The Ultimate Review of the Day Trading Academy
Today I am writing the ultimate review of the Day Trading Academy whose founder is Marcello Arrambide: https://daytradingacademy.com.
In 2013 I joined DTA. I was sure that my future life of traveling to exotic places being funded by only having to trade for 1-2 hours a day was right around the corner.
Soon I found out after much backtesting that his “system” was not all that it seemed to be.
The Beginning-Day Trading Academy
I had already had one stint in trading the ES through another day trading room that I will do a review about because it is another crap company (almost all trading rooms are crap).
One day I came across the Day Trading Academy while searching for day trading information. I soon filled out the contact form to attend an online seminar.
Marcello led an online “seminar” that aimed to motivate attendees by convincing them that his system could generate unlimited profits.
Urging attendees to act quickly, he warned that the last 1-2 spots would be taken soon and encouraged them to sign up immediately to secure a discounted price. (It’s funny how there are always 1-2 spots left). So I bought in and signed up.
I set up Ninja Trader and completed the instructional courses to ensure that his indicators were working correctly, allowing me to begin backtesting. At that time he had indicators that you could only access if he gave you the code to get them working. Here is the basis of what they are:
- The yellow line is a Moving Linear Regression at around 89
- The band is a Keltner channel with the middle line set to around EMA 55 with around a multiplier of 3.5 to the Upper and Lower Band
- You take your entries with price momentum off of the middle EMA using a 5-tick stop loss
That’s all there was to it, since then I have heard he has “adopted” other trading strategies like the Gazillionaire box (which doesn’t work) and other such shenanigans.
Time to Back-Test the Day Trading Academy
After I got set up I started using the market replayer to backtest. I would also watch the videos Marcello would produce each week with him talking about the markets and the daily recap video so I could compare that to my trades.
At first, I thought it was really cool b/c I had structure and what I was looking for with my entries and exits. I started getting the hang of it and Marcello was pretty prompt with answering questions I had. After a couple of months of this, I noticed that I was getting worse with my backtesting. But I couldn’t figure out why I was getting worse results when I should be at least holding steady.
Other Reviews
I started looking around online and came across this thread: https://futures.io/trading-reviews-vendors/26082-day-trading-academy-marcello-arrambide-www-thedaytradingacademy-com.html.
My review was given (evanbro) and I saw that other people were having the same issues and concerns I had with DTA’s system and promises from Marcello. FuturesIO is another chapter in my trading journey which I will talk about in another post because DTA led me to FuturesIO which led me to make a really good friend there who has shaped my trading into what it is today.
Here are two hilarious charts from my friend who was also a member of the Day Trading Academy
Moving On from the Day Trading Academy
Fortunately, I never went live using DTA’s system once I realized it is not profitable.
Other evidence was sent to me, which indicated that Marcello is not profitable trading.
He uses the market replayer and tries to pass it off as live. It might be that all of the money he makes is from him selling his course. Don’t forget about the monthly fee for his trading room which is $150/month.
One thing to note is they will give you a free month in their trading room if you leave them a review for them in Investimonials: http://investimonials.com/blogs/reviews-thedaytradingacademy.aspx.
I did it because I wanted a free month and so does everyone else! No wonder almost all of the reviews are positive for the Day Trading Academy on there. I still get emails to this day about his boot camps and trainings. People continue to fall for the same repackaged nonsense, but it provides a good chuckle.
Verdict: Is Marcello A Scammer (Short Answer)
No, because he does provide you with his system. During my time with DTA Marcello answered the questions I had. He would also do videos explaining the trade setups I was looking at. If you pay for the Day Trading Academy’s course then you’ll get the indicators (that I already showed what they were above) and Marcello will answer your questions.
Lastly, he gave his instructions on how to use his system so he did provide the products he said he would.
Longer Answer
Yes, if a system isn’t profitable and cannot show verifiable results then it is a scam.
Now if it is “educational material” for you to create your own system then that is different. hey are packaging it as a system that will generate substantial profits if traders follow its rules.
He markets himself as someone who lives and travels to exotic places funded by trading the ES minis.
He uses language and descriptions to make you think he lives that exotic lifestyle funded by trading the ES and that he can do the same for you if you buy his course, pay for his trading room, and follow his trading system. By only trading the ES 1-2 hours per day using his system.
He won’t verify his trading history to show that he has been profitable year after year.
I have only seen pictures of him overlooking the ocean as “proof” that he makes money day trading.
You will pay for a non-verifiable system built upon hope. He is a very good marketer by evidence that he is still in business selling his courses. Sadly that seems to be what most of these people are good at these days, marketing and not trading.
