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written by reader Oxford Club’s Mark Litchfield’s teaser on Lighting Trend Trader.

By xiexgp, June 2, 2014

Is there really a way for anyone to get information on the FDA’s announcements on their approval or disapproval for drugs? That to me sounds like insider stuff, what do you think
Lou Pre32

This is a discussion topic or guest posting submitted by a Stock Gumshoe reader. The content has not been edited or reviewed by Stock Gumshoe, and any opinions expressed are those of the author alone.

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Observer
Observer
June 2, 2014 6:04 pm

I subscribe to Marc Lichtenfeld’s “Lightning Trend Trader” service, and I haven’t seen any evidence that Marc actually claims to have “insider” information. If he does have such access, he’s certainly using it to very poor affect. Prime example: He recommended puts on MannKind back in March, because he was virtually certain the FDA would reject one of its drugs, and then wrote that he was “stunned” when an FDA committee voted to approve the drug in April – the puts expired worthless. I posted the following elsewhere on Stock Gumshoe today:
My impression is that Marc Lichtenfeld of Oxford Club is a smart guy and works hard – but my advice is to be very careful about subscribing to one of his “premier” services. So far this year, in his “Lightning Strike” service he has had the following results:
Recommendation #1 stock – currently up 25%
#2 stock – sold for a loss (price dropped and hit its 25% sell stop)
#3 stock – sold for a loss
calls – sold for a loss
#4 puts – 100% loss
#5 stock – sold for a loss
#6 stock – sold for a loss
#7 puts – presently down – 70%
#8 stock – sold for a loss
calls – sold for a loss
#9 stock – currently up + 6%
#10 stock – currently up + 2%
calls – essentially even (depending on entry price)
#11 stock – down 2%
calls – down 17% below recommended entry limit

And yet this “service” is being VERY heavily hyped right now by Oxford Club and Marc. To quote Marc: “The people who act on my recommendations are doing exceptionally well.” That might have been true last year – I gather it was, though his “service” was then called “Healthcare Profits Alert,” which apparently attracted few subscribers – but his results over the last 4 months don’t even remotely match up to that. Yet he says “people…are doing” (present tense) exceptionally well – which is just pure nonsense.
I’m not sure why this type of thing doesn’t actually cross the line into illegal false advertising – his “present” results certainly don’t qualify as “exceptionally well” under any usage of the English present tense. (I sent Marc a note asking why he didn’t at least wait until he had one result – one single result – that merited the hype before launching an aggressive marketing campaign – no response.) I think these guys (in the newsletter business) are lucky they seem to fall under SEC scrutiny (but very very rarely) rather than the FTC – which it seems like they should since they’re marketing a “product.”
Clear case of buyer beware…. The warning “past performance is no guarantee of future results” has never been truer.

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ggswift
August 5, 2015 10:53 am
Reply to  Observer

Seems that you can lose your money , “Lightning Fast!”

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SoGiAm
August 5, 2015 11:12 am
Reply to  ggswift

Hi Gerald! Interested in biotechnology? We’d be pleased to have you join us on the current biotech thread here: http://www.stockgumshoe.com/2015/07/biodimsum-iii-keep-on-rockin-in-the-gummune/ Best2YaAlways_Ben

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Alison
Member
Alison
June 3, 2014 12:45 am

I also would like to know why it is legal to state that the service has had 100% gains every 4 months in the year he has been doing this. He charts company after company that he predicted correctly.

