

Personally I felt that the whole sales interview process a turn off to me. They sent me the training materials that explains the options trading strategies they teach and I guess they have a unique spin on how to choose their picks ? You can review their blog posts to see they are focused on risk and teach about adjusting positions which is key to options income trading (They like using an active options collar strategy)

I didn’t see much for reviews when I looked in Fall 2010 at their products but the course ranges from $1500-10,000 (The main training was $8,000 when I looked at it in 2010 without some of the coaching) which is similar to other products in the industry.

They seem to be okay but I would look further into it after my personal experience . (In evaluating this I spoke to Options Animal in fall 2010 so maybe their sales process has changed since then or I just had a unique experience.)

Jeffrey Ziegler.

12/15/2014 He closed his products.

I was referred to Jeffrey Ziegler in 2010 and he does a good job of really laying out the basics for credit spread trading. He is a retail trader and not a former wallstreet trader, so he lays things out well for someone totally new to spread trading and how to approach it. His initial Spread Trading product was from 2007-08 and revolved around credit spreads with monthly options.

His Credit Spread Course mentioned above was revised in late 2012 and is now called ” Credit Spread Trading Made Simple (CSTMS 3.0″ and is updated with some great information and a systematized plan to trading credit spreads(especially weekly options).

If you apply this information in this course you should do well with credit spreads since you can follow a system. If you are brand new to options and trading this you will find the information well laid out and no fluff. If you are experienced with options, then the technical setup for trading weeklies is useful.

You get access to the entire training/content at sign-up and can review his past market analysis videos for how he evaluates the market. The training is all about bear call credit spreads and bull put credit spreads. He also goes into some chart reading patterns and basic setup.

For someone totally new to options it is good and will keep you focused only on credit spreads which an options can investor can make a full-time living with. I think he does a good job providing steps to follow and a system to stick to with credit spreads. If you decide to branch out to other options trading strategies then you can move onto other higher-end comprehensive options trading courses on the market after going through his course.

Weekly Options Windfall.

12/2014 NOTE – I saw WOW has been updated since I took version 1 of this course so it might be different now that what I experienced.

4/20/2015 Note – A reader named “Glenn” left me the following comment about an update to Weekly Options Windfall that I thought should be included here(I haven’t looked at the program since my original review: From Glenn - “Preston James now offers a $97/mth option where your given access to all his trading course information and trade alerts, as well as having access to a weekly Webinar with Preston James himself every Friday. I was told you can cancel at any time.”

My Original Review: I kind of stumbled onto this course when I was first getting into learning more about weekly options. Preston James is the creator of Weekly Options Windfall and he is a successful independent options trader. He has numerous past options training courses and I couldn’t really find any review on Weekly Options Windfall so I bought it for the $800 offer price.

I was pretty disappointed by the quality of information and some of the advice about expiration day pinning trades were easy way to lose a lot of money. I guess my problem is that the course is marketed towards beginners and first time options traders with unrealistic expectations.

Also, the support was lacking. There wasn’t a lot of content so maybe the content has improved since I had bought it(hopefully). (I briefly mentioned this course in a past post that I wrote about weekly options)

Trading Pro System.

3/18/2016 It looks like this course is no longer for sale ? If you want a course to learn/understand options then consider the one I mentioned above (You have 30day money back guarantee to try it out and it is inexpensive)

If you are looking for I have written about Trading Pro System on this site in the past(in 2010) as the course really helped explain some options trading concepts that I didn’t understand when getting into options. For the $200 price I found it to be quite excellent and detailed.

It’s a few years old and covers a lot of content in one course but it helped me a lot when starting out. The options trading style taught in this course is more along the lines of what Dan Sheridan teaches(see above in this this post) with how to manage your positions by using the options Greeks.

If can be a little more advanced for new options investors trying to trade with the greeks, but the I still like the amount of information taught in this video course and the intricacies of options movement.

I think this product is a great deal for the information provided(when compared to most options training on the market). You can reference past posts I wrote about it Post 1 & Post 2 .

ETF Tipping Point.

I am just mentioning this because I saw started mentioned in a few places recently. I didn’t try this product but since I had a hard a time finding any review on it, I thought I would share what I found. They offer a market trading system based on short term signals for trading specific ETF’s that shows pretty impressive results.

