Mike Douglas and MTA Online SCAM

Let's keep on topic, for showing MTA for what they really are, over what they claim to be.


The latest message regarding NZDUSD
we've had false break out and its come back in to consolidation. we just have to let the market do its thing.

If we get stopped out so be it, we should all be up a nice amount this week so far and can afford a 1% lose and still finish up



I do wonder, some of their trades are pretty good - and I'm certain it's not luck... I think that they just put on trades, for the hell of it, even if there's no chance for a few reasons.
1) They take a cut of the spread with the broker
2) They slowly kill your account, you top up, and they get the referral bonus for each top up (they do promote for users to keep adding to their accounts, to become a millionaire quicker!)
3) It might be a lucky trade and go in their favour, and get the cut for every trade placed, and then reap the show boating screenshots which is then used to help promote them...

I noticed, no one mentioned their losses, and they were multiple weeks of losses.
 
I posted in the hope MTA would rectify their approach. Clearly this is not going to happen and things are getting nasty with attempts by MTA to track people down and post implied threats. I will no longer take part in this thread.
 
Anyone know why Mr Travis' screenshots of 'trades' has gone from being like £80k down to c.£1 - 2k? Presumably to make it less obvious he is (allegedly) using a demo account?
 
I've just finished reading this whole thread - took a while!
Some interesting posts, for sure.

If anyone is interested, here's my personal experience with MTA. It's long, so please, bear with me.

I started the "Free apprenticeship" in July after hearing about it from a friend. The old adage 'if it’s too good to be true.........' rung true at first, and I was very sceptical.
However, I opened a live account with 24FX, deposited my £1000, and started with the attitude of "If I blow my grand, hopefully what I learn will be worth it".
From Day 1, I was hooked. Loved the way the training was run, very informative, even if it was a LOT to take in, especially for a complete novice like I was.
I immersed myself in it; tried to attend every webinar, every traders lounge, even signed up to the 4 day boot camp in Croydon. I was also invited to a free day at the Shard, and shown around their trading office. I pride myself on being a good judge of character, and the MTA guys that I have met, I believe are genuine, good, honest people. Matt Jones, James Wardell, Martin, Ole, to name but a few.....all went out of their way to make me feel comfortable and welcome.
From day one, it was hammered into us how important it was to manage risk, and be strict with it.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who didn't stick to it!!!!! I was also told not to place my own trades until I knew what I was doing. I didn't stick to that either!!! My £1000 went down to c.£830.
Then I started managing my risk according to MTA, and my balance slowly climbed back up.
Then there was the whole situation with changing brokers. We were told by MTA it was because 24FX had increased their minimum pip size, thus we were not able to manage risk on the smaller accounts. And I believed them. And then I received an email from 24FX confirming this.
We eventually moved over to LCG who I have found to be excellent. Far more organized than 24FX.
Little while later, I felt confident enough to place my own trades based on my own analysis, and I started to see some consistency. I then increased my account so that I could place larger trades and still manage my risk.
Today I am up on my initial investment. And that includes losing money when I withdrew from 24FX.
In October I only placed my own trades, none of MTA's signals, just to see if I would be profitable.
7% up for the month.
My plan has always been to start with a small balance, and then increase once I see 2 or 3 months of consistency. At that stage, I'd like to go full time. I do run my own businesses, so am fortunate enough to be able to bring in a wage whilst I'm still in the early stages of my FX career.
My answer to accusations about MTA taking any referral fees, spread commissions, etc. would be this;
NO **** SHERLOCK.
I referred a mate to my Professional Indemnity Insurance supplier the other month and received a £50 Amazon voucher. Referral fees happen in just about every industry in the world. Do MTA try to hide it? No. In fact when a few people in my group were slow to sign up to the new broker, we were told "you must move as the broker sponsors your training". I don't think it could be any clearer.
I’ll continue learning (and earning) with MTA – I see no reason not to. The closest outfit I’ve seen online charge several thousand for the pleasure.
I’m not hiding behind a profile, I do have a name, and if anyone is really that interested, you just gotta ask!
Cheers!
 
so profitking, to cut a long story short.

You lost money following MTA, then went and traded for yourself and started to make a small profit.
 
so profitking, to cut a long story short.

You lost money following MTA, then went and traded for yourself and started to make a small profit.

No. I lost money by doing things that MTA told me not to do.
Once I started to mange risk, I began to claw back my early losses, following MTA signals.
The reason for me not taking any MTA trades in October, was purely to see if my analysis and trades were any good. And its looking like they are.
I'll still take MTA trades, but only if I can manage my risk around my own trades, and only if I agree with the analysis.
 
My answer to accusations about MTA taking any referral fees, spread commissions, etc. would be this;
NO **** SHERLOCK.
I referred a mate to my Professional Indemnity Insurance supplier the other month and received a £50 Amazon voucher. Referral fees happen in just about every industry in the world. Do MTA try to hide it? No. In fact when a few people in my group were slow to sign up to the new broker, we were told "you must move as the broker sponsors your training".

