academyft.com shawacademy.com pipindex.com Adrian Murphy education trading financial New York, NY 10005 New York

After a rigorous assessment it appears that the model behind academyft is as follows

1) You buy a cheap basic introductory training course from Groupon or another "discount channel"?

2) After purchasing the "basic" “Cheap” "introduction" course - You are then told that you need further information from the "main" "ultimate traders" course (which you are offered at a substantial discount) to get be awarded an ebay style diploma.

3) You are then  "recommended" or "encouraged" to open an account with a broker that is also owned by the same people - who then profit from your losses?

What is amazing about this fancy graphics is that the company proclaims to be the very best trading educator for the United States, Australia, Europe, and Asia. Wow! The only problem is that these awards appear to be just simple web graphics, there is not an actual organization that have issued these awards. Its as if this company simply hired a graphic artist to design something official looking.

Another thing I find fascinating about this company is the proclaimed amount of professional traders that they have been able to produce through their trading educational program. As of July, 2015…an amazing 120,528 graduates. Considering that this trading educator has only been around since November 2012, this would mean that during the entire 31 month history of this trading educator…they are graduating 3,888 students each month. My only question, does anyone really believe this stuff?

So what exactly is the Academy Of Financial Trading? Quite simply, it is nothing more than yet another savvy online marketer that has thrown together a course and is attempting to sell it for thousands of dollars. There are no real traders behind this company. There is no track record of trading success. From top to bottom, this company is nothing more than a marketing project. This company specifically targets educational niches where consumers are searching for specific solutions. They then whip together a course, as well as fictional characters that are providing the education. It is then pushed out onto the internet like a fisherman drops a net and waits for some poor fish to swim through.

So once you have signed up to the course you will then receive a call asking you to open an account with a broker called pipindex.com.

Pipindex claims to be an STP Broker (earns commission only) however it is a trading name of FINSA Europe which offers its white label partners (pipindex being a partner) a shared B book meaning it will split all client losses 50/50.

Why would a trading school send its clients to a B book broker who makes its money from losing traders unless

1. The majority of its clients lose

and/or 2. They have a financial stake in there clients losing.

So the real business model is focused on getting naïve beginners, convincing them they will become professional traders with the real objective of getting them to deposit into a trading account with pipindex.

So do we really think that academyft are making their money from selling trading courses through Groupon for $20 or focussed more on getting their clients to open live accounts through pipindex and benefitting from the client losses one way or another?

I beleive that Pipindex.com, Academyft and Shaw Academy are ALL owned by Adrian Murphy and James Egan?  If this is true, then I would have thought that this would create a major conflict of interest perhaps? But I’m sure that the FCA must surely know all about this?