TradingBlog

51 Comments

1. francesco
   Posted July 28, 2009 at 11:33 pm | Permalink

   Hi Ian!
   I found your comments very useful.
   I got trapped in the same situation with these guys and I paid the £ 500 deposit and I already regret it after a few hours.
   would you be so kind to send me an e-mail with a full content of the letter?I am not very good with letters or shall I say I am rubbish?

   Thank you very much!

2. Guy
   Posted September 3, 2009 at 4:16 pm | Permalink

   HI.

   I have just tried to cancel the course after 5 weeks since the seminar. As I cannot attend now and do not have the spare time to trade at present.
   I am very interested to learn, but do not want to sign up to additional courses and have to pay the monthly subs for the software.
   They have said NO I cannot have my money back. The suggested letter that has been written is for refunding the deposit, but I was never offered to pay a deposit and they would not let me take the form away with me.
   OFT say that if the t&C on on the yellow payment slip I signed then I could have problems getting the money back.
   What should I do.

   Regards
   G

3. ade
   Posted September 4, 2009 at 1:32 am | Permalink

   I attended the 2hr free seminer yesterday and I am hoping to sign up for the course at a later date. It is true that you cannot learn a lot within 2 hours and the 2 days course itself might seem quite intensive. However I am still thinking about it. I have been trying to find at least someone who had attended the course and would be able to give some unbiased opinion about the couse. I am interested in learning how to trade and would welcome any suggestions. thanks

4. Martin Everard
   Posted September 9, 2009 at 12:03 pm | Permalink

   Good day to you all, anonymous or otherwise,

   I have now read all the comments here AFTER attending the 2+hr seminar yeaterday. No bickies – only coffee, tea or water.

   Yes, it’s a sales operation but a pleasant experience nonetheless – even fun but with a serious side.

   The so-called offer available only on the day is questionable as the correspondence below will show. I haven’t signed up for the course but was offered an instalment plan, which I am not taking up. I have issued them a challenge to put their money where their mouth is rather than mine. I wonder if I will hear from them again.

   Read this and make up your own mind.

   “Dear Martin Raymond

   I hope you enjoyed the preview ‘Traders Secrets’ trading Seminar you attended yesterday.

   I have some exciting news! I have 2 discounted places available to attend the entire trader coaching programme for only £1997 + vat.

   Please will you let me know as soon as possible if you are interested as I am sure that these will not be available for much longer.

   What you will receive as part of the 6 month programme

   The entire Traders University Coaching Programme including:

   2 x Full days immersive trader training with our top trader coaches
   Full trading account setup and software configuration support before the programme, so you can start making money immediately following the course.
   3 x one-on-one coaching sessions, with a professional trader, holding your hand through the live process.
   6 months (24 weeks) 1 hour trader call coaching sessions, designed to reveal hot stock opportunities EVERY week.
   VIP repeat access to re-sit the course as many times within 12 months

   Normal price is £2997+VAT

   Discount offer ONLY WHILE PLACES ARE AVILABLE at £1997 + vat (for those willing to share their trading results). Please be aware I cannot guarantee that I will have any places available at this greatly reduced price tomorrow.

   To take advantage of this offer, please reply to this email sally.heintz@knowledgetoaction.co.uk or call 0207 751 8900 today. Places will be awarded on a first come first basis.

   I will endeavour to contact you back straight away but please be aware I cannot guarantee these places will be available, so it might be worthwhile to call me if you have any questions.

   Best regards,

   Sally Heintz, Client Services Manager”

   And my reply:

   “Dear Sally,

   I detect a high pressure sales pitch here.

   This offer was made yesterday as one only to be had on the day – obviously you did not get the 6 people you said it was limited to to sign up or the sales pitch yesterday was a con to get people to sign up. I would like to think that it was the former – that fewer than 6 took up the offer.

   Of course the alternative is that you might have planted one or two in the audience so as to give the feeling of enthusiasm for the offer “pour encourager les autres”. There seem to be a number of comments on the web about your sales techniques.

   The deal I will do with you is that you sign me up to the course at no cost initially and all fees will be paid from profits traded with my account. This will confirm your confidence in your product, your strategies and your ability to succeed in 83% of your trades and, if successful, you will receive all your fees as above. Let’s share the risk and share the reward.

   Naturally, the testimonial for this will be cast iron and unchallengeable. But somehow, I do not think that I will hear from you again. But yesterday’s seminar was a very interesting and enlightening experience.

   By the way, I am looking for an investor for my unique 3D exhibition gallery project – see the webpages shown below my signature. Should one of you more successful traders feel ambitious to contribute to this multi-faceted business proposal, please ask them to get in touch. In fact, it might be something that the directors of Traders University might like to sponsor – KnowledgetoAction is a very good byline for it.

   Kind regards

   Martin Everard
   mreverard@btinternet.com“

5. Adl Dmnsion
   Posted October 7, 2009 at 10:43 pm | Permalink

   Dear All,
   Go, it’s a highly important educational experience and will hopefully, with follow on reading change your life and the direction of your family forever.

   There’s no agressive selling. It’s high level mind control, beautifully coriographed. You’d pay a lot more to get such a high quality display for you to see up close and personel.

   You will want to sign up. Just don’t.

   Whilst I am sure that – high sales pitch and/or sharp trading aside, there is a place for such courses in terms of, there might be a book, but if you think you’ve had to pay for something good, it might spurn your interest/dedication, there was something I noticed.

   The woman who did the free 2 hour trading course, rather stupidly mentioned NLP / neuro linguistical programming in her talk.

   I am a confessed know it all, I do think I know better than you, probably, whoever you are. Yet had only become familiar with this term around one month ago. It’s not really in common use. She is so well versed in it that she’s forgotten that most people don’t even know what it, that or one is. It is her consuming passion.

   NLP is mind control and is used for inplanting ideas into your sub-contious without you usually knowing, amoungst other things.