Observer
Observer
June 4, 2014 9:15 pm
Reply to  Alison

Alison: Marc Lichtenfeld is talking about his results during the year 2013 – his “service” was actually called “Healthcare Profits Alert” at that time. I have no way to check his claims, so I have to take it (absent evidence otherwise) that he is at least being somewhat accurate. Because the service was not attracting enough subscribers, Marc’s service was “rebranded” in Feb. 2014 as “Lightning Trend Trader.” Whether this makes it a “new” service, or just an essentially uninterrupted continuation of the old one – well, certainly new subscribers can only go by “Lightning Trend Trader” results to judge performance.
My complaint (in recent e-mails to Marc and Oxford Club) is with his claim in his promotional hype (I’ve been getting it several times daily – same recorded presentation by Marc) that his subscribers “are doing” (present tense) “exceptionally well.” As I wrote in my e-mails, if that’s not fraud, it’s borderline fraud in my humble opinion. (And I had pretty direct knowledge of the SEC case against Porter Stansbury in which he was convicted of fraud in like 2007 and fined $1.5 million. The circumstances are vastly different, but I personally think the underlying principle of truth in advertising is the same. Unfortunately, the SEC gets involved in this kind of thing almost never. So, as Travis knows, newsletter publishers get away with this kind of thing all the time.)

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ecraig
Irregular
ecraig
June 3, 2014 10:44 am

Found this post from Observer useful info. Does anyone have insights on the most recent Lichtenfeld promo of 3 bio techs? My summary below:
Mark Lichtenfeld is promoting with Oxford Club his ‘Lightening Trend Trader’ strategy for a $1495 VIP service. His ‘lightening strike’ is a catalytic event driving average 100% growth every 4 months, mainly bio techs. Currently, he is promoting 3 opportunities to entice new subscribers:
First is a $6 billion California-based ‘team player’ (collaboration agreements with AstroZenica, Biogen, Bristol Meyers Squib, Eli-Lilley, ..Genzyme and GlaxoSmithKline), and a pipeline of 28 cardiovascular, neurological and metabolic diseases, as well as cancer,
Second is his ‘home run play’, a small-cap lung and liver cancer treatment company with ‘incredibly positive clinical phase results’, which recently began phase 3 trials on its catalyst – a colorectal cancer treatment which has ‘already happened’, promising a doubling or 200% or more….
The third promoted company is a California company with ‘182’ staff, revolutionizing how our bodies fight cancer. Purportedly, Institutional investors like Blackrock and Vanguard have taken ‘big’ positions.
The promo finishes by holding out the promise of a $973 million company with more clinical drugs in development ‘than you can imagine’, expected to triple.
It would be nice when the Gumshoe sleuth returns from holidays, to hear what he thinks of the Lichtenfeld performance record, and whether he can tease out some of these firms awaiting their ‘lightning strike’.

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Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe
June 3, 2014 11:18 am
Reply to  ecraig

Lichtenfeld has been all over the map in terms of what kinds of stocks he teases, from biotechs to more staid income investments. Haven’t looked at these yet, though the first one is very likely Isis Pharmaceuticals… which was a $6 billion company three months ago but is a $3 billion company now.

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april39
June 4, 2014 6:43 pm

Living near San Diego I bought on the news @ $27, sold @ $40 then watched it soar to $60 saying ” You fool” all the way up. However a couple weeks ago I saw it @ $ 23 so rebought planning on selling around $40. It’s hitting a lot of resistance trying to make $30 so we shall see.

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april39
June 5, 2014 2:58 pm
Reply to  april39

As usual 75 yr.old. CFIDS me left out ISIS which hit $30 today. I’ll put in a stop and watch 6/5/2014. jla

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Observer
Observer
June 4, 2014 9:50 pm
Reply to  ecraig

Craig: See my comment above to Alison. I can’t easily connect the descriptions you mention with any companies Marc has recommended in Lightning Trend Trader – though it’s a little hard wading through all of his “alerts” to try to find wording that might match your summaries. If he has actually recommended any of those companies, they quickly dropped out of his “portfolio” when they hit their 25% sell stops (I have copies of every one of his recommendations). He has definitely not recommended ISIS Pharmaceuticals as part of “Lightning Trend Trader.” Since he has been doing so abysmally with biotech companies, Marc has recently added an energy services company to his picks (up a few cents since his recommendation).
He wrote today that he “should” have a new pick out “next week” after more research. Doesn’t sound like that would be one of the four “opportunities” you mention. At this point, find it hard to imagine why anyone would want to pay $1,495 for Marc’s string of losers (I’m still in my “trial period,” so can get a refund). Marc runs at least two other services at Oxford Club – but I have no idea what his actual results might be for those.