Should You Spend Your Money with the Day Trading Academy?
No, the only thing you will learn (that is verifiable) is how to set up Ninja Trader. You would be better off taking the $3k and trading the ES. That way you’ll learn how important your psychological makeup is with day trading.
You will also have real-life experience in what works and what doesn’t work with day trading. Then you will be able to start your own website and write about personal experiences. Not how you gave your money to someone whose system is a loser.
Popular Links
Here are a couple of links if you are looking at how I view the market and my trade setups as well as the products I like and use.
- How to become a profitable trader using meditation
- How to scan for winning stocks
- Bread and Butter Trade
- How to Improve Your Meditation with the Brain Evolution System
- Review: Stikky Stock Charts – An Excellent Trading Book That is Interactive
Robinhood Trading Broker Review
If this post benefits you and if you haven’t used Robinhood for trading stocks but are thinking to then please consider using my referral link when you do sign up: http://share.robinhood.com/evanc203.
This way each of us will receive a free share of a random stock if you sign up through my referral link.
My Robinhood Review: https://evancarthey.com/review-robinhood-trading-service-with-no-fees-part-1/
18 comments
Bill
Anyone have any comments on online trading academy? It’s a lot of $$$ for the course.
Montana Balysky
Been with them since October 2019 honestly had no idea it was worth the 7 grand or not espeacially being Canadian.Since 2020 though they have revamped the program to be much much better and focuses on first in basics the fundamentals such as areas and momentum shifts and trend lines and then in intermediate it fouces on differnt unique trade set ups( Fobos, Area based Test trades,Retest trades, Breakouts, all based on the market conditions and enviroment such as strong over all momentum or not and ect and then secondly helping you define your own trade ideas. Personal to be honest following the old teachings from what I experineced Selective HTS using the legacy trades v1,v2,v3,T1 it wasnt going to make you rich but it was a valid trading system for getting 2-10 points in first few hours of the market during a good day. Most days from my eperince could get 2 points for sure. hope that helps a little mate just want to share my own personal experince. Currently I got 4 months left in my membership , one last thing though, big thing to is alot of it depends on you and how much hours of video you want to watch and how much time you spend practicing trading. I came with little trading knowoedlge into Dta and now when I look at chats I have a much deeper understanding and have been even able to creat my own trade idea.
Evan Carthey
Thank you for your insight, Montana.
Evan Carthey
Hi Bill, in the comments section the overwhelming majority of people who have commented have not have good things to say about the Day Trading Academy. My post was from 1st hand experience and I would not recommend them at all.
JOHN
CONOZCO ESTA ACADEMIA Y A MARCELLO, YO COMPRE SU CURSO DE 3 MIL DOLARES. ELLOS GANAN POR VENDER CURSOS, SU SISTEMA NO ES TAN CONSISTENTE COMO DICEN. ADEMAS CUANDO HE PEDIDO UN TRACK RECORD CON SUS RESULTADOS DE UNA CUENTA REAL, SE QUEDAN CALLADOS Y NO ENTREGAN NADA. ELLOS NO TIENEN COMO DEMOSTRAR SUS RESULTADOS, LA UNICA RESPUESTA ES QUE MIREMOS LOS 150 TESTIMONIOS EN YOU TUBE, PERO NADIE SABE QUE MARCELLO DA UN MES GRATIS DE SU TRADING ROOM A CAMBIO DE UN BUEN COMENTARIO EN YOU TUBE. ESTA ACADEMIA NO ES DE CONFIAR. POR FAVOR NO PIERDAN SU DINERO
MillionDollarMan
Thanks John! I translated your comment to English below. I agree with what you posted.
“I KNOW THIS ACADEMY AND MARCELLO, I BUY YOUR COURSE OF 3 THOUSAND DOLLARS. THEY WIN BY SELLING COURSES, THEIR SYSTEM IS NOT AS CONSISTENT AS THEY SAY. ALSO WHEN I HAVE REQUESTED A TRACK RECORD WITH ITS RESULTS FROM A REAL ACCOUNT, THEY ARE CALLED AND DO NOT DELIVER ANYTHING. THEY DO NOT HAVE HOW TO SHOW THEIR RESULTS, THE ONLY ANSWER IS THAT WE LOOK AT THE 150 TESTIMONIES IN YOU TUBE, BUT NO ONE KNOWS THAT MARCELLO GIVES ONE MONTH FREE OF YOUR TRADING ROOM IN EXCHANGE OF A GOOD COMMENT IN YOU TUBE. THIS ACADEMY IS NOT TRUSTED. PLEASE DO NOT LOSE YOUR MONEY”
AL
50-100,000 hours…Buffet spent from the age of 9-26
Al
Marcello is a scam. All these guys have fancy charts, those dots on this charts reminds me of Horst …and his tick charts.
