Van Dam’s trading course to counter ‘rip-off’ tutors

Lex van Dam, the trader who risked $1m of his own money in the TV show Million Dollar Traders to prove that anyone can play the stock market, is opening his own online Trading Academy this week.

Mr van Dam has come up with a five-step trading programme which, he claims, explodes the myths about the financial markets. "I still don't think that enough people outside the City understand how to manage their money and their pensions."

The former Goldman Sachs trader and now a partner in a hedge fund, Hampstead Capital, added he's fed up with so-called City experts ripping off the public. "People would be better off educating and trusting themselves rather than blindly following professionals who are more interested in managing their own careers than managing other people's money."

Mr van Dam launched his academy because he is worried about the qualifications of those who make a living out of teaching others how to trade. The author of How To Make Money Trading – which became a best-seller last year, said: "Education in finance is similar to selling snake oil. There should be a law against failed traders teaching others. I am embarrassed by some methods used to sell 'know-how'. People pay thousands for courses that are useless."