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Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe
June 5, 2014 10:56 am
Reply to  Observer

These teaser ad pitches sometimes include stock stories that are no longer included in the actual newsletter’s portfolio, though that’s fairly rare — stories that work to get investors’ attention and sell newsletters are re-used all the time, often for many years, though those are more typical from the newsletters that are longer-term focused. In any case, any biotech-focused newsletter that holds anything but the largest companies and uses tight trailing stops of anything less than 50% would have likely sold out of almost their entire portfolio in March or April this year.

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Observer
Observer
June 5, 2014 12:58 pm

Lightning Trend Trader focuses on small companies with new products in R&D, and uses a 25% trailing stop – and suffered the fate noted by Travis for biotechs in March/April and even May. Several of Oxford Club’s “premium” services have found it impossible to live up to their widely exaggerated hype this year, even outside the biotech sector. Alex Green’s “True Value Alert” is another (like Lightning Trend Trader) that in 2014 has vastly underperformed its hype to “provide dozens of opportunities to double your money all year long.” It hasn’t provided a SINGLE one in months.

Mike
Guest
Mike
January 24, 2015 4:17 pm
Reply to  Observer

Dear Observer
I wouldn’t hold your breath about getting out of Oxford Club. I bought into their programme as a initiate investor and tried several of their newsletters on the understanding that I could get out and have my money back “with no questions asked”.
I have written them four times and tried to phone them, only to be told that I must phone them, “because of the nature of your e-mails.”
well when I finally got the opportunity to call them, (I work in remote areas), within their state open times, I was told that “the office is closed for a team meeting)
During working hours? Anyway, as far as I am concerned they are a worthless bunch who do not honour their word.

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Observer
Observer
January 25, 2015 11:41 am
Reply to  Mike

Mike: that hasn’t been my experience with Oxford Club at all. I entered subscriptions to the “premium” services True Value Alert and Lightning Trends Trader and got full refunds during my “trial” period with no problem at all. (As well as refunds for “less premium” services Goldstone Strike and Peak Energy.) If it’s still an issue with you, try sending an e-mail to nhurd@viptradinggroup.com. I have major issues with the way Oxford Club hypes its premium services – just as absurdly as is typical for the “industry” when they claim the high moral ground about their products – but I think their basic approach to investing (their Communique, for instance) is excellent.

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Greta Jimenez
Guest
Greta Jimenez
June 10, 2014 12:08 pm
Reply to  ecraig

1st is ISIS
2nd is ARQL
Somebody help with 3rd and 4th!

Observer
Observer
June 13, 2014 9:26 pm
Reply to  Greta Jimenez

Greta: I’m not sure I see what the point is in trying to guess the 4 “great opportunities” being hyped by Marc Lichtenfeld. As I listed above, he has an abysmal record so far with his Lightning Trend Trader service. And ISIS and ARQL are NOT among his recommendations, in any event. (They must be REALLY poor choices if they haven’t even made it into his dismal “service.”) In fact, in looking at his archive of recommendations, it appears he has never recommended ISIS or ARQL as part of his service – it was called Firstline Investor Alert from Jan 2012 to Feb 2013, and then Healthcare Profits Alert from Feb 2013 to Feb 2014, when it was “rebranded” Lightning Trend Trader.
It’s not totally unprecedented for one of the Oxford Club “premium” services to overhype a stock or two that never make the actual “portfolio” concerned, but it seems highly unusual for Marc to use such exaggerated hype for four stocks that, from what I can tell, have never made his portfolio of recommendations – especially since the four stocks make up the bulk of his wildly exaggerated presentation. Clearly, newsletter “services” such as these can’t, or won’t, make the effort to “edit” their exaggerated hype to conform to reality – they just use the same hyped presentation over and over for months on end, regardless of actual results. I always wonder if people like Marc ever get even mildly embarrassed when their work falls so short of their exaggerated claims. (“Back testing,” used regularly by such newsletters, is one of the biggest frauds, of course – in an industry where the prime warning is “past performance is no guarantee of future results.”)

