This will be my own experience with blackboxstocks after a year of being with them. I will try to make this as non-bias as possible. I will show you my first impressions of the service and how/what/where/ etc.

A little bit of a backstory, I was not looking for a course or service but found them through a search for darkpool because I was trying to be ahead of the game. For those that do not know me personally, I’m a huge skeptic on everything. However if it’s something that I know 100% will benefit me, I will literally throw money at it. Either I’m 100% all in or don’t even try to sell me something. I will rip you apart if I don’t like what you’re offering.

I did my research with  Blackboxstocks and I was looking for the following

1. Social Media – Is this a real company? I looked through comments, posts, and advertisement. I do online marketing so I know how to find stuff. Also looked at the engagement of the users/company if there was constant feedback.
2. Company – Who are these guys? Did some search and came up positive.
3. Reviews – Unfortunately there wasn’t enough to get me a good point of view. (As you can see I’m that guy who wants to change this).
4. What is their edge and why are they better? So my first impression of them was a stock alert but later found out it was options. I didn’t know who their direct competition was.
5. Costs and refund policy. First month was $80 and from what I knew back then there was no trial (I could be wrong) so IMO I thought the most I can lose was $80 if I get ripped off.

These are all personal research and if it all fits my criteria I eventually sign up.

Let’s dig deeper in blackboxstocks and see what you’ll actually get.

Breakdown of this review:

• Stocks and options scanner

• Flow (your bread and butter)

• News Scanner

• Darkpool Scanner

• Education channel

• Discord Channel

• Support from community/mods

• Usability/Interface/Mobile/Trade Station integration

• Pricing

• Expectations

• The cons

• Personal Improvement

• Final words

Stocks and Options scanner

Stock Scanner:

I personally do not use the stock side of the platform. There are members who do and there is a small community who uses the stock alerts. I have no opinion on the stock alerts. All I can show you is a screen shot on the alert logs.

Again I do not use the stock alerts but it’s there.

Options Scanner:

This is what blackboxstocks is primarily used for. You will live in this area to find the plays that has a high probability of working.

The “alert” stream of blackboxstocks is not what you think. 

Here’s the reasoning. The alert stream is used as another tool that tells the user “hey look at me”. There are options that will hit the alert or there will be options that do not hit the alert. Never EVER rely on this stream by itself. It has a lower chance of winning vs if you learn yourself. This is not a buy alert and you still need to do your own DD.

I never look at the alert stream but I do get the notifications but 70% of the time ignore the usual tickers (Apple/Tesla etc).

FLOW

This is the cream in the pudding and your meat in your burger and cheese on the pizza. (Sorry I’m starving as writing this). Only subscribe to Blackboxstocks if you’re going to be using the flow as a trader. Or if you want to learn to become a flow trader. Without being bias in this opinion, the other services do have flow but blackbox has the most flow. It is read in a way that it has its own learning curve.

You’re probably reading this because you read my twitter account and I’m always talking about the flow.

Again not all flow works but this is the type of information we can see. The platform shows when buyers come in and when they come out.

BBS shows all the flow that comes in while the competition do not. However we always challenge you to find one that BBS doesn’t find. I don’t think we ever lost on this one. I do know that BBS doesn’t show a certain flow (I can’t remember) but that type of flow is complete trash.

This is also in real-time. Let’s just say I accidently bought too many contracts and it showed up on the scanner as a block within 4 seconds of executing the whole order. Oops…. DM me if you want to see the screenshot.

You can read about an article here for an example :Case study on $NOW (service now) flow from blackboxstocks EXPLAINED

They do REALLY good job at this. No doubt this wins the crown

NEWS Scanner  

One of the biggest plus that is part of your subscription is the news alert stream. Part of the deal is getting access to thefly.com. If you check the web site the pricing is listed below (as of June 2021). They report almost instantly and the by the time mainstream news finds out, we are already in.

Darkpool Scanner

The most underrated use of Blackbox is the darkpool scanner.

This is very specific to blackboxstocks because they actually add the darkpool levels in the web platform and it can be put on the chart. I love this feature as darkpool lines are used as support and resistance.

I don’t know any other services that has this, but this is very impressive. Here’s a sample : https://www.youtube.com/c/MelStoneDarkPool/videos

Side Note : Mel, you’re the reason why I found BlackBox but my understanding of darkpool was nothing what I thought it was. 

Education Channel

If you know NOTHING about stocks and options, this is also included. The basics are covered and there are “classes” weekly. The great thing is there is LIVE classes so you’re not just watching a recording. This is posted and everyone can learn how to do stock options.

As much as I’d like to share these links, it’s not fair to the mods as they worked hard on putting this together.

