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Thread: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

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    Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    Yesterday in the mail I received a letter from Steve Sitkowski. The letter said that Steve is a former host of a nationally syndicated radio talk show and that he is an internationally known and trusted financial expert. It also said that he has been a Certified Financial Planner, Registered Investment Advisor, ran a two billion dollar stock brokerage, and was President of two financial planning organizations. Quite impressive.

    And yet, I had never heard of Steve Sitkowski before.

    Right when I began reading the letter, I knew something was wrong. Steve started off by saying, "I'm genuinely concerned about your financial best interests . . . "

    How strange. Steve doesn't know me, and I don't know him, so why is he concerned about me?

    The letter goes on: "If you invest in mutual funds on your own or through an insurance agent, that's usually another losing bet . . and you've likely seen it in your own account statements."

    How would he know how my mutual fund has performed? Actually, I'm very satisfied with the performance of my mutual fund . . . its gone up almost 40% over the past one year. I haven't lost any money.

    At the end of the letter, Steve invites me to attend an "unbiased" investor workshop that's being held in my city next month, which is being presented by Pro Trader Institute, LLC. If I attend, I'll receive a free meal for two, and a free book called, "30-Day Money Makeover."

    Also included in the letter are testimonials from people, including one from a retired federal judge named Ronald R. from the state of Nevada. Ronald says, "I have achieved results that far exceed my old style of investing. I am very impressed and I only wish I had known about Steven's strategies years ago."

    I wondered what Ronald was talking about, so I went to my computer and typed in Pro Trader Institute. I went to the website and found out that this is all about options trading. Which is something that I'm not interested in.

    But I did want to know more about Ronald, the retired federal judge. The letter included a photo of him, but I didn't recognize his face. I did find a video of him on YouTube, however:




    There are several things here that don't make sense:

    1.) Why is Ronald trading options? And why is he listening to Steve? As a former judge, he should be wealthy by now and he should be able to pay for good investment advice. Options are extremely risky, and I know that they can become worthless. I just find it hard to believe that a retired federal judge would be involved in options when there are safer alternatives when it comes to investing.

    2.) People who are retired should never be involved in options trading. And if Steve was "genuinely" concerned about Ronald, he would have told him to stay away from this.

    3.) Why does Ronald R. not give us his full name? I tried to look him up, but I can't find any information about him on the internet. And this guy used to be a federal judge. Hmmm . . .

    I also can't find any information about that two billion dollar stock brokerage that Steve claims he ran. Why is he no longer in charge? Does it still exist? Did it ever exist?

    I don't trust Steve Sitkowski, so I think I'll pass on his investor workshop next month. I know that I'll miss out on a free meal, but that's okay . . . I'll be happier just eating popcorn and watching a good movie that night.

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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    These articles are 12 years apart, and not Professional Trader Institute specific, but the pitch has not and will not change. ALL of these companies claim to offer wisdom that will allow the average Jane to beat the pants off the market. They can't all be telling the truth.

    If one were to Google their instructor's name, they will likely find someone who has been on the seminar circuit for years. Because let's face it, if one could make $1,000s per day at home in their jammies, what they would really want to do is travel from dirty hotel to hotel, never see their family, and eat diner food 7 days a week.

    If someone wants some trader training, head to EBAY and buy the sets used for a song. Sets that originally went for $3995 selling for $50, I am guessing because the seller made SO MUCH MONEY with the system that it no longer even has any sentimental value.

    ================================================== =======

    Our Man Goes Undercover and Tells All

    He spent days sitting through free seminars to become a super trader. Lesson number one: It’ll cost you.

    By Thomas M. Anderson, March 2010

    Admit it: You’ve been tempted. You’ve seen the infomercials for trading systems that will teach you how to master the markets. Sign up for a free seminar in your area and you’re on your way to wealth and freedom. Ordinary people just like you are earning thousands each month. Why not join the club?

    With visions of early retirement dancing in my head, I decided to take the plunge, or at least the initial part of it. I would attend the free seminars of three big trading-education outfits: Online Trading Academy, BetterTrades and Profit Strategies. I wanted to see whether these outfits delivered on their promises to help people become successful traders. Here’s what I found.
    “Respect your capital”

    The first rule you learn at the Online Trading Academy (OTA) is not to trust Wall Street with your money. “Wall Street has trained us to be buy-and-hold investors,” the instructor, Chris, told me and the two other students attending the Power Trading Workshop at the company’s offices in Vienna, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C. (OTA also has offices in the United Kingdom, Singapore and Dubai, as well as in 29 other cities in the U.S. and Canada.) This is a bad thing, Chris said, because the market goes up, down and sideways. And when it heads south, as it did during the 2007-09 bear market, buy-and-hold investors get crushed. OTA’s mission was to teach the likes of me how to make money regardless of what the market does.

    How, you ask? Through the power of technical analysis. Technical analysts study past data -- primarily a security’s price and trading volume -- to predict the future. They look for patterns to find reliable signals of when to buy or sell financial instruments, such as stocks, options, futures and foreign currencies. The process involves studying a menagerie of indicators, such as candlestick charts, Bollinger bands and something called the stochastic oscillator. Technicians care little, if at all, about fundamental analysis -- the examination of, say, a company’s earnings and balance sheet or of general economic conditions.

    Technical analysis has both passionate critics and ardent adherents. For example, an October 2009 study by New Zealand’s Massey University found that of more than 5,000 strategies that employ technical analysis, none produced returns in the 49 countries where researchers tested the strategies beyond what you’d expect by chance. However, scores of traders, including billionaire Paul Tudor Jones, say the discipline helped them amass great fortunes. So I tried to keep an open mind.