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Greta Jimenez
Guest
Greta Jimenez
June 28, 2014 3:11 pm
Reply to  Observer

I have been considering subscribing to ML’s Lightning trend since I came across his video in early June ’14. I easily figured out his main teaser teaser to be GWPH and on 6/4/14 bot at $67.50. I decided to be disciplined rather than greedy and sold less than 2 weeks later 6/17/14 at $90.25 for a 33% profit. (It closed yesterday at >$96.)
On 6/6/14 bot ISIS at $30. It closed yesterday at $35.44
On 6/11/14 bot ARQL at $4.05. it is $1.46 now .
Needless to say I was impressed, and looked to Gumshoe to see if anyone figured out the rest of the teasers! Thanks for pointing out ML’s current performance; it is sobering. I might still subscribe if ARQL turns out to be a correct guess and I make more than enough to cover the subscription!
P.s. Oncomed OMED might be the other teaser, the one that Blackstone and Vanguard are quietly accumulating shares of. ML didn’t give too many clues, so this is a guess. Interesting, teaser state co has 182 employees while Oncomed has 91, per Yahoo biz. Perhaps since the IPO of 2013, the # employees doubled ? Reasonable assumption.

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Observer
Observer
June 28, 2014 7:08 pm
Reply to  Greta Jimenez

Curiouser and curiouser: as a subscriber, I can reaffirm, with absolute certainty, that ISIS and ARQL have ‘never’ been part of Marc’s portfolio – I haven’t searched back for OMED, so am not sure about that one, but it has certainly not been recommended by Marc since at least Feb. 2014 in his actual portfolio and periodic “alerts.” It seems to defy “logic” for companies hyped so heavily in such Oxford Club promo material not to be included in the respective portfolio – as Travis said, it’s rare – but I know of two other cases like that with another Oxford Club “premium” service. Interesting thing about GWPH is that Marc can’t claim much “success” for that one. He recommended it early in the year, but the price was driven down by the downturn in biotechs and hit his “trailing stop,” so he strongly recommended selling GWPH out of his LT portfolio in late March for about a 5% gain is all. Marc has not recommended it again. (While GWPH clearly rebounded, others that also hit their “training stops” and were sold have clearly not.) Marc’s current LT portfolio has: stock -1.6%; stock +3%; stock -5.7%; stock +12.9%; stock +9.4%; ETF calls -92% (the latter is not strictly an option play, but Marc’s recommended “hedge” against a continued downturn in the biotech sector included in his “official” portfolio). Marc also recommends option plays in his LT service: three are currently down; one is up. He doesn’t “track” his option recommendations regularly, but highlight when they go way up – and notes when they need to be sold.

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JEN
JEN
June 15, 2014 1:45 pm

Many thanks to Observer for a very useful post. I’ve learned to avoid any service that advertises great results but will not state a verifiable trading record outright (i.e. number of recommendations, actual recommended dates in and out and real gain/loss for each). It would have been very little additional effort for Mr. Lichtenfeld to simply state “I made x number of recommendations in 2013 with “y” losers and “z” winners” followed by a graphic of the actual recommendations/results…if the presentation was honest. In the scramble to obtain subscribers in the financial newsletter industry, folks with something to hide will generally only tout their winners and do their best to hide their actual trading record while implying something that isn’t supported by fact. I don’t recall Mr. Lichtenfeld even once mentioning a loss in his presentation. This nebulous 100.1 percent “average” which he touts over and over is a type of statistical manipulation often used to disguise the truth. I think he mentioned one options trade with a 775% return as well as multiple additional triple digit winners well in excess of 100% yet he averaged a 100% return overall. I can only conclude, in the absence of additional data, he had more losers than winners in 2013 and based on Observers experience, I’d say things have gone from bad to (much) worse for Mr. Lichtenfeld in 2014. There are many additional ways to manipulate the stats to hide reality. I can’t say for sure that Mr. Lichtenfeld is employing them but based on the results Observer experienced and the way in which Mr. Lichtenfeld presents his case, I wouldn’t bet against it. Suffice to say (my opinion) the spectacular returns Mr. Lichtenfeld touts are largely smoke and mirrors and most who sign up for his newsletter will not see results like that. Observer’s advice is solid. I would stay away from this “service.”