   Why mention this when you are speaking about getting someone to sign up on a sales pitch? Maybe once they’ve signed up letting them know you like mind control is OK.

   It is something some con artists and all our leading politicains are highly trained in.

   The labour government and tories currently spend a frighteningly large ammount of your tax money on a ‘charity’ which endorses its use, nameley Common Purpose, which helps train them in it, which they then use to pursuade us:
   to give all our powers and money to the EU and that that’s in our best interests, take vaccines, drop incendiary bombs on civilans in poor countries, etc.. Words such as the Iraqi “blunder”, which sounds innocent, is not an accident. The positioning of hands during speeches, which wierdly only the cabinet ministers, shadow, and PM feel necessary. It’s not only to display their masonic allegiencies, agendas, but to push associative programming into your head under your radar.

   At the talk, their powerpoint projections had a blue background, with white (I think) writing on, but with a kind-of aura around the letters. The word risk always had a slight red tint to this shimmer. The positive words had slight yellow. Very subtle. There will be something in this’s – subliminal to 90% of people – use.

   I know that serious ammounts of NLP were in motion throughout the 2 hours, and I only know a little about this, but the thread of the brainwash can be disrupted if you ask anything slightly off what you are being lead into being taught and therefore thinking about question. I could claim genius here, but must confess that I was just doing this so I could get down the notes, so I needed to to be disruptive to do this. Some of what they said I didn’t know and it is interesting.

   eg.
   ‘Any Questions?’
   ‘Will we get any food?’
   Look at their facial exprression.

   ‘I’m excited. I want to buy everyone a drink after to celebrate. Where’s the nearest boozer to here. Who’s up for it?’
   That’ll buy you a good minute to copy the stuff down.

   ‘Do you want to do the course?’
   ‘Where do I get hold of one of those forms, I’m so keen.’
   Reach for the form.
   ‘I’m off but I’ll get back to you next week, when will I be able to come in?’
   That sentence will not get finished. You will not get to pick the form up and a nasty face will be revealed. Yes, just like when you try and take a bone from beside a dog.

   Another good one, if you’re falling behind is to mention NLP in one of your questions/remarks, following their bringing it up. They are side tracked by that one. They love to talk about it.

   When you sign in: there’s a table to fill the form in;
   When you write notes for 2 hours: no table = stress position, like with interogation;
   No breaks = used in brainwashing;
   No time to think properly either; and, When you are to sign up with the paper contract, on clipboard, on a table. Why no clipboards to take notes?

   There’s no hand outs. They want people to take notes as they say. The info. piles in, most cannot keep up and she keeps jumping to the next thing. This is just as you’ll get nothing propper down, and there’s not enough paper either. You will feel it is just you and that you’re a div, but you can’t be seen not listening when you are constantly asked to look at stuff, nor looking when she gets you to write, through paced talking and body language, which everyone follows, so is more powerful, as you’ll be inclined to copy.

   Again, this is a tactic. Salsa dance instructors in England say it could take years to learn. A Mexican taught me in 10 minutes, they bombard you with info.. Too much to take in. you get confused. The next time you go you have the associated bombardment of commands in your head. They will be there forever and you cannot ever be any good until you unlearn them, thus you have to go back and pine for their strangeley illusive skill, which looks so very easy before you try it.

   I would say do the 2 hour course, but focus on copying the pictures and notes down. She spoke so fast no one but me really seemend to be able to follow her. Then you can try the system, which did really seem to have certain undeniable merits, and see how it goes.

   Another thing. The people working there, barring the talker, looked a bit ropy. They’d have crooked their neck if you’d have dropped a £20 on the floor behind you. They didn’t hold them selves like credit card fraudsters or aristocratic loafers which I’ve know.

   Hopefully you’ll have a look into what I say, stop worrying about a couple of grand and start worrying about the hundred times’ that we’re all losing by following the brainwashing on the TV and in the newspapers.

   Check out NLP, Brian Gerrish, NLP Fox News, on you tube.

   I’ll try and answer any queries posted, but won’t put my name as I want the pack they offer for free to get out to me.

6. Allison
   Posted October 9, 2009 at 12:25 pm | Permalink

   Dear all,

   I am in two minds reading your course blogs. I agree that they should be more polite in giving the deposit back to people who change their minds, however on the otherhand if they had allowed me to i probably would have cancelled and never bothered to understand what a huge business day trading is. In hounesty, if people were motivated enough to read a book and learn from that i doubt they would even get to the free seminar – too busy making money. I did the course 4 months ago and am about to resit it. I pulled out of the markets pre summer for personal reasons (to take summer away) and want to get back into it. K2A does not guarantee you anything other than to give you a basic understanding and use of tools available (and dont be too harsh for this they have to get you started some how and you can change later to your preferred supplier). Its up to you to pay them more or not for additional courses – i have a rule that they get no more until i’ve made it on trades – thats fair is it not?
   I have met with several sucessful (non K2A) day traders since doing the course and gained insight into how to develop a trading strategy that fits me better (maybe better accounts to have and a more limited approach to the derivatives i will trade on) – so i cant say the course wasnt worth the money. Without it i wouldnt even be aware of how to place a trade etc. I am a fair person and do think the course is a bit too hard sell (acknowledging that clearly the people attending it DO need some persuasion however to get them started)and it fails to align peoples expectations ( – although i understand why – look how you guys are already scared off). For me i never expected it to make me a ton of cash straight away – of course there is a learning cost and at the end of the day its down to me, not them, how sucessful i am. I blame both the course for not making this clearer – even if at the end of the 2 day course (and the blame is because its sad to see so many dis illusioned people) but i also blame you niave people for expecting too much and not applying basic common sense. To conclude, for anyone who hasnt the motivation to start themselves AND is genuinly interested in learning about or to trade AND can afford the course AND can afford to loose some small money whilst learning / developing personal strategy then its a good place to start and i would reccomend it. What you do afterwards is up to you. For those who think you pay £2.5k and walk away with a profitable business – get a proper job as this is not for you.
   Anyhow guys i have tried to present a balanced argument so hope it helps
   Allison

7. ross
   Posted October 26, 2009 at 12:13 pm | Permalink

   I recently attended one of these free siminas, during the semina the preson sitting next to me asked a question relating to Fred Goodwin and RBS. The ‘TRADING EXPERT’ leading the course replied that he had never heard off him!! This ‘expert’ had never heard of the man who was in charge of the company that made the largest loss in British history! the boy that delivers my paper in the morning has heard of Fred Goodwin! These guys are massive cowboys!

