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Honesty
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Quality
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Cost
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Support
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Verified Trades
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User Experience
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Summary
Yet another trading ‘mentor’ that professes to know “the secrets of trading penny stocks.” Materials for sale range from $397 for DVDs to ‘ultimate trader experience’ at $4,900.
The owner of the CSquared Trading, Ben Brinneman refuses to disclose personal trading performance. Refuses to answer any questions regarding prior trading history. Won’t even admit if he has a live trading account.
Claims to have been a former employee of US Bancorp as an “Institutional Bond Trader”, yet US Bancorp has no record of prior employment. US Bancorp recommended that we check Finra for registrations of Series 7, 53, 65, or 82. Finra.org has no information or registered licensing for ‘Ben Brinneman’ at US Bancorp.
Is affiliated with, and a student of well-known internet con artist named Tai Lopez.
Thanks for reading today’s review of CSquared Trading
What is CSquared Trading? The company is a trading educational company owned and operated by Ben Brinneman, out of North Carolina. The primary focus is trading penny stocks. The company is offering the following products and services:
- $397 DVD set
- $997 Trader Bootcamp
- $4,900 “total immersion, elite trading course, personal mentorship”
There is no “real-time” trading component. Rather, CSquared Trading appears to be sold as a ‘funnel’ product. In other words, a person starts with a special offer for an inexpensive primer on technical analysis. And then a serious of promotional offers begin to emerge. The client is taken through the sales funnel, where Ben attempts to curate a sense of trust and caring, with the final goal of closing the client for the $4,900 personal trading mentorship.
Ben Brinneman is a master at the ‘soft sell’. He is not a high-pressure guy. The image that he portrays through social media is one of wholesomeness, family man, gentle and kind.
History of CSquared Trading
A review of Archive.org reveals that the company first appeared on the trading educational scene sometime in 2009.
The company also occupies the following social media web properties:
No track record
During the months of December 2016, as well as February 2017, TradingSchools.Org reached out to Ben Brinneman of CSquared Trading and requested more information on his own personal trading results. The big question that we wanted to know, does this guy even trade? Does he have a track record? Has he ever displayed any form of success at trading stocks? Unfortunately, Ben ignored all questions regarding his own personal trading performance. All emails are embedded with live tracking links, so we could watch (in real time) as Ben opened the emails, and then a short time later, he would simply delete the emails.
It is important to note that our emails requesting performance information contain a very friendly tone, are non-accusatory and are simply trying to build an argument as to why we should invest thousands of dollars with Ben Brinneman and CSquared Trading. Unfortunately, Ben is not willing to talk about this. At any level.
In addition to not disclosing any personal trading performance, there are several other ‘red flags’ that prospective purchasers should be aware of.
Red Flags
Ben Brinneman, in multiple published articles, claims that prior to becoming a full-time trading mentor, he was an institutional bond trader with US Bancorp. That this experience served as the foundation for offering his institutional level trading education to the general public.
However, there seems to be no history of Ben Brenneman ever working at US Bancorp as an “institutional bond trader.” TradingSchools.Org contacted the human resources department at US Bancorp and requested confirmation of Ben Brenneman ever working as an institutional bond trader for the company, at any time. They responded that they have no records for a Ben Brenneman working for the bank.
US Bancorp also recommended that we contact Finra in an attempt to identify this person. They explained that anyone “trading bonds on behalf of US Bancorp would be required to register with Finra.Org, and would be required to have at least a Series 7. In addition, a person working in this capacity would also, more than likely be required to registered for the following licensing:
- Series 53: Municipal Bonds
- Series 65: Investment Advisor
- Series 82: Private Securities and Bonds offering
TradingSchools.Org scoured Finra and an attempt to discover the licensing history of Ben Brinneman, unfortunately, nothing appears to corroborate the self-professed history of Ben Brinneman.
