Is Forex Peace Army a BIG SCAM ???

Well Traders,

I am not sure if FPA really filter the reviews being posted on their website, especially the negative ones. For me, I seem to have lost my confidence in their reviews as it looks to me manipulated and biased. I just wonder if anyone else has the same experience.

I happen to come across a service by the name Happy Trader, visited his website as he claims to have 100% profitable system, read reviews on FPA, most of which were in support of Happy Trader and then felt it would be worth asking him certain questions and do some research if it really is a good service. I sent this guy an e-mail regarding my questions and in reply I received lines that did not answer my questions at all instead he suggested me to go and spend some time on Babypips for my learning process. In short I realized that what he was trying to hide were asked in my set of questions and he might have felt uncomfortable in answering those. I am in no way trying to discourage anyone who wanted to go for his service, however one should be aware what kind of trading style he follows and what drawdowns and basic SL he allows before he call it as a failure. I mean come on that is the most basic info any trader might want to know about before falling into any such services. Then why to hide those and at the end stating 100% profitable system. He told me to look after and study more on Money Management part and I proved it that it is only because of my MM calculations that I needed this info as it will decide the lot-size I would be comfortable to trade with and the kind of pips his system can generate thereafter to support for his subscription cost first and then my earnings at the end of the month. Imagine taking extremely less lot-size and making 200 to 400 pips a month. Well on pip count that is fine but what about the bottomline $$$ that you got at the end of the month. Every trade will somehow become profitable after some period of time if traded with slight knowledge of how market reacts. However a good trader is one who allows lower DD in his trading style and that is what I requested from Happy Trader as a potential customer that he somehow never revealed to anyone, I am not sure about the subscribers for his services.

Alright, after this I decided to put these questions together with my comments on FPA on 22/05/2010 and at that time total reviews shown on the FPA for his services were 147. At the time of writing this note I saw the total reviews went up to 148 and the last reviews was posted on 10/06/2010 after my review that was written on 22/05/2010 but never posted. What does that indicate ???

BIASED REVIEWS
MNIPULATION
SOMETHING SUSPICIOUS
UNRELIABLE FPA REVIEWS SERVICES
MISDIRECTING PEOPLE WHO TRUST FPA REVIEWS
In Short CHEATING, SCAM whatever you may call it.

Following is the script of my e-mail to Happy Trader and his reply below my questions.

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My service is only 200 USD a month. I am in the trading live throughout the day providing updates on market conditions and trade setups. If you are looking for a sure win system for 200 USD a month I'm afraid that I am not aware of any such system. Forex trading is high risk.

From reading your email I get the impression that your expectations are unrealistic. No service is able to provide what you are looking for and even those with successful records are unable to promise you that you will be successful. Past performance is no indicator of future gains.


I suggest you use a demo account for 6 months and study the free content found at www.babypips.com It is a very good free educational site.


Good luck and remember forex is very high risk and no service can promise you fortunes.

On 17 May 2010 10:56, Shaikh Yusuf <[email protected]> wrote:

Hi Happy Trader,

Thanks for your replies and time.

Now final 2 questions to clear my mind.

1: I had been looking at your Trade Tracker. Now the dates being mentioned in these Trade Tracker represents Date of Open Trade or Date at which these trades are closed. Also could you tell me as how long do you normally keep a trade open (on an average basis).

2: I also went through comments on FPA regarding your services. While most of these comments seems to be favouring your services, I am more inclined to know if these words are true as mentioned below.

"Don't want to rate as I haven't been with them too long. Signed up a while ago but although people seemed to be making pips I didn't like the trading Style, large stops was a big issue for me.
I got slighly confused with his notepad of open trades where there was draw down of many 1000's pips. Not quite sure what was happening but it wasn't for me. "

"Not for the faint of heart as the strategy often requires holding open positions with huge draw downs, essentially trading without stops. Recently closed a JPY trade for a small 40 pip gain but not before the trade went -600 pips"