8. Jonathan
   Posted October 27, 2009 at 11:46 am | Permalink

   I attended the free 2-hour seminar and I must say, was quite impressed by the talk itself and what they were offering sounded great, and why wouldn’t it? The speaker, “Vicky”, mentioned the sort of gains that I couldn’t imagine are easy to make it any other way. £15,000 turned into £250,000 in less than 2 years was the kind of result to be expected (complete with a client testimony).

   I was really trying not to be a sceptic and went in with an open mind but I can’t help but feel that the thing was a bit unbelievable.

   Why was this super high achieving trader with us on a Monday night in a dingy meeting room? Can I really learn to trade with such magical results when all these experts in the City are struggling to make 10-20% gains per annum? It’s a sales pitch for their courses and I tried to keep that in mind. Agreed about the NLP thing someone mentioned above, she knew how to speak and to appeal to the audience in the right way.

   I wont be signing up.

9. Munazza
   Posted October 31, 2009 at 12:03 am | Permalink

   Hi. I attanded the free 2 hour seminar yesterday and roped in my friend to attend with. All I can say is that I will never get the two hours back which I wasted on this BULL SHIT. Pardon me for the language.
   One point I would like to make though is that Greg Secker mentioned at the seminar that he was an IT consultant and when I downloaded the millionaire trading secrets PDF from their website it said that he was the vice president of an asset management company in the US which is called mellon financial corporation.

   And also he showed a testimonial of a guy called Alan Kingdon who was published in the sun newspaper. If you go to the website and type it in the article about him will come up. It says how he struggled to make 1200 a month for his family. How can someone earning that much afford to go on a course which will cost al least a couple of grand.

   Im glad I read the website as it confirmed my belief of the seminar being a load of crap.

10. Anon
    Posted November 5, 2009 at 3:56 pm | Permalink

    04/11/2009 free seminar attended. Quite good, good speaker and all sounded interesting. I nudged the guy next to me half way through and pointed to where I had written “about 1k per person to find out the real info”. He looked at me and shook his head. At the end, with some adding up of various costs you could sign up for £2225 + vat. I nudged the guy again and said “but if you sign up tonight you can save….” and then it hit us. Sign up now for VIP treatment, only 5 places available for ONLY £1997 + vat. If you are interested see my colleague at the back. I got up, smiled to myself and walked out. It was all going well until they fell into the double glazing scam of sign up now and get it cheaper. What rubbish. They also tell you thet the VIP treatment will show how year on year you can grow your fund by 4 times. Now in my head I think ok, start small say £1000 end of yr 1 = £4000. End of year 2 £16000. End of year 3 £64000 and then end of yr 4 £256,000!!! so after five years with a £1000 deposit you will be a millionairre???? What a load of old tosh! Why are they selling this to everyone instead of making themselves Billionairres within 9 years for a mere £1000…hmmm I wonder.

11. Flow
    Posted November 11, 2009 at 9:46 pm | Permalink

    I recently attended the seminar and have paid the full fees. However, I feel bad because I’ve just seen this blog. Is it too late to get a refund because I made paid instalmentally. Some guy called me about 2 months ago and persuaded me to sign up, which i did. Please someone should reply me, is it too late to get my 2,300 quid back?

12. Mr X
    Posted November 18, 2009 at 4:04 pm | Permalink

    Hey All I attended the course on the 15th of November. Well here we go….

    Going along was worth it for the education. I have done an NLP course before and this was riddled throughout the presentaiton. They were pretty good at the sales pitch.

    The guy built group rapport selling dreams of working 1/2 hr a day blah blah blah. Talking about fast cars etc. Said he had a ferrari, that must be his second car as I didn’t see any in the car park.

    Anyway I’d consider myself a pretty good trader already. Went along to see what I could learn. They are teaching a spread betting/CFD trading strategy which they claim is low risk as you only bet 1% on each trade. Doesn’t take an idot to say you make 10 wrong trades and you are out of your cash.

    When I said what systems I use currently, which are in my oppinion more stable, I was quickly shut up and moved on to the next person.

    They say they don’t trade on tips and news well. If I was spread betting last year and worked on this rule well I would be bankrupt. I know people that are. That’s probably why they havn’t got any people to talk about their system from the past year.

    In a nut shell. Do your own research. You’ll probably learn a few things but in this market persoanlly I see their system being unsuccessful. you’d be better to spend your cash on a good piece of software.

    I think they’d recommend their students get either sharescope or esignal.

    PS I found a full recording of the seminar on the web…Someone must have recorded it…

13. Bob
    Posted November 23, 2009 at 11:33 am | Permalink

    I attended both the seminar and the initial course earlier this year and despite the fact that much of what they teach is sound (there are plenty of books on trading that back up the teachings), I can only agree about their sales and marketing techniques. They are sharp, hard nosed, highly trained and very successful sales people.

    My initial impression was that the seminars and courses a) make shed loads of money for them, and b) act as a recruitment programme for them to find successful traders. This has been confirmed, and I have since been in contact with an ex K2A trader who tells me that the deal is that they give you a wedge, you trade it, and it is 50/50 on anything you make.

    That said, I am using their short term trading techniques to make consistent profits, BUT I am an experienced investor/medium term trader. You will not do this in half an hour a day or make anything like what they claim, and for any newcomer there is a lot of up front homework before you will undertand how the markets work.

