We have all heard this common Chinese proverb: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”  To rephrase this quote more simply, education is the key to a lifetime of rewards.   A proper education, when related to day trading, is very much like any other subject.  Shortcuts on the path to success rarely lead to prosperity.  Selecting the right day trading course and abandoning the use of “blackbox” solutions is essential.

The student-to-teacher dynamic exists for a reason.  Students learn best from a mentor’s direct experience.  Furthermore, an instructor’s skills improve over time as more pupils are taught.  This constant sharpening focuses teachers, with students directly receiving benefit.  This type of hands-on exchange is not acquired through reading books or online documents.  Instead, the best learning is provided from direct interaction with an experienced individual.

Another misconception related to day trading is the use of blackbox strategies.  The blackbox concept can be applied to any day trading strategy that calculates trades using a hidden method (or algorithm).  When trading, this is most commonly seen amongst users of indicators.  These software programs integrate with trading software in order to shed light on market conditions.  Nearly every day trading platform includes support for indicators: NinjaTrader, TradeStation, thinkorswim, eSignal, etc.  Very rarely do indicators provide advice that correctly predicts future market conditions accurately and consistently.  On the contrary, indicators usually lag behind real-time price data.  This leaves order signals produced by relatively useless along with estimates relating to current volume, liquidity, momentum and other market conditions.

At this point, a clear distinction is drawn between the benefits of using a teacher who can teach traders to trade profitably in real-time versus those using a closed-door method, trading a system he or she does not understand that is based on old data.  Finding a teacher who teaches objective trading can be rather difficult.  In addition, the teacher should be able to produce a track record of consistent results.

Find an educator who:

• Teaches how to trade objectively and openly explains each method – no blackbox systems
• Teaches how to trade the markets in real-time – understand that hindsight is 20/20 and avoid such systems
• Can produces a track record of consistent results
• Provides instruction in the markets you want to trade

Regarding the last point, it is best to find a coach who is an expert in the behavior of a select few regulated markets compared to someone who claims “make over $300,000 a year trading Forex.”  If it sounds too good to be true, it generally is.  Sadly, many traders will enroll in these exclamatory courses, spending thousands to end up disappointed.  Rinse and repeat.  Teachers are not magicians or genies – like you, they’ve gone through the ups and downs.  The best ones have many years of experience – experience that will save you time and money by teaching what is proven to work.  John Paul of Day Trade to Win has been trading for over 15 years and has seen markets like the E-Mini evolve over time.  Using price action exclusively, his students learn how to objectively identify profitable setups using only price, as it appears on a chart.  His students review and trade based on unique candle setups as they occur in the E-Mini, Euro, British Pound, Do, Russell or any other market with reasonable volatility.

Another important factor is how the material is presented.  Trading rooms and live demonstrations are very important, but occasionally, important information slips passed due to excitement or pacing of the material.  Day Trade to Win records all private training sessions and provides students with a login where they can replay each video.  This is an essential reference.

An important question to ask any potential instructor is “do you require that I trade live during your course?”  If the answer is yes, then the instructor is either teaching a blackbox method or is lacking the experience to know that students need time to absorb, learn and apply the techniques first before trading live.  Day Trade to Win’s John Paul always recommends that traders practice until a method is fully understood.  Once it’s understood, a trader should start off with the method trading as few contracts as possible and work his or her way up as confidence builds.  Any instructor who wants his students to trade a method with real money right off the bat is most likely setting his students up for failure.  There are risks associated with the learning process and beginner traders must take these risks into account before trading live.

Now that we’ve established that a teacher will be your best learning solution, you have the task of researching and doing your due diligence to find the most suitable mentor for you.  This will have to depend on the mentor’s trading style it differs from others, ensuring that the mentor has positive student testimonials/references, credentials, and ultimately that they are to your personal liking.  Day Trade to Win checks out in all of these categories and exceeds conventional standards by offering a world of day trading knowledge for a great value in the form of various price action day trading courses.