From what I found it seems they base their signals on a proprietary version of on-balance volume that measures the intraday accumulation/distribution of the various stocks/components of the ETF’s they follow.

It is like a modified version of the OBV(On-Balance Volume) indicator that has been around for decades. There is a free indicator on some platforms(ThinkOrSwim has it) called Trade Volume Index that measures accumulation/distribution by intraday tick which is more accurate than On Balance Volume for detailed accumulation/distribution trends but I haven’t played with it enough.

I didn’t buy the product or spend much more time on it, just sharing what I found. If anyone has tried it or used Trade Volume Index indicator, I would like to hear any feedback below.

Quantum Trading Pay Day Stocks TW 90.

An options trading course that promotes showing to double your account in a 90day period. I did some research on it and decided to not purchase it. You can read my review about this program if interested. I received a lot of comments on that review from students after posting the review.

In conclusion I only touched on a handful of the popular options training courses. There are definitely many more options trading courses and programs continually coming to market, so I can only share what I have looked at or tried. You can either try to figure out options on your own or purchase some training. There are many types of options training so it can be a little overwhelming trying to figure out who to listen to.

I am sure there are some good teachers or courses that I have missed so please leave a comment of any that you recommend as I would love to hear some feedback.

PS – For Stock Trading courses, I really like this one (see my review) I personally went through it and paid for it.

Full Disclosure: I receive potential referral commission on some of the products mentioned here if you buy thru my link, but this compensation does not affect my review/opinion. The above opinions are my honest experiences and observations of these programs and I never get paid to write reviews.

Related Posts.

OptionsMD link is broken. Out of business ?

Hi Steven, course is closed right now so maybe they changed the link to their waiting page. I updated the link to go to their homepage. I also just updated the link to John Carter’s Simpler Options which has a free webinar tonight to teach some free options techniques and also to give information on a live training course that I just bought for trading a system for ETF options directionally. (you can find the link to the webinar tonight at their homespage.

Wondering if you have heard of Michael schulman’s weekly options income course. Is it for real, what is the catch? They only want $7.95. Mark t.

Hi Mark, sorry about the delayed reply. I have never heard of Michael schulman’s weekly options and did a quick google search for it. It seemed the system was based on selling out of the money options to collect premium(also the mention of selling covered calls). The main problem with selling weekly options credit spreads is you need to be pretty good or at least consistent at knowing stock direction because the risk to reward on selling out of the money credit spreads on weekly is usually higher since you don’t get a lot of time premium and therefore are usually having to sell closer to the money. I guess you can try the service but didn’t seem anything new or impressive. I would suggest taking a look at John Carters simpleroptions (you can get free daily s to get an idea of his style) which has paid training courses and subcription services…also Jeffrey zeiglers credit spread trading course is good for selling weekly options credit spreads. I would never sign up for a service that blindly picks stocks for you so make sure you are taught a system or method that you can use on your own.

thanks for above reviews, you saved me a packet re Preston James. What do you think of Marc Nicolas-

Hi Barry, I didn’t see much that was impressive on that Marc Nicolas site and I don’t care for those “systems” that supposedly give you buy and sell signals. I would rather learn time tested trading methods with technical analysis that isn’t based on some “secret” formula, and realize that it will take some effort and time to learn to trade. I like someone like John Carter (simpleroptions) instead.

I’m surprised you are not mentioning some of the best OPTIONS courses by:

DOC SEVERSON’s website is tradingconceptsinc/

(it is together with another trader, TODD MITCHELL)

Thanks for the input. As mentioned I only discussed courses I took a look at or bought and some I didn’t mention that I thought were very bad. I’ll look through some of the courses you referenced as I have heard of some of them. Many of the options courses all teach the same concepts and many of which just throw dozens of options trading strategies at you and expect that you are going to be able to apply all those methods. Also there must me a 1000 courses teaching credit spread trading but courses but very few provide you with a systemized way of selecting trades and providing an easy to follow trading plan. The training I like the best and feel have the highest rate of success are the ones that keep it simple and allow you to follow a defined system or plan without jumping around to lots of strategies as that causes analysis paralysis.

I am a novice in trading, haven’t traded so far. Based on the review I went through some of sites like options animal and trading pro systems. Between the two which one would has a step by step approach on learning options from novice to advanced concepts.