    However, if you are determined to do this, buy some books, get a demo spread betting account and dummy trade for a while. Close your mind to the K2A brainwashing/sales crap, and then consider going on the course – you will get much more from it, and DO NOT dismiss the benefits of having a personal mentor/coach on an ongoing basis – costly in the short term, but priceless in the long.

14. SHane
    Posted November 25, 2009 at 6:37 pm | Permalink

    Can anyone suggest a link where people have posted comments who have actually done the course and not from negative people who are scared of losing a deposit when YOU signed your name on the dotted line. The non refundable 500 deposit is designed to teach an indecisive person to be more decisive in future. if you are gonna say you are going to do something then JUST DO IT and dont bitch about the course if you have never even been on it… sceptics!

15. tele14
    Posted December 4, 2009 at 11:49 am | Permalink

    Hi great reading, Thanks. I had an issue with them which I would like to share. I signed up for the course in Melbourne and I cooled off for personal reasons. When I signed up they took my money the very next dayand it is 3 weeks now and I am still waiting for my refund. They gave lame excuses that the International Accounts clerk is off sick for this whole week, and best of all, her boss is on holiday. How can they think they will get away with these excuses when we have forums where we can hurt their business. It beats me. Maybe this Greg guy might be doing some great things, and his staff may be letting him down or maybe they are just following his directions. I spoke to them about 10min ago and expressed my views very strongly and I just got a call saying that my refund will be processed today. Good result for me but I hope that this is not a trend they are setting. They will not be in business for long. Especially in Australia they cannot do these things and get away with it. We have free to air TV that exposes businesses like this so they better tread carefully in Australia. If you want to do a free course you can check out http://www.forex-charts-book.com I came across this site by chance which you might enjoy. All the best

16. Peter
    Posted December 20, 2009 at 2:15 pm | Permalink

    Hi,
    I’ve just attended the 2 hour intro seminar. When I saw the price and the fact you only get 2 days training – alarm bells were begining to ring.
    It was a great presentation, and certainly showed a good intro into the world of FX. I really enjoyed the presentation……… its just a shame that its purpose was a little misleading.

    So I’ve decided to spend a little time reasearching, using the net, Youtube, etc and reading some books to gain the knowledge. It will cost me a few quid, but no where near as much as £3k+

17. PJ
    Posted January 1, 2010 at 3:35 am | Permalink

    Hi All!

    I am 18 and just finished my A levels and planned to take a yr out before attending uni to save to go on this course and i am deeply upset on stumbling upon this website.
    I attended the free seminar and was inspired!
    When I arrived at the hotel for the seminar I told them that i was looking to work for them (just in case they asked for any upfront payment) and during the interview now this is the gods honest truth 1 of the ushers there gave me a note asking me to be a ‘fake client’ and i was so shocked i had to decline but i realised after that it may be a scam!
    But i have to be honest fellow bloggers i am deeply dissapointed i dream of becoming a ‘millionnaire trader’ and i thought this maybe the way i guess life has alot of disapointment.
    thanks for reading.
    Oh and if anyone reading is a successful trader please i would realy appreciate some advice ;-D

18. Grant
    Posted January 19, 2010 at 5:40 pm | Permalink

    In response to PJ.

    I nearly signed up, except I was massively suspicious of one guy, who was so ultra keen to sign up it was un-real. Surely anyone would be at least a little suspicious / dubious about parting with 2k after a 2hr seminar. To me he was either a plant, an idiot, or the least likely, new someone who was doing it succesfully.

    I think I’d stear clear of this unless you have bags of spare cash. Personally, will be doing more research, and probably go with the recomendation to teach myself.

19. Furqan
    Posted January 24, 2010 at 1:31 am | Permalink

    hello all , I attened the seminar in london in mid of december and i was realy inspired by the presentation and i ask them to register me for the session in feb 2010. Few days back i got a call from them and they keep on beging me to attend the course that will gona cost me of 2-3K. i was planning to pay them as they were forcing me to register for the course but now i am suspiouse about them ? why they are calling me again and again? I did’t find even a single post on the net which will help me to aggree with them . OMG , i saved my money. Is there any one who is realy happy with them ???

20. Saleem
    Posted January 26, 2010 at 10:12 am | Permalink

    Hi,

    For what its worth I have now been trading for a little over 2 years, and I am still in the red. In my first few trades I made some decent money, about 9k in my first trade, and I thought woh, this is an easy game, and to tell you the truth it was a bit of a rush. Of course what was to subsequently hit me was a string of losses which wiped out my earlier gains. But the problem was I was now hooked to trading, because I became aware of how easy it can be to make money in the stock market.
    During 2008-2009 I wiped out one of my accounts, simply because I was not following rules, and for the fact that as a novice trader I was always looking to the long side, and never really considered shorting the market. The biggest mistake.
    Although I have now been trading for about 2 years I still consider myself as an amateur, because until I can make consistent gains I can’t call myself a professional trader.
    The good thing is that the last 2 years have taught me many lessons, which I am beginning to apply. Simple but crucial things such as applying a stop loss to each and every trade, having targets etc. are crucial if you want to become a successful trader. Without these, trading then is definitely just gambling, but if you apply rules to the game and stick to them, then you have a chance of making it as trader.

    The bottom line is that there is no quick fix. The learning curve is steep, but there are riches on the other side of the hill if you can manage to climb it. Its definitely not impossible, it just needs courage and determination.

    Go to seminars but just don’t sign up, they can’t really teach the ropes of the game, only hard experience can. Even playing with virtual money doesn’t really help. Its only when you have your own money on the line that you begin to learn. Its dealing with your emotions thats the difficult part.

    Anyway good luck and happy trading.