    But a debate about technical analysis was not part of the program at OTA. Instead, the seminar quickly evolved from a round of Wall Street bashing to a pitch to enroll in the company’s $4,990 Pro-Trader class. The seven-day course would show “how to treat your capital with respect,” Chris said. He added that some of the academy’s students had doubled their money in three months after taking the Pro-Trader class. Once I paid tuition, I could retake the course as often as I wanted. And if I used one of the six discount brokers that partnered with OTA, I would earn rebates on commissions up to the cost of the classes I took.

    Overall, I left my free OTA seminar less than satisfied. I wanted to learn how to trade and all I got was a sales pitch. It was time to hit the road.
    “Who likes money?”

    I drove to the Hilton Airport Hotel in Norfolk, Va., to attend the Financial Freedom Expo, sponsored by BetterTrades. About 30 would-be zillionaires, mostly baby-boomers, sat in a cavernous ballroom. Men outnumbered women two to one.

    BetterTrades’ presentation was the most lavish of the three seminars I attended. At the front of the room a large projection screen was draped in velvety purple curtains. Tables displaying neat rows of BetterTrades DVD box sets surrounded the screen. I felt like a contestant on The Price Is Right, especially after I met the expo leader, Steve, who was tall, tan and likable -- just like the game show’s Bob Barker. Steve fired up the crowd with questions such as “Who likes money?” and “Who would like to make more?”

    For Steve, successful trading was a matter of identifying support and resistance levels for a security. Look at a stock chart. If you draw a line that hits multiple points where the stock price bounces back from a low point, it is known as a support level. The line drawn on the chart that hits multiple points where the price peaks is known as a resistance level. Under technical analysis, a stock trader wants to buy at support (low) and sell at resistance (high). Sounds easy, but it’s difficult to know where the support and resistance levels are until after the fact.

    With the class wrapping up, Steve had a special offer for me. For just $3,995, if I acted now, I could attend the two-day Market Essentials seminar coming to Norfolk. The first five people to sign up would get free bonus training materials. Steve said I had nothing to lose because if BetterTrades’ strategies did not earn me three times what I spent on tuition within six months, the company would refund my tuition or train me free of charge for up to a year until I mastered the program. (His offer did not take into account how much capital I would put up.)

    Despite the guarantee, I wanted to know more about what I was going to learn in the class and what kind of return I could realistically expect to earn. Profit Strategies gave me a glimpse of what to expect.
    “Work your tail off”

    Profit Strategies (PS) takes the total-immersion approach to education, kind of like throwing you into the pool to force you to learn how to swim. That’s how I felt during PS’s free Active Investor Methods class at the Hilton Miami Airport. The two-day course, which had about 40 students, mixed beginners with trading veterans. We skipped the introductory material and jumped right into trading strategies.

    The instructors, Mike and Jay, detailed several complicated systems. One moment we were discussing how to use a spike in a stock’s one-day trading volume to predict whether the price would rise. The next moment we were reviewing how to construct an “iron condor,” a strategy of buying and holding four different options with different strike prices. Between the presentations, Mike and Jay flogged PS’s eight-week courses on various trading systems, each of which cost $3,495. Students in the course would meet with the instructor online once a week for class and to review trades. “Only a limited number of seats left,” Jay said.

    The audience had the opportunity to pepper Mike and Jay with questions. A newcomer asked them what kind of return one should expect to earn from trading. Mike said that a 5% monthly return sounded reasonable. That works out to 80% annualized.

    All the seminars I attended were quick to point out that individual results will vary. And there’s the rub. Because the performance of individual traders is not public, you have no way of knowing how well these trading programs work. Sure, the seminars present testimonials from their top earners, but you don’t know how well the average student does.
    Studies show how tough it is to succeed at trading. In 1999, for example, at the height of the day-trading craze, the North American Securities Administrators Association studied the accounts of day traders. Only 11% consistently generated profits, and 70% sustained losses that wiped out their accounts. None of the seminar com-panies monitors the success rate of all their graduates. Says Judy Hackett, BetterTrades’ marketing chief: “We can only track the satisfaction of our customers, and we have lots of very happy customers.”

    Students who have succeeded with these systems swear by them. Jeffery Kronenberg, a 30-year-old from New York City, says he is able to support himself using the skills he learned at OTA. He has been a full-time trader since October 2009 after taking a class last May. “You have to work your tail off,” says Kronenberg, who typically gets up at 6:30 a.m. on trading days and works until the markets close at 4 p.m. “They will teach you, but you’ve got to really want it,” says Abba Genes, 26, of Mount Vernon, N.Y. He adds that the skills he acquired from BetterTrades allow him to earn about $1,000 a month to supplement his income as a concierge. Genes, who trades three hours a day in the morning, plans to become a full-time trader after he completes college. He says it took months before he learned how to generate trading profits. Meanwhile, big early losses nearly wiped out his account.

    The seminar instructors I met said they made a good living from trading. But it’s impossible to know whether they are successful traders or just great salesmen. The trading-education industry does not have a good track record when it comes to sales practices. Seminar promoter Teach Me to Trade shut down in the U.S. after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a 2008 complaint against two of its salespeople. The SEC alleged that in Teach Me to Trade seminars the pair claimed to be successful traders, but they actually earned their millions from commissions selling seminars rather than from trading. In December 2009, Investools paid $3 million to settle an SEC complaint that two of its salesmen misrepresented themselves at seminars as expert traders.

