Is Strategic Trader really the incredible investment opportunity it is promoted as being... or is this just another over-hyped scam that will end in disappointment?
Let me first be clear that I'm talking about Strategic Trader by John and Wade. The reason I make this distinction is because there is also E.B. Tucker's Strategic Trader service.
I certainly don't blame you for being suspicious of John and Wade's Strategic Trader investment advisory service. After all, the promotions for it do sound a little bit too good to be true.
At the moment of me writing this review it is being promoted as having a perfect, 100% win-rate... 112-for-112...
And this number keeps going up.
They claim that this service could generate thousands of dollars per week in low-risk income...
... and that you can "set yourself up for a steady stream of income"...
As if that doesn't already sound too good to be true, they also say that all it takes is a click of your mouse...
There are different promotions going around the internet right now for this service. Another that I came across was titled "The Everyday Income System", which was just a creative new lure to bring in new subscribers...
But anyways... all the promotional content and hype aside, is it really worth it to subscribe to this service? Is it really as good as it is said to be?
I wanted to know the answers to these questions too, so I did a little digging around and in this review I'll be going over what you should know about Strategic Trader, including who's behind it, what you get as a subscriber, the refund policy, pros v cons and more.
Overview
- Product Name: Strategic Trader
- Type: Investment advisory service
- Publisher: InvestorPlace
- Website: strategictrader.investorplace.com/
- Creators: John Jagerson & Wade Hanson
- Price: $99/mo with a first month trial price of $19.95
What Is Strategic Trader?
Strategic Trader, in a nutshell, is a follow-along style investment advisory service where subscribers are provided with actionable investment recommendations they can act on without any research on their own part (although I certainly don't recommend blindly following their advice).
It is advertised as using "proprietary, proven screens to identify the best trades", which is supposedly responsible for the 100% win-rate (at the moment).
In particular, this trade recommendation service focuses on options trading, which is when you buy the rights to own shares of a company at a set price and at a set time, but you are under no obligation to actually buy the shares. This has it's benefits, some of which include that:
- Options are a lot cheaper than shares of stocks
- Low-risk options for large companies can be fairly profitable
Below is a short video I found on options trading and how it works that explains things simply...
Who's Behind It?
The company behind this service is InvestorPlace, which is an investment advisory firm similar to RagingBull and St. Paul Research, who also offers a variety of other follow-along style trading services.
John
Wade
The 2 guys behind it are co-founders Wade Hansen and John Jagerson, but there likely are other analysts on the team we don't know about.
Neither of these guys you will have seen on Fox Business or CNN Money, and there is a good chance you never even heard of them before, but they do have good backgrounds and experience with what they are doing.
Wade Hansen has quite the background in investment courses. He has helped create stock, options, futures, and FOREX trading courses for Yahoo! Finance, Saxo Bank and the thinkorswim Group, as well as co-founded his own educational investing companies that include Learning Markets and PFX Global. Additionally, he has written articles for Forbes, Yahoo! Finance, NASDAQ.com and other trusted financial information sources, and has a MBA from the University of Utah.
John Jagerson comes from a background in capital markets and private equity, and it's notable that he has a PLD from Harvard Business School. He was actually the VP of thinkorswim Group (mentioned above) and also helped co-found PFX Global and Learning Markets with Wade. He has also had articles featured by popular financial media outlets, such as BusinessWeek's Stock Trader newsletter.
Both Wade and John are actively managing their own investment portfolios, which is nice, but according to the disclaimer for Stock Trader they don't own the specific securities recommended via their service...
[Source: Strategic Trader disclaimer]
This can be seen as a good thing, because you can rest assured this isn't just some pump & dump scheme, or a bad thing, because they don't have "skin in the game".
Is Strategic Trader a Scam?
Strategic Trader is not a scam. It is a legitimate advisory service provided by a legitimate company. This is not some pump & dump advisory service.
How It Works
There are a lot of different, but similar, follow-along style investment advisory services that provide recommendations to subscribers, such as Motley Fool's Stock Advisor & The Casey Report (recently reviewed). However, Strategic Trader is more cut & dry than most.
It doesn't seem that subscribers are provided with lengthy newsletters that give analyses and breakdowns of every opportunity presented, as well as general market information, but are simply provided with the trade recommendations and told what to do.
What You Get
[Source: InvestorPlace.com]
- Weekly Strategic Trader Recommendations - Each week you can expect to get anywhere from 1 - 3 new trade recommendations that have been carefully selected by the team.
- Position Updates - Subscribers are also alerted with any updates as to their positions, such as when it's time to close a trade.
- The Quick-Start Guide to Making $100s a Week with Income Trading - This is a short guide that teaches newbies all about setting up a brokerage account and trading options.
- Weekly Webinars - Every Wednesday they hold a weekly live vwebinar where they discuss their opinions on the market, trades they are looking at, and answer any important subscriber questions.