Discord Channel

The community and the mods all live here. It is optional and part of the program but if you’re not on the voice chat you’re going to miss out on the of the content. People here have trade ideas and there is a ton of community based content. There is also an advanced room for people who do credit spreads/iron condors etc.

It’s a tight-knit community and while we work hard, we also have a ton of comedy on these channels. It feels like the people here are your co-workers.

There’s something for everyone as different mods do different plays. Some scalp, some swing, and some play strictly on flow.

WARNING : The plays do NOT work 100%. Do not join if you’re expecting to become a millionaire tomorrow. Blackbox mod plays FAIL but they win most of the time. There is a very good track record on a spreadsheet and 100% transparent. 

The main blackbox discord gets very overwhelming. This is a negative BUT there is another room is at a very slow pace which is perfect for new people. The main chat gets cluttered just because there is a huge amount of people in it, so it’s not exactly the fault of the company. I hang out in both rooms since it’s both pure comedy sometimes.

More people = more talking . I don’t care which discord you’re in that’s fact. Stuff gets cluttered.

Usability / Blackboxstocks APP / Twitter

The website itself is really easy to use once you learn to navigate. There are alerts that pop up on the browser. However there is a learning curve to use the flow alerts. Again we go over this every day before and after trading hours. There’s enough members who can teach you if you have questions. I personally hop in for newer people and I even answer you guys on twitter.

The Blackboxstocks app is also very easy to use but I only use it for 2 things

Notifications for mod plays and flow alerts. However since I’m normally in front of my computer I turn these off as a personal preference. But if I step away for lunch they are turned back on. The system isn’t perfect because on my end there is a slight lag BUT it may be my phone.

Twitter notifications are the same way. It’s posted on a private twitter feed that will hit your phone. There’s no lag on this unless it’s a twitter issue. I don’t use it just because I have too many alerts.

Trade Station integration. I need to be honest. I used this only twice but I am subscribed.

Here is a very quick demo (30 sec) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqiR3FEgcdw

The only reason why I don’t use it is I’m just so used to my options chain open. By the time I see what I want I’m already in. The mod plays also are not always going to be using the same strike/expiration for the option play. It’s great but not for me.

Pricing

$99/month. The price is roughly where the other competition are.

For the information you get and the trades you make, $99 is chump change. There has been trial members that made this in their first trade. They are very competitive on their pricing but the value I get is well worth it.

*You get more from your buck utilizing the education portion and the plays. Another thing to note is other places do charge significantly higher for these of alert plays.

I pre-paid 3 years worth of blackbox

I paid for it ahead of time. If you half-ass followed the plays you’d make $99 that month.

Expectations

The options platform does exactly what it says it does. I see that most people with issues do not know how to trade properly and refuses to learn the platform. You’re not going anywhere without learning to trade and the ones that do, make it.

Blackbox is another tool that you use and it compliments your skills. If you don’t have skills, you learn it here.  You should never depend on the mod trades to make a steady income.

One thing about flow is, it is never EVER 100% guarantee that it will work. IDGAF if the scanner tells you someone added $100M in a stock, I’m never putting my life savings in here. I don’t want to give a % of what works but I’d say a very good winning %.

The Cons

It’s actually very challenging to find one. Some of the mods do get a little mean and there has been times where people’s feelings were hurt. I’d call it tough love. But all they want is what’s good for the trader. If you get offended easily, this will probably won’t be for you.  But if you know how to read flow, you don’t need them anyways.

Personal Improvement

There’s no way I would have learned everything I know right now without the platform and discord. I understand all this information is on youtube and all free but what REALLY helped out was the explanation of the mod plays.

*There will be another blog post on details on exactly what I did learn but here’s a few items that improved.

1) Options (which strike/expiration etc)

2) Charting (S/R, M/A, different strategies)

3) Emotional control of winning and losing

4) Day to day seat time (This is about 90% of what you need)

5) Reading flow

Final words

Blackbox fits my criteria of what I’m looking for as another “tool”. There’s many tools in the shed but this works and it’s going to be very hard to talk me out of it. If you notice there’s no review about the mods directly and I don’t believe there should because it will always be personal. Although I never had a problem with any of them. EVER.

I also had people DM me asking if the service is worth it and here’s what I’d say……..

Sign up for Blackbox, join the competition then compare it. 

I’m staying with them and it gets a 10/10 in my book.

Note: Blackboxstocks did NOT pay me for this review. I do have affiliate links that I get compensated for. But I also do not make a living off affiliate links. It only pays for lunch (seriously). I make more trading options using the flow scanner by far. If you do use my link, let me know because I’d like to thank you.