While I evaluated from these reviews is the fact that your trades can give results only after big DD and I am sure you manage to keep these trades open only because you intend to open smaller lot-size in these trades thereby applying proper MM in a way that the risks are controlled effectively. If that is so then a gain of 2000 to 3000 pips in a month with low exposure (to cover for the risks associated with bigger DD) may not justify the cause of earning potential as the traders are always exposed to the risks of higher DD (600 pips) as mentioned in one of the reviews on FPA and that does not permit to trade sufficient lot-size if not many. This was the reason why I asked you to be specific in terms of average SL that you apply to your trades and your reply to me regarding the same was not very clear, I am sorry about not understanding what your average SL on these trades are. Like in my case, I use avergae SL of 30 to 40 pips and I am specific about that. LIkewise I would be happy to know what SL I will have to encounter once I sign up for you services. Is it going to be 50 pips, 100 pips, 200 pips or no stops at all. I am asking because I want to know if I am prepared to take that kind of risk and at the same time if I am lowering my risks by taking lesser lot-size, am I really going to generate income? These are questions I must have an answer for before I commit myself to availing your services.

Hope the intent of this e-mail to you is clear and you may help in resolving my confusions towards certain aspects of your services I am not able to understand.

Thanks once again 'Happy' as I eagerly await your reply,

Cheers,
Yusuf SHAIKH

--- On Sun, 5/16/10, Support <[email protected]> wrote:

From: Support <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Subscription Inquiry...
To: "Shaikh Yusuf" <[email protected]>
Date: Sunday, May 16, 2010, 4:56 PM




On 15 May 2010 16:29, Shaikh Yusuf <[email protected]> wrote:

Hi Happy Trader...

My name is Yusuf SHAIKH, I am from Australia, currently in India. I have gone through your website and find your services attractive. However I have few questions before I could plan to join you finally. I am full time forex trader and I trade fo living. However it is just that I want to grow on my skills, I thought of joining this group. My questions are as listed below.

1: Do you have any specific trade setups and specific time that you trade with ?

The schedule can be viewed from the website.

2: Do you share these setups and your experiences with them openly in the room or these info are kept secret to you only?

Not sure what you are looking for here.. I discuss each trade setup openly. I don't have many secrets :-)

3: Coming to Trade Signal: How much in advance do you anticipate market reaction and provide signals to the subscribers, like 2 hour before, 30 minutes before or on the spot. I mean I just want to know whether I am prepared to take every signal or not. The idea is I want to test your system for each and every signal else I won't have an idea of practically applying it to real time scenario. So, I just want to know my preparation time, hence this question.

If time is a factor, concentrate on the economic indicator release which we trade in the room.

4: How much do you normally wait against your trade till it become profitable to you? In other words, I am asking about the maximum heat you are prepared to take on a trade. Just forget about 2% account balance logic at the moment, or consider it this way. Assuming that I have my account balance as USD 2500 to begin with. Now if you say SL @ 2% of account balance max. implies SL of USD 50. Now consider you are in the same trade with obviously bigger account size and the trade goes against by 80 pips and then reversing in your favour for 37 pips. Due to your bigger account size, you are allowed to keep the trade open whereas for me it is closed. Ultimate result is profit for you and loss for me. I am just wondering if that is the way you mark all your trades successful and count them at the end of the month as pips earned. I am also anxious to know how could you get 1 pip profit on few trades as shown on your website, maybe BE. In all cases don't you think it would be good idea to speak about how many pips of SL you have put so far while trading on an average. This will allow traders to decide what lot-size they can trade thereby limiting the max. risk below or at 2% of their account size. This transparency is required as it helps in determinig the lot-size. Saying 2% SL does not serve the purpose for me as my account balance cannot be matched to yours or any other trader. I hope I am able to put my point convincingly. So, can I have an idea of max DD in terms of pips (and not in $) you have normally attained an are ready to face before seeing GREEN?

My system is based on a % system. Providing that your broker allows for small positions you will be able to follow our system. Obvioulsy the smaller your account....the less money you make.

5: Do you provide SL and TP together with your trade calls and also an idea to manage these trades in case if it start going against heavily?

SL and TP is based on the size of your entry. We have a money system which explains this. If you are looking for sure win 100% system with set TP and SL that you can follow regardless of the size of your entries good luck LOL
I'm charging 200 USD a month, you should keep that in mind.