This is a straw man argument; nobody is objecting to MTA exclusively on the basis that they make their money from referral fees.

Presumably there wasn't any conflict of interest arising out of your referral to the insurer..? "You must move as the broker sponsors your training" is hardly a disclosure of their conflict of interest and more of a ransom: if you don't move your money we'll not provide you with any training.

In any case, I'm not going to re-hash the objections to MTA again as they are clearly outlined throughout this thread (post #127 is a good start), but I'm glad you've found relative success in your trading.
 
Overall I think this thread was set up to expose the social media advertising which is excessive to say the least. Advertising aside MTA's intentions seem to be good (i mentioned this in an earlier post) , if it was a snatch and run scam I doubt you would of been sent 'Trading in The Zone' by Mark Douglas a few weeks ago and be with one of the most respected brokers in the country. They are teaching you about risk which is good, if you can't manage your risk not even Jesus himself could teach you to be a good trader. With good risk management you only need to be right 40% of the time.

It's completely free to join MTA so I wouldn't worry about joining or being a member, and with everything in this industry take everything with a pinch of salt
 
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This is a straw man argument; nobody is objecting to MTA exclusively on the basis that they make their money from referral fees.

Presumably there wasn't any conflict of interest arising out of your referral to the insurer..? "You must move as the broker sponsors your training" is hardly a disclosure of their conflict of interest and more of a ransom: if you don't move your money we'll not provide you with any training.

In any case, I'm not going to re-hash the objections to MTA again as they are clearly outlined throughout this thread (post #127 is a good start), but I'm glad you've found relative success in your trading.

Re: referral fees; I was just using that particular point as an example.
But it's a pre-requisite for the free training. So hardly holding us to ransom.
All clients MUST use the broker that MTA stipulate. Not least for the fact that everyone on the program has to have the same prices and spreads.
I can only speak as I find. And up til now I've been very happy with their training.
Thanks - I've got a long way to go, but I definitely feel that I'm getting the hang of it.
 
Upon stumbling across this thread and having a good read through a large portion of it, I must admit I'm pretty shocked about the way this company has been spoken about up until the most recent posts. I'm glad somebody has spoken up about the actual good work that has been done by the company as I myself have also been on the course since March of this year.
My personal experience with the company has been fantastic and that's putting it lightly.
Without this course being available to me and so many others I would be oblivious to the opportunity of financial gain from the forex market and upon joining the course was also sceptical about it for obvious reasons. The main one it being sold as a free course. But I done some research, saw it was a viable way of making some money and took the gamble and decided to enrol in it.
From day one I've had nothing but good things to say about it all to anybody that wants to hear it. The training given by Mr Douglas is a great introduction into it all, his methods of teaching cater to people of all abilities. He's extremely patient, always has time to go over things if needed be and if there isn't enough time to deal with it at that moment if you send him an email with your questions he will get back to you with an answer. The weekly training webinar is convenient for almost all people at a time in the evening when most are free and it's broken down into easy to digest material which is much more advantageous than reading anything on the web believe me.
Moving on from this, the aftercare and help you receive from the team is also great, the hours these guys seem to put in is incredible and you're always dealt with in a helpful, polite fashion even at ridiculous times of day when a person in another profession wouldnt have the time of day for out of hours. I know I personally wouldn't!!
A lot of claims have been made about signals, we are all taught analysis, we all have choices in this life, if you are given a signal, take the time to do your own analysis and see if you agree with what has been put in front of you. There is no gun to your head forcing you to take them. And if you do decide to take it and you are stopped out, the risk management is there to cut losses, and ultimately you've made the choice to open the transaction, so you and you alone are solely to blame if you lose money on a trade!
Regarding the 24fx changeover....this might shock some of you....it was real, they did increase the smallest volume you could trade, I saw it on my own personal trading account! This made a number of people with smaller accounts unable to risk manage hence the change of broker.
Now here's the other big thing for the small minded amongst this thread, yes they probably do make money when bringing on new clients, but they have to. How else are you going to keep the team on to continue to introduce people to this? These people have lives like yourselves and all need paying. Is there an element of sales involved. Of course. The claims of 3-5% daily, does it happen daily? Don't be so stupid, anyone with half a brain knows that that is a big ask! Has it happened though I hear you ask. Yes, many many times. I have taken my account from £500 to what would be £4000 now if I hadn't chosen to withdraw money and treat myself with it, after all that's what this is all about isn't it? And to save you doing the math that's a 700% return on investment! Since March! And if you take the time to ask all clients of MTA their opinion I can pretty much guarantee the vast majority will concur with my statements!
What this post appears to be is cyber bullying and trolling of Matt Travis and his social media pages! Pretty juvenile in my opinion.
He wants eyes on his product he is offering so does he have a choice other than to sell his lifestyle to people? No is the answer. Good or bad you've all taken a lot of time out of your lives to take notice and I'm sure he relishes that! The way his business moves forward is the continuation of clients being introduced and the success of current clients. Without this there is no education side to this! People will lose their jobs they work hard for. People like yourselves!
So sorry if he offends you with his posts you can always take no notice like adults!
If the product didn't work this would have shut down a long time ago as word would have spread like wildfire!!
But please see the bigger picture, grow up a little and if you have some good material or better material, make a thread about it, put links up, show people where they can find this. We all want to succeed in this business so why not help one another instead of personally attacking someone and your claims having absolutely no substance at all!
I hope this helps for anyone who needed anything clearing up and sheds some light on it all and the company's name doesn't get dragged through the dirt for the fact you don't like someone's instagram page!
Feel free to drop me a message or look me up on Facebook my names Billie Donnelly, easy enough to find on there, and thanks for taking time to read this.
 