    As I completed my journey, I couldn’t help but wonder why those who possess the magic formulas for successful trading would give away their secrets -- even if they did earn $4,000 or so per customer. After all, if you can earn 80% a year, why would you run the risk of seeing the effectiveness of your strategy diminish as more and more people started using it (a common occurrence in investing)? That aside, what’s clear is that if you decide to learn how to trade from any of these companies, you will need to have faith that your instructors know what they are doing and that you can convert their knowledge into winning moves. The odds will be against you.
    Why it’s hard to trade and win

    High costs. Most trading programs charge more than $4,000
    for their workshops and tutoring packages. In addition, trading generates a lot of commissions, usually $5 to $9 per stock trade at the typical discount broker.

    Too much time. It can take years of practice to earn trading profits consistently. Even if you are not trading on a daily basis, you will have to dedicate several hours a week to studying charts and related data.

    Potential losses. Trading can lead to huge investment losses. This isn’t for widows, orphans and those with weak stomachs.

    Tough competition. Financial firms have better trading tools than you do. High-frequency trading systems utilized by professionals make it harder for individual traders to succeed.

    Read more at Kiplinger - Interstitial

    ================================================== =======


    On the Wade Cook Trail
    BY Dan Colarusso | 02/10/98 - 10:38 AM EST

    The Wade Cook Show rolled into New York last weekend and it was an event I couldn't pass up. I've read Cook's books, listened to his audio tapes and even would've watched the video if it hadn't unwound and jammed in my home VCR. Yet, I'd never seen the show in person, and since this was just a Financial Clinic, the tuition didn't run into the four figures. With all these factors swirling, I anted up $22 to sit in. At 8:40 a.m. on Saturday morning, I took a seat among another 100 or so "Cookies" at the Marriott East Side Hotel, with no special press credentials, no tape recorder, no special questions to ask, not even a free bagel or muffin. (Wade is a little cheap with the refreshments -- only ice water was served.) So here's the skinny on the Off-Broadway version of the Wade Cook Show.

    * * * * *

    Much in the same way that I have never watched an entire Olympic Biathalon, I had never seen an infomercial in person. At 8:45 a.m. when someone hit the Play button on a VCR in the front of the small meeting room this past Saturday morning, that all changed.

    The video showed a roundtable discussion involving Wade Cook and several investors who'd used his strategies to prosper. Among the faithful: Lisa Johnson, who didn't have the time to work her full-time job anymore because she had been too busy trading and making a bundle off Cook's strategies; Richard, a guy nondescript enough to be a CIA spook, made $70,000 in one month playing stock splits on U.S. Robotics; and Morgan Armstrong, a fresh-faced 17-year-old who successfully trades stocks from his cell phone while driving to high school, where he lettered in baseball and, of course, sang in the choir.

    The crowd in Manhattan Saturday morning resembled those on the tape. Racially and ethnically mixed, the gathering included both 20-somethings and 60-somethings, blue-collar Joes and starched-shirt types. Over the next three hours, we'd get small tastes of information about writing covered calls, buying stock splits and rolling stocks. And, of course, frequent mention of how we could acquire the knowledge that would give us the man-sized returns that could bring financial freedom. Along the way, the instructor mocked many institutions: college educations that never taught us how to make a fortune, mutual fund investors who were foolish enough to give their money to a manager and not hold him to monthly performance goals.

    * * * * *

    By 9 a.m. the room was mostly filled and up came Erin, a young woman perky and pretty enough to be cast on MTV's next Real World saga. She welcomed us and introduced the instructor, Sal Salzillo, a man "hand-picked and hand-taught" by the master himself. The crowd took to Sal instantly as he cracked jokes about his long-gone hairline and scoffed at "buy-and-hold" investment strategies. This seminar, Salzillo told the newly initiated, was a "buy-and-sell" program. Long-term plays are fine, he said but "at Team Wall Street we think monthly, weekly, even daily."

    The knowledge he had to offer would help not just the investors, but also "their families." The crowd seemed familiar with Cook's basic tenets; they answered in unison to a question about the "meter drop" strategy. (This is something about driving a cab, one of Wade Cook's former professions. Instead of hunting for the big fare, it's better to grab 10 small fares. It's not clear how this is known, but Wade claims that he set a record for taxi-driving prowess, using this strategy. All that hustling for fares transformed Cook the Taxi Driver into Cook the Philosopher/Author/Financier.)

    Salzillo told how Wade once used a "rolling" strategy and made 200% on his money. Rolling involves spotting a stock moving in a trading range, or pattern. You find the high and low point of this pattern, and you trade in that range. Because, of course, history always repeats itself. Remember, this is Wade Cook's strategy, not mine.

    Wade's 200% return on this strategy wasn't exceptional. There were a lot of those three-digit returns bandied about. The real barrage, however, began about 10:30 a.m. as Salzillo made a seamless transition from explaining the nuances of Cook's rolling stock strategy to shamelessly hawking the company's other seminars and products. First, he warned the attendees not to "mess" with the formula, then began explaining the "Zero to Zillions" educational series of audio tapes and workbooks. Z-to-Z outlines the tactics that Wade Cook Financial offers its clients. For just $1,295, the Z-to-Z "is like bringing Wade home with you in a box."

    Then there was the Wealth Information Network, or in Cook-speak, WIN. That's where you get "ideas" on where to find the famed rolling stocks. Remember, though, that Wade Cook Financial is not a brokerage firm or investment bank and thus doesn't make stock recommendations. But if you subscribe to the WIN, you get companies that are good targets for rolling-stock plays. Salzillo explains that instead of offering recommendations, instructors tell WIN users what plays they are making, and if you want to follow their moves, well, go right ahead. It's a beautiful semantic triple-lutz to avoid being regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

    Another of Cook's strategies, buying stocks on news of splits, is also featured prominently on the WIN. There's a whole list of them each week -- 12 pages worth, according to Salzillo -- but remember, these are not recommendations. They are just specific company names broken down by stock price that are likely to split in the near future. The price tag for six month's worth of non-recommendations: $1,995.

