What should you look for from a trading education course?
Even if you have a background in finance, if you’re new to trading the markets, learning the ropes is vital. From understanding basics like the difference between contracts for difference and spread-betting to the more complex tools involved in technical analysis, education isn’t an additional expense but a driver of returns. Thankfully, platforms – the likes of FXCM, IG, eToro, CMC Markets, Oanda, and Spread Co – offer demo accounts and free trading guides which should get you off to a good start and should help you to develop your trading strategy as you progress.
But if you want more help than that, where do you look? Aside from books, there are a host of third-party online trading education providers out there. But as hedge fund manager Lex van Dam says, “there are [also] a lot of… clever marketers, who seem the real thing, claiming experience they don’t have, and name dropping as if there was no tomorrow.”
The issue isn’t necessarily that they will provide you with information that is incorrect, but rather that it will be out-of-date or useless for the challenges that traders face today. The trading education market is also unregulated.
For trading has changed since the crisis: the markets are different, as is the nature of trading and what traders are looking for. In the UK, for instance, retail traders account for an increasingly large share of the total market. It is also far easier to set up a trading account online. And market shocks have not been irregular events – the removal of the Swiss franc’s peg with the euro being just one example.
This arguably means that would-be traders should place a premium on receiving tailored assistance from a reputable educator. This is where van Dam thinks he can add value.
Van Dam, who already runs online courses through his company the Lex van Dam Trading Academy, has devised a new three month course, providing an eight-week placement and coaching (with a variety of expert partners) on a professional trading desk in London.
James Helliwell, executive director of the Lex van Dam Trading Academy, argues that it’s important courses focus on helping traders navigate the markets as they are today. “We’re delivering what’s relevant and what we know people are looking to learn in today’s markets – as opposed to outdated methods which haven’t worked for years.”
Starting in January, the price of this course is high – at £6,495 for the eight weeks – but Helliwell says that this is realistic and ultimately a fairer deal than courses that claim to guarantee a position on a trading desk or in a hedge fund. “There are no guarantees in trading – and it’s completely unrealistic to expect any course to provide a secret formula for making money.” Successful trading is down to the talent of the individual, whether they adapt to and endure changing circumstances, he says. “As much as anything else, it’s about first learning how not to trade, and then developing a plan that you will follow no matter what.”