Another Red Flag
In my opinion, the biggest red flag is Ben Brinneman’s affiliation with Tai Lopez. Many readers might not be familiar with Tai Lopez. He is an internet ‘celebrity’ that sells courses and instructional products on everything from picking up women, trading Forex to earn millions, trading stocks to earn millions, flipping real estate to earn millions, copying his internet marketing strategy to earn millions, starting an ant farm to earn millions, etc. etc.
Tai Lopez has been exposed countless times. He creates hundreds of clever marketing videos where he claims to own mansions, private jets, private yachts, rubs shoulders with celebrities, travels all over the world, etc. Its all a sham. A clever fraud. Everything is rented.
The Tai Lopez scam is a pretty simple and straight forward pyramid scheme. He proclaims to own some sort of ‘secret knowledge’ that you can purchase for a fee. If you refer your friends, and they purchase, you get a portion of the sales.
Tai Lopez also sells specialized marketing courses on “how to copy Tai Lopez” so that you can emulate his marketing techniques and overlay then onto whatever business you are currently involved. The guy is a scammer to the core. And you should be highly suspicious of anyone that affiliates themselves or professes to be a student of Tai Lopez. What genuinely worries me about Ben Brinneman is that he openly brags about being a student of Tai Lopez. Not a good sign.
Birds of a feather flock together.
I don’t want to become too sidetracked on Tai Lopez, but I will include a few ridiculous (100% fraudulent) promotional videos…
- Tai Lopez rental mansion, rental cars.
- Tai Lopez “get rich quick investing in real estate” course.
- Tai Lopez “get rich investing in gold.”
- Tai Lopez “how to get pick up women” course.
- Tai Lopez “all of my nice cars”
As you can see, Tai Lopez is quite the marketing charlatan. Am I translating the affiliation of Tai Lopez with Ben Brinneman to mean something more nefarious? Yes. In my opinion, both are selling the dream. The dream of financial success. Tai Lopez is a seasoned fraudster, and Ben Brinneman is more the ‘pan fry’ cheap version. A student of the master.
Wrapping Things Up
Many readers are curious why I am even writing about Ben Brinneman, on the surface, it appears that he is a ‘small fish’. However, what most readers do not realize is that Ben Brinneman of CSquaredTrading.com is a very active advertiser on YouTube.
In fact, for the past several weeks, I cannot seem to avoid his various marketing videos. All paid advertisements. I must admit, the marketing videos are done in good taste, and he makes no outrageous claims of trading success. But it is obvious that he is putting himself out onto the internet quite aggressively. Better to ask Ben the tough questions now, than to wait until dozens of people start complaining to TradingSchools.Org.
So to wrap things up and condense the review of CSquared Trading:
- No track record of investment success.
- Not willing to answer any questions about regarding trading history.
- Claims to have been an “Institutional bond trader at US Bancorp”, yet US Bancorp has no record of prior employment.
- Finra.org, the financial regulatory body has no record or licensing information regarding Ben Brinneman.
- Is a student of, and greatly admires a well-known marketing charlatan named Tai Lopez.
That’s it for today. Don’t forget to leave a comment below. And if you have ever purchased any of Ben’s materials, or have an opinion, would love to read it below.
I embarrassingly admit I was suckered into Ben’s charm and dropped $3000 to be privately mentored by him. Later to realize he had no material to offer except the videos he had online for everyone to see. Our phone calls were filled with vague information and fluff. During our “Mentoring” he became sidetracked into creating a business selling goods on Amazon. If you have $3000 I’d advise investing it on your own. If you lose it all you’ll end up in the same place I did – with nothning- but at least you’ll have learned something.
Ben is definitely a charming character.
I know it hurts to have blown $3k on ridiculousness. But at least you are in good company. I have been burned as well.
I once bought a magic Forex indicators and trade management EAs software package for $3000. The first day of trading is made $400 and then continued to lose money for the next four months when I finally pulled the plug and let it die. It did manage risk well though. I lost my $400 profit plus another $400 overall so it was great from a risk management perspective but not so good at the actual making money side of trading which is the part that’s kinda important.