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Observer
Observer
July 17, 2014 9:06 pm
Reply to  JEN

Marc’s “Lightning Trend Trader” portfolio continues to sink – though I’m no longer a subscriber so can’t comment on any recommendations since 2 Jul, when I cancelled (my full refund was my biggest “gain” of all with Marc). Of the recommendations in Marc’s portfolio as of 2 July, the following reflects where they stood at end of day 17 July:
EFT calls: now down -92% (his “hedge” against weakness in the biotech sector)
stock: up +11.3%
stock: up +5%; calls +6%
stock: down -8.7%; calls down -39%
stock: down -3.5%; calls down -32%
stock: down -23%; calls down -52%
stock: down less than 1%; calls down -11.7%
In the last “alert” I received, Marc explained why he was NOT recommending ISIS for his portfolio…so it not one of those listed above..
Biotech stocks continue to suffer – and that is Marc’s overriding focus in LTT – so it’s hard to imagine why anyone would want to subscribe. Clearly, buyer beware…

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Alan Harris
Guest
Alan Harris
July 20, 2014 2:45 pm
Reply to  Observer

Well, in his latest teaser he mentions these and gives the impression that theyre his picks: NPSP, CLDX, ASTX, LCI, INO, PBXI, ACAD, ONXX. ICPT, CGEN, MU.
Its easy to pick winners in hindsight eh!

Observer
Observer
July 20, 2014 5:56 pm
Reply to  Alan Harris

As of 2 July – only 2-3 weeks ago, when I cancelled my subscription – Marc had NOT recommended ANY of the stocks you list with the single exception of CLDX in his Lightning Trend Trader (LTT) portfolio. If he highlights CLDX as an example of his prowess in his LTT service, that’s completely absurd…and shameless. I believe he recommended it in a previous service, but so what? What he has done with it this year is far more significant. (The MOST prominent admonition in the business, about ANY investment anywhere – and Oxford Club uses it as well – is of course “past performance is no guarantee of future success.”) Marc recommended CLDX on 29 April of this year when it was at $14.54, but (despite Marc’s high expectations and predictions for the company) the stock was “stopped out” of his LTT portfolio less than 2 weeks later when it fell below its “trailing stop” of $11.09; subscribers were strongly urged to sell the stock then at a 24% loss. If that’s a “lightning strike,” to use Marc’s term, it’s one in the wrong direction. The stock has recovered a bit, but is still only at $12.85. Sharp drops have been very typical of most of Marc’s LTT picks, focused on biotech stocks: e.g. TKMR was recommended in March at $22.41, hit its “stop” in mid-April (sold out of the LTT portfolio), and is now at $9.34. Marc’s superhyped promos for his LTT “service” — especially his claim that his subscribers “are” (present tense) doing “exceptionally well” — continue to defy belief…ad nauseam is a perfect descriptor. As I mentioned, my subscription refund was my biggest “winner” in 4 months with the LTT “service,” in which Marc claims he will provide subscribers with great winners regularly.

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Alan Harris
Guest
Alan Harris
July 21, 2014 5:09 am
Reply to  Observer

Oh I forgot……he’s now recco’ing GWPH, but not as part of the portfolio (?), just as a first intro taste. At 83.54 this a m, it looks a little late and the chart has ‘Dive!’ written all over it !