Horst would show you when he made $7,000 on ER2 or RTY and then wanted your $5,000 from you so he could teach you. His $7,000 days were very infrequent and not verified trading account. Probably made this on demo.
If the Horst could really make $7,000 a day, he would be making $49,000 a week??? Even at half is 24.5 good ones. But he wants your $5k.
“How to you learn to day trade.” Get a live $5,000 account. Chose one market. 1 lot and start to trade with whatever and whoever you learned from and are following. You will soon find out, you will lose your account. Next step. Repeat.
You got to spend the hours 10-20,000 and you should get the ephihany.
On a daily chart, the traditional hwb always works. They give it to you, the question is when.
Does Warren Buffet…really tell you his secrets?? Is it as simple as he says to invest? Or was it time that made him a Billionaire too many times over. You must remember he spent 50-100,000 doing this stuff from the age of 9-26 with his own money. Then in 1955 or somewhere there he started his investment firm from his bedroom while everybody was working 9-5 at GM, factory etc. Buffet was 35-40 years ahead of his time.
So he spent the hours learning and doing it with real money. Man buys a company on the phone for $1.7 Billion. Tells the fellow, no I don’t need to see any financials or the place. Nodoby does this, the Buffett can smell a great deal and smell a rat in a person. “Trust” is where a deal starts.
You cannot “Trust” any of these hawksters unless you become successful daytrading and then you can smell a rat.
If I’m making $2-3,000 a day on daytrading RTY or ES, do I need you, do you think I want to tell you?? Would you want anyone to know your success??
Get in the trenches. Only way to learn and get burned.
Ken
Do you have any suggestions on a GOOD place to learn day trading? BTW thanks for saving me some money on DTA also. I’m scheduled for my first sales pitch phone call tomorrow. I can hardly wait to hear what they have to say!
MillionDollarMan
Hi Ken,
Let us know if their “pitch” has changed at all. By that I mean do they tell you that you can easily make $200/day by only trading an hour per day from their system? Also do they tell you there are only 2 spots left so sign up now!!!!
There are two rooms and a course I have seen that I am pretty sure are not scammers (I know I know, the bar is real low). Personally I have not paid to try of them out but my friend I trust said good things about two of them. I’ll do a post about them b/c they’ll be more content then I want to put in a reply on here. If I was to pay money then these would be the ones I would look at first.
Dan
Really interesting to hear this info. I’ve been following his videos now for around 4 years and have always wondered whether it was too good to be true. Also recently the prices I believe have gone up from what they use to be a few year ago.
Would be great to actually hear from someone who has joined recently and I look forward to you announcing your recommended mentors. Seems like an impossible mission to find one.
MillionDollarMan
Let me know if you ever hear or see of anyone providing verifiable trade statements that they are a profitable trader from using DTA’s system. So far I have never heard of one person.
Geebus
Oh man! Thanks for the honesty.. I heard this guy was full of it but I’m glad to see something like this come out! I had a friend who said that their “triggers” were almost always wrong, that none of his trading is real AND that he lies about how much time he’s been trading. I’ve read anywhere from 50+ year to 16 years…. It seems to have gone DOWN in the amount of years of “experience” he’s had the more time he spends with it?? And the guy is 36…… Come on now kid… Lol!!!
I’m sorry you had to lose your money for us to find out the truth…but I do thank you SO much for saving the next person!
Dron
Geebus, if their “triggers” were almost always wrong you have a GREAT setup.. just trade the opposite of what you should and you’ll make money.. 🙂
MillionDollarMan
Very nice to hear about you saving money! There have been several other people who have messaged me saying they decided not to drop $3k in order to learn how to be a losing trader after reading my review which is great to see. Best wishes out there.
Nikoli
Thanks for an honest and informed review. I was considering learning day training via DTA but it seemed too good to be true and so I figured I’d do some validity checking. So this was very helpful and kept me from wasting $2k. Much appreciated.
MillionDollarMan
You are very welcome Nikoli! Best wishes with your trading.
Rico
I attended one of his ‘seminars” and the guy was drunk the whole time. Plus, he holds his lectures in
some old buildings and there was a always a gas leak. And “superman” piece of work, never saw him trade at all, I have never seen someone spend so much time in a bathroom stall m y entire life..they should call him “Super Dump”………………..
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