How to Rate Online Trading Education Programs
The large number of online trading education programs out there makes it difficult for new traders to determine which ones will teach them what they want to know. To make matters worse, many of the websites claiming to evaluate online trading programs are actually just affiliate marketing pages that receive commissions for every education program and course that they sell. Sifting through the marketing requires a firm understanding of your education goals and a willingness to seek referrals from real customers of these training companies.
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Learn the basics of investing before trying to evaluate more-complex educational trading programs. If you're just looking to learn the definitions of common trading terms, free educational resources such as those offered by the Securities and Exchange Commission and companies like Investopedia can get you started. Beefing up your financial vocabulary will put you in a better position to judge the educational trading programs out there.
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Decide what your immediate educational goals are. If you already trade equities and want to learn more about using options to hedge your risk, then evaluate options-education programs. If you want to learn more about the effective use of stop-loss orders, a more specialized seminar on that topic may fit your needs better. Try to read at least one book about a particular subject before looking for an online educational program.
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Find a mentor already experienced in stock trading. This could be a friend, family member, former professor or co-worker who has experienced success as a full-time trader. If you don't know anyone with this kind of experience, you may search for trading coaches and mentors who will assist you. If you go that route, you may need to pay a fee for the personalized attention. Browse stock trading forums such as those that may be offered by your discount brokerage (Zecco has a particularly active forum open to the public) or at websites such as the Motley Fool or Online Traders Forum. You may be able to connect with a trader willing to mentor you for free or you can pose quick questions to the community.
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Avoid reading online "reviews" of trading courses, particularly if you see that most of the websites are rated above four stars. Many of these websites are merely marketing schemes. Instead, ask individual traders online through forums and other social networks to give you a referral to a specific training course or educational software. Ignore testimonials and other marketing gimmicks. Get referrals from real people who have gone through the courses. Ask them what changes they made in their trading strategy as a result of going through the course.
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Begin taking a course or tutoring program that you have heard multiple endorsements of in your research. Many trading courses can be quite expensive, but if the program improves your trading strategy, you should be able to earn the difference relatively quickly.
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Test out strategies you have learned in online trading courses in a stock market game, such as the MarketWatch Virtual Stock Exchange, before using your own money. This will get you a better feel for the new strategies that you've learned before you start risking your own funds. This will also allow you to better evaluate how useful a course is.
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