Is the ITPM PTM Course Worth It? An Honest Review in 2025
Richard Sarsfield
Institutional Investment Professional & ITPM Affiliate
If you're considering the ITPM Professional Trading Masterclass, you've probably spent hours reading opinions from people who've never actually taken the course. This is different. I've completed the PTM, passed the exam, and have been applying the methodology in live markets for years. Here's my honest assessment.
What Is the PTM?
The Professional Trading Masterclass is ITPM's flagship programme, created by Anton Kreil — a former Goldman Sachs trader who left the City to build what he saw as the trading education industry's first genuinely professional offering. The PTM isn't a course about candlestick patterns or moving average crossovers. It's a comprehensive education in how institutional traders and portfolio managers actually approach markets.
The course is delivered through a series of video modules covering macro economics, portfolio construction, risk management, and the complete ITPM trade process. It's designed to take someone from a retail trading mindset to a professional one.
What You Actually Learn
The PTM is built around one core principle: macro economics drives everything. Every professional trader at every serious institution starts with the macro picture. The PTM teaches you this framework from the ground up.
The Macro Framework
This is the heart of the course. You learn how to analyse the global economy — business cycles, central bank policy, interest rates, inflation, employment data — and translate that analysis into actionable trading views. Most retail traders skip this entirely. Professionals never do.
Long/Short Portfolio Construction
Instead of just buying stocks and hoping they go up, you learn to build portfolios that profit from relative performance. If you think tech will outperform energy, you go long tech and short energy. The portfolio approach means you're not just making directional bets — you're capturing spreads and managing risk professionally.
Volatility Assessment
Understanding volatility — both implied and realised — is something most retail traders ignore completely. The PTM teaches you how professionals use volatility to assess risk, size positions, and identify opportunities. This module alone changed how I approach every trade.
The Full Trade Process
From macro thesis to sector analysis to individual stock selection to position sizing — the PTM walks you through the complete process. No other course I've seen provides this level of systematic, repeatable methodology.
Who Is It For?
The PTM is for anyone serious about learning how financial markets actually work. That includes:
- Retail traders who are tired of losing money with technical analysis and want to understand why professionals trade differently
- Finance professionals who want practical portfolio management skills beyond what they learned in their degree
- Career changers considering a move into asset management or trading
- Investors who want a professional framework for managing their own capital
It is not for people looking for quick tips, day trading strategies, or get-rich-quick schemes. The PTM requires genuine commitment — plan on weeks of study and practice.
The Pros
1. Genuinely professional content. This isn't repackaged retail education. The macro framework, the portfolio approach, the risk management — it's all drawn from how real institutions operate. You can verify this by looking at how hedge funds actually work.
2. The macro framework is transformative. Once you understand how macro economics drives asset prices, you'll never look at markets the same way. This single concept — that you must start with the macro picture — is worth the entire price of the course.
3. Structured, systematic methodology. The PTM gives you a repeatable process. You're not guessing or following your gut. You have a framework for analysing markets, generating ideas, and managing risk that works in any market environment.
The Cons
1. Steep learning curve. There's no sugar-coating this — the PTM is demanding. The macro economics content is dense, and if you don't have a finance background, you'll need to put in extra work. Some modules I watched two or three times before everything clicked.
2. Volume of content. The course is extensive. This is ultimately a positive, but it means you need to commit real time. Don't expect to finish it in a weekend.
3. Requires capital and patience to implement. The strategies taught work best with meaningful capital and a medium-to-long-term time horizon. If you're working with a very small account and expecting quick returns, you'll need to manage your expectations.
My Verdict
The PTM is the single best investment I've made in my trading education. That's not hyperbole — it fundamentally changed how I understand and interact with financial markets. The macro-first, long/short approach is how professionals have traded for decades, and the PTM makes this methodology accessible to anyone willing to put in the work.
Is it expensive? Relative to a typical online course, yes. Relative to the losses most retail traders accumulate over years of misguided trading, it's a bargain. I spent more on failed retail strategies in six months than the PTM costs.
If you're serious about trading — genuinely serious, not "I want to double my money this month" serious — the PTM is worth every penny. Use the discount code below to save on your enrolment.
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