Forex Mentor Reviews

I stumbled upon yet another useful website if you're looking for a mentor or just want to know which were reviewed well or poorly.  Reviews are provided by users who post comments and a rating of SCAM, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5.

Scam sites that I've seen in the past either via advertisement or Google Search:

•  
  WinningTradersAssociation.com - The one thing I can say about this site is that if you look like this guy, don't post your picture all over your website
•  4xmadeeasy.com

Reputable mentors?

• Tom Yeomans Education
• Peter Bain Mentorship Program
• forexinterbank.com

Take user comments with a grain of salt.  Some of the comments are really good though.  They range from really ANGRY users who had their accounts blown up in a matter of days to users that are extremely grateful.  

My mentor, Rob Booker was reviewed so-so.  Here are some comments about Rob that I found interesting:

THIS ONE I CAN RELATE TO.

"He was busy with too many
clients, with his own trading, and with some
side projects."

"Apparently Rob also
started a managed accounts service, which is a
nice proof that he actually trades himself. 
His results from January 2006 to March 2006,
haven't been too impressive at only 3% gain for
three months, but what's encouraging is that Rob
is honest about it."

"…This is a very
expensive program for offering not much more
than rehashed information from so many trading
texts."

You can check out the reviews and comments for yourself.  If anything, it opens your eyes even wider to the fact that you have to be responsible for your own account and analysis.  If you have had enough experience and have learned what works for you, it's much more beneficial working on your own or with friends than ever signing up with a mentor.  Would you be more angry if someone else told you to make a trade and you lost big money or if you told yourself to make a trade and lost big money?

Personally, I'd be a lot more steamed if I listened to someone else and lost. 

http://www.forexbastards.com/education_reviews.shtml

Popularity: 5%

Research Your Broker

There is a lot of interesting information on the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) website, one of those things being a spreadsheet of net monthly capital statements for all Forex brokers.  The important information in this spreadsheet are the Adjusted Net Capital and Net Capital Requirements which is the amount of capital each firm possesses in excess of minimum set by regulators.  By looking in this spreadsheet, one can make assumptions of the financial stabilility of their broker.  

Let's look at the Adjusted Net Capital for a couple of brokers I have come across:

• Alaron -  $5,851,000
• Capital Market Services - $6,530,000
• FXCM - $19,092,000
• FX Solutions - $6,305,000
• Gain Capital (Forex.com) - 23,052,000
• Oanda - 29,188,244
• Tradestation - 37,744,000

I don't think firms without US locations are reported here since the CFTC is responsible for regulation in the United States but it would be advised to consult the information on the site.

http://www.cftc.gov/tm/tmfcm.htm 

Popularity: 2%

Rob Booker 1 on 1 Training Going Well

So I ended today up 26 pips which surpasses the goal I set in the beginning of the week which was to end the week up 20 pips.  The week hasn't ended yet though and I'm not going to stop trading because I'm learning. 

I know 26 pips doesn't sound like a lot but I really have to attribute this to Rob Booker.  I also have to admit that I really haven't talked to Rob much since starting the training but from his Chart School and other lessons I've been able to gain more confidence and clarity.  I'm thinking that I will have more questions once I'm a little furthur along.

Popularity: 7%

Rob Booker Day 1

My first day of 1 on 1 training was consumed by just getting acclimated to the program.  I received a couple of generic welcome messages from Rob just to get me on track and then later, we were able to exchange some real messages back and forth.  Rob is on a trip in Washington D.C. writing his book so for him to respond quickly away from his home base is positive.

I went through the first 3 days of the course work which includes PDF and video tutorials.  At the end of each day, you have some real world exercises to perform that are submitted to Rob for review.  Day 1 consisted of the Course Introduction which included some of Rob's trading techniques, information on trading multiple time frames, when to trade, and trading the NY session.  Rob seems to be stressing the fact that if you are a short term trader, trading the NY session is your best option (and maybe only option.)  He has provided steps to trading the NY session.

I skipped Day 2 coursework because it was really for beginners like definitions of pips, currency pairs, etc. 