21. LD
    Posted January 26, 2010 at 12:43 pm | Permalink

    I attended the free seminar last night in York. I had done some research about the company and knew that they’d be recruiting for their course but I still wanted to attend out of curiosity – I have quite limited knowledge of trading and I wanted to learn a little more and thought that the seminar would enlighten me a bit. I dragged my partner along, who was just as curious as me (not about studying with them, but just about learning a few ‘secrets’). The seminar started and during the first hour, rather than telling us the ‘secrets’ to being a successful trader – he was filling our heads with the benefits of being rich i.e. having a flash car, lots of spare cash to spend of more luxuries etc etc. He asked me what my aim was and I said I was there to get an insight into the trading industry and that I didn’t necessarily want to be super-uber rich one day, but just to be comfortable and not have to worry about money as much. This wasn’t acceptable to him, and in so many words he said that my mindset was dangerous and if I continued to think like that then i’d get nowhere in life. Pah! He then started saying stuff like how women actually make better traders than men because we make better and faster decisions. Hmmm, something made me think he was just trying to win back his potential sale in me after insulting me. Before the seminar my partner and I were talking to a female trader(/sales rep) and found out that we used to live not far away from her in London. I told her I had been made redundant last year in London and she told me she had too – from a recruitment company. Hmmm. I have always thought of recruitment consultants as sales people (I don’t mean to offend any recruitment consultants out there, but they do essentially sell). She said she’d made the leap from a recruitment consultant to a trader in a matter of weeks thanks to the course and she’s never been happier. I thought of asking her why she wasn’t trading now instead of taking a step back and selling the course, but I thought that’d seem too flippant. Maybe she was already a self made millionnaire trader – who knows.

    Anyway, the seminar taught me a few things I didn’t alredy know including various trading terms, but the long and short of their ‘secrets’ really were down to common sense! I knew that the seminar would conclude with a hefty fee to sign up to their ‘award winning’ course and sure enough, it came. Only today, if we sign up we will get a grand off the fee! Whoop de doo! Great deal – they were only offering this for our seminar ONLY and If we wait for tomorrow the offer would be gone, for sure. I pay a similar fee for another course that I am currently studying to get an actual accredited qualification and the course lasts 18 months – how on earth can they justify a 2 day course, followed by 3 telephone conversation costing even the discounted £1997? Oh, not to forget the inlcuded disc set (9 discs I think it was) which he valued at £1500 alone – what are these – gold plated discs? I asked if there was an option to just do the course and not the coaching or the other way round, and the only response I got was a stern – ‘NO’. I also asked if there was an option to pay in installments like other universities or colleges – ‘erm, no. We don’t do that’ I said ok, well that’s a no from me then because I can’t do that, and I continued to the door. Not that I was even remotely thinking about joining the course before I went to the seminar, but their sales pitch really didn’t sway my mind at all and I wanted to question them a bit. I actually find these sort of pitches quite disgusting. I think that since the begining of the recession, companies like this have cropped up all over the place – quite obviously targeting people who have lost out one way or another as a result of the recession, and who are dreaming of a better lifestyle or regaining what they’ve lost. It is a very depressing time for many, and these cowboys think they can make a quick bob from people who are struggling and desperate to make a bit more extra cash. Disgusting. I was going to at least be civil and say ‘thanks-but no-and goodbye’ to the presenter, but as I was waiting for him to finish a conversation with another attendee I heard him get rather agressive after the man said he wanted to have more information before he signed up – the presenter growled ‘well that’s ridiculous, what more information do you need?’. I don’t know who or where the guy thought he was, but not many people in the North of England have k’s to throw around willy-nilly after a two hour seminar! I certainly don’t that’s for sure, and If I am going to part with my hard-earned cash, I will only do so if I am 100% sure of what or who i’m giving it to! I am annoyed that I went, and if they call me today to follow up with me I’m going to tell them exactly what I think! My father is a financial advisor and he laughed when I told him about it this morning – he is going to send me a list of good books to read up on about trading – do this instead and please, for the love of God, DON’T waste your time going to this seminar! I am actually annoyed that I wasted 2 hours of my life listening to these snakes.

22. Fola
    Posted January 27, 2010 at 9:43 am | Permalink

    I must say that a lot of people on this blog are being ignorant (no offense intended). I attended the seminar and the 2 day coaching sessions and must say that I’m glad I attended it before I saw this blog, otherwise, i’d have asked for a refund.
    Anyway, I followed the strategies and have been making consistent profits. The reason why people have lost money from trading is either a) They were too greedy and so did not minimize their losses by havin an effective risk management technique or b) They took 1 or 2 losses and chickened out. In trading, just like any other business, you will, i repeat, you will make losses but you just have to be consistent in your strategy and offset your losses by your profits.
    I say people are being ignorant because they didnt really find out if the coaching is effective, they just assume based on hearsay that this course is a scam, which isn’t.
    If you want proof of my consistent returns, I’ll show you all

23. Fola
    Posted January 27, 2010 at 9:46 am | Permalink

    and I like Shane’s comment

24. Fola
    Posted January 27, 2010 at 3:44 pm | Permalink

    And I must say that almost everyone making noise on this blog have never attended the coaching session, so how do you know that it’s not effective? I just think your arguments are just methods for justifying your inactions

25. Angela
    Posted January 28, 2010 at 1:37 pm | Permalink

    Hi everyone,
    I attended the two day course last weekend and did my first coaching session today.
    Yes I had 7 days to cool off after I paid for the course, but I did not change my mind over those seven days, as it sounded interesting.
    As for the course, well I have mixed feelings at the moment. The location is awful: Chelsea – the arse end of the universe if you ask me and I was shocked that for the money I paid they didn’t provide lunch.
    As for the course itself, well I thought the trainer and the assistants were fairly good. However there were too many long breaks and there was a couple of sections where they stopped for a hard sell of their other courses. I didn’t sign up to any of these.
    Other than that the information provided and the training techniques were pretty good, as was the course material they supply. I did get a bit confused by it all toward the end and felt a bit like information overload. I’m sure in time I’ll learn though, as I have my manual with techniques, I have the webinar support and my coach.
    Haven’t tried trading yet though so we’ll see how that goes.