    Next on the sales pitch: the two-day Wall Street Workshop, slated for the first week of March in New York, for $4,695 -- and you can add a spouse or significant other for just $2,695. And, Salzillo reminded them, you should make sure you have a brokerage account open before you get to one of these conferences. In a zeal usually reserved for tent meetings, Salzillo says you'll need that account because tips will be given, people will already be making money on the tips, and you won't want to feel left out. And those pay phone lines will be long -- so be sure to bring your cell phone.

    Then Salzillo rolled out the heavy artillery: big discounts. There was a $500 travel credit, a $500 scholarship, and you could even bring a teenager, just like young choirboy Morgan, for free. And, if you signed up for the additional one-day BEST (Business Entities Skills Training) seminar, you'd get a free Zero to Zillions package and a six-month subscription to WIN. The $3,695 tab (plus a one-day offer of $1,414 for the significant other) was chump-change to the Cookies, who'd already heard that one Wall Street Workshop attendee racked up $17,000 before the workshop was over.

    "You pay for knowledge once, but how long do you pay for ignorance?" oozed Salzillo. He encouraged them to "let someone else pay for it. Someone like Mr. Mastercard, Mr. Visa or Mr. Discover," because they'd have made it back before their next monthly bill came.

    But getting in on this deal required action. Right away! He checked with perky Erin in the back of the room, who barked out that there were only eight places available for the Feb. 18-19 workshop in Newark, N.J., and nine spots in the upcoming New Haven, Conn., meeting. Then the checkbooks started to open, and the credit cards were slipped out. One attendee went to register with a handful of $100 bills.

    * * * * *

    The planned seven-minute break stretched to 20 minutes as the crowd lined up to fill those empty spots. A married couple consulted with each other, buddies who'd come together debated the merits of the strategies, and others went to the front to study the Zero to Zillions material.

    The second half of the Financial Clinic, lasting about 35 minutes, was spent going over the potential profits from options trading, mostly writing covered calls, investing in stock splits (he threw out company names such as AOL, Dell and Eli Lilly) and margin accounts.

    But the people apparently liked what they saw. I overheard only one negative conversation, an older gentleman explaining that Cook's strategies were too complicated for him. And it looked like a good day for Salzillo, who reportedly gets a cool 10% of the room's take for the day. If he filled the 17 openings at $3,695 each, the room made more than $62,000, putting his take at $6,200. Throw in a few Zero to Zillion packages and that's decent money for three hours work. Not exactly Zero to Zillions, but not bad.

    Otherwise, Cook's true marketing genius was evident. The company managed to pitch high-priced products to 100 people at one time and, in the words of his "hand-picked" instructor, got someone else to pay for it -- them.

    On the Wade Cook Trail - TheStreet
    Last edited by ribshaw; 03-31-2014 at 10:19 AM.
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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute


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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    Quote Originally Posted by Blue Wolf View Post
    If I attend, I'll receive a free meal for two, and a free book called, "30-Day Money Makeover."
    Even the scumbags that will steal your nan's last pension check usually have enough class to toss a Salisbury steak and some fries on a plate...


    This review is from: 30-Day Money Makeover: The No B.S. Guide to Putting More Money in Your Pocket NOW. (Paperback)
    I attended his free seminar at the Hyatt in Hauppauge New York. They promised dinner and a copy of his book, showing a copy of the bound book in the marketing material. Dinner at the Hyatt was a box lunch from most likely an outside low budget sandwich shop. Or perhaps the staff prepared the dinner in their hotel room, I really can't tell. A cookie, an unpeeled orange, a small bag of chips, and a roll with a very small piece of some sort of chicken.

    Senior Investor Alert: Free Meal Seminars - NASAA
    Investment & Biz Opp Seminars | Consumer Information
    "It's virtually impossible to violate rules ... but it's impossible for a violation to go undetected, certainly not for a considerable period of time." Bernie Madoff
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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    This is the first post I can remember where I will need to wipe my feet when finished.

    Steve Sitkowski has been on the seminar circuit for years. Appears to have been a speaker for William MCorkle and then Charles Givens. For years a "Real Estate Guru", now an "Option Guru", in the middle he was pitching Wizetrade. Just like this guy http://www.realscam.com/f9/dr-bob-ak...aud-guru-2384/!!! Wizetrade, buy when you get three green lights, and sell when you get three red lights. Yet new magic methods need to be taught, because Red/Green was making folks too much money.

    ALL the programs he previously pitched worked out real well for folks

    If you believe a Zebra can change its spots, his latest and greatest may be the real deal. For my money, 20 years of pitching crap in conference rooms speaks for itself:

    ================================================== ==
    In virtually all instances the spokespeople promise to train you in whatever they say made them rich: direct marketing, real-estate investing or some other high-stakes business

    Until William McCorkle and wife Chantal were sent to federal prison for conspiring to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering (they are appealing the convictions), the couple claimed in flashy infomercials that he could teach anyone how to make big money buying and selling distressed real estate. McCorkle "students" (some of them paid shills) chimed in, on cue, with claims of having achieved financial freedom.

    The McCorkles are gone, but other dubious, or risky, real-estate schemes filled the void. For example, Home Buyers of America (HBA), a corporation owned by "millionaire" real-estate investor Bobby Blair, was a joint-venture partner with First Resource, Inc., a subsidiary of a corporation called Fortune Financial Systems. The joint venture offered real-estate programs (taught by, among others, former McCorkle employee Steve Sitkowski).

