Hey, if you’ve got a story to tell, don’t be shy! Yesterday’s tips here on how to spot phony gurus and trading instructors elicited some interesting tales from paid-up subscriber Joseph S., who qualifies as a true expert on the subject. Joe writes as follows:

“Thanks for the column about spotting gurus! Having spent perhaps $70k on various trading seminars over the past seven years or so, here are some of my observations:

1) Traders who have reached the very highest levels of success have no ego about what they do. They don't insult other traders or styles of trading, they don't care what anybody says about their own techniques, and they never criticize a student who decides to drop their class.

2) Traders who have reached the very highest levels of success have no secrets. They'll tell you in detail everything they do, perhaps out of altruism, or perhaps because they realize that maybe one student in 10,000 has the discipline to master the trading game.

3) Published track records are LIES, LIES, and more LIES; you must track trades yourself to discover the true results of any trading style.

Missed Ride on Titanic

A few anecdotes:

***  One online S&P trading system offered a one-day free trial of their day-trading chatroom. On the day I monitored their chatroom, they took loss after loss, including one trade that was stopped out just before the market reversed and made a big move. Apparently, their chatroom admin software was buggy, and they didn't realize that I had been in the room that day. At the end of the day, they sent me a note berating me for ‘missing all the action in the chatroom today,’ and posting the ‘official’ chatroom results: several profitable trades, including one trade that caught the very beginning of the day's big move, and exited at the top! [Now that’s funny! RA]

***  One bombastic day trading chatroom host always bragged about the huge profits he was bagging every day, and taunted the members of his chatroom for not matching his amazing results. However, he never exited any losing positions in the chatroom: his technique was to take small profits and let the losses run! Finally, he announced that, flush with riches, he had chosen to retire from active day trading, and instead devote himself to developing fully-automated trading systems that would replicate his astonishing profit figures. Naturally, chatroom members could sign up for these systems at a ‘special’ rate. I followed some of his systems for a few weeks. His S&P system would have traded an account down to nothing in less than two weeks! Subsequently, he contacted his former chatroom members to let them know that he would be devoting himself to developing more advanced fully-automated trading systems, so he would no longer be available to take calls or emails, but he would contact his members as his new systems became available. Haven't heard from him since. [I’d lay odds that you will, though. RA]

Not All Slimeballs

***  I bought a book from a well-known futures trader. The description of one technique detailed in the book seemed to contain errors, so I decided to contact the trader's firm to determine what the proper technique was. I called what I thought would be some front-desk number, and instead the famous trader himself, sitting at his trading desk, answered the phone! He patiently listened to my question, confirmed that the description was in error, then gave me the correct technique, plus advice based on his experience trading that technique. He also asked me if I had any other trading questions, and seemed to enjoy talking with a novice like me. Perhaps not all pro traders are slimy, after all ;-) ”

Note to readers: Joe and I both agree that Larry Williams, probably the most famous and successful of all instructor/gurus, gets a free pass. “Someday I'll have to write up my experiences at Larry Williams' seminars, too,” Joe writes. "The first seminar I took started with Larry eating a light bulb (yes, actually eating a real light bulb). Well, who could resist coming back for more seminars with a Real Character like that?  Whatever people say about Larry or his seminars, it takes guts to host an end-of-seminar party  in your own home with your family present, as Larry does at his seminars in Rancho Santa Fe.”

A Larry Williams Disciple

A Real Character, for sure. The last time I saw Larry was at a Dallas TAG expo a few years ago. He had just returned from an archaeological expedition in search of…Noah’s Ark. While shunning the get-rich-quick style of promotion, Larry has imparted more profit-making tricks and ideas to more traders, probably, than anyone else in the business. Did I mention that the Hidden Pivot is an outgrowth of a system he was promoting (with Charles Lindsay) in the 1970s?