If you want a more detailed/hands on type of training then something like Options Animal might be a better fit for you. Trading Pro Systems teaches a lot of information but you are on your own to apply it. It is important to understand that some options strategies really only work well in certain markets like high volatility strategies and low volatility strategies. I haven’t been through the Options Animal course but make sure a course teaches you how to actually apply the strategies and give you a trading plan and how to read a chart. Also, I think John Carter has good way of simplifying trading and options(I think he has an upcoming Options course for small accounts)

This is very informative and helpful – thank you! Have you heard of or reviewed Option Advantage with Andrew Crowder?

Hello Maggie, I have never heard of that service. Thank for reading. - Brian.

Have you had a chance to research Options Advantage from Wyatt Research (Andrew Crowder) yet?

Hello Doug. I didn’t get a chance to try The Options Advantage service but I did watch a youtube video with Andrew and his advice/methods(Credit spreads using probability in your favor - He mentioned he most does mostly credit spreads and some directional trades for shoter term 5-7days) that he gave in the video is solid so it seems like its probably a good service. If you try the service let me know how it works out for you. – Brian.

I am having a problem with SimplerOptions. I recently took a course from them and found a trading set up presentation to be inaccurate; they presented a screen and chart as action signals that were both run after the action was over. Carter stated during the broadcast that the screen had been run in the AM when in fact the price shown was only reached at the close. I have repeatedly questioned them about it and a fellow by the name of Henry Gambell appears to be playing dumb with me. This has been going on now for close to 2 weeks. Advice? Have I been scammed? I want to believe in Carter but their behavior suggests a different course of action.

Hi Mark, really sorry about delayed reply. In answer to your comment….they seem very honest/straight forward at SimplerOptions and John shows endless real trades in his trading accounts of real trades(including in his free trading videos each night) so it sounds like you might have a mixup there. The stuff that i’ve seen John teach works well but if dissatisfied I would ask for a refund. Hope that helps, Brian.

The Best Day Trading Schools and Courses.

Day trading is a tough career. Whether you're new to the field or an experienced veteran who wants a support network of other professional day traders, finding a day-trading school that offers courses and mentoring is an efficient way to get the education and tools required to succeed in the markets. Many day-trading schools offer online courses, video conferencing, in-class or group sessions and/or personal consultations.

The price, support systems and overall quality varies dramatically from school to school. So here's a little day-trading academy review that will point out the key aspects to ponder when evaluating an institution, along with popular and reputable financial trading schools.

Investopedia Academy's "Become a Day Trader"

In June 2017, Investopedia launched its Become a Day Trader course, taught by a Wall Street trader with over 30 years of experience. The course covers everything from how to create a trading plan to step-by-step instructions for making trades. You'll go through three hours of on-demand video (at your own pace), and along with practice trading scenarios and quizzes, you'll end up with your own personalized trading plan. The instructor will walk you through a step-by-step playbook for six trades that you can use right away.

If you're interested in other day-trading course options, read on to learn about some other great resources.

Picking a Day-Trading School: The 3 Elements.

One of the first things new traders look at when picking a day-trading school is, not surprisingly, its cost. While the price of tuition is an important factor, it shouldn't be the only factor. If they jump in without guidance or research, most novice day traders will lose a lot of money very quickly. If day trading the stock market, for example, that potentially means losing a large chunk of $25,000 or more – the minimum account balance required to trade on margin as imposed by the Financial Industry Regulator Authority (FINRA). From this perspective, spending $3,000 or even $10,000 for some solid training may actually be cheaper over the long run than attempting to day trade on your own.

The key phrase above is "solid training," which comprises three elements: foundation, mentoring and support.

Foundation gives you knowledge about the market you wish to day trade, as well as strategies to help you extract a profit from the market. While strategies vary, for the most part, this information can be found on the web (via online stock trading, options trading or futures trading courses) or in textbooks for little to no cost. Many day-trading schools even give away their strategies for free (because the strategy is only a part of becoming a successful trader). Mentoring – whether by attending regular webinars, having trades critiqued or receiving one-on-one coaching – is more pivotal to success than just the information a trader receives from books or articles. The mentoring stage introduces an objective observer to your trading. It is very hard to see our own mistakes, but someone else who knows what to look for can often spot those errors immediately, correct us and provide a better way of trading. It's like trying to fix your golf swing without the aid of a video camera or a golf pro watching. Since you can't see what you are doing while you are swinging (trading), you're bound to make the same mistakes over and over again, even while working hard to correct what you think is wrong. Mentoring removes that hurdle, makes the process much more efficient and is likely to result in quicker progress than attempting to fix things on your own. Support is the ongoing element of the school, i. e., post-graduation, and it is also beneficial. It is very easy to slip into bad habits over time or change our behaviors without realizing it. Having a school or a group of traders to help you through this time is a significant advantage. Even professional traders, like athletes, can hit slumps that require a knowledgeable outside source to get them back on track.