Observer
Observer
July 21, 2014 9:39 pm
Reply to  Observer

Alan: I asked Oxford Club once why some stocks hyped in their promos are not always included in the respective portfolios = which one would assume would be the case – and was told they are “bonus” recommendations intended to “supplement” the actual portfolios and give subscribers more choices. I find that hard to believe (most likely pure BS) and think it’s just that such companies like Oxford Club just don’t want to take the time and effort to update their promo hype when an included stock tanks or gives any sign of not doing well – and there are no adverse consequences if they don’t. As I noted above: Interesting thing about GWPH is that Marc can’t claim much “success” for that one. He recommended it early in the year, but the price was driven down by the downturn in biotechs and hit his “trailing stop,” so he strongly recommended selling GWPH out of his LTT portfolio in late March for about a 5% gain is all. Marc completely missed the sharp rise in GWPH as its price nearly doubled to like $105. Probably not a good sign that it’s now down some 20% from there.

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butitom
butitom
August 20, 2014 2:36 am
Reply to  Observer

Hi All:
Sorry in advance for the lengthy post but thought I should provide a little background since I don’t expect this to be my last post (I promise they will be infrequent and shorter).
I am a recent (less than 1 month) Irregular with a diverse background including a BS in Biological Science in addition to an MBA and years of the relatively easy to read Scientific American in the days when I enjoyed the pure science and R&D for its own sake. With the growth of the internet and the wealth of information online, the periodicals no longer come to my home, but bottom line is I understand enough about the risks in Pharma and Biotech that I sleep for a long time on anyone’s recommendation in these sectors unless they already have a significant cash flow generating drug(s) on the market to minimize the need to issue additional shares and dilute the ownership. That would eliminate many of the stocks profiled here and by Dr. KSS, but I cannot say enough positive things about what I have learned in just a few weeks reading Dr. KSS ‘s “novellas” and the blog feedback from so many sharp (and humorous) people. It will take months to catch up. As an investor I am reaching further out on the risk plane now, balancing my income picks with some more speculative plays, and there will be a wealth of great ideas here on small biotech’s, high tech, and miners/materials stocks to invest for the future.
I had to reply in defense of M. Lichtenfield however, although Travis alluded to his strengths earlier in one of these threads. I would like to point out to the skeptics that Marc knows his income stocks. I have been a long term Oxford subscriber (at their top premium level so I have access to all of their services) for several years (since about the time of the 2008 crash). I am invested in only a small fraction of their selections, but I find a wealth of ideas there that with due diligence and my own research I have found to be a successful source of information.
Just as a general reflection of the success of Marc’s income picking prowess, he has three different income portfolios with a slightly different investing objective in each, partially depending upon how far away an investor is from retirement. They all have outstanding results so far (although we have not experienced a major market correction since I have been a subscriber so it remains to be seen what happens next).
In his Instant Income portfolio, which emphasizes higher yielding stocks, but not normally a lot of growth potential, he has 8 stocks, all of them up more than double digits (DD), and most of them outstanding successes. And this is from stocks that were not supposed to have a lot of growth potential (shows how desperate everyone is for yields from quality companies). The Retirement Catchup / High Yield portfolio, which also emphasizes high yielding stocks but with the hope they will generate growth as well, there are 8 stocks, 7 of them DD gainers, and ironically the only loser in the group is a pharma stock (which I am also taking a recent beating on for reasons that could not have been predicted based on public knowledge or 10K material). The Compound Income Portfolio which is designed for younger investors and balances in more long term growth potential (with the assumption one will reinvest the dividends) has 15 stocks, only 1 minor loser that is the most recent pick, and of the 14 winners 10 are DD.
As they say, don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater and just because someone cannot pick volatile biotech stocks does not mean they can’t provide meaningful investment advice.
I look forward to learning more from this site in the next year than I learned from the Oxford service in 5-6 years.

