MTA LIVE: Real or Fake?

arif9m9

Has anyone ever been involved or knows anyone involved with MTA LIVE? The guy that runs it all is Matt Travis: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004967944572

Official website: http://mtalive.com

MTA LIVE accused of being a scam: http://www.trade2win.com/boards/educational-resources/190506-mike-douglas-mta-online-scam-3.html

http://www.brokeragesdaytrading.com/article/728121152/62-matt-travis-mike-douglas-and-the-mta-live-scam-mastery-trading-academy-/

You'll see on his Facebook profile how he frequently uploads screenshots from MT4 of huge profits. I've seen some screenshots where he's made half a million pounds... But, the usual question must always be asked, if he's capable of making all that damn money, why is he so interested in helping others? He addressed this in a comment, where he said something along the lines of making all this money gets lonely, and that he wants to help others. Really? Hmm... He's also stated in a video that he's aware of the two blogs above accusing MTA of being a scam, and, obviously, dismissed them. I've also seen countless of people applauding and complimenting him on his Facebook statuses, so I'm confused.

I've been following his profile for a while now, and he seems like a very genuine person. He also occasionally uploads short videos. On their official website, I've seen logos of ABC, Bloomberg, etc, with no direct links, and so many fake, scamming auto-traders online place these logos on their website to look authentic. However, I see that those big corporate logos are no longer there. There seems to be a new 12-month apprenticeship beginning at the start of every month, I think.

I contacted Matt himself via Facebook, and expressed my interests. I soon received a call from someone that works alongside Matt, explaining about the 12-month apprenticeship. Monday's and Thursday's, I think, are webinars, and Wednesday's are live trading days. They wanted me to deposit £500 into 24FX via their affiliate-link, but I didn't go ahead with it.

They now have an office now in The Shard, in London, and Matt has expressed ambitions of "taking over" and expanding. I'm sure this is the real deal, but it just seems a little too good to be true.

Okane

Scam. Move along.

TobiasRobinson

Yep, it doesn't look good! If he is "lonely", why do clients have to open an account with a specific broker? Surely he could let you have his advice and trade where you like?

The threads linked above cover it off pretty well. Avoid.

scambuster

As you have experienced, you can't become an "apprentice" without opening an account and depositing funds through their affiliate link to whatever broker they are using at the time. The broker affiliate commissions they receive for getting people to sign up and deposit funds are are around $600 per person. They also get a percentage of the amount traded through the account. They are or were using ETX capital very recently, and their affiliate scheme is detailed here http://www.etxaffiliates.com/commission-plan/

They claim to have around 100 apprentices per intake, which seem to happen every month or two. At $600 affiliate commission per 'apprentice' that's $60,000 + the revenue share which could be another sizeable lump.

They also change broker from time to time, so they can get another shed load of referral fees by jumping from broker to broker with the same pool of "apprentices".

I have no idea whether the training they offer is good or not, it is technically free so in that regard it's not a scam, but I think there is a strong upsell on bootcamp/ fast track courses etc with the promise of becoming a "fund manager" if you pay to go on their various courses.

The office in the Shard is a bit of a red herring to give an extra appearance of credibility. It's just two small serviced offices which any small business can get from a company called The Office Group who offer serviced offices in The Shard and other buildings across London. MTA rent out trading desks to some of their 'traders' so this probably covers the majority, if not all the rent.

There are also a significant number of posts across Facebook of them offering "managed accounts" where their "fund managers" will manage your funds for you. As MTA are not FCA registered this is almost certainly illegal, which is no doubt why it isn't openly advertised on their website. If someone "invests" £100k with them, their "fund managers" can trade the hell out of it then receive the 40% revenue share, without any real interest in whether the account balance is going up or down. There have been several disgruntled posts from people who invested in managed accounts and are disappointed in its performance which were swiftly deleted.