6: Do you add to your positions to average a losing trade? Also do you add to positions for a winning trade?

I am a successful trader and provide education in the live trading room. In general I do not see adding as a successful strategy. However, there are times when averaging in can be a successful strategy for exiting losing positions as break even.

7: Are the members kept informed well in advance of your intent when you plan to enter or exit these trades?

yes

8: Do YOU trade in your LIVE account with the same trade calls you provide to your members?

yes

I know these questions maybe irritating but it serves the purpose of identifying the truely dedicated and committed service and I am looking for value for my money like everyone else as I got cheated with some hyped results and committment as adverstised by some of the service providers and hence I thought of learning on my own than depending on someone else. However this is a long procedure and does not allow me to do that as I said before, I trade for my and my family living. So finding a good service is inevitable and you are on my list. You look good as I have read the reviews on FPA, but I want to know the answers for the questions asked above before I join you. Hope that makes my intentions clear and reasonable.

Will be pleased to see your replies as soon as possible to make up my mind.

Cheers,
Yusuf SHAIKH

There are no sure win systems.


--
www.happytradersfx.com
Not Just Another Forex Room!

For information regarding our trading room please visit www.happyforum.happytradersfx.net

--
www.happytradersfx.com
Not Just Another Forex Room!

For information regarding our trading room please visit www.happyforum.happytradersfx.net

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This would clarify and justify too the reason of my frustration and this post here. Where in above lines did he answer my questions in clear words.

Now the following lines were my so-called reviews or questions I have TRIED to be posted under FPA reviews after the above event of exchange of e-mails as I have my rights to do so independently on such so-considered unbiased FPA services and unfortunately never got it posted there.

Reason - I am not sure, you decide.

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HI Happy Trader and Subscribers of Services...
I am not a subscriber of this service and hence would like to know more about it from traders who already subscribed. I have gone through the reviews for Happy Trader on FPA,
both positive and negative. However I still have few questions in my mind and upon asking the same to Happy Trader by e-mail to him, I was replied with something that does not
answer my questions at all. Now the question still remains as I still have this point in my mind that if the service is good then why not join it.
Hence I thought of posting my questions here at FPA so that it can be answered straight rather than any other attempt to hide the facts.
1: I had been checking on Trade Tracker on Happy Trader's website. The trades are shown here with dates, results, comments etc. Well done on that as it looks attractive.
However, I want to know that the dates mentioned on Trade Tracker represents Trade Open Date or Trade Close Date or both. The confusion arises because I am keen to understand
whether these trades are being kept open for very long time and are being closed on the dates mentioned on the website under Trade Tracker.
Straight and simple question and need straight answer. Are these trades mentioned on Trade Tracker represents Intra-day trades being opened and closed the same day and
during the session as mentioned or these trades are being held for long time and closed on these dates? Happy Trader kindly clarify as I did not get an answer to
my e-mail to you.
2: I asked Happy Trader about what average DD in pips (not is Dollars) is being seen by him so far while he applies his concept to trading and also what is his usual SL.
I was not answered directly rather I was asked to focus more on the Money Management part by trading appropriate lot-size, which is OK.
Now I ask the question this way. Assuming that I plan to begin trading Happy Trader's way with initial deposit of USD 2500.
I already see what pips per month he is able to generate that seems more than good to me. However my question is what would be appropriate lot-size to achieve this goal
considering the account balance at USD 2500. This question is also important because unless I am informed about the anticipated DD or SL that can be treated as normal heat
that is acceptable, how would I be in a position to determine with what lot-size can I enter the trade. You see MM. Its fine to say 2% of account balance but then that 2%
may be different for different account balance and more than that different for different lot-size. I hope you get my point. If you don't want to sher your SL or DD its fine.
Tell me what lot-size would be suitable to take all your calls as mentioned on your website assuming that my initial balance is USD 2500 ?
3: You don't seem to have a fixed SL and TP, Correct me if I am wrong. Now if that is the case, do you inform your traders to exit the trade the moment you realize that
it should be closed, let it be profit or BE or anything. This give rise to one more question. The profit that you register on your website is representing the max. profit
that your trade has seen or the profit locked-in once you say "Close or Exit the trade NOW". For example you called a trade open that is running in profit at any given instant
for 57 pips. Now assume that this is the max. the trade has seen since it was open. The trade started reversing thereafter and came back to a point where it shows only 13 pips
in profit. If you keep your traders informed about exit and do call for trade exits as well and call this trade exit at a point when it was reading 13 pips profit after having
seen max. 57 pips in profit, what do you register as your profit on your website? 57 OR 13?
Well, I have these queries at the moment to Happy Trader or even the subscribers of the service. The questions are very simple and straight and I tried to explain the situation
well to avoid any confussions. I am interested and hence need straight simple answers.
This is just a suggestion to Happy Trader:
Won't it be reasonable to share your ALL OPEN TRADES with ENTRIES at the end of each day after the close of NY Session to make your service more clear and avoid such questions
as above? In a way it will also build confidence among others who are seeing your system thereby increasing the number of your subscription, you see.
Thanks for your replies.
Awaiting eagerly.
Cheers,
Yusuf SHAIKH