Day 3 was an overview of moving averages.  I don't think I'm giving anything away if I told you that Rob really likes the 5, 30, 62 EMA's.  This has been well documented on the web.  Just from my own experimentation on 15-minute and hourly charts, I can see why he likes them.

Rob stressed to go directly to the Support/Resistance training which I have started but not yet completed.

I'm guessing that initially I'll be going over a lot of the videos and PDF lessons keeping an open mind on the content that is presented.   

An exciting feature of the 1 on 1 training is group trading.  Rob will partner me up with a group of 4-5 other traders in the world and together, you will determine setup opportunities.  Together we will trade a demo account.  He just asked me what hours I could trade so he can partner me up with a group that can cover the entire 24 hours of trading action.  I can share more with you when I know more.

1 question I asked Rob was how he found the time to trade while he was working full-time.  His answer?  It was brutal because he was waking up at 2am to 3am every day for a long time to trade.  (No pain, no gain)  I'm trying to figure out when I'm going to dedicate time to trading during the 2am-11am EST time frame.  Rob states that getting up to trade at 4am EST will give me many trading opportunities.

Rob is currently working to help me develop a trading strategy and I've made it known to him what I'm interested in (technical indicators.)  He should have some concrete rules that I can tune in a couple of days.

I've received a lot of responses from you with praises of good luck and curiousity.  Thanks for the thoughts.  I feel that this training will not only be beneficial for me but also for all of you.  It has already single handedly increased my motivation and confidence and if I can be successful after training, some of you may decide to go that route also.  I will try hard to give daily updates on my progress.   

Popularity: 2%

Day traders find new outlet in foreign exchange wagers

{mosimage}
I am posting this article from last year because this is the actual article I read back in July 2005 that first exposed me to the unknown world of Forex and actually drove me to the bookstore within an hour to find out more.  It was originally published in the Wall Street Journal and I'm happy to have found it.  

By Craig Karmin and Michael R. Sesit, The Wall Street Journal

At an hour past midnight, when he gets home after working as a disc
jockey for a New York City classic-rock station, Marc Coppola checks
the market and starts trading.

Having lost $750,000 trading stocks after the technology-stock bubble
burst in 2000, his appetite for shares is greatly diminished. Instead,
he is joining thousands of other individual investors by betting on the
global currency markets.

Mr. Coppola, brother of actor Nicolas Cage and nephew of movie director
Francis Ford Coppola, earlier this year pocketed about $1,400 on a
$60,000 bet that the euro would rise against the dollar. In March, he
reversed course, betting $40,000 that the euro would fall. Once it
slipped to $1.30 from $1.31, he cashed in half of his investment, then
soon after closed out the rest.

"I got scared out of the trade," Mr. Coppola says regretfully. "I
should have said, 'the euro is going lower' and rode it down to the
$1.20 area."

[Click READ MORE to continue]

[Read more]

Popularity: 2%

A Forex Trader Speaks His Mind

I’m posting an email I received from a fellow participant of Raghee Horner’s webinars today.  He has been utilizing Raghee’s methods for the last year and goes into the successes and failures he has had with them.  Keep in mind that he is a beaten down trader who started out with $30,000 and now has $3000 left.  I don’t necessarily agree with everything he says.  I don’t think because 1 person is unsuccessful at something that no one else has a shot.  One of his final sentences is "Do not think you’re going to realize your dreams by day trading."  I don’t believe this and won’t believe this.  I feel like his story will be beneficial:

I would say her setups happen quite a bit if you scan all the pairs. I am not good at position trading or sitting on trades, so I found it really hard to utilize the large time frames. I like to be in and out, a day trader. Her system is like any system, it gives you a method for entries and exits. Each entry has 50% chance of moving in your direction and her method gives you a slight edge or helps you gain a higher probability of being on the winning side. No trading system is consistently profitable, your either on the winning side or your not. The key is to get in when your system tells you to, act on your systems signals, utilize stops or get out as soon as the trade tells you it’s not going in your direction.

Click [Read More] to Continue 

[Read more]

Popularity: 4%