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Alan Harris
Guest
Alan Harris
July 28, 2014 2:52 pm

Observer: Im not sure if your’e an Irregular (a whole $49 and the best you will ever spend!!) Look at the KSS bio threads. Never mind lightening, this is pure gold!!
http://www.stockgumshoe.com/2014/07/the-gain-from-pain-mainly-explained-part-one/

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Alan Harris
Guest
Alan Harris
August 20, 2014 1:07 pm

Hi Thomas….you are MOST welcome here. I look fwd to your comments on KSS threads (but until he knows your credentials, he can be a little ‘dismissive’). Can I suggest you cut and paste this comment there. Im sure he keeps a villians list and feel you will be on the white list. 🙂

butitom
butitom
August 21, 2014 2:05 pm
Reply to  Alan Harris

Alan: Thanks for the welcome. I will restrain myself for awhile on comments on Dr. KSS thread. I allowed my respect for him to get the better of my due diligence and got pulled into the whole NBY fiasco this week because I was too busy to do my own DD and it sounded like such a unique opportunity. Unlike some on that thread I am not blaming him, but I am not one to mince words sometimes, especially when I am angry at myself and I frequently find myself being misunderstood. So if you don’t see any posts for awhile, I am going through a cooling down period. I still hope to absorb enough overall knowledge to make up 100 times over for this one week of poor judgement. Glad the NBY marketing machine found a way yesterday to get out the article about the casino worker saved from necrotizing fasciitis -wasn’t an emotional total loss.

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Alan Harris
Guest
Alan Harris
August 21, 2014 2:20 pm
Reply to  butitom

Ah NBY! Something to remember about Gumshoe….its NOT a tip sheet. Its an information sharing sheet which assists your DD. But I’ll agree that if one was lazy/tight for time, and just followed the euphoria, it was a catastrophe.
I was v lucky. I believe most bio investors do not have knowledge/access to the science info (we are VERY lucky) so they play the FDA announcements game. So by the time the announcements made, 80% of approval is priced in. So I tend to sell just before the announcement. Ok, so I may lose 20% of the potential profit but that’s a small price to pay for insurance against it going tits up and losing 80% of my capital. I like those odds. Kss first mentioned it in March, so I got out of NBY @$1.23 with a good profit. Phew!!

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Observer
Observer
August 20, 2014 3:13 pm

Thomas: Found your comments interesting and informative – if only Oxford Club advertised its premium services something like that, which of course they don’t. It’s of course not really a “defense” of Marc Lichtenfeld in the context of this thread, which is specifically about his Lightning Trend Trader service – in which his results have been truly woeful (or at least as of 2 July when I cancelled and got a refund). He completely missed it on MannKind, Tekmira, Synergy, and others – and had his subscribers out of GW Pharma for like a 5% gain not too long before it doubled in value. Not exactly the results of someone investors should want to pay good money for stock advice – in this service at least. Personally, the fact that Marc continued to hype his LTT service ad nauseam based on last year’s results was/is a disgrace (same thing for Alex Green in his True Value service). But, I know full well how these things go. I still subscribe to three Oxford Club services, and have been involved with Oxford Club off and on for about 14 years. But I still find the advertising of their premium services nauseating – and, frequently, completely misleading. Just the nature of the business, unfortunately. (As a prime example, I closely followed Porter Stansbury’s conviction for fraud, which he appealed up to the Supreme Court and lost.)

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butitom
butitom
August 21, 2014 2:14 pm
Reply to  Observer

Observer, thanks for the feedback. I can corroborate your facts about the LTT service this year and thought I should at least do that even though I don’t want to share on this site specific recommendations that I paid the service for. I probably have some legal restriction in fine print somewhere to not do that anyway. Personally I never listen to the marketing spiels / videos from Oxford or anyone else. Its almost as if they are produced by a completely different company. I mean what is the point? If they are going to offer up these great ideas to the general public for a free guaranteed money back period, then how good can they be? Might as well throw a dart at the wal. All of these newsletter promotions are at risk of pump and dump investors even if that was not the intent of the service doing the advertising. I will grant that some of those picks are going to hit the bullseye, but most will not. And now that I am an Irregular here, I can just wait for Travis or someone else to do the real analysis for me, even if I unknowingly I already have access to the recommendation through the premium service.