Billdonn90 – you made a couple of interesting comments.



First about the signals given by MTA:

“… ultimately you’ve made the choice to open the transaction, so you alone are solely to blame”

So, it is the apprentice’s fault when he/she loses a trade because of bad advice from MTA. Are you that naïve? That’s like ending up in the wrong town and it being your fault because you chose to follow the wrong directions of your SATNAV (after that I would not trust my SATNAV and take it back and demand a refund).



You second interesting comment, when talking about the broker commissions.

“… but they have to. How else are you going to keep the team on …. These people have lives like yourselves and all need paying”

So what you are saying is that MTA do not make their money from trading buy rely on the broker commissions and money they charge for Bootcamps etc.



If MTA had a good trading system we would all sign up tomorrow, but they don’t. Instead they make their money from the apprentices and broker commissions (standard IB sign up scam) and to achieve this they lie, fake and splatter social media with sales tricks. Surely that is what this thread is exposing with a lot of clear indisputable evidence.
 
Billdonn90 – you made a couple of interesting comments.



First about the signals given by MTA:

“… ultimately you’ve made the choice to open the transaction, so you alone are solely to blame”

So, it is the apprentice’s fault when he/she loses a trade because of bad advice from MTA. Are you that naïve? That’s like ending up in the wrong town and it being your fault because you chose to follow the wrong directions of your SATNAV (after that I would not trust my SATNAV and take it back and demand a refund).



You second interesting comment, when talking about the broker commissions.

“… but they have to. How else are you going to keep the team on …. These people have lives like yourselves and all need paying”

So what you are saying is that MTA do not make their money from trading buy rely on the broker commissions and money they charge for Bootcamps etc.



If MTA had a good trading system we would all sign up tomorrow, but they don’t. Instead they make their money from the apprentices and broker commissions (standard IB sign up scam) and to achieve this they lie, fake and splatter social media with sales tricks. Surely that is what this thread is exposing with a lot of clear indisputable evidence.

To your first comment, no it's not naive! Nobody is perfect and if you expect to be fed perfect signals every time that suit your style of trading without analyisis of your own then that is the naive person!! You are being pointed in the direction, still have a huge choice to make of your own, feel like you're clutching at straws here, this is an educational service they offer, not a guaranteed signals service! During tough market conditions they aren't all going to be fantastic that's not to say there isn't many decent traders with the company.
Are you any better yourself? Or a bitter person with nothing better to do? My personal opinion would be the latter! If that's not the case, prove it! Use this website for the greater good of everybody instead of trying to spread negativity like wildfire! I have spoken about my personal experience since day one and look at the bigger picture of it all! Not slating a stopped out signal!

To your second comment that's in regards to the team of individuals that sign up, may I add, the already interested parties to the course! There is no cold calling!!!
They themselves are not all traders hence my comment! Why should the money made by fund managers be given to other people who are under a different job role? I wouldn't be happy if that was the case in my profession, would you?
If there is money made elsewhere from brokers etc good luck to them, you wouldn't begrudge someone taking money from a bookmaker, it seems to me like a similar principal! Hands aren't going in clients pockets yet the client still gets the free education from whatever deal they have with the broker. Again in my eyes that's a win win for everybody involved isn't it? If clients are unhappy they aren't contractually obliged to stay on the course and there is no fee to leave. So what exactly is your point in all of this?
Have sales techniques been used to get eyes on the products?
Probably
Does that mean it's a bad product and a scam?
Certainly not

Feel free to ask actual clients on their opinion and you'll certainly get a good reply like mine 99% of the time!
But you are just somebody on the outside shouting an opinion as loud as you can to try and marr somebody else's success in life!
Try the course, if it's not for you, leave the course, make your judgement then. If you don't like the education that's fine, if you don't like the signals, fine again, if you were to choose to leave, leave! And then you'd see not one attempt is made to take money from your pocket. So could you tell me who is being scammed here because I fail to see it
 
That is a verbose and passionate defence of MTA.