    William McCorkle (Orlando, FL)

    His Cash Flow, Inc. was raided and shut down by the FBI, IRS, and USPS on 5/9/97 according to the Orlando Sentinel. The paper said the company had been charged with racketeering and that it was being investigated by the Florida Attorney General for deceptive advertising and unfair business practices based on more than 50 complaints about inability to get refunds. The Wisconsin State Bureau of Consumer Protection published a Guide for Wisconsin TV stations which lists several "Questionable infomercials," among them those of William Mc Corkle, a/k/a Cash Flow, Inc. and Fortunes in Foreclosures. Tom Brokaw did a "Fleecing of America" piece on McCorkle on 9/8/98. NBC TV Dateline did another longer piece on 5/19/99. It revealed that McCorkle lied about his background, used actors and friends to make false testimonials in his infomercials, rejected all deals brought to him by at least one of his customers, and rented for only a few hours the executive jet and yacht which appeared in his infomercial with his name painted on them. John T. Reed's view of various real estate investment gurus

    Get-Rich-Quick Schemes and Scams: Secrets of Losing Money_Finance_????_????-???????


    ================================================== ==

    Formerly a division of the Charles J. Givens Organization, FCI was incorporated as a business last year, said its president, Steven Sitkowski
    In the past three years, the attorneys general of Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, and Michigan have filed lawsuits or civil actions against the Givens organization. The suits allege, among other things, that Charles Givens used false advertising, failed to make refunds and taught flawed money management strategies.

    Three of the suits were settled, with concessions from the Givens organization, including agreements not to mislead customers about refund policies, according to the Better Business Bureau. The Michigan case still is pending.

    Sitkowski downplayed the civil actions against the Givens organization, saying people acting out of jealousy were trying to tear down a successful person

    Charles Givens (deceased)

    If you look up "glib" in the dictionary, you'll find a picture of Givens next to the definition. Givens was the Cliff Claven of finance. His International Administrative Services, Inc., which did business under 16 names including some involved in real estate, went bankrupt in Orlando in the summer of 1996. In 1993, he lost a lawsuit stemming from the uninsured death of a man killed in a car accident by an uninsured driver after Givens advised the deceased to drop his uninsured motorist coverage. That same year, he settled a fraud and deceptive trade practices suit filed by the Florida attorney general by agreeing to pay $177,000 in refunds to 135 disgruntled customers and to reimburse the state for its investigation costs. John T. Reed's view of various real estate investment gurus

    Financial Advice May Bounce Experts Warn Consumers To Be Wary Of Get-Rich-Quick Seminars - Spokesman.com - March 29, 1996


    ================================================== ==

    Posted by John J.

    Bobby Blair, James Smith, James S. Byrd, James S. Smith, Steve Sitkowski, etc. operate as National Homebuyers Training Corp, Fortune 21, Fortune Marketing, Real Estate Link Cash Network, James Smith, Real Estate Link, Success Real Estate Systems, First Business Resource, Inc., First Resource, Home Buyers of America, etc. They are all affiliated with Success Magazine. I have collected a large number of postings from this and other sites about them. Lots of people have paid them large sums of money. I am not aware of anyone who has profited from teaming up with them. I'll be glad to send my collection to anyone who e-mails me

    Bobby Blair=Round Trip Tickets? - Posted by kevin [Archive] - Creative Real Estate Online Forums

    ================================================== ==

    0/19/2006 - Lynn writes:
    Let's start with a little story regarding infomercials. Do you know who started this waste of TV time? Charles Givens, in the late 80's, with his Wealth Without Risk venture. Where is he now? Well, ole' Chuck bit the dust a few years ago, but not before the SEC closed down his business for a number of violations. Now look at WizeTrade. One of the main investers and speakers for this product is Steve Sitkowski, who was a Givens guru. I can tell you from personal experience that he is one shady character, but he is capable of convincing people that what he says is factual. In addition, his regional seminars are manned by the same people he worked with at Givens, and most are former used car salesmen... Enough said?

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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    Loudmouth blogger's free commentary always do your own research..

    As much as I enjoy dumping on scumbags there are a few subjects at the "workshop" that are important to many families.

    My big issue, is there is no way in HELL that this deal is worth a few thousand of anyone's hard earned dollars. There are just not that many people that beat the market, and this includes all the professionals out there. There are NO SECRETS, NONE. While being a small investor may have some advantages, don't be deluded that some guru will teach anyone to sneak around under the pro's noses.

    STRONGLY suggest reading and digesting the book below. For $10 it lays out a case that is much better than I can do in a blog. The cliff notes, over LONG periods of time (20-30 years) the market has been a very strong investment AND very few investors will beat the market over that period. So don't try, by matching the market with low cost index funds an investor should come out ahead of most active managers. If you read it and find it pure garbage, there will be plenty of $3995 seminars coming to town.

    A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing (Tenth Edition): Burton G. Malkiel: 9780393340747: Amazon.com: Books

    Have been satisfied with the above from a long term perspective for my family. Again, I am NOT recommending ANYTHING other than taking the time to educate yourself.


    MY COMMENTS IN SHOUTING FONT...

    Seminar Details Pro Trader Institute FREE VIP Educational Workshop Event – Oak Lawn, IL | Seminar Insiders

    During This Interactive Workshop, We Will Teach You About:


    How to make money if the market moves up, down or sideways.==POSSIBLE BUT UNLIKELY

    How to spend only a few minutes per day on your portfolio.== PROFESSIONALS HAVE TEAMS OF PEOPLE WORKING 24/7/ 365 DOING ONE THING, THINKING OF WAYS TO TAKE YOUR MONEY.