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Observer
Observer
August 21, 2014 3:36 pm
Reply to  butitom

Thomas: Interesting comments. I don’t name recommended stocks/options from the Oxford Club services to which I subscribe until after that stock/option has been sold/expired – as you’ll see in my 17 Jul post above. For the same reason you mentioned. But I have no hesitation about naming names afterwards – exactly as Oxford Club does in its overhyped advertising: they just play up the successes for all their worth (and way beyond), while I note the downsides. I actually think Marc’s advertising for his LTT service borders on the fraudulent (and yes, I get the impression from my contacts/complaints with Oxford Club that those who “run” the services are well aware of their advertising, so I hold them “responsible”). He still claims that his LTT subscribers “are” (present tense) doing “exceptionally well” – which is utter nonsense. Same sorta thing with Alex Green and his True Value service – results this year didn’t even remotely match the hype. And yet, I have the highest respect for Alex and his conservative investing approach in the Oxford Club Communique. The premium services – less so. Personally, I’m trying to take my “risk plane” into options, which is a whole lot trickier – and on which premium services like Marc and Alex offer have had considerable difficulty this year even remotely living up to their highly exaggerated hype. Unfortunately, the only “regulation” of the industry seems to be by the SEC (though they did get Porter Stansbury) – Oxford Club et al would have a whole lot more trouble with their hyped ad claims, presumably, if the FTC ever got involved. I’m a believer in “truth in advertising.”

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Alan Harris
Guest
Alan Harris
August 21, 2014 3:51 pm
Reply to  Observer

Truth in advertising???? Isnt that an oxymoron.

Observer
Observer
August 21, 2014 4:07 pm
Reply to  Alan Harris

Alan: Thanks for the chuckle…you are, of course, absolutely right. I actually testified for the SEC in a related aspect of their successful case against Porter Stansbury (and had the pleasure of “congratulating” Porter by e-mail on getting his comeuppance), so I guess I was inclined at one time to think “something” might be possible — even if I know very well that expecting anything meaningful is a complete illusion. Hope springs eternal…. (There was also a case in Vermont, way back when, in which a tipster named Terry something was fined for his misdeeds – but it happens, oh, once a decade maybe.) I don’t get too unhappy about it, except occasionally.

aye
Guest
aye
August 27, 2014 10:06 pm

im new to investing with real money-on-the-line. anyone here have comment/experience with alex greens’ “golden cross” investment method?
i had heard something of this technique years ago as being popular in the orient- i never tried it, and now find it here- offered a-la alex green. what say you experienced/knowledgeable folk?

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Alan Harris
Guest
Alan Harris
August 28, 2014 8:10 am
Reply to  aye

Aye: Your wish is our command…..see below.

Alan Harris
Guest
Alan Harris
August 28, 2014 6:25 am
Otto Schlemder
Guest
Otto Schlemder
September 3, 2014 7:37 pm

Somehow I made a mistake subscribing to the Lightning Trend Trader. The Oxford income letter subscription is OK. Is it possible to cancel The Lightning Trend Trader and get the $749.00 US refunded?

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Alan Harris
Guest
Alan Harris
September 4, 2014 2:31 am
Reply to  Otto Schlemder

Surely thats a question you need to ask them…and quickly coz all offers expire.

Observer
Observer
September 4, 2014 2:49 am
Reply to  Otto Schlemder

Otto: If you are still within your “money-back-guarantee” period (usually, 90 days from subscribing), the answer of course is yes, definitely. Just call up “customer service,” and it should be pretty straight-forward. While Oxford Club normally takes out a 10% “processing fee” in such cases with its “premium” services, Marc waived that fee for his Lightning Trend Trader service…or at least at the time I subscribed. (I complained about Marc’s widely exaggerated hype, and woeful results, before my 90 days were up, and had my “trial period” extended to 120 days, but still canceled, and got a full refund, at the end of that 120-day period.) Even if you are past your “money-back” period, think it is still possible to get a refund if you make your dissatisfaction clear enough. I was very unhappy with Alex Green’s True Value Alert service – another of the Oxford Club “services” with results this year not remotely close to the wild hype – and got a refund even after my 90-day “trial” period had ended. If that fits your situation, suggest you express your great unhappiness, and request a refund, by sending an e-mail to Nathan Hurd, “director of Trading Services”: nhurd@viptradinggroup.com

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