I don't think you needed to cross into personal attacks with your comment "Are you any better yourself? Or a bitter person with nothing better to do? My personal opinion would be the latter! "

I think answering criticism is much better than attacking it, something MTA have failed to do. I would suggest passing on the points made with clear evidence to MTA and asking them for answers (the infamous fake trade mentioned several times for example).

Can you not see how bad it looks when you say the apprentices have to analyse the signals from MTA and decide which to take. The student has to review and correct the Masters work.

The fact that Matt Travis and Mike Douglas do not make enough money from trading to pay to costs of the business is not a good sign.

You said "And then you'd see not one attempt is made to take money from your pocket."
Is that true? Is the MTA app free? Are all add on training sessions and boot camps free?

Hopefully your training included details on brokers and spreads including the difference between Forex trading and Spread betting (especially the wider spreads in spread betting and how it is more if a bet than a trade).

Do MTA just get an introduction fee or do they get a share of the spread? (I assume MTA has been made this clear so you should have no problem answering).


Please don't misunderstand me or my intentions. If MTA has something good or if it works for you then that's good. But a number of valid points have been raised that MTA need to answer, up until now all they have done is attack anyone who dare speak up.
 
That is a verbose and passionate defence of MTA.

I don't think you needed to cross into personal attacks with your comment "Are you any better yourself? Or a bitter person with nothing better to do? My personal opinion would be the latter! "

Billie; My answer to this would be, not exactly a personal attack but fair enough.


I think answering criticism is much better than attacking it, something MTA have failed to do. I would suggest passing on the points made with clear evidence to MTA and asking them for answers (the infamous fake trade mentioned several times for example).

Billie; not my job to pass information onto them, and matters like that can't be answered by meself, especially when I haven't looked into detail the "evidence" supplied. Nor do I have much interest as I have no problem with the product itself and don't need to question it from my personal experiences.

Can you not see how bad it looks when you say the apprentices have to analyse the signals from MTA and decide which to take. The student has to review and correct the Masters work.

Billie; different lifestyles/worklives etc suit different trading styles so you need to see for yourself if it is either a long or short term trade for one and for two what exactly are you learning at all if you haven't given something the time to research and understand reasoning into something? How will you ever improve yourself if you just want spoon feeding? As someone who wants to grow and improve I expect of myself nothing less than to not make a decision and follow blindly something until I fully understand and completely agree. And if my opinion on a trade was to differ from that of a signal isn't to mean it's bad it's more that I may have a different criteria I like to meet. Is that understandable?


The fact that Matt Travis and Mike Douglas do not make enough money from trading to pay to costs of the business is not a good sign.

Billie; again not my business to answer, I would assume that they do. My previous point being a different area of the business having its own income isn't exactly bad business sense is it and I can't understand your opposition to this.

You said "And then you'd see not one attempt is made to take money from your pocket."
Is that true? Is the MTA app free? Are all add on training sessions and boot camps free?

Billie; all added training is optional, I for one haven't attended any, but those which have all know the price before hand and if they were unhappy with the original material handed to them then why on earth would they be silly enough to part with hard earned money if they were that bad? Which is testament to the fact clients are happy about this and make a choice themselves so why begrudge Mta for this?


Hopefully your training included details on brokers and spreads including the difference between Forex trading and Spread betting (especially the wider spreads in spread betting and how it is more if a bet than a trade).

Billie; yes I know the difference between cfd and spread betting, I am currently using spread betting and some of the spreads are as low as 1 pip, and most are generally lower than any cfd I have come across, the only time they really widen is around high impact news but we all are taught this early on. So again no issues here.


Do MTA just get an introduction fee or do they get a share of the spread? (I assume MTA has been made this clear so you should have no problem answering).

Billie; I am aware, I have no issue with this? Why would I? Does it not work better if everybody succeeds? E.g. Over time the success of the clients would mean larger accounts, and higher pip sizes on entering trades. To me that seems like there would be a larger reward in the long term if the clients are successful, so why wouldn't they be aiming to do this? It's the smart business solution long term wouldn't you agree if they are receiving any spread?

Please don't misunderstand me or my intentions. If MTA has something good or if it works for you then that's good. But a number of valid points have been raised that MTA need to answer, up until now all they have done is attack anyone who dare speak up.

Billie; once again I cannot answer things that you believe need to be answered by Mta themselves. But I believe no matter how valid of an opinion I produce to you, you will always have the contrarian view upon it. The fact of the matter is opinion will always differ and their will always be the ones to question another mans success. But what I have achieved thus far is completely owed to them no matter what your opinion is.
There's an old phrase...
Don't knock it, until you've tried it
 
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