    How to limit risk in your portfolio.==WORTH LEARNING BUT NOT AT $3995 OR EVEN $1295 IF YOU ACT NOW

    The basics of fundamental and technical analysis.==WORTH LEARNING BUT NOT AT $3995 OR EVEN $1295 IF YOU ACT NOW

    How to adjust a trade that moves against you and turn it into a winner!= THE MARKET WILL MOVE AT TIMES WHERE YOU WILL HAVE NO OPPORTUNITY TO ACT. MARCH 2000, 9/11, FLASH CRASH DON'T LET A HUCKSTER KID YOU, THESE MOVES WILL SOMETIMES WIPE OUT YEARS OF PROFITS.

    How to never risk more than 5% of your account in any one trade.=SURE, BUT THEN YOU ARE NOT MAKING 5-10% PER MONTH, SEE BELOW

    Taking complete control of your financial future!=WORTH LEARNING BUT NOT AT $3995 OR EVEN $1295 IF YOU ACT NOW
    ================================================== ====

    I pulled these two out of order as this is the BULLSHIT that virtually every Option Guru pushes as if it was something that no one knows about. I like to do a little option trading to keep my mind occupied. BUT it is either with money I can "afford" to lose, or to "hedge" other investments.


    How certain strategies could help you make 2%-10% profits per month.
    How to identify trades with a statistical probability of success in the 90% range.

    ============================================

    Here is the BIG SECRET for FREE...

    CREDIT SPREADS Credit Spread Definition | Investopedia

    An options strategy where a high premium option is sold and a low premium option is bought on the same underlying security.

    ============================================

    First of all to make 2%-10% per month, you would have to put 50% to 100% of your account at risk, are you raving MAD? Can you imagine losing half your portfolio in one day? Oh, the wife would love that. But gurus never talk about this, in the seminars I have been to they never even bring it up. Mark my words every few years there is a once in a lifetime move that wipes accounts out. When they say you will win 90% that is statistically possible but...

    I set up a Bear Call Spread that has a 92% chance of being profitable. Meaning 8% of the time it will be unprofitable. (This is a trade I have modeled on option software, as this is not an option trading class, I am just some hack, only details for example are provided and I rounded a little to make math easy.)

    If my spread is profitable for the month of May, my account will be Credited with $4500
    If my spread is not profitable for the month of May my MAXIMUM LOSS is $45,000

    Every Credit Spread in the world that is at 90% is going to have a similar risk/reward. YES that is a 10% return for one month, BUT you would have to risk $45000 to get it, or risk $4500 to get $450. Gurus of all stripes will talk about doing adjustments, or stop losses, etc. Mark my words, there will be large moves that a trader has no chance to react to and it is not unheard of for YEARS of profits to be wiped out in a single bad day. At the end of every bull or bear market you will hear someone telling how much money they made using "strategy X", that is usually a short time before they are carried out on their shield.

    To illustrate, let's assume this trade worked 11 months in a row and the trader makes 11*$4500=$49500, but on the last month they suffer a full loss of $45000. Suddenly their profit for the year is $4500, which is a far cry from 10% monthly.

    At any rate, there are NO free lunches with Credit Spreads, and don't let a guru tell you any different.
    Last edited by ribshaw; 04-01-2014 at 11:44 AM.
    "It's virtually impossible to violate rules ... but it's impossible for a violation to go undetected, certainly not for a considerable period of time." Bernie Madoff
    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scam-...98399986981403

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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    Quote Originally Posted by ribshaw View Post
    Until William McCorkle and wife Chantal were sent to federal prison for conspiring to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering (they are appealing the convictions), the couple claimed in flashy infomercials that he could teach anyone how to make big money buying and selling distressed real estate. McCorkle "students" (some of them paid shills) chimed in, on cue, with claims of having achieved financial freedom.
    McCorcle story from a British newspaper.

    Daily Mirror report.

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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    I tried once again to find out who Ronald R. is (the man in the YouTube video).

    I went to fjc.gov and typed in the name Ronald.

    History of the Federal Judiciary

    The names of twelve people came up, but there's not a single person who has a last name that starts with the letter R.

    The only person who came close to a match is Ronald Rene Lagueux, whose middle name starts with an R. But a picture of him clearly shows that he's not the same man.

    U.S. - Image - NYTimes.com

    I can only come to the conclusion that Ronald is a paid liar and was never a federal judge. Isn't it pathetic when a company uses fake testimonials to sell a product or a service?

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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    Articles about Ronald W Rose - Los Angeles Times

    2nd Judge Says Drug War Lost, Legalize Them : Law: Federal magistrate says substances should be decriminalized and given free to any adults 'insane enough to want them.' - Los Angeles Times

    State Bar of CA :: Ronald Walter Rose


    Yesterday in the mail I received a letter from Steve Sitkowski. The letter said that Steve is a former host of a nationally syndicated radio talk show and that he is an internationally known and trusted financial expert. It also said that he has been a Certified Financial Planner, Registered Investment Advisor, ran a two billion dollar stock brokerage, and was President of two financial planning organizations. Quite impressive.

    And yet, I had never heard of Steve Sitkowski before.

    Right when I began reading the letter, I knew something was wrong. Steve started off by saying, "I'm genuinely concerned about your financial best interests . . . "

    How strange. Steve doesn't know me, and I don't know him, so why is he concerned about me?

    The letter goes on: "If you invest in mutual funds on your own or through an insurance agent, that's usually another losing bet . . and you've likely seen it in your own account statements."

    How would he know how my mutual fund has performed? Actually, I'm very satisfied with the performance of my mutual fund . . . its gone up almost 40% over the past one year. I haven't lost any money.

    At the end of the letter, Steve invites me to attend an "unbiased" investor workshop that's being held in my city next month, which is being presented by Pro Trader Institute, LLC. If I attend, I'll receive a free meal for two, and a free book called, "30-Day Money Makeover."

