To benefit the most from The Antagonist, join our global community of investors and traders. Our members reside in 50+ countries spanning all 4 hemispheres!
You can choose between 2 membership options:
- A free subscription includes educational articles and insights into the financial markets.
- A premium membership includes everything in the free service, but it also gives you access to stock and option recommendations, trade alerts, two different portfolios, and more!
The following FAQ provides more details about each option:
- What are the 2 membership options and what do they include?
- How much does a premium membership cost?
- How does The Antagonist’s premium membership differ from other research and recommendation services?
- Why is a premium membership option necessary?
- Can I get a free trial?
- Do you offer premium membership discounts?
Please note that I manage subscriptions via Substack. The links above and below will take you to the sign-up page. Don’t worry. I’ll never sell your information…because I’m not a jerk.
1. What are the 2 membership options and what do they include?
We offer a free subscription and a premium membership. Here’s what’s included in both:
Free Subscription Benefits
- Every Saturday morning — a 5-minute feature called “Over the Weekend.” You’ll receive a summary of interesting economic and market insights from the past week. I also include links to the sources so that you can check them out “over the weekend.” Here’s are some examples.
- Every month — a detailed article covering important economic trends and developments from across the globe, sectors and industries to watch, data analyses and charts, and more. Here are some examples.
- Educational content — how-to articles and beginner’s guides to stocks and options. These pieces can be standalone or included in the monthly deep dives. Here are some examples.
- Subscriber chat threads and live market commentary via the Substack app.
Premium Membership Benefits
- Everything included in the free subscription plan, plus…
- Individual stock research and analyses like this special report on the Energy sector.
- Trade alerts — you’ll receive an email and a mobile alert (via the Substack app) whenever I open and close a trade.
- Portfolios — access to BOTH the Challenge Portfolio and the Blend Portfolio.
- Performance dashboards including all open and closed positions in each portfolio.
- Premium member-only chat threads via the Substack app.
2. How much does a premium membership cost?
You can choose between 2 plans: monthly or annual:
- The monthly plan is $20 per month.
- Or, you can save 17% with an annual plan of $199. That breaks down to less than $17 per month, which is like getting 2 months free!
Now, I could get all salesy on you and tell you how a premium membership equates to just $0.55 per day, which is the same as……umm……never mind…I can’t even think of anything that costs less than a dollar any more.
But I don’t want to try to sell you on anything. That’s because The Antagonist should not only pay for itself…but also make you money!
Depending on the size of your portfolio, you could easily cover the cost of an annual membership with just 1 or 2 winning trades.
3. How does The Antagonist’s premium membership differ from other research and recommendation services?
I understand that you have choices when it comes to investment research memberships. Over the last 20+ years, I’ve subscribed to several myself. But here are some key ways that The Antagonist is unique:
Beginners and small accounts
I launched The Antagonist with beginners and everyday investors as the priority. I wanted to create a place where people with absolutely no experience in stocks and/or options could learn and thrive.
I also wanted to destroy the myth that investing and trading is only for the rich. Everyone can and should invest. I manage both the Challenge and Blend Portfolios with this in mind.
For example, you can mimic a Blend Portfolio trade for as little as $1. You can also follow the Challenge Portfolio with an account of just $1,000.
That’s a huge difference from other investment research subscriptions. Many of those publications recommend that you have a minimum of $100,000 to invest.
Value and price
With most research subscriptions, you only receive access to one portfolio. But with The Antagonist, you get two…for a fraction of the price.
For example, a subscription to an options trading publication will usually cost at least $2,000 per year. If you have a small account, it could take you years to cover those fees with investment gains. That also costs 10x more than The Antagonist!
As I mentioned above, I’m committed to keeping The Antagonist accessible to everyone. That means I need to offer an affordable membership without sacrificing quality. Charging $199 per year lets me do that.
Absolute transparency
Transparency is one of The Antagonist’s core values. I report the full results of every trade—good or bad.
Unfortunately, some other services erase their losing trades after they close them. This makes it look like they only book winners. That type of deception infuriates me.
If you’re paying for investing research and model portfolios, you deserve access to ALL the results.
That’s why I report every trade whether it’s a winner or a loser. I also leave the links to the trade rationales on the dashboards so that you can analyze them at any time. This not only provides transparency, but it also gives you the opportunity to learn from both winning and losing trades.
Commissions and fees are factored into my portfolio results
I funded the Challenge Portfolio with my own money so you could see how it performs in real life. To provide full transparency, I also include commissions and fees. It’s rare to find another subscription service that does this.
I believe this is essential, however. If I omitted that info, I would falsely inflate my results.
Plus, if you’re beginner, I want you to have realistic performance expectations. That means that you have to account for commissions and fees.
4. Why is a premium membership option necessary?
The short answer is “costs and time.” Here’s what I mean by that:
Costs
I’m committed to bringing you world-class financial research and insights. To accomplish that, I pull and analyze data from various sources. Some of those sources are free. Many are not.
It’s only possible for me to enhance the research and portfolios you receive with The Antagonist if I can subsidize my costs.
The benefit to you is that you don’t have to pay for data or analyze it yourself. Therefore, one premium membership to The Antagonist is like having a subscription to multiple data sources and analysts.
Time
A premium membership also makes it possible for me to spend more time researching investment ideas for you and providing additional portfolios. This, in turn, saves you from having to spend your time looking at charts, reading reports, and analyzing data.
Let me do that for you!
5. Can I get a free trial?
Yes! Your premium membership comes with a free 7-day trial.
6. Do you offer premium membership discounts?
Yes! There are 3 ways to receive a discount.
- Students and educators — students and anyone who works for an educational institution get 50% off a premium membership for as long as you’re a student and/or educator! Sign up with your school email address to qualify for the discount.
- Groups — memberships purchased in groups of 2 or more receive 10% off each membership.
- Referrals — When you refer your friends, you’ll receive up to 6 months of FREE access to the premium membership after they subscribe. You can read the full details here.
Disclaimer: I’m not a stockbroker or financial advisor. I cannot and do not provide personal investment advice, and The Antagonist should never be interpreted in such a way. The Antagonist is an online financial literacy resource. All materials from The Antagonist are intended for informational and educational purposes only. They are not, nor are they intended to be, trading or investment advice or a recommendation that any security, futures contract, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any person. Trading securities can involve high risk and the loss of any funds invested.
My recommendations represent the actions that I plan to take or have made based on my analysis and what works for me. The information contained on this website has been prepared based on publicly available information and proprietary research. The author does not guarantee the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the information provided in this document. All statements and expressions herein are the sole opinion of the author and are subject to change without notice. I will not be liable for any losses and damages in connection with the use of my content. Any investments that you make are your responsibility.
Investment information provided may not be appropriate for all investors and is provided without respect to individual investor financial sophistication, financial situation, investing time horizon or risk tolerance. The Antagonist is not in the business of transacting securities trades or an investment advisor. Therefore, it is imperative that you perform your own due diligence before replicating any of my trades. Also, options are not suitable for all investors as the special risks inherent to options trading may expose investors to potentially rapid and substantial losses. You must read Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options carefully before investing in options.