    To sum up: I don’t think Traders University is a scam but I do think its overpriced, though I have attended free property investment seminars who have the exact same sales pitch and try to sell workshops at the end of it. Some of these workshops cost £12,000!! On average, a two day workshop is £3,000…..so not much difference to the traders university course but instead of focusing on property, it focuses on stockmarket.

    In hindsight, I kind of wish I had signed up for just one on one coaching instead of the course/class. The one on one coaching is £1,800 so less than the course and I think I could have learned more. Still we’ll see what happens, it’s only been three days since the course….

26. LD
    Posted February 5, 2010 at 2:28 pm | Permalink

    I wonder who Fola works for? Hmmm, tough one…

    I had a post-seminar sales call from one of their ‘traders’ who called me a stupid bitch when I told him unfortunately I didn’t want to do the course. I was honest and said that i’d only gone to the seminar out of curiosity, and to write a factual report for my journalism course. He said i’d wasted everyones’ time, that he hopes I get what I want out of life, called me a stupid bitch and then hung up. Tried to complain, but just got through to a message taking service.

    Charming.

27. Rich
    Posted February 23, 2010 at 7:16 pm | Permalink

    I attended the seminar last week, i got sucked into signing up which really annoys me. Any way the next day i sent off my recorded mail letter of cancellation. I have not heard from them yet, so i will phone them tommorrow to make sure they got it and are refunding my £500

    Just to add to previous comments i have noted that they must have changed their terms and conditions because clause 2.3 states you must pay a refundable deposit….blah blah

    So i will post here tommorrow once i have spoken with them to let you all know how it went

28. Ralph Morgan
    Posted February 24, 2010 at 3:34 pm | Permalink

    Rich, I was also at the seminar last week, and paid in full, having checked first the Cancellation Refund policy. I then trawled the internet to establish the pros & cons of spread betting and decided that to be in the top half (ie a winner) you will probably loose a lot at first. Not sure I could continue to do this, so I want out. I agree the wording of the contract appears to have been ammended. You should be OK. Wait for your post with interest. Will post my result also.

29. mark
    Posted February 26, 2010 at 11:40 am | Permalink

    WELL, I HAVE attended the k2a course and i am making good returns and i feel the system works – i think you are all just being scared of an oppertunity and will look to blame anything to stop you reaching your financial freedom. for me and my family, this course has really helped and i dont mind telling you – big love and happy returns on your future

30. Juanito
    Posted March 1, 2010 at 1:59 pm | Permalink

    Wolfnud said that they’re getting 10% per month using their strategies. If you started with £10k, you’d have a million in just over 4 years. So what’s not worth £2K?

31. Richie
    Posted March 1, 2010 at 3:37 pm | Permalink

    Angela
    I am due to run with the course from next week. The blogs make interesting reading but I am signed up and going to make a real go of it. Would it be possible to PM me as I would like to know more about the course and what to look out for etc.
    I think that swapping experiences post course and trading maybe invaluable.
    richard@beausynergy.co.uk

32. VM
    Posted March 7, 2010 at 10:09 pm | Permalink

    Hi – I have signed up for the Traders University course that runs on 13/14 March. Will share my views on what I thought of it after attending it.
    Angela, as Richie mentioned, I’ll really be grateful if you could let us know what to look out for or questions that you later thought were pertinent. Thanks.

33. Ralph Morgan
    Posted March 8, 2010 at 7:36 am | Permalink

    Ref: my post on Feb 24th. I received the call to try and change my mind, with the caller subsequently confirming the full rebate will be processed. The rebate had an enry date of 4th and appeared online today, some 12 days later, without any chasing. I am still awaiting their (K2A’s) answer to where I should send their 6 disc set I was issued at the seminar! Is this the free Forex secrets catalogue for me to keep, I wonder?

34. ian
    Posted March 15, 2010 at 10:15 am | Permalink

    hi i allso went to one of the seminars on 10/3/10 but they didnt give the hard sell but i called them the next and had a good chat to one of the tradrs that delt with all info you needed but then i came accross this blog and i all so contacted (pro footballer)i will not mention his name that had gave testimonials for them he said he went on the cource but didnt learn nothing becouse he had experiance before and not to trust them . i have emailed them to cancel the cource and to return my deposit asap havnt hered back from them yet but im not worried about it becouse i have contacted my credit card and they have said not to worry if you have trouble getting the deposit back they can sort it out for me . they said to me at the seminar and the guy on the phone that you get a lifetime trading floor to there live trades but on the confimation email saying what you got in your package there was lifetime trading floor weekly video but no mention of the lifetime live trades so i looked on the live trading site and there is a monthly subscription for the live trade calls £50 pcm so thats another con isnt it we will have to see what happens now

35. Paul
    Posted March 23, 2010 at 7:51 pm | Permalink

    I am jus home from the 2 hour seminar in Glasgow. What a load of old tosh. The seminar was convincing but I felt it was all too good to be true. They asked me to fill in my details on the form and sign it which I did but put no payment details in so they can’t take money as i said i had to think about it. I felt pressured and was even scared to use the toilet on the way out incase they followed me. I am hoping by filling in this form I haven’t agreed to anything. Don’t go is all I would advise. I am going to look at some recognised local college courses to do part time.

36. Jim
    Posted April 20, 2010 at 3:15 pm | Permalink

    Hi Guys

    I have been on the K2A course. In my opinion the material you get is basic technical analysis that you can get from a good book on amazon.

    The key skill of how to develop a profitable strategy and how to develop the trader mind set are totally absent from the material.

    I have gone on to be a successful trader, but when I look at what I do now there is very little that I gained from the course. I do not consider it good value for money!

    My advice would be to read a few good books and look else where for your coaching. There are a few pro traders who do a little coaching on the side to help others.

    I won’t suggest any here cos I might look like I am selling!