    Also included in the letter are testimonials from people, including one from a retired federal judge named Ronald R. from the state of Nevada. Ronald says, "I have achieved results that far exceed my old style of investing. I am very impressed and I only wish I had known about Steven's strategies years ago."

    I wondered what Ronald was talking about, so I went to my computer and typed in Pro Trader Institute. I went to the website and found out that this is all about options trading. Which is something that I'm not interested in.

    But I did want to know more about Ronald, the retired federal judge. The letter included a photo of him, but I didn't recognize his face. I did find a video of him on YouTube, however:




    There are several things here that don't make sense:

    1.) Why is Ronald trading options? And why is he listening to Steve? As a former judge, he should be wealthy by now and he should be able to pay for good investment advice. Options are extremely risky, and I know that they can become worthless. I just find it hard to believe that a retired federal judge would be involved in options when there are safer alternatives when it comes to investing.

    2.) People who are retired should never be involved in options trading. And if Steve was "genuinely" concerned about Ronald, he would have told him to stay away from this.

    3.) Why does Ronald R. not give us his full name? I tried to look him up, but I can't find any information about him on the internet. And this guy used to be a federal judge. Hmmm . . .

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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    Articles about Ronald W Rose - Los Angeles Times

    2nd Judge Says Drug War Lost, Legalize Them : Law: Federal magistrate says substances should be decriminalized and given free to any adults 'insane enough to want them.' - Los Angeles Times

    State Bar of CA :: Ronald Walter Rose


    Looks Like Ron was actually a federal judge out od a California Circut.


    I tried once again to find out who Ronald R. is (the man in the YouTube video).

    I went to fjc.gov and typed in the name Ronald.

    History of the Federal Judiciary

    The names of twelve people came up, but there's not a single person who has a last name that starts with the letter R.

    The only person who came close to a match is Ronald Rene Lagueux, whose middle name starts with an R. But a picture of him clearly shows that he's not the same man.

    U.S. - Image - NYTimes.com

    I can only come to the conclusion that Ronald is a paid liar and was never a federal judge. Isn't it pathetic when a company uses fake testimonials to sell a product or a service?[/QUOTE]

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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    Federal Magistrate Judge in Los Angeles. The first two are articles where it quotes him and states he was a judge. The last link is from the California State Bar, saying he is retired. It lists his name and address.

    Articles about Ronald W Rose - Los Angeles Times

    2nd Judge Says Drug War Lost, Legalize Them : Law: Federal magistrate says substances should be decriminalized and given free to any adults 'insane enough to want them.' - Los Angeles Times

    State Bar of CA :: Ronald Walter Rose

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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    Quote Originally Posted by whatisright View Post
    Federal Magistrate Judge in Los Angeles. The first two are articles where it quotes him and states he was a judge. The last link is from the California State Bar, saying he is retired. It lists his name and address.
    Thanks for the information.

    However, I don't know what Mr. Rose looks like, so he might not be the same man who is in the video. It's still a mystery.

    Perhaps Steve could come here and clear this matter up. I would love to know the truth.

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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    Yes Blue wolf, You can always read a few books and then trade your portfolio on your own. Before you do that get a few books on flying a Cessna 150 2 seat airplane. Read the books, go to the airport and call me just before you take off alone OR would you feel better with a professional pilot next to you to prevent you from crashing?

    Although YOU may not have made money in the Options market there are plenty of us who have. You are doing a disservice to anyone who thinks you can't make money with options. In reality you can make money with them if the market goes up, down or sideways. You can even make money without having to determine the correct direction.

    Does everyone make money with options? Absolutely NOT! Most people will read a book or watch a webinar and try it on their own- go fly the Cessna-

    Options can be surprisingly profitable BUT they are complicated. Ask 10 people who have taught themselves options and you'll hear about failures or minimal results.

    Talk to 10 people who have been TRAINED on options and you'll hear 10 successful stories. Don't take my word for it TRY IT.

    BTW...How's your retirement?

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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    Cessna - options

    You DO know what a "strawman argument" and "logical fallacy" are don't you, realreal ???

    If not, might I suggest you do some research
    The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    Quote Originally Posted by realreal View Post
    Although YOU may not have made money in the Options market there are plenty of us who have. You are doing a disservice to anyone who thinks you can't make money with options. In reality you can make money with them if the market goes up, down or sideways. You can even make money without having to determine the correct direction.
    It's simple enough, post your INDEPENDENTLY AUDITED trading records for the last 15 years, enough to cover two massive bull and two massive bear markets.

    Before you stammer on that one I will provide an alternative.

    For the next year post your options trades BEFORE you take them for the Real Scam world to see. Since most of the people taking any of these "trainings" will likely not be staring at a computer screen all day, being able to trade the opening or EOD is virtually mandatory.


    See, its the internet or in your case the sales stage and you can purt-near say anything you want. I can claim to make $11.25 per day selling my delicious possum jerky, but who's to say if that is true? No reason people should be buying anything training without years of independently verified disclosure now is there?
    "It's virtually impossible to violate rules ... but it's impossible for a violation to go undetected, certainly not for a considerable period of time." Bernie Madoff
    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scam-...98399986981403

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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    Quote Originally Posted by realreal View Post
    Talk to 10 people who have been TRAINED on options and you'll hear 10 successful stories. Don't take my word for it TRY IT.
    No thanks. I don't like options.

    I knew a man who spent thousands of dollars to learn how to trade options from a "financial guru" named Wade Cook. He asked me to join him, but fortunately I decided not to. I say "fortunately" because when I met the man years later, he told me that he had lost money trading options.

    As for Wade Cook, he ended up filing for bankruptcy and eventually went to prison. Apparently trading options didn't work out for him, either.