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My concern now is not regarding Happy Trader services as I have no plan now or anytime in future to join him and this is my personnel decision based upon my experience and research and in no way represent any recommendations not to join his services.

My concern is WHY FPA is behaving like this ???

I would appreciate comments on that if at all there is any reasonable reply from FPA, welcomed.

Cheers,
Yusuf SHAIKH

tl;dr


But I wouldn't trust FPA, as far as I'm concerned it's just a bunch of whiney losers calling everything a scam. That being said, anyone selling a 100% success system is a "scam" - I mean if it was 100% you wouldn't need to sell it, just rake in the cash from all your wins. Plus any claim of a 100% success system should set off your BS alert.

Point taken.
Thanks eurotrash.

So it is a fact that Forex Peace Army reviews cannot be trusted.

Would like to see some more reviews.

Thanks anyways.
Cheers

i had a scam experiance with 2 things on FFA and when i posted on them my negative review it never came up ...

since that i dont go there any more.

hahahahahhaha

Same case with me.

So here we go...

Forex Peace Army is not UNBIASED and they manipulate reviews, especially negative reviews are not posted as we have seen it now.

FPA therefore cannot be trusted.

Thanks guys for your valuable inputs.

Cheers...

ForexPeace army is not a scam but the people who is doing the scam bussiness is scam..

i never trust any reviews in forex in any sites.. bcz i know the market very well..

there is 3 people in forex

1) MARKETERS - THEY ARE EVERYWHERE

2) Traders who loses money - 99% of traders

3) Trades who makes Money - 1%

Agreed. I've came across many articles about Felix (i think that was the name of the site owner/operator) and how FPA is nothing but an operation to deceive people. I guess at one point FPA had or promoted some signal service ( very expensive at that) that was profitable for the first month, then turned into junk... The reputation caught up with that company, and then not too much time later, They had another NEW signal service...

Its a big cesspool =underground container for waste matter: a covered underground tank or well for the collection of waste matter

I still always use forexpeacearmy when I am researching about different EAs, Software, Brokers,Education, ect. Although some of the reviews are probably fake it still gives you a general idea if the thing your looking at is good or bad.

its really funny a scam site show other sites scam ... i am think also fpa is scam one

I think having some reviews is better than having no reviews. Review that information, then use your best judgement. FPA is just a tool you use to help backup your decision whether to go with Broker A over Broker B or to try out this EA or that.

I've had also bad reviews that was not posted on FPA. But some does
I've not had good reviews not posted.

I think yes, they are scam. True story !!!!!!! Once I placed a bad review of my broker, which was high rated on their site, and they didn't accept it, it was declined by moderator !!!!!!!