Top Day-Trading Schools.

Day-trading schools tend to focus on different markets – equities, futures, forex, etc. Here are day-trading schools that offer solid foundations, mentoring and support in their specialties. (Prices, while current as of November 2017, are subject to change.)

One of the largest trading schools is the Online Trading Academy (OTA). The school began as the training arm of a trading floor in 1997, offering daily coaching sessions. Gradually, it shifted its focus to help more traders by providing classes, workshops, online courses and free trading resources, opening its first training center (despite its name) in 2001. Over 250,000 traders are in the OTA community, with live and online classes held around the United States and the world at more than 40 campuses.

Unlike other day-trading schools, OTA offers curricula for several markets, including forex and futures, as well as wealth-management courses, but it's especially renowned for its stock market classes. Whatever the focus, its approach is learning in stages. For stock traders, for example, the journey begins with the Free Half-Day Class, a workshop where you learn to create a trading plan and implement a rule-based trading system. Next comes the Core Strategy course. Part one is a five-day live workshop (or 10 three-hour online sessions), and part two is a two-day live course (or four three-hour online sessions). The courses are priced at $5,000 and $2,000, respectively. Those who take the course can come back and redo it as many times as they like, for life, providing traders with continual support, refreshers and guidance even after they have completed their training.

In this series of interactive lectures and trading sessions, core strategies and methodology are taught. OTA's main focus is on supply-and-demand imbalances, a method that allows for relatively low-risk trades compared to the potential rewards. Graduates can further their education with more advanced classes and take courses related to other markets. OTA also offers a select number of specialty courses, including topics such as trading psychology and technical analysis strategies.

Online Stock Market Courses.

If you're interested in day trading stocks, the The Stock Whisperer (aka Stefanie Kammerman) offers a number of different courses and services. She began trading in 1994, and in 2010, began teaching in an online chat room. The courses teach you the strategies Stefanie uses, along with lots of examples. After taking a course, you can join The Java Pit to see more examples, or you can continue trading on your own with your newfound knowledge.

The Stock Whisperer focuses on tape reading (time and sales), spotting big buyers and sellers (prints), volume analysis, support and resistance and dark pools. Counting the Cards on Wall Street is one of the main day-trading courses offered, via three pre-recorded parts ($99, $199 and $199 respectively). You can also get all three courses (along with What's Inside the Candle, which is $299) in the Ruby Educational Package Plus for $499. The package deal offers significant savings over buying the courses individually. There are a number of other courses, including swing trading courses, boot camps and one-on-one coaching.

Those who've mastered the Cards trilogy can sign up for two-week, five-hours-a-day boot camp and a live seminar, held bi-monthly, that includes competitions with simulated trades.

If you are interested in trading options, TradePro Academy has a number of different courses and services available to you. Options aren't typically day traded. But based on the strategies you will learn, you can make short-term options trades for both day and swing trading.

The Swing Trader course introduces traders to the options market and teaches a reliable options trading strategy where risk and reward are fixed on each trade. The course focuses on assessing volatility, picking the best options to trade, building a trading plan, placing orders, capital management, managing trades, assessing profit/loss scenarios, part-time trading and a full day of live trading. It costs $79 a month.

TradePro Academy's Day Trader Pro course focuses on futures trading and offers a daily live trading room. The monthly subscription to this service is $99. You can get a better deal if you go with the TraderPro Elite Bundle, though, which combines the two services and includes group coaching once a month and priority support. The bundle is available for $139 a month.

George Papazov is the founder of TradePro Academy. He began trading in 2001 and started TradePro in 2012.

