Simpler Futures is one of the trading rooms available on John Carter’s SimplerTrading website. Our video review of SimplerFutures is below, or continue reading our written review.
John Carter is a relatively famous trader who has invented multiple indicators that are built-in on many of the standard trading platforms such as Tradestation and ThinkOrSwim. His first trading room was SimplerOptions, but after the success of that room they branched out to have other rooms for futures, stocks, cryptocurrency, etc.
The Simpler Futures trading room trades all kinds of markets including currencies, cryptos, and commodities; but the focus tends to be the US index futures, especially in the morning. Most days the room is open from 9am ET to 4pm ET, and there is a special trade review session on Wednesday afternoons.
Trading Room
The actual trading room software is very professional and seems to be custom designed for the Simple Trading community. There is screen-sharing and audio from the current moderator. A very helpful feature is that there is a separate text box for important posts and trade alerts so they don’t get lost in the chat box. Also, there is a file sharing area containing documents that explain some of the trade setups, annotated charts, etc.
During our membership there tended to be 200-300 people in room most of the day. The members in the room are generally friendly and helpful. There seem to be a lot of newer traders, but there are some more experienced ones as well.
Trading Room Screenshot
Trade Alerts
For some traders the main value of a trading room is being able to follow professional traders’ real-time trades. So one important question you want to know about any trading room or service is whether or not they send out clear trade alerts that can actually be followed.
Some services claim to send out real-time alerts, but they will send out an entry price and target but no stop, or they have a stop and no target. This allows them to fill in the missing information in their ‘tracking spreadsheet’ so as to ensure they made a profit on the trade.
In our experience, the Simpler Trading moderators do not do this for their official ‘called trades’. As an example, in the upper left corner of the room screenshot below you can see Raghee Horner sending out a trade alert that includes the entry price, stop, and target.
Simpler Futures Trade Example
They do mention other trades they are watching or took for their accounts, but those don’t appear in the same box as the ‘official’ room trades.
Trading Room Moderators
One thing to note is that there are multiple traders that work at Simpler Trading, and they rotate between the various rooms at a set schedule each day. If you particularly like Raghee Horner, you shouldn’t expect to get her commentary and trades all day (although she is the primary moderator for this room). Other moderators cycle through such as David Starr, Danielle Shay, Neil Yeager, and others.
Each trader has their own style of trading and uses charts with their own set of indicators on them. David Starr specializes in Elliot Wave analysis, while Neil Yeager uses the TICK a lot and tends to look for scalps at certain times of day.
There are pluses and minuses to this way of doing things. The good part is that you get to hear from different traders with some pretty different styles of trading. Especially if you’re a new trader, this exposure helps you get an idea what style of trading is a good fit for you. The negative is that it makes it harder to learn the methodology of a particular trader if they’re not in the room all the time. So this is one significant difference between SimplerFutures and other trading rooms who usually have only 1 or 2 people running the room, and who both use the same trading techniques.
Trade of the Week
One of our favorite features (available on all SimplerTrading memberships) is the ‘Trade of the Week’. The SimplerTrading traders take turns coming up with a trade of the week and doing a video review explaining their reasoning. Then some of the other traders post video responses giving their take on the ‘trade of the week’. They often bring in different types of analysis or give different techniques for taking the trade (using options for example).
Website and Member’s Area
Simpler Futures Member Area
The Simpler Trading website is very professional and full of nice features that all the Simple Trading family of rooms share. One key benefit is that all the trading room sessions are recorded and available in the archive. There is a ‘trade of the week’ which we already discussed. Also, there is a learning center will lots of free articles and information, premium videos on various topics are posted daily, there is a section devoted to Elliot Wave analysis, spreadsheets track the trades called in the room, and member webinars are held frequently and archived.
The learning center includes a lot that is ‘free’ with your membership, but there are also a lot of previous classes that you can only access by paying an additional fee. We found this frustrating at times, because some of the methodologies that are implemented in the room are only partially covered by the free material. As mentioned above, there is not really one primary methodology practiced in the room, and so to get the full benefit of your membership you may need to purchase an additional class or two which range in price from $50 to a few hundred dollars.
Many of the classes that can be purchased do have value outside of the trading room, and you can purchase them on the Simpler Trading website without having any kind of membership, but you get discounts if you do have a membership.
Summary
Overall, the Simpler Futures room is a premium trading room with just about all the features you could want, but it also comes at a premium price (usually $200/month). Fortunately, they usually offer 1 month trial memberships for $7.
This service is targeted at newer traders, but more experienced traders can definitely benefit also. Trade alerts (especially the Trade of the Week) are usually clear and not too difficult to follow. The moderators tend to be good teachers and give helpful commentary, and the other members are mostly friendly and helpful.
The main drawbacks are that the room moderators change throughout the day and use different trading styles so it is a little bit hard if you’re trying to learn Raghee Horner’s techniques but she’s only in the room part of the day. Also, you may need to purchase additional classes to fully understand some of the methodologies.
Pros:
- Trade of the Week
- Lots of extras like webinars, daily videos
- Trade Log
- Call trades in room, clear entry, stop, target. Trades are swing trades and daytrades, and usually easy to follow
- Very professional trading room software with a separate box for alerts
- Screen sharing
- Friendly and helpful members
- Lots of classes available to take, some prerecorded. But most of them cost extra money.
- Past trading sessions are recorded and archived
- Most of the Simpler Trading rooms have a one month trial for only $7
Cons:
- Different Traders in room at different times using different techniques. David Starr does Elliot Wave Analysis.
- Somewhat expensive. Most of the rooms are $200/month
- You may need to buy additional classes to fully understand some of the methodologies