As a Toronto Police officer, Mike Case was trained for almost any situation. Yet in 2007, the rookie online trader felt completely powerless after he failed to pull the trigger on his trades and he was struck with a $30,000 loss.
Driven by an initial profit, Case held onto his Apple stocks – which took a dive in 2007 – anticipating an increase in the market.
"I didn't know what I was doing," Case, 50, said. "This is the bad thing that happens to almost all traders. You add about $10,000 or $12,000 and it goes up over $30,000 in a space of a couple of weeks. But then it drops off – and I did not know what to do. Of course the obvious thing is to get out, but you do not know that. You think, `it's going to go up, it's going to go up.'"
Only two years from retirement, Case needed to better acquaint himself with changing market conditions.
Through Questrade, a small, independent online broker, he was introduced to the Online Trading Academy (OTA) – a program which uses hands-on live trading instruction to teach people how to trade stocks online.
Ron De Appolonia, general manager of the OTA, said people are taking control of their finances, relieving financial planners of their duties, and educating themselves with online trading.
"When you go through a loss that big, people start to question the people managing their money. `Do they really have my best interest in mind?' or at least, `do they regard the risk in the market the same way I would regard risk?'" De Appolonia said.
"They find themselves saying, `I wouldn't do that,' and they realize they should have a hand in planning their finances. No one cares more about your money than you, so you cannot be the guard dog that is asleep."
The OTA provides financial education for individuals in equities, options, futures, trading psychology, trading plan development, and more.
Mostly the accelerated courses, they offer free repeats of the program, teach traders to adapt to ever-changing markets with the academy's capital.
"They are really making money or they are really losing it," De Appolonia said.
"We teach them how to manage risks. We have some skin in the game. We are not just teaching them and sending them home to practise with their money. We are putting our butt on the line – if they lose, we lose; if they win, we win. What we are trying to do is teach them and hopefully make a little bit of money while they are learning.
"It's not a theoretical improvement, it is an actual practical trading opportunity."
De Appolonia said key elements to trading is managing risk, reducing the chance for error and the psychology involved with trading.
While there is no guaranteed method for an investor, the OTA teaches students to find high probability and low risk opportunities.
"It is hard to come back from a big mistake and it is easier to come back from three or four small mistakes. We would rather people put their egos aside and say `okay, I got it wrong so let's move on and look for another opportunity to make money,'" De Appolonia said.
And managing fear, greed and ego are crucial elements that help traders determine entry and exit strategies.
Greed quickly transforms into fear when something threatens to take gains away from an investor. These emotions, De Appolonia said, need to be combatted or it can cause the evaporation of an account.
The school teaches students to view the market systematically based on technical skills, which helps reduce emotional input into trading.
"It is this emotional roller coaster where you start trying to snap up money and wins instead of looking at relevant information you looked at when you first got you into that trade," De Appolonia said.
Case now knows to look beyond the psychology, and when to enter and when to exit.
"Everyone wants to make $10,000 in a day. Not that it is impossible but these guys (OTA) keep saying, `Go for small amounts. Make $200 or $300 and do that for a month, every day, and then you can start trading bigger numbers.'" Case said. "If you try to make that big score you're going to lose a lot and you'll actually be behind."
After 31 years with Toronto Police, Case retired.
He is now driving a new Infinity G37, has a beautiful house in Pickering and is waiting for his three-bedroom vacation home in Panama to be completed.
He is also taking a program at Durham College to be a paralegal.
Profits from investments cover tuition, living expenses and additional luxuries.