The Day Trading Academy (DTA) offers traders the opportunity to learn to deal in a variety of market conditions in the futures markets – calm, volatile or in between. The DTA method centers on reading price action, so while indicators may be used, they aren't relied upon. The Day Trading Academy was started in 2011 by Marcello Arrambide, a professional day trader since 2002 and a globe trotter who also founded the popular Wandering Trader blog.

More than 50,000 traders subscribe to the DTA newsletter, which provides free resources and trading advice and outlines how to gain access to the futures day-trading course. You can view one live trading class for free. Entering the program – newcomers are accepted monthly – includes access to the classes, both live and recorded, that teach traders about the futures market, as well as core day-trading strategies.

The curriculum is split into four sections: beginner, intermediate, advanced and pro. It includes an online course with reading and loads of videos highlighting each point. It goes from simple concepts with technical analysis like support and resistance areas, trend lines and price action, to more advanced concepts like trading psychology, emotional intelligence and high-probability trades with at least a 2:1 reward vs. risk.

Once traders are familiar with the material, they attend live webinars, held during market hours twice a week, to see how the strategies are applied in real time. This also provides an opportunity to ask questions and interact with professional traders. Daily recaps at the end of the day highlight the trade signals that occurred.

The course is currently $2,997 and includes (all online) access, three months of one-on-one mentoring, weekly webinars/live trading classes, review classes and video recaps showing the main opportunities (based on the strategy) each day. Packages with additional mentoring time are also available.

While traders can use the method to trade all day, the DTA focuses primarily on trading near market open, attempting to profit by only trading for a couple hours each day. Traders in the program take screenshots of their trades, send them into support and receive video feedback from a professional trader on how to improve entries and exits, and how to better read the price action to improve decision-making.

Training is provided in an online setting, making it accessible to anyone in the world.

Foreign Exchange (Forex) Trading Courses.

The forex market is open 24 hours. A swing trade (which lasts more than a day) doesn't have any more restrictions imposed on it than a day trade would. So schools that focus on forex often cover both day trading and swing trading.

Winner's Edge Trading began as a blog in 2009, providing free trade signals, strategies and advice, which it still does today. Not so much a formal day-trading academy as an online tutorial center and trading room, Winner's Edge provides its core strategy for free – to more than 70,000 subscribers – as well as frequent blog and video posts, which highlight current and upcoming trades using the "Double Trend Trap" strategy.

The strategy can be used in any time frame, although trade signals are primarily traded on the hourly chart in the New York Session Trading Room. Trades typically last about 18 hours, according to Casey Stubbs, the CEO, and there are about 10 trade signals a week. Traders can also adapt the strategy to shorter time frames if desired for more frequent or quicker trades.

Joining the trading room is $97 per month, and promotions are often available for multi-month sign-ups. The training begins with learning the core system in detail, as well as more advanced strategies. Sessions give traders a chance to ask questions and see trades occurring in a live environment, as well as manage existing trades.

In 2014, Winner's Edge introduced its Extreme Growth Mentoring Series ($397). Once their training is complete, members are provided with a monitored demo account, in which a professional trader provides feedback on the trader's performance. The ideas is that novices need someone over their shoulder (figuratively) to point out what is being done well and what is being done poorly, and then allowing them to take corrective measures.

The Bottom Line.

Cost is an important factor when deciding which day-trading school to join, but it isn't the only factor. Dishing out a few thousand dollars up front (or a few hundred monthly) to get an options trading education, a power trading workshop or even just a few stock market courses or futures trading courses may be a good investment if they cut your learning curve and get you on the path to profitability quicker. It's like paying college tuition so that, down the road, you can make a better income.

What the school gives you should be worth the cost, though. Any day trading academy worth its salt should offer you a good foundation of information to build on, mentoring by knowledgeable and successful pros to help you understand the information and fully implement it in the market, and a support network (via s, webinars or chat rooms) where successful traders using the same methods can interact and help each other if required. The foundation and mentoring stages should get you to a comfort point when day trading, and hopefully a profitable position. The post-graduate network will help you succeed and stay on track even after your initial training is done.

Best Day Trading Courses.

There are loads of day trading courses, and it's impossible to review them all. But these are some of the best day trading courses out there, and while the list is never complete, it at least offers a few courses to consider. These courses are good because they are taught by traders with lots of trading experience (more than 10 years) and offer a great education you can take with you for the rest of your life (bang for buck).

