Everyone wants to be the king when it comes to day trading. Some people build their fortunes over years of hard work and dedication, while success comes seemingly overnight for others. Some people just appear on a popular reality show and instantly they are thrust into stardom. For Anton Kreil, this is exactly what happened in 2009.
He started equity trading before he gained popularity on reality television. As a 16-year-old hot shot, he started his first investing account and began earning money in the market. Ten years later Kreil became the vice president of European Equities while working at JP Morgan. In 2007, he left and began traveling; after a while, Kreil received an offer to appear on “Million Dollar Traders.” The short mini-series featured Kreil along with a group of amateur investors worked toward making money in the stock market.
From reality television to the digital teaching forum
After the show lights dimmed and the makeup ran dry Kreil began receiving letters from people asking him to share his secrets with other amateur investors. Kreil took all the requests and decided to found his own school for stock market trading. Opening in 2010, Kreil began taking in students and showing them the tools he used while working for Goldman Sachs. The Institute of Trading and Portfolio Management specialize in giving the average joe a shot at becoming a trader like Kreil.
If you want Kreil’s net worth without spending an arm and a leg, for the lesson plan you can take one of the free webinars that the company offers. You will not get all the trade secrets, but you could be able to snag a few gems from his playbook.
At this point you may be thinking, “Well there has to be something wrong with this guy, right?” Well, at Critical Financial we want to fully vet every “self-made” millionaire before we hand you over to them.
Anton Kreil’s armor holds tough, but his students give him poor marks
While his intentions are mostly good there are a few cracks in the Kreil legacy. We should start with the Institute of Trading and Portfolio Management; a few students of the training program have been less than satisfied with the services the school offers. Some users of the mentoring program have complained that they did not get the value for the price tag it flaunts – see the graphic below from the Institute.
Speaking of the price tag, to enroll in the investment training class you would have to pay about $3,000. If you were to ask a trading professional, they would most likely tell you to take that money and reinvest in various stocks. Since no one at Critical Financial has $3,000 to just play around with we are going to take the pros words into consideration. Many reviews on the program state you could find the information Kreil “teaches” you online for free.
Spending this much on a service that you may or may not be successful in could be very dangerous. The company does not guarantee that you will be successful at the end of the program either. This is one of the biggest downfalls that the school has to face. The market, even if in a great climate, is extremely unpredictable. With the amount that the average person has to spend on the course itself, you could probably buy a $30 book on the basics of trading and invest the rest.
Another red flag that pops up frequently is his actual track record. There really is not a lot of information of Kreil’s net worth actually being earned from trading. A multitude of the articles you find online will describe him as a master trader, however, digging deeper you really cannot find a lot of stories of him making huge power moves within the companies that he worked for. This suggests that much of his revenue may come from his television fame or his trading courses, not his actual trading activity.
From this vantage point, you can only speculate.
Could there be a chance that Anton Kreil’s net worth, lavish trips and shiny helicopters are all a façade to draw in people like an angler fish does its prey? Or, does Kreil actually have something of substance that will help people become successful investors? The explanations are endless in the end you have to thoroughly vet anyone you choose to invest your money in.
His plan may help you become the next multi-millionaire in your family, or he could give you tips that are readily available to the public. For other people, buying the used trading manual on Amazon is a much better option. Just make sure you are making money doing either.
Finally – as with anything, follow the old latin saying: Caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware.
Here is some extra added value for you.
If you want another good read, consider checking out dinksfinance story on Spyro Contogouris, a hedge fund hitman. And, if you want to read about other traders, here is a good review of Jeff Clark, a well known and possibly less controversial trader