why is the trading community so full of scammers and BS??

[Attila the trader]

Everywhere you look there is a guy selling course or webinars, teaching stuff you can find for free. and of course the get rich quick scams , "how to turn 100$ into 6 figures in a month trading 2 days a week, from your laptop" . every time you open a YouTube video regarding trading you get such an add. I wonder how difficult it is for beginners to navigate thorough this mess , without hurting themselves. was it always like this or is there a sudden increase in BS within the past few years?

 

[Farm Yard Forex]

Thank the rise of the social media guru. I'm also sure the number has increased during the pandemic, preying on the number of people out of work or looking for money.

 

[tomorton]

I agree that the pandemic must have caused many people to review their lives, jobs, careers and general happiness - and the conclusion they reached was they need to do something. Whatever you want to do, it will be easier with fewer managers and more money. i.e. trading for a living.

 

[momo3HC]

Easy answer - because of the human greed. And it`s from the both sides - scammers and scammed.

 

[Attila the trader]

Thank the rise of the social media guru. I'm also sure the number has increased during the pandemic, preying on the number of people out of work or looking for money.

definitely the pandemic , lot of people are desperate for money ,and apps like robinhood makes it look like a game with a very small barrier to entry.

 

[Attila the trader]

for most people, it is easier to rip off others than it would be to simply trade.

the "trading system sellers" are fairly obvious to spot in a crowd, and we all understand that pretty much nobody would sell a goose that lays golden eggs.

two of the modern trading scams that are more interesting to me are the ftmo prop trading companies and the offshore unregulated brokers.

the offshore/unregulated brokers basically have a license to steal.. they are in a position to run a ponzi scheme where nobody ever goes to jail..

BUCKET SHOPS 101:

https://files.catbox.moe/wkb648.mp3

with the ftmo(pay to play a demo account) companies, there is not one shred of evidence other than easily faked testimonials in forums that they actually produce any live traders that are actually trading live accounts. I do see a thread in this forum where a couple of traders have unsuccessfully tried the challenges multiples of times and just keep on keeping on doing it over and over and over. it is my suggestion that the ftmo types of fake prop companies are simply scams that collect your fees and then give you nothing.

take a look at these unrealistic fantasy world testimonials videos about ftmo... wake up people.. it is all fake fake fake... they collect your fees... they let you trade a demo account... and in the end you get no live account... you get nothing..

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ftmo

never seen the prop one before , ill check it out

 

[trendie]

In a gold rush, the people who make the most profits, are the ones who sell the picks and shovels.

Trading has no limits to entry. No education level, no prior skills, no psychological mindset, to filter people out.
And maybe it attracts those looking for an easy life, and course providers just pander to them.
It's just a variation of those Amazon Reseller / Dropshipping / Property courses.

All fascinating insight into people, and their behaviours, where some magical short-cut exists, rather than doing the work itself.

 

[NVP]

Everywhere you look there is a guy selling course or webinars, teaching stuff you can find for free. and of course the get rich quick scams , "how to turn 100$ into 6 figures in a month trading 2 days a week, from your laptop" . every time you open a YouTube video regarding trading you get such an add. I wonder how difficult it is for beginners to navigate thorough this mess , without hurting themselves. was it always like this or is there a sudden increase in BS within the past few years?

A - don't start me off !

I think it has got exponentially worse as Social media tightened it grip on society and gained Kudos with the new Generation of investors and traders ...gamification marketing also intensified, as everyone associated with Trading realised you have to do much more than offer boring, solid , trustworthy services to this new generation .....

low barriers to entry allow just about any numpty with a face on youtube , tiktok, instagram and every other new form of torture available to the General population ....

They simply add their Face / Brand to some stupid signal service that uses volatility / trending to scam the buyers for just long enough to make it convincing (before the inevitable failures) ....

wham bam thankyou maam.......

I think new potential traders were much more wary back in the day ......you worked harder to get your money and really did serious due diligence on courses and experts ......of which there were still few that were decent .....

such is life .......we are the old guard ....fortunately
N

 

[NVP]

In a gold rush, the people who make the most profits, are the ones who sell the picks and shovels.


so so true Trendie........

 

[wmram]

" Why do you rob banks. Because that's where the money is. " Willie Sutton.

 

[trendie]

This scam began several years ago, there are several several companies doing this... they lullaby you into a dream state where you are dreaming about trading your very own $100k live account and that all you need to do is to pay a fee and make it thru a test challenge trading session while following a few basic rules.
.......
do you really think that when someone fails the challenge multiple times but then gets lucky and passes that this should mean that they are able to trade a $400k account?

nope, dream on.
.......