    Hope this helps
    All the best with your trading

37. Haj
    Posted April 24, 2010 at 1:04 am | Permalink

    I attended the seminar at the Marriott hotel in leicester on 19th April with 30 or so attendees. I went with the full expectation of receiving a hard sell but to my pleasant surprise it was only mentioned once during the introduction (i left before teh end so presumably it was sold again!). Being a novice investor with 4 months of share trading, I was there to learn as much about day trading as possible without committing myself to an expensive course and then to follow it up with my own research. ideally i was looking for a short term day trading approach wchi would complement my long term portfolio which in 4 months had given me 15% on a 4k investement. The seminar gave me exactly what i wanted, howver i didnt stay till the end as my car parking was almost up and didnt want to fork out 3quid. if your like me and are new to investing and you want a crash course then the seminar is worth attending. those of you interested the advice given, here is important bits I can remember,

    - the trend is your friend, do not bet against it…take bets on FTSE 350 companies that are in an uptrend and ensure the sector trend backs this up.

    - buy on the bounce not during the stretch…let the price retract, watch the volumes traded. if the indicator is correct then its a go, set stop loss to max loss of £20 and upside should be atleast 3 times this value else its a no go.

    - I reckon he was using moving average crossoever (I cant be sure) he kept saying keep things simple, when the green line crosses the red line its time to take action. he kept saying its like a internal combustion engine of car and you dont need to know how it works!

    Risk management – only invest 1 to 2% of pot

    i would like to bet on the FTSE100 can anyone point me direction good website where i can view real time info, make bets and also perform technical analysis?

    hth,
    h

38. sharescams
    Posted May 12, 2010 at 12:58 pm | Permalink

    Knowledge to Action are the subject of an FSA alert stating they are not regulated and are targeting UK investors.

39. sharescams
    Posted May 12, 2010 at 12:58 pm | Permalink

    http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/Regulated/Law/pdf/knowledge.pdf

40. Barney
    Posted May 15, 2010 at 5:35 am | Permalink

    Well this is certainly an eye opener. I went to apply for this course online and thought that i would do some background checking, and it would seem that my suspicions were correct.

    As some people mentioned above, why would a so called ‘successful’ trader be telling everyone else their ideas??? And to get you into signing away £500 without even mentioning about it is very dodgy. It sounds like a front and a company to stay well away from. Reminds me of that film Boiler Room!

41. Seminar
    Posted June 1, 2010 at 9:23 pm | Permalink

    It was hard push to sell the package.it was £3000plus VAt and was being forced down for 2000Pounds Plus VAT if you take it up now.No One explained about cooling off period.I will be speaking to Tading standars to make a coplain.
    The presenter was rude and Tried to bully to sign up.
    No real secreats given its a cleaver software which does predict the market as far I understood from the presentation

    SO Watch out when you are there

42. ramsdenschippy
    Posted June 2, 2010 at 11:18 pm | Permalink

    Just done the Seminar in Leeds 02/06/10. Didn’t look on here first wish I had could have had some fun. The chap told us he was not a presenter but a fulltime trader. He had another presentation and one in London on the Thursday. They seemed to edge away from us that had bought and sold shares for years, but they liked the ‘newby’s’ and the ones who had made a few quid on their first try. At the end he said he was looking for 10 people from Leeds and London who wanted to be full time traders to join a ‘VIP Group’ they were offered lots of incentives if they signed up straight away, I thought it was ‘fishy’ to start with when I heard the old timeshare stuff coming out I was convinced. They made no particular attempt to stop us experienced ones leaving but I looked back with sadness at the queue building up. Thought about putting a false number down wish I had now, wouldn’t be surprised if its not sold on to ‘Bucket Share Shops’ abroad now touting worthless shares. “Beware”.

43. lol
    Posted June 7, 2010 at 1:38 pm | Permalink

    Great page.

    I intend to get into trading, but wont be doing it through this.

    i think i’ll attend one of the free seminars just for kicks and see what spanners i can throw in the works.

    Thanks for all the comments, and Folas comments should be removed.

44. Anon
    Posted June 15, 2010 at 4:19 pm | Permalink

    I had already decided that I was going to attend some formal forex course to help me with my personal Forex Trading Journey when I went along to one of Knowledge to Actions (K2A) 2 hour free seminar in Cambridge at the end of January 2010.

    First impressions was that this was a sales pitch and nothing else; the guys were dressed in poorly tailored suits which didn’t go to meet peoples expectations that we would meet successful traders earning a mint. Of course since realised you can be trading very well and not be earning fortunes, but the first impression in any case was what I or the other 20 or so people expected.

    The guy (Paul I think his name was), did a relatively good job explaining the forex market and it was possible to make money from the market. He handled the usual questions on “this can’t be true”, “this is gambling”, if you are a successful trader why are you doing this” quite well. He did boast a little too much on how his 12 year old daughter trades and how he likes to take his family out for a £500 meal and likes to have his suits made whilst being served coffee.

    At the end of the seminar in which he gave no real idea as to what strategies one would follow to make money they came out with sell. For £2000 + vat (disc from £3000) you’d get a 2 day Forex Training course, 3 coaching sessions of 30mins each and a Greg Secker DVD set. I had money that I had to use for retraining (any nothing else) so I went for it.

    2 Day Forex Seminar

    The 2 day seminar at their place in Fulham was interesting. The course was packed with 30 other people and we were all given a manual which contained 3 of Greg Seckers strategies that he teaches on the course. 1 for end of day and 2 intra day.

    The Good bits :

    1. The instructor was laid back, fun, interesting and had a few of trading ideas over and above the ones in the manual
    2. The course went from “this is a candle” level to brief mentions of Fibonacci
    3. Relaxed and motivating atmosphere
    4. Easy to follow step by step guide as to how to implement each strategy
    5. Good overviews of the forex market and how it works

    The Could do better bits :

    1. No food given !!! For £1000 /day per person you think they could stretch to a sandwich!
    2. Because it starts from basic principles it can be slow for some people, but then moves quite quickly during the day leaving the slower ones behind.
    3. There is nothing in the course that you cannot read in a few £20 books and read for free on the internet
    4. It is overpriced. It is priced at this level, in my view as people must think “if its this much; it must be good”. I have since seen similar courses for a less than half what K2A charge.