When considering a day trading course, be wary of people with little trading experience trying to make money off subscriptions or courses. There are loads of junk day trading courses out there, so make sure to do your research before starting your education.

What to Look for In a Day Trading Course.

As a general rule, only consider a course offered by someone with at least 10 years trading experience. That way you know they have been through the ups and downs and are a better trader for it. Many courses you find online--offered by people with only a year, or even several years, of experience--likely won't be there a couple years from now. Most traders don't last, so stick with courses and traders that have been around a while. All the best day trading courses discussed below meet this criteria as well as provide valuable trading information (just because a trader says they have traded for 10 or more years, doesn't mean they are a good teacher or offer a good course).

The best day trading courses also teach you to trade for yourself. They don't hide things from you so they can take money from you month after month. Strategies and information should be offered in such a way that you can eventually trade on your own. You may choose to take part in monthly programs or chat rooms they offer, but you don't have to.

The best day trading courses make you self-sufficient, and don't keep demanding fees month after month, or require you to buy course after course to find missing pieces of the puzzle.

The best day trading courses, discussed below, will make you a self-sufficient trader; while you do pay initially for the education, that fee buys you an education you can use for the rest of your life.

Be Realistic About What You Expect, Based On Your Work Ethic.

Keep in mind that most day traders fail. Even with the best education, most want-to-be traders will still fail, because they don't practice what they are taught, or simply choose to ignore the advice provided. Trading is a difficult task, and people (especially unsuccessful traders) aren't going to blame themselves for their failure, they are more likely to blame the teacher or the market. That means you'll see negative reviews on all trading schools and courses--and pay attention to those--but also pay attention to the positive things people say.

Being a professional trader is like being a professional in other careers. it takes a lot of work and time! You can have the best education, but ultimately it is you who is responsible for your own success.

If you are an athlete, you may have the best running coach in the world, but until you actually start practicing and putting in more work than everyone else you are competing against, you won't win. Day trading is a battleground. In order to win, your skills need to be better than most of the other traders in the marketplace, you need to be less affected by your emotions than those around you, and you need to practice a reliable strategy for hours a day, for months, before you can expect to see consistent, profitable results.

All that said, here are some great day trading courses to consider if you're starting your day trading journey (or have been trading for a while but need help). These are courses I have personally tested out, or that close trading friends (also successful traders) have vouched for based on their experience.

Ready to start building wealth? Sign up today to learn how to save for an early retirement, tackle your debt, and grow your net worth.

The Day Trading Academy.

The Day Trading Academy (DTA) focuses on futures trading, primarily E-Mini S&P 500 (ES) futures. They teach a method of trading based on price action, so you learn how to read and anticipate market moves, allowing you to adapt to all types of market conditions. Some indicators are also used to help new traders see how the price action is unfolding.

The curriculum includes an online course with reading and loads of videos highlighting each point. The course starts with the basics, and then builds until you ultimately learn an adaptable trading strategy.

Exercises are provided throughout the course to get you practicing the concepts you learn. These exercises can be submitted for review to the DTA.

The course is $2,997 and includes (all online) access to the course, 3 months of one-on-one mentoring, weekly webinars/live trading classes, review classes, and video recaps showing the main opportunities (based on the strategy) each day. Packages with additional mentoring time are also available.

Personal mentoring takes a lot of time and is an invaluable resource. You get to address your specific trading issues with a professional trader who has been through what you are going through and has successfully navigated past those issues.

If you are interested in learning to day trade with the Day Trading Academy, check out their website and sign up for their free day trading newsletter (click "Start Now") for trading insights and information on how to get started on the course.

The Day Trading Academy was founded by Marcello Arrambide. He began trading in 2002 and started the DTA in 2011.

The Stock Whisperer.

If you're interested in day trading stocks, the Stock Whisperer offers a number of different courses and services. Stefanie--the stock whisperer--provides a free daily "whisper of the day" which include stocks and ETFs to watch that day, along with important price levels. Check out recent "whispers" on Scutify.

For live trade signals, and to watch Stefanie trade, join The Java Pit. It's $9.95 for the first month, and then $69.95 per month after that. You'll learn a lot, but it isn't a course, it's a trading room.

For courses, you have a number of choices. The courses teach you the strategies Stefanie uses, along with lots of examples. After taking a course you can join The Java Pit to see more examples, or you can continue trading on your own with your new found knowledge.