A very well thought out deception though not an out and out scam
I thought they straight up, until they started sending special offers. The deal is these companies give special discounts to FPA members for limited period of. There is big clock icon ticking and the the offers are not cheap, Forexlounge at 87 (reduced 140)USD a month, Mesa trading method at 4000 USD (reduce 5000 and something). I instantly didn't like having these kind of offers made with only a few days to make your mind up. Then I checked the reviews, the ones fomr long ago looked real enough, but anything recent was just ridiculously favorable, all 4 and 5 stars with personal thanks you's etc. I just didn't believe them. Forex products always get some bad reviews because some people will always lose money and rightly or wrongly blame the service, too good reviews has to be a fake of some kind
The FPA say they don't endorse any products but that these are 'selected companies' with good track records making special offers and that the FPA is doing all this for free! I simply don't believe that either. I think they are getting big bucks for these ads that right into mail box of every member.
As to rest of their review pages I think where the FPA doesn't any interest in the companies the reviews are as real as any and probably better than most. Why because that is what gives the site credibility and anyway if you look at good number you can get a fair idea if they look plausible.
The FPA does attack scams as well, which is probably genuine. All in all a very clever well thought out deception though not an out and out scam is my opinion

You have to remember its all about money. They did not set that site up to benevolently help traders as one might imagine. Those with the biggest bucks get the biggest bang. And to get those bucks the naysayers need to be silenced - its simply essential for the business.

ForexPeace Army is being investigated based criminal charges by Los Angeles prosecutors and the owner - one Dmitri Chavkerov - by several involved parties for:

- RACKETEERING
- FORMING OF A CRIMINAL ORGANISATIOn
- DEFAMATION
- VIOLATION OF RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS ACT (RICO ACT)
- MONEY LAUNDERING


Source: Los Angeles County District Attorney OFFICE

MisterTrader, ,it seems very serious. Forex Peace Army is based in Israel, why would they investigate them in LA? Anyway, there's an extradition agreement between Israel and the United States..It's not a haven for criminals. However, I wouldn't necessarily define the activities of ForexPeaceArmy as criminal, but I am not a defense lawyer.

I can tell you that my impression from Forex Peace Army is that:

They blacklist and pretend to help traders with complaints against brokers while in reality they are just creating forums for the purpose of getting traffic from potential clients of the brokers they tag as scams. I'm an affiliate myself and many people know me, my name is Michael Freeman, I published over 300 articles on strategies and indicators, as well as almost 200 videos related to tips, scams, strategies and so on but I am not here to advertise myself. I do get affiliate commissions but I am also a trader. Anyway.. I don't feel that it's a legitimate practice to target brokers and keywords associated with them just for the purpose of getting traffic.

How do I know they are only concerned with driving traffic to their website? They purchase Google adwords spots for keywords related to brokers and get people heated up. I confirmed with two brokers who tried to resolve complaints and never received a reply from Forex Peace Army. They are not really interested to remove content even if the broker is willing to give back the money to a trader..

They are not a true 3rd party mediation service as they like to appear, whilel promoting scams on their websites via banners, signals services ran on affiliate programs and all the "scams" they warn people about.

They are basically taking an entire industry, binary options, demonizing it, such as was done to me, even though I actually helped raise over $100,000 to charities around the world with my campaigns... I made money yes, I am an affiliate, but the type of things people write on me, while ForexPeaceArmy doesn't let me reply..shows their true face. I was also not allowed to reply on any forums where I was titled a scam. I am a good keyword to target people. Enjoy.

Anyway, I totally agree with many of the comments made on this thread concerning ForexPeaceArmy.com, I disagree with many of their practices but I don't believe they are criminals. As far as I see it, they are just blackhat marketers working in a grey area.

Best of luck to everyone and happy new year!!! I wish everyone a lot of success! Do your research before signing up with anything %99 of the Internet is full of scams.

Peace..

Michael Freeman (the guy from YouTube you might love or hate)

site has been down for a few days, did I miss the news?

something happened?

JACKO not a Director is he ? :-)

I agree with most of the comment from @Mike Freeman towards FPA.


But I think the fact that FPA pretending to be a unbiased defender for traders [for whatever "legitimate" reasons] is worse than most of the industry sites or forums out there. A very short-sighted practice.


Question:
Do any traders actually decide which brokers to use based on [anonymous online] trader reviews?
-I think one could raise eyebrows in both cases: everyone unanimously calls a broker a scam, or everyone overwhelmingly sings halleluiah?

"Happy Trader, visited his website as he claims to have 100% profitable system"

Do not walk, RUN from any charlatan making such nonsense claims. There is NO 100% profitable system! Look, even professional bank traders don't win every trade.