Review by Simon, May 8, 2009

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I’ve subscribed to Chris Rowe’s Trend Rider service for 8 months or so… and i’m something like 13 for 17 so far on his pics. The guy’s technical analysis and introduction to the NYSE bullish percent index alone is worth the price of admission, and the education on options in his subscriber area is the best i have EVER SEEN, bar none. He has an incredible way of explaining a complicated subject and making it easy to understand.

Chris will send out an alert to buy a specific put/call, for a specific company, at a specific price, and tell you exactly why… with a short fundamental and technical analysis.

Then, he will update you periodically on it’s performance, and when the time is right he will tell you to sell at a specific price with a reason why.

I have found that you need to enter your options order within 20 minutes or so of his email, otherwise you may not get filled at the price he suggests, but even i have taken liberties with his pics. On 4 of those profitable occasions i have just sold when i got a ‘pop’ on an option and i was happy with the return. Then that freed up cash for the next pic… and on and on.

Review by snowram, September 28, 2009

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I had the opposite experience with trend rider and CRISS last year, most of the picks tanked and he lets options go all the way to worthless. Definitely not worth the 2k price tag for CHRISS or the trend rider subscription price. He may be having an ok run now, but last summer and fall it was a disaster.

Review by Snowram, September 28, 2009

BTW if your determined to take his CRISS course for 3,000, people are selling it for $100-200 on a few sites selling used courses.

Review by ingridann, September 30, 2009

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I also had a dismal experience with The Trend Rider. (My subscription started in June ‘08.) What bothered me most was seeing his teasers about the 80% win rate while I was losing money on his recommendations.I didn’t realize that his subscribers would drive up the price of the options, making an additional hurdle to overcome on the way to profits. Their customer service is very good, however, and I have an 18 month subscription that won’t expire until November. I just ignore his e-mails, and look at it as a lesson learned. Besides, it was through The Tycoon Report that I found Stock Gumshoe, and that was a good thing.

Review by jd, October 23, 2009

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If you are considering this subscription, ask for the overall return on the sample portfolio since its inception. If they are honest, it will be in the 3% range. They offer the CHRISS system which will teach you how to profit from options. But,wait, now there is options GPS. These guys know how to make money. By selling subscribtions to their advice columns and courses at a big price. I can make an accurate claim that you can make a 150% return at the black jack table. All you have to do is sit there and play until you get black jack. That is they way their advice works.

Review by BigJim, December 4, 2009

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Chris Rowe’s recommendations are big losers. I recently lost big time on his FAZ and TNDM recommendations then cancelled the service before the trial period was over. He gives useless technical insight on his picks as well as the market, and rarely updates his losing picks. He bets against good companies with tons of cash in a bull maket. He is clueless. He would not know good technical analysis if it was shot all over his face. SAVE YOUR MONEY!

Luckily I have had good success with another service that has made up for the Chris Rowe adventure. It is not an option advisory but includes top notch picks and updates with fully explained technical analysis. You can buy options on some of the picks but be careful to buy ones with high open interest and good daily volume only. All this only costs $100 for the first six months and $150 every six months after. The name of this service is: Trending 123 with John Lansing. It’s cheap and makes Chris Rowe look like Kindergarten. I would suggest paper trading or small positions until you get in the swing.

Review by Bob, December 10, 2009

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I tried this one for a few months. Every trade was a loser. (This is a case where high consistency is not a good thing.) To be sure, in the past month the stock market has been going nowhere so trades based on trends haven’t been likely to work. (Selling options rather than buying them has worked better for me lately.) But still, I’d expect better from a pricey newsletter like this.

Review by David Weinstein, December 30, 2009

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Chris Rowe is definitely a very smart analyst/money manager. He did have a crappy run this year without question. But I have been a subscriber since 2005 and he went some quarters with 95% win rates. He went through 05, 06 and 07 hitting about 4 out of5 winners.

08 was good in that right before the market tanked he BEGGED his subscribers to get bearish and at least don’t be bullish and this made me 7 figures in profits. He was a little better than even for 2008.

So when the guy has a bad year for 2009 I have to give him a pass. He has a system that works extremely well in most markets. Not the one we just saw in 2009.

I just made profits on an XME spread and on a relative strength pairs trade where he bet technology would outperform energy.

2009 definitely wasn’t his year. he had lots of profits on the table and failed to take them before they turned to losses - which in his defense he cut short before they became reallly bad.

As far as his commentary on the market goes, it’s the best there is out there. This guy has a very clear picture of what’s going on in the market and gives it in a very easy to understand manor. He’s a Wall Street money manager and I think he is out to do the right thing which is rare.

That’s it. So he had a bad 2009. that’s for sure. But before that he was, in fact, 4 out of 5 winners. And since 2009 was his 5th year in operation, I guess you can say that about his years in business too (4 out of 5 winners).

The folks here are being too hard on him.

David W. San Fran CA.

Review by jack, January 9, 2010

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Very poor performance.

Review by William Vanderford, January 14, 2010

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I just subscribed to Trend Rider after reviewing their educational emails for over a year. Chris Rowe trumpeted a great track record in his last email “Some good news & some bad news” including one 267% winner. After joining, ($750 for 3 mos) I reviewed the TR portfolio which goes back to 2005. The %267 ‘winner’ isn’t there at all and for 2009 there are many more losing trades than winners. Going back to 2005 still reveals a terrible track record with some 100% losers and many options expiring worthless. The only way to get a refund is call their “customer service” number and guess what? After a week of calling they have yet to return my calls. I may have to take legal action.

Review by Bonzai, February 22, 2010

I’m about 5 winners and 21 losers with this guy over the last 9 months. To break even on his pics right now i have to gain about 300%. (I typically put about $2000 or so into each pic and keep $8000 in cash as part of the trade like he teaches, so i need to make about $6000 to break even; i’m really only down a small percentage on my whole portfolio, but i’m still down in a 6 month bull market that has gone up 40% that sucks).

His technical analysis is actually very good, and it’s obvious he has a lot of experience, reading his commentaries, but he is on a horrible losing streak. That wasn’t always the case as David pointed out above, so i am confident once the market settles into some predictabilty again Chris will be back to 80% correct. As far as i can figure it, he’s had a bearish bias since July and went heavy into bearish trades in July and November. He was completely wrong, and his trades suffered.