Counting Cards on Wall Street is one of the main day trading courses offered, via three parts ($99, $249 and $249 respectively). You can also get all three courses (along with What's Inside the Candle , which is $299) in the Rudy Education Package for $623. The package deal offers significant savings over buying the courses individually.

The Stock Whisper focuses on tape reading (time and sales), spotting big buyers and sellers (prints), volume analysis, support and resistance and dark pools. The Stock Whisperer also offers a number of other courses, including swing trading courses, boot camps and one-on-one coaching.

Check current prices and availability on the Stock Whisperer's Courses page.

Stefanie Kammerman is The Stock Whisperer. She began trading in 1994, and in 2010 began teaching in the online chat room.

TradePro Academy.

If you are interested in trading options, TradePro Academy has a number of different courses and services available to you. Options aren't typically day traded, although, based on the strategies you will learn you can take short-term options trades, for both day trading and swing trading.

The Path to Profits course introduces traders to the options market and then teaches a reliable options trading strategy where risk and reward are fixed on each trade.

The course includes an options refresher (available for free), assessing volatility, picking the best options to trade, building a trading plan, placing orders, capital management, managing trades, assessing profit/loss scenarios, part-time trading and a full day of living trading.

The course is $147 as a stand alone product, or, receive the Path to Profits Course (along with all courses offered by TradePro Academy) for a subscription of $79 per month.

$79 per month is the "Pro Package" giving you access to a success coach, all trading courses (Path to Profits, Foundations Course and Options Course) as well as additional courses which may be offered, weekly analysis webinars and live trade alerts.

George Papazov is the founder of TradePro Academy. He began trading in 2001 and started TradePro in 2012.

Final Word on The Best Day Trading Courses.

There are loads of day trading courses, and some great ones may not be included on this list. But when it comes to futures, stocks and options, the Day Trading Academy, The Stock Whisperer, and TradePro Academy do a great job of teaching traders how to be successful in that respective market. These traders have taken the time to build a course, as well as give up their time to mentor students and create webinars/forums for traders to discuss what they are learning and pose questions. That is why there is a fee, but when you consider the rewards that trading offers--lots of free time and an income--the fees for these courses are actually quite low.

Remember to temper your expectations, though, and realize that your ultimate success is up to you. If you don't put in the work and the time, you won't be a successful trader, period, no matter how many courses you take. If you opt to participate in one of these day trading courses, make you sure you make the most of it by engaging yourself in the process of learning, working hard and practicing what you are shown.

These recommendations are unsolicited. The author is not a part of any of these organizations and has not received financial compensation for writing this article by any of the organizations mentioned.

Where Should I Turn For Option Education?

Posted by Pete Stolcers on February 4, 2009.

Option Trading Question.

Today Kanu B. states, "I am interested in options and I have attended some free seminars. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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="888options/seminars/default. jsp">888options/seminars/default. jsp</a><br><br><a rel="nofollow" href="cboe/">cboe/</a><br><br>Respectfully,<br>Dan! <br>

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 Then check out Professionl Candle Stick Tradings by Bigelow which will run you $20-80 on amazon.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Good sharing. Its an alarm to those who are willing to attend any seminars. After reading this post, we should think twice before we register to any seminars.

Do you/have you ever traded options on ETFs.

thanks for the info. I was about to attend a couple of seminars myself. I guess i’ll have to rethink my moves. Thanks.

I have traded options on ETFs, but I would rather find the best stock in the index and take a position in it. For liquidity reasons, institutions have to stick to the ETFs. We are all small, nimble traders and we need to use that to our advantage. Stick with stocks.

I also suggest read, read and read more good books; free educational materials and videos on certain websites (those expressed above) and locate and experiment with available (a lot free) stock and option on-line tools. And participate in blogs and most important Pete’s Educational Writings and blog. Folks, this is a very good site.

I would also like to high-light two paper back books concerning option education that have helped me the most and they cost less than $20-$30 per title. They are, “Getting Started in Options” and “Winning with Options”, by Michael C. Thomsett.

Having said that, I think some supplemental stock/option on-line or home study courses in the price range of.

$300 to a max of $600-$700 may be beneficial. I purchased “Dr. J” Jon Najarian Home Study Course, maybe a little overpriced at $395, but it is well written and pretty good. Also, as a gift I have Optionetics Study Course “High Profit, Low Risk Trading”, which is not bad but I don’t want to hook up with George Fontanills; his trading materials and related costs are never ending. For Gods sake, do not buy “Skill Traders” materials, what a rip-off.