It will all end in tears one way or another

anonymousone

Do you have some screenshots of the above posts before they were deleted. would make interesting reading

Okane

scambuster said:

I have no idea whether the training they offer is good or not, it is technically free so in that regard it's not a scam, but I think there is a strong upsell on bootcamp/ fast track courses etc with the promise of becoming a "fund manager" if you pay to go on their various courses.

Well, revenue share explains it all, when your income is based on your clients losses then it's
obvious you need to make them lose. At least that's what revenue share really means.

FCA_mem

So these guys basically make money when anybody opens an account with their broker of choice. They used 24fx as they are regulated by the CYPRUS SECURITIES EXCHANGE COMMISSION, therefore out of the jurisdiction of the UK regulators (where they are based). 24fx offer huge introductory bonuses, for example if you deposit £1000 they can offer 5 times that amount (£5000) as an intro bonus for the introducer (MTA live). The catch being is that you (the trader) have to place 2 times (or more)the bonus amount in trade volume (i.e. £10000) to be eligible for the bonus. Incentivising introducing new inexperienced users with a bonus is wrong as they invariably lose all their initial deposit (92% in this instance) as there is no failsafe way to make consistent profit. They constantly encourage users to move brokers when the volume has been hit but in this case the Cypriot regulator cracked down on offering introductory bonuses (they are now banned for companies operating under CYSec). This forced their hand to move to a uk regulated company that offered intro bonuses. Some traders for MTA complained that they couldn’t get their money out or received less than their balance. One possible explanation could be that the bonus had already been paid out to MTA and they hadn’t fulfilled the criteria for the bonus to be paid out to MTA therefore reducing their account in lieu of this. They have moved accounts to an FCA regulated company, but the FCA have had this on their radar for a while. Intro bonuses are to be abolished and leverage reduced leaving MTA’s business model obsolete from Feb 2017 onwards (unless they switch to another broker outside of the UK and Cyprus that offers these bonuses). This could be why they have stated their last ‘trader training programme’ is in January, coincidence i think not.
http://www.digitallook.com/news/news-and-announcements/fca-launches-stricter-rules-on-cfds-and-binary-bets--2345418.html - A good read on intro bonuses for spread betting companies.
The trading methodology they teach is absolute rubbish, its ripped off from market reports, material that is freely available on the internet. They are only interested in you placing a high volume of trades. They will promote tight risk so you place multiple trades to fulfil the criteria for them to get the introductory bonus before you lose all of your money. If you make money great... but be aware it is against high odds as they are not serving your best interests. As a trader you are better off choosing your own broker and educating yourself with the wealth of free information that is available on the internet. MTA are making a lot of money, but it’s not through trading, it’s by preying on inexperienced vulnerable people and selling an unattainable lifestyle. Quite ironic when they claim to champion the 'common person changing their life for the better'.

theoneuk

Stay away from MTA LIVE or MTA THE TAKEOVER as they're now known.
I'll give them one thing, by far the best scam out there i know.
90% of their clients are youngsters (under25) who believe they're going to become millionaires and live 'Matt Travis's' lifestyle... The reality is, yes they teach you to trade and yes they have ongoing support and provide webinars and training etc etc but where they make their money is shifting clients around different brokers and getting paid by the brokers in doing so.
Around 2500-3000 clients and getting paid £1500 per client... You do the math!!! Oh this is 100% fact too.
And if you don't switch broker when they say??.... Simple, you get booted out from MTA.

You make money with them, you lose money with them but in reality you never really progress and make the money they say you can... The odd person comes along and trades well and makes good money but that is rare... everyone else is kept in Travis's fish bowl.

From what I know (close source) there were 2 guys who own the business. Matt Travis and Mike Douglas. From what i heard, Matt has recently stuffed Mike over by setting up another company behind his back so they have now split. Mike has gone off to teach people to trade with his own business and Matt has continued with MTA.

Honestly, if you want to trade, buy some books and get reading

ZeroCool

What the guys are saying above is sadly 100% true.

I attended two of their apprentice groups (I did it twice to make sure the first time round wasn't just bad luck), and both times they were appalling.