    Finally; if you have the spare money for training from redundancy like I did look good and hard at the other options. If not, you can DIY by reading and finding some top up courses elsewhere that can really get you moving intpo trading. For me, K2A, even though was not value for money, it got me going.

45. Anon
    Posted June 15, 2010 at 4:32 pm | Permalink

    I did the course in November and traded for 4 months before realising it wasn’t worth continuing. I gave it a fair shot and to begin with did make about £800 profit but then i had 6 weeks of carnage. You have to pay about £90 per month for e signal as well. All in all i paid £2300 for the course and 3 free coaching sessions with a NOT VERY GOOD coach. Paid e signal around £440 and lost about £2500 trading. Over 5 grand written off. I bet on a semi pro basis on horses and sport and it is a lot easier to make money this way. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and this is what i’ll stick to. Take notice of this DO NOT WASTE your money on 1 of these courses YOU WILL REGRET IT.

46. Anon
    Posted June 15, 2010 at 4:53 pm | Permalink

    The Knowledge To Action Truths:

    Having been employed by K2A i am aware of the level of scam that they use for their business-

    1. The trader coaches who teach you how to trade are only asked for sales experience when they go for the job, none of them have to be able to trade (great to know that you are being coached by complete novices who cant produce results themselves)
    2. The people who teach the actual courses again cant trade either, none of them could provide proven track records for their trading as they don’t have any.
    3. Most of the K2A strategies/courses have been put together by downloading information from the internet none of the strategies have actually been back tested to see whether they work or not.
    4. The FSA have a warning on their website regarding the K2A business as they arent allowed to give any information regarding trades because they arent FSA regulated and never will be. The FSA looked into their business and found it to be completely unreliable.

    Anyone considering learning how to trade do not be overcome with any of the crap given to you about a make loads of money scheme. I have finally become a successful trader but it has taken me time and a lot of learning and understanding the economics of trading there are other courses out there that can teach this information so I would recommend that you look for courses run by people where you actually get to trade alongside them and see exactly how they do it.

47. Alan
    Posted June 16, 2010 at 5:09 pm | Permalink

    Just been to a London conference where same tactics were used to buy now and save £1k, but only for first 50.Quite sad to see people leaving their brains behind, running, pushing and shoving to spend their £2k first. That’s £100k for a 1 hr presentation.
    To be honest I’m intrigued about FOREX trading, but you have to question if a reputable company would stoop so low. Take peoples advice, if you are interested, read up and try to find a mentor.

48. dave
    Posted July 2, 2010 at 4:03 am | Permalink

    it seems to me that common sense goes out the window whenever we see an opportunity too good to be true..If one is seeking to trade the markets one must, first of all check the net by joining unbiased clubs like forex peace army where scams and good companies are revealed to all members.If you find a co.you are thinking of learning to trade fx with check it out first at fpa.the same applies to brokers and systems..when they say only 5 positions or only 2hours or days left to order be very suspicious.check to see if they are listed as good or evil with fpa.

49. Isan
    Posted July 12, 2010 at 10:37 pm | Permalink

    Dear All

    I have made a formal complaint against Knowledge to Action based on the fact that I believe they Misrepresent their product and deliberately mislead consumers.

    They initially ignored my complaints until I threatened County Court action.

    I have now passed on my complaint to Consumer Direct which has taken up my complaint and passed it on to Trading Standards

    My advice to you all is to contact Consumer Direct asap and raise your complaint.

50. Terri
    Posted July 13, 2010 at 2:59 am | Permalink

    With any investment in the stock market there is an element of risk and investors are constantly advised never to risk more than they can afford. You can buy shares in a company and then the next week find out the company is in trouble and your shares are worth nothing. Trading provides an element of control to the investor instead of hoping the company directors will do it for you. I have been on the course and am loving it. It is not going to change your life overnight you need to put some effort in. You are learning new skills but you are not in competition with other major traders, just working alongside. You can go all over the internet and find tips from other traders. Traders are not selfish with imparting their knowledge and love to share but it’s an opinion. The strategies given are tried and tested on the companies own trading floor. Someone earlier said that after the course you don’t get support. When I did the course you were able to do a number of resits within a set time so if you traded inbetween it was a great way of reenforcing what you’d learned and there was any number of lists going around for you to join up with your peers to involve yourself with a support network. Resits reinforce the strategies or those who hesitated to start other opportunities to get going. I never expected when I went to the seminar I would get rich overnight nor that anyone would do the work for me. You can take a horse to water but cannot make it drink. Like anything you will get out of it what you put in. I made 5% of my account in one day last week. It was a great thrill but it doesn’t happen everyday. There are people who go on the course who never trade afterwards. What was the point of attending then? I’m having great fun and getting better all the time and am really sad the markets aren’t open at the weekends. After over 30 years in my full time job I still receive training which is paid for and I have given training which is paid for. That’s how business people market their skills. For as long as I will trade in the future I know there will always be something new to learn but in some areas I already feel quite confident to offer my opinion to other student. Is it value for money that’s for individuals to work out. Students are asked for testimonials, I’ve been asked for one but think I’ll wait a while. Guys don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it – it’s not a scam but like anything may not be for you. If it’s not for you don’t do it but I’m very happyI did. Best of luck whatever you decide!

51. Andrew
    Posted July 15, 2010 at 4:45 pm | Permalink

    Went to the free seminar the other day. Trainer was very good, and very clear. Soome questions he answered as ‘you’ll learn that on the course’ – fair enough. Some new bits of information for me and well put over. No real hard sell at the end, just 10 minutes of serious plugging. Didn’t want to speak to anyone who didn’t want to sign up there and then for the course – this was put across in a very rude and direct manner, which turned me off from having any future dealings with them.

    Other than that, as expected. Can’t imagine why anyone who goes to these things signs up on the spot though!