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ftmo

The other FTMO thread established that the 100K account is really just a 10K, since losing 10K results in the account being closed.
It doesn't matter what the account size the props say they give you, its the point that the account fails is the true account size.

True about the almost herculean efforts required to meet the Challenges.
Especially if it encourages newbies to day-trade with high risk.
The drawdown limits are not realistic = true.

 

[Attila the trader]

In a gold rush, the people who make the most profits, are the ones who sell the picks and shovels.

Trading has no limits to entry. No education level, no prior skills, no psychological mindset, to filter people out.
And maybe it attracts those looking for an easy life, and course providers just pander to them.
It's just a variation of those Amazon Reseller / Dropshipping / Property courses.

All fascinating insight into people, and their behaviours, where some magical short-cut exists, rather than doing the work itself.

pretty much sums it up

 

[LuckyMac]

Easy answer - because of the human greed. And it`s from the both sides - scammers and scammed.

If you can be level headed and treat it like a business it can be life changing for sure. Patience is so key

 

[tomorton]

"this business of trading attracts scammers like a magnet attracts to metal."

this is very true. But add to that, trading is the sort of business that attracts people prepared t risk being scammed - they're prepared to put up a few hundred dollars with the clear knowledge it might be a scam but they're happy to risk what is not their entire life savings - just in case they're lucky and its not a scam after all.

Which has to be the worst business model ever for these guys but hey, that's human nature.

 

[Henow1969]

People need money in this pandemic situation so most of the people being scammed due to their greed.

 

[bootsyjam]

It's a combination of three things:
1) The amount of money (the pot of gold so to speak) that is waiting for you if you can crack it and trade successfully.

2) Some humans are not pleasant and scam people out of money without a second thought.

3) The powerful mix of points 1) and 2) are then combined into a perfect cauldron because in trading there are no fixed rules on how to play the game and win it. On top of that, it is impossible to evaluate whether someone who teaches you is actually successful/good at it or not.

To explain, look at football (soccer). The rules of the game are clear with well defined parameters. Within these parameters there are teams who are managed using a variety of strategies. The successful teams are clear. They win and are near the top of the table.

The bad ones are clear. So you can see which tactics work.

Now transplant this example to the trading community. There are no 'league tables ' or results tables that you get in football.
There are no clearly defined rules, there is no handbook that defines the basic parameters of the basic rules of trading.

Then in top of that there is no system of accurately recording whether your trader/tutor is a winner or not with his strategy.

It's a perfect mix which means you can't really trust anyone.

Ask yourself this. If you could earn 50k+ a week then why the hell would you be teaching other people to trade when you could be smashing it yourself?

 

[Attila the trader]

this is very true. But add to that, trading is the sort of business that attracts people prepared t risk being scammed - they're prepared to put up a few hundred dollars with the clear knowledge it might be a scam but they're happy to risk what is not their entire life savings - just in case they're lucky and its not a scam after all.

Which has to be the worst business model ever for these guys but hey, that's human nature.

what people put money in clearly knowing that there is a good possibility of a scam? who are these people ?

 

[tomorton]

what people put money in clearly knowing that there is a good possibility of a scam? who are these people ?

They pop up regularly on forums. I probably spend too much time on babypips. They explicitly say they recognise such firms might be a con, they point to marketing which they say sounds too good to be true, but say they can afford to throw some money that way in case they strike lucky.

Characteristically they put in 500-1000 dollars, they seek out brokerages based on Pacific or Caribbean islands, they seek brokerages which allow an instant withdrawal within minutes if possible, they're looking for less direct methods of money transfer, they are first-time scalpers or they have been told by their cousin or their brother-in-law that arbitrage is the only way to make money.

 

[tomorton]

what people put money in clearly knowing that there is a good possibility of a scam? who are these people ?

And they always want the tightest spreads.

 

[PhoneticNachos]

Everywhere you look there is a guy selling course or webinars, teaching stuff you can find for free. and of course the get rich quick scams , "how to turn 100$ into 6 figures in a month trading 2 days a week, from your laptop" . every time you open a YouTube video regarding trading you get such an add. I wonder how difficult it is for beginners to navigate thorough this mess , without hurting themselves. was it always like this or is there a sudden increase in BS within the past few years?

More reason to learn to trade on your own, and ignore everyone.