The trading lessons given were ok, fairly basic, but you could have got that type of learning from the internet for free, but the worse bit were the trading signals Matt gave out, so you could 'earn while you learn', they were awful and resulted in loss after loss until my account blew up.

I then opted for Matt himself to trade my account, but he lost me about 20% in less than two weeks. I kept a close eye on my account he traded and I saw him first hand move stops and take large positions sizes vs the size of the account., i.e. bad trading.

It was at that point that I realized they were fake and can't actually trade, and just make money for their ‘clients’ via spread rebates and introduction fees.

ZeroCool

One more thing, (and sadly I don't have it all print screened), but Matt said he purchased his house for 1.2 million from trading profit, the only problem is he's too dumb to realise he'd already given away his address and there's this thing called land registry.

I refreshed the sold data as of today, and guess what, the house he lives in is not purchased, it’s rented, so another lie he's been caught out on.

Also, when he was boasting about his new house he didn't clock the pictures he was posting had the little Air BnB symbol on (top right), which is no doubt where the RENTS the house from.

mole

I can confirm all the above is true. They sure as hell don't make their money from trading but from signing up mugs for the commission they get from the brokers. Training is basic, nothing more than what can be found on 'babypips'. They run a 'project 10' whereby clients sign up to turn 10k of their own money into 1m in a year following Matt travis' signals. Sadly in some cases they have managed to lose over 50% of their clients capital. Do yourself a favour and avoid.

The_Geek_MH

Thanks for all this info guys!

ZeroCool

Matt made an update recently about bad press, this thread probably being one of them, but he didn't mention anything about being busted for lying he purchased his house when in fact he rents it, or the fact he makes the majority of his 'wealth' from rebates and client joining referrals from the broker he signs all his students up to.... that and he refuses to show his accounts on myFXbook or alike to show he's the real deal, but I suppose that would then highlight his scam and his 100 lots traded on demo accounts...

canikhan9

Been interested in going with this guy Travis and his lot for a few weeks but now some things don't seem to add up. He has just posted on his facebook a denial that he is /was anything to do with mtalive in reaction to post from Tim Jones and a letter from LCG. If you look at his facebook posts for most of last year at least up to July /August you will see he was mtalive and not shy about it. Why deny something that is easily proven? LCG refer to reviewing advertising materials on that website before it was closed down. Me and a few other who were heading his way are becoming more uneasy . The problem with a liar is that they have to remember the lies they have told, forever. Wondering now if that is what we have here?

The_Geek_MH

be careful of those facabook signal groups, most likely a scam...

mole

There is much debate about MTA, or in whatever guise as being a scam. As it goes, it's probably not a scam per say - as its advertised as a free training course on how to trade FOREX markets. In this sense this is what they do.

The dishonesty arises when the company sells the dream of obtaining unforetold riches, fancy cars, watches, holidays, and freedom from the 9-5 rat race that most people wish to escape.


What they don't tell you is that companies like MTA get a referral bonus, and ultimately this is what pays their wage. Its not just a case of getting said mug to sign up for the 'free' course and using their affiliated broker to get the commission/referral bonus - the apprentice has to pay for their own training first. This is done by turning over a certain amount of spread.
In normal circumstances, the bonus would be paid when the apprentice has turned over roughly £250 worth of spread. At this point the introducer would receive their referral fee. In this case it would be beneficial for the introducer to encourage their apprentices to take as many trades as possible to ensure that that they hit the spread limit as soon as possible to ensure that they get their referral fee....... Whilst teaching any old rubbish.


If anyone does sign up with companies like this, it would be prudent to evaluate the signals that are being put out. The problem with this is that
many of the people that sign up to these groups are blinded by the clever salesmanship and marketing and the false dream of riches. Truth be told, not many make it in this business as successful traders. Sure, they will have wins
from time to time, but undoubtedly the rookies will have more failures by being lead down a rocky path where the introducer will always win.

My advice would be to seek a reputable and experienced educator that is able to show real results from actual live accounts and not just snapshots of a phoney 'traders life' scrap book.