Not sure why you’d need to buy Ben’s courses, since his free video provides one of what are considered the four “perfect” corners of trading, meaning you only need to use any one of the four to succeed from the first week forward.
EG: When you use finviz to find stocks uptrending for 3 months or more, (even more so with those in flag patterns, head-and-shoulders, fibonacci and Elliot wave, although THESE ARE NOT NECESSARY, simply a few months of uptrending), and they’re US only, Stocks only, above $20 to $40 minimum, and further use Finviz to sort them by “UP THE MOST,” then you’re looking at the best candidates. At least 1 to 5 of them are VERY likely to continue going up. So, buy the option CALLS, w/ about 25 to 35% of that amount also put into PUTS (to hedge), always 4-to-6 week expirations on CALLS, and this-week or next-week expirations on PUTS… and you will make money no less than 45 of every 52 weeks.
Ben gives most of this info for free, so, as stated, not sure why there’s a need to buy any of his courses. For all that, don’t see him as a scam, (although COMPLETELY agreeing that T. Lopez is 100% vomit-inducing con artist, imo, lol), since Ben DOES give some of the best info free, as inducement to buy.
So, never mind paying advisors or buying courses. Start modestly, you should make profit your first week, and pretty much every week.
BONUS: Once you get good, and your broker allows you to SELL options, simply sell in both directions at the same time, so you collect rent every single day, and make money every single week, regardless of which way a stock moves, or if it doesn’t move at all.
Thus and so, you have the Psychology of Shortcuts approach to investing by TRADING on a repeat basis. Ultimately, the house always wins, right? The way for YOU to be the house is to trade in both directions.
Curious to see if TradingSchools.org has the courtesy/integrity to include this free mega-million-dollar course in the preceding paragraphs, considering that all 32 of my students are making real coin using no less and little more than what this commentary contains. (Yes, we have a few cute refinements, but they reduce profit percentage slightly in order to further reduce risk and increase certainty of winning every week after week after week. My name? Who cares? My C.V.? Who cares? This info is about you, and costs nothing. Great energy to the most noble of your efforts……
Oh, one more: Newton’s 3rd law is among the few near-perfect laws of life. “Investing” 20 OR MORE percent of your profits into PURE (no-load) charities, where kids get fed, ala TheHungerSite, or get cleft palate surgery (TheSmileTrain), assures you that your wealth will grow far more than you ever imagined, and in more ways than you can guess…. until you actually do it.
Thanks to TS.org for some good posts… and the opportunity to share here.
“To imitate the results of those you most admire,
relentlessly imitate their actions.”
Just one I’d like to read one of these types of posts that begins with “I’ve sent my brokerage statements for the last 12 months so that Emmett can verify my claims.” I mean why wouldn’t you just do that? It’s so simple and it would shut people like me up. First “Shortcut” rule in life that will guarantee you avoid pain and regret in trading is to trust no one and don’t believe any claim that is not backed up with incontrovertible proof.
Even if the proof looks incontrovertible, look at it with unmitigated suspicion, and take another look. Trust but verify!
First “Shortcut” rule in life that will guarantee you avoid pain and regret in trading is to trust no one and don’t believe any claim that is not backed up with incontrovertible proof.
The aforementioned statement is more valuable if taken to heart than any information you can buy on the internet. Trading and life lessons seem to be intermingled. There is no holy grail in life and you will not find it in trading. Especially, from someone trying to sell it to you for a new low price on the internet. Trust no one and verify before parting with your money.
I met Ben around 2010 and quickly realized he is 100% full of sh*t. He has no experience trading. He is a compulsive liar.
I wouldn’t let him walk my dog let alone give me investing advice!
He has no clue.
Good work!
I’d never heard of this site. I looked up cquared on youtube and I don’t see too many videos. It struck me that he doesn’t come across too slick, like the videos were lazily retread of free stuff from the web. He has a recent video and looks kind of depressed or had a bad night’s sleep or a bad live trading session. Maybe he’s tired of being a tradingschool sham vendor and wished he could quit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQFFEhGPD6c