D&L: I think one reason why more people don't respond to the McMillan thread or newsletter is he doesn't publish over the web, that I know of, anyway. When I received his info. on his track record I was a little underwhelmed with the performance. I think he would be much more successful with his subscription service if he put out a daily update or letter over the web. From what I've seen so far McMillan seems to be a great teacher of the fundamentals of option trading but less so a marketer of his services.
Re: Bernie Schaefer and Netpicks.
I am a little reluctant to use Bernie's monthly service, although it is a fair price and can give you good info. about his picks. I am reluctant to use any service which comes in the mail and on a monthly basis, even with phone-in updates. The market is just too volatile for monthly recs. I think Bernie primarily uses his monthly newsletter to lure people into his daily fax rec. services. He claims fantastic returns but the cost is well over a thousand dollars/year for even his less expensive services, over two thousand for others, and the payment is all up front. The less expensive services may only trade 1-2 times/mo., if that.
I am intrigued by these services, though, and would find them to be well worth the investment if their claims are accurate-400%, 600%, 800%, over 1000% returns/yr. What makes me very suspicious, though, is the up front fee and that I'm constantly called by what I perceive to be a boiler room operation to pressure me into subscribing. They keep offering better incentives to get into the service before it fills up. -g- My BS meter starts taching out when I start getting such pressure and performance claims.
Netpicks is another story altogether. I was also intrigued by their trading program with options. They too reported a great performance record but they offer low monthly costs, $50, and are willing to back it up by not charging you the next month if in the previous month they don't achieve at least a 10% return. I paper traded their service during their trial period to determine if they padded the results. I found them to be honest and accurate in reporting their trades' entry and exit points and the resulting profits/losses. They were well above 10% during the trial period and up to the present. I think they've only had one month where they didn't make at least 10% since the inception of their service.
I now use and subscribe to Netpicks. I don't take every trade they recommend, but I've found if I had I would probably be doing a little better than by not taking their advice. I've only been trading the service for about 2-3 weeks and am very happy with the service.
Anyway, all previous is just IMHO. Sorry if I sound too touty about Netpicks but I think they are the best for the money and one of the easiest to understand their recs. that's on the web. If anyone knows of another service please let us know.
Bruce |