- Access to the Educational Library - Subscribers will also have access to the database of educational video courses on trading options, all the past and present special reports, and more.
- Members-Only Website Access - Here you will be able to find the list of all their recommendations, trade alerts, weekly updates, and everything else that is offered in the subscription. This is like the hub of the subscription service, or the dashboard.
The Strategy
The strategy at Strategic Trader is to exploit the weaknesses of the investor psychology, which usually consists of selling option premium to buyers who are overconfident when the market is already too expensive.
The recommendations made through this service also have a more long-term focus and there are also many large blue-chip stock options recommendations, which are on the less risky side (but options trading in general is more risky than stocks).
For example, some of the past recommendations made by John and Wade have been:
- Coca-Cola
- Microsoft
- Nike
- Dollar General
- Caterpillar
- Cisco Systems and more...
Part of the reason for the high win-rate this advisory service has is due to how they, as they put it, "repair bad trades", in which they are talking about inching their way back to profitability out of a bad trad... such as by selling option premium.
Who It's For
Options trading can be very enticing because of the possibility of making large profits with small investments. But with the increased profit potential there is also increased risk. Strategic Trader is for those who would like to get involved with options trading but minimize risk by following the exact recommendations of 2 people, John and Wade, or have years of experience and a good track record.
*It is also stated that you should have at least $10,000 in your brokerage account to really take advantage of the recommendations given.
Cost & Refunds
The cost is $99 per month, but they offer a month trial for $19.95, which will then automatically renew at $99 per month after that.
They also state that they charge $2,000 for a full-year, but I'm not sure if this is just marketing fluff or an outdated price...
[Source: InvestorPlace.com]
As of now the price is $99/mo after the trial.
[Source: InvestorPlace.com]
Refunds
I have been able to find exactly ZERO information on refunds, which I can only assume means that there are none.
The good news is that, since it's a monthly subscription service, you can cancel anytime and the service will be discontinued the following month.
That said, you can always contact their customer service team at 1-800-219-8592 if you do want to make an attempt to obtain a refund.
Performance
At the moment Strategic Trader has a stellar record. John and Wade's "trading for income" strategy, which is what they call the strategy behind it all, was launched in May of 2018 and, at the time of me writing this supposedly has closed 112 winning positions... out of 112 total closed positions.
A 100% win-rate is almost unheard of and certainly amazing. But then again, this service is still rather new and I'm not sure how many bags they are holding in their model portfolio.
Complaints
Overall I don't have too much to complain about here, but some things worth mentioning include:
Lack of Transparency
It would be nice if they provided a little more clear track record, which is what everyone wants to see before buying into a service like this.
As mentioned, they state that they have a 100% win-rate with "closed" trades. But how many open bags are they holding onto?
Spam Galore
Do you like spam? I sure don't and I'm guessing you probably don't either.
Unfortunately it seems that InvestorPlace, the company behind Strategic Trader, absolutely loves to spam subscribers with promotions and whatnot. There are quite a few complaints with the BBB about this...
Pros v Cons
Pros
- Easy to follow
- No experience needed
- Good track record (so it seems)
- Low barrier of entry (options are cheaper than shares of a stock)
- Subscription isn't cheap, but not too expensive either
Cons
- No refunds
- Lack of transparency
Conclusion - Worth Joining or Not?
Strategic Trader is an investment advisory service that tells subscribers exactly what to invest in and when to invest, which makes things as easy as possible... but is it worth subscribing to?
This decision ultimately comes down to you... and it depends on what exactly you are looking for. If you are new to it all and want to get involved in options trading then this very well could be worth subscribing to. It could teach you a lot and help minimize risk. Even if you have some experience with options trading it could be worthwhile to see how John and Wade trade and follow their advice.
The good thing is that the subscription is monthly so if you do buy in you don't get stuck in some year-long service, which most other places trap subscribers in.
Anyways. Hopefully this review will help you make a more informed decision. Please share this post if so to help spread the word and to help out my website here.
PS: If you want one of my recommendations then check out this advisory service. It's one of the very few that I actually recommend.
Hey Kyle, I want to thank you for the info you provided on your website. Trust me, it’s always nice to get honest feedback on a subject that your not to sure about. And I feel that your opinion is very forthright. Anyway, I hope you have great success doing the things you are doing. I know you sure made my night! Thank you
I like Strategic Trader. The weekly webinars are extensive, they explain their logic. I would have expected at least more explanation about how to get setup and comparison between brokers. But after a month into the service except for apple I did well with their recommendations. They are recommending short selling which is too risky for me. But that could be risk. They give you some basic training. They are better than oxford club, but not as extensive in the training offered by Motley fool options service. Cons you need a lot of money so 40-50K to get those incomes. But agree with you not a scam. Again the webinars are a benefit. They trade good companies with good profits so no complaints there.
Thanks much for the independent review. Very helpful.