Tradenet Review

Review

Tradenet is a stock day trading academy which, for a fee, seeks to teach its clients how to successfully day trade U.S. stocks. It offers education, a revenue share from a funded account, a range of courses and mentorship programs, and a live trading room and seminar program.

Tradenet was founded in 2004 by Meir Barak, professional day trader and author of “The Market Whisperer”. He serves as the company’s chair, chief trader, and professional mentor. He is assisted by a team of more than seven other analysts and mentors who take a role in the provision of education and mentoring services.

The heart of Tradenet’s offer is the provision of an education and training package, which includes one-on-one mentoring, and a 2-week demo account trading program. Access is given to a live trading room focusing on day trading U.S. stocks, in which Meir Barak and other analysts, as well as program participants, make live market calls after some pre-market analysis prior to the market open. Here is how it works: clients complete an educational course and trade a demo account. After this stage is completed, the client is given a nominally funded account with the broker Colmex Pro by Tradenet. You, the client, are then free to trade without making any deposit, and may receive at least 80% of the profits you make from your trading, which can be withdrawn once each month. However, if you trade at a loss equal to at least 5% of your account’s nominal starting balance, the account is closed and the program comes to an end. There are a range of these programs to choose from, illustrated by the below diagram of Tradenet’s detailed offers.

The more money you pay, the more educational courses you are given access to, and the larger amount of nominal funding your account is provided with.

Self-Study Course

The self-study course is the lowest level of Tradenet’s education. It is also known as the “Trading Equities – Full Course” program, and is independently priced at $290. The course consists of 33 videos and 29 interactive lessons and quizzes. The static material runs to approximately 4 hours. Videos are based upon topics, are placed in a reasonably logical ordering, and typically run at about 5 minutes. After each video, there is a quiz which can be completed so the user can determine whether they have correctly taken in the important points which were taught. An advantage of such a self-study program is that the user can work through it at their own pace, and in their own time. Several of the videos are also followed by other interactional items.

Although the course contains genuinely useful and sincere information that any day trader of stocks should learn, and the information itself is of a fairly good quality, the layout and “teachable” element is not optimal, which may make this course challenging for complete beginners or for anyone not fully fluent in the English language. The video screens consist mostly of a single instructor talking to the camera, with a series of explanatory graphics.

The narrator also on a few occasions refers to technical terms which have not been explained or even introduced yet. This is likely to be confusing for complete beginners or anyone largely unfamiliar with trading terminology, as there is a lack of definitions of key terms. Trading methodologies are explained, but not as clearly as they should be. It is probably also true that all or almost all the information contained within this course can be found elsewhere on the internet for free.

One of the most exciting features you can take advantage of when you join Tradenet’s program is access to a live and interactive trade room. The room opens shortly before the U.S. market opens at 9:30am New York time on weekdays, and is usually hosted by Meir Barak himself. There is some pre-market analysis where the likely opening situation of the market is put into context, with an initial look at the major market indices for direction. As the market opens, Meir or the presiding analyst call their own list of stocks in which they feel the best trades are likely to arise, and members are welcome to join in by text through the room’s interactive capability. Mention a stock and the analyst will, time permitting, switch to a chart of the stock and give their opinion on whether a good trade is there. The calls always include exact entry points and stop losses, as well as targets. The action is usually fast in all but the slowest market conditions, as 1 or 2-minute charts are typically used as the basis for trading.

After having spent some time watching Meir in action making live market calls, he is clearly a good host, and he also seems to be an intelligent trader. He is prepared to take short trades in certain stocks even its index is making new all-time highs, so he clearly trades very much on a case by case basis. Traders who are resolved to only ever trade with the long-term index trend can of course filter the calls made by Meir or any other presiding analyst or mentor accordingly.

Funded Account & Revenue Share

Part of Tradenet’s package is the provision of a “funded account” with the stock broker Colmex Pro. The client is entitled to withdraw a large percentage of any profits they can generate from their trading once each month, but the account ends once a loss of 5% of the initial amount is made. This needs to be considered carefully. Although a “funded account” of at least $14,000 and an entitlement to withdraw at least 80% of profit sounds attractive, its appeal probably lies more in psychology and less in reality. An account that is effectively “blown up” on a 5% loss is really an account with a true value of only 5% of its nominal amount. So instead of getting a $14,000 account, you are really being given a $700 account with leverage of 20 to 1. The fact that in this basic package, you are required to give up 20% of any profit you make from your trading is also a drawback, as it implies a true funding of 80% X $700, which is $560. However, when you consider that you are only paying $500 for the entire package, you could argue that you are getting an opportunity for free, provided you are happy to trade with the broker Colmex Pro, as there is no other brokerage option here. The true problem is that with the minimum margins, commissions, and typical losses involved in trading stocks, it would be a challenge not to lose $700 at some point, which brings the entire program to an end. Of course, it is possible to purchase one of the more expensive programs, which begin at $3,000 and offer a maximum allowable loss of $4,000. Yet why not open the account yourself with your own money at a broker of your choice, and keep 100% of the profits? Opening the “funded account” is not a requirement of Tradenet, after all.

Conclusion

There is somewhat of a learning curve when learning from the Tradenet educational system. However, there is a sincere offering here, and spending time in the trading room closely watching live calls on the market every trading day could be a way for aspiring stock day traders to learn how it can be done profitably. Those familiar with basic trading terminology and concepts should also be able to navigate the education and trading room quit easily.

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