    Quote Originally Posted by realreal View Post
    BTW...How's your retirement?
    My IRA is doing great.

    Thanks for asking.


    My IRA.JPG

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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    I'm just starting to get involved with this group. I find it odd that the original post was made by someone who did no business with this group. I guess I could review this whole site on another site with the same accuracy.

    I would like to know from people who have actually tried this if they have had success or not. Period. Instead, a whole bunch of posts about everyone's opinions about what it might or might not be.

    I tell you what. I'm going to give it a try, and in about 3 months, I'll try to remember to stop back here and give a honest review of what I have experienced. And if I'm still in it, I'll do the same after 6 months and 12 months.

    SO FAR, I've received a book and a DVD. The DVD had several hours of content describing different transactions and how they make money, as well as how they can fail. I filled out an online application to receive a mentor to help me with learning how to do options trading. He set up a time to call me tomorrow to have a more in depth conversation, so that we could get to know each other and so that he could explain how he would be working with me. He did briefly explain earlier that they first would be setting me up with a paper account where I would be using fake dollars to practice real transactions based on real numbers. He stated that I would be doing 6-8 transactions a week for 2 to 3 months before I would be doing transactions with my own money.

    The stock market is real. It exists. I have a right to buy and sell just like anyone else. If these people are able to give me some knowledge, confidence, and experience in how to trade in the options market, I don't see where the scam is. Is it possible that at some point I will be encouraged to go to an expensive class or seminar in order to learn the REAL secrets to making money? Sure. But it hasn't happened yet. If it does happen, I'll be more than happy to share it with you here if I remember to come back.

    In response to the original post....I find your 3 questions about what doesn't make sense pointless. Why is Ronald trading options?? Because he wants to try to make more money maybe? Who are you to decide without even knowing who Ron is that he has enough money or is rich enough? "He should be wealthy by now"? How the F would you know how wealthy he is? You're just proving your whole review to be absolutely worthless. What if Ron is divorced? What if he just always wanted to own a yacht? What if he's just another greedy American trying improve his situation? Would you rather he stick his entire wealth into a 0% savings account??

    Who are you to pronounce retired people as unfit for options trading? Seriously.

    All you have managed to do is waste my time and irritate me to the point where I felt the need to register to this site just so that I could let you know that.

    Perhaps, in a few months, I will be able to post a worthwhile review here.

  23. #22
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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    yawn1.jpg.....
    Haven't lost any money to online scams.......results are typical.

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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve May
    I find it odd that the original post was made by someone who did no business with this group.
    One doesn't need to jump off the roof of a fourth floor building to know it's not a good idea
    The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

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    Re: Steve Sitkowski and the Pro Trader Institute

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve May View Post
    I would like to know from people who have actually tried this if they have had success or not.
    Then you are a dumbass asking the opinion of suckers. But generous sport that I am, I will explain why...

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve May View Post
    SO FAR, I've received a book and a DVD. The DVD had several hours of content describing different transactions and how they make money, as well as how they can fail. I filled out an online application to receive a mentor to help me with learning how to do options trading. He set up a time to call me tomorrow to have a more in depth conversation, so that we could get to know each other and so that he could explain how he would be working with me.
    Quote Originally Posted by Steve May View Post
    All you have managed to do is waste my time and irritate me
    Let me make it up to you champ, you will "qualify" for mentoring as long as you have an available balance on your credit card. No need for an interview, just have your card handy.

    Maybe you should consider flying out to Utah to meet your mentor in person, see how a real no money down internet marketing trading guru kicks it.

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve May View Post
    He did briefly explain earlier that they first would be setting me up with a paper account where I would be using fake dollars to practice real transactions based on real numbers. He stated that I would be doing 6-8 transactions a week for 2 to 3 months before I would be doing transactions with my own money.
    Yeah, you're dealing with a salesmen whose only option is taking whatever fake mentoring gigs he can.

    There are three very distinct problems with paper trading that make it next to worthless in evaluating an option system.

    1. The first is psychological, it's very easy to sit in a trade when there's no money on the line.
    2. The bid ask spread can be enormous with options, paper trading assumes you went in and out with the market maker.
    3. When you place real trades there is nothing stopping a market maker from stepping in front of your trade via price improvement. You're bidding at $25 and the MM takes a trade at $25.01 if its a good trade. Want to know what happens
    if a large sell block comes in, you just bought um all at $25 and he's $0 bid.

    Anyone "mentoring" you this way doesn't trade and if they did there is a reason they are now "mentoring." Oh he mentors and trades does he

    Get back to us when he starts wowing you with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_condor the name alone makes my nipples perk.




    Quote Originally Posted by Steve May View Post

    I tell you what. I'm going to give it a try, and in about 3 months, I'll try to remember to stop back here and give a honest review of what I have experienced. And if I'm still in it, I'll do the same after 6 months and 12 months.
    You couldn't even give an honest first post.


    Quote Originally Posted by Steve May View Post

    The stock market is real. It exists. I have a right to buy and sell just like anyone else. If these people are able to give me some knowledge, confidence, and experience in how to trade in the options market, I don't see where the scam is.
    They're going to love you in the pits.

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve May View Post

    Is it possible that at some point I will be encouraged to go to an expensive class or seminar in order to learn the REAL secrets to making money?
    The REAL secret is there are no classes for that, I'm beginning to think you didn't read the thread.

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve May View Post
    Perhaps, in a few months, I will be able to post a worthwhile review here.
    Why don't you have your "mentor" show up?
    Last edited by ribshaw; 12-08-2015 at 10:33 PM.
    "It's virtually impossible to violate rules ... but it's impossible for a violation to go undetected, certainly not for a considerable period of time." Bernie Madoff
    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scam-...98399986981403

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