Someone please answer, for me “how to find the better (or best) underlying stocks for option trading”. Seemingly, the stock selection will have different characteristics depending upon the option strategy selected for “the now” trading. Probably a few days later the initial strategy is no longer profitable and the next stock selection is needed and vital. Really, really attempting to keep the stock technical analysis reasonably unwieldy past moving averages, support/resistance and MACD; are Candlesticks and perhaps Pivot Points Charting sufficient? Or Not? I know there are additional charting applications that some think are essential but I do not want to spend all my time with several different indicators or charting schemes. Again, I have difficulty going all the way with stock TA/Fundamental analysis when I might save time and money by selecting optional stocks from the stock listings recommended by such services as INO Market Club, Trending 123 (an excellent stock trading educational site and Reco’s services) and maybe one of the best stock pickers Louis Navellier’s Blue Chip Growth and Emerging Growth. But with Louis keep close watch on when you think it is time to close the position, his capital preservation schemeis lacking in my estimation.

I am definitely going to subscribe to some of Pete’s services but for a portion of my portfolio I would be amenable to study and explore some additional trading strategies.

Can anyone respond to the worth or not of the following option/stock trading systems/strategies:?

1)"The Profit Forecasting Code”, Vision Investing.

2)"Wealth Building Machine”, Chuck Hughes.

3)"Insider Secrets To Making Profit-Rich Stock Trades”, Jack Carter.

4)"Trading Options Visually”, Paul Forchione.

5)"Quick Wealth Options Strategy”, George Leong.

6)"Options Success for Everyone:, George Angell.

Some cheap trading scheme offerings, turn out to be you (or me) really paying for their PROMO for additional materials/services to purchase.

Thank You Pete, for allowing questions/suggestions concerning other option services and maybe it is an injustice to you? If so, I will not post any more such material. It is just that the trading educational world has so many sharks that if we save others (and others save me) from spending a hundreds of dollars on worthless materials it is a tremendous service.

I’ll have to toot my own horn as well. My blog specializes in option education.

i second that. andrew is right. any thing you’ll ever want to learn about options, stock, mutual funds, real estate, ex. are in books. - free - at the library.

i dare you, go to a library and check one out!

free education is great but remember people have to eat and pay the bills. if you find a good successful trader with a edge system than be prepared to pay for it. do you want to be paid for your time? or just have peole leaching off you?

The key is finding the right teacher and there are more bad than good. If you are paying thousands of dollars to hear someone teach moving average crossovers and head & shoulders patterns, its a waste of money. Read a book on techinical anlaysis.

On the other hand, if it is a proven trader with his own systematic approach and that is the lesson, the education could be well worth the price.

My point is be careful and know what you are buying.

I think the point about trading small size to begin with is the MOST important here. And you do not have to spend a ton on books - hit your library and read them for free. And if your library does not have them they can probably do an interlibrary loan. Then take what you are reading and apply it - but with really really small size. Cuz it takes time to find the approach that works best for you.

I have also attended expensive seminars that did not improve my chances at trading. Investools has a $3,000 stock and basic stock options seminar with 6 month use of their stock screening software. The software performance is mediocre compared to the highly profitable examples in their infomercial. Another vendor, Chuck Hughes charges $5,000 to “watch over his shoulders” as he trades options his trading account, but then you find out that many trades are hypothetical trades, and he hold on to losing positions very long until the market turns around and he liquidates them with profit. Furthermore, Chuck Hughes salesmen entice people with Chuck’s so-called 90% profitable trades, and 100% money back guarantee which is worthless because he never refunds any money. If after one year of trading his recommendations you did not make any money, your subscription to his advisory service will be extended for another year, but you will never get your money back.

Options University is running Internet Reviews of themselves. Google ‘Options University Ripoff Report’ or ‘Options University Reviews’. What you’ll find are websites in which this outfit makes themselves out to be someone else reviewing themselves. In addition they claim to have perfect ‘stellar’ reviews on Ripoff Report when in fact they’ve never been reviewed by Ripoff Report. Try a search and find out yourself.

What sort of unscrupulous marketing trick will OU come up with next?