Active traders

I had a cold call from the people from Active Traders. They Queensland based.
They do your trading for you, for a price of $5,ooo a year. plus brokerage.
They sound alright from the start, but i need some comments on anyone who has been involved in their trading schemes.

thanks for reading the above.
Fred.

 

Hi Barry

Never heard of the company.

What is their investment strategy - what will they be buying etc?

Kind Regards

 

Hey Barry,

The Mrs and I joined up with them a little over 3 months ago and put some of our smsf with them and so far we are happy with their performance. We have made a bit of money nearly every week which is all we want at our age but we don't don't risk a lot. I guess if we were risking more than we would have made a lot more. So far they seem pretty good at what they do but will wait and see how it pans out over the long term.

Chris

 

I would never invest with a company that cold calls!

 

Hi Chris

Can you provide more information such:

• 
  The returns over the 3 months? (As a comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index has returned about 10% during the past 3 months)

• 
  How are they making the returns?

Kind Regards

 

My apology for the late reply Andrew, I have not had much surfing time this week.

To answer your question, we started with 20k and now have about 23.3k so that makes about 16.5% return in a bit over 3 months.

They have been trading CFD’s and a couple of currencies. From what I can tell the CFD’s are on the ASX and London exchange and are mostly long trades but some short trades.

So far that is better than we were expecting but for now we will just keep what we have in there and see how they run over a longer period.

Chris

 

Hi Chris

I assume you understand that trading CFD's and currencies is a higher risk strategy.

What do they charge you to manage your money - $ based or % based?

Kind Regards

 

Hi Andrew,

Yes I know all too well the risks involved in trading even straight shares for that matter. Through my own ignorance I have had my fair share of roller coaster rides in the past I can tell you.

Actually one thing that stood out for me with this mob is the way they manage the risk, I was quite impressed and we are comfortable with that aspect.

Regarding their charges, the membership fee that we paid was $5000 for 3 years. There are no additional management fees after that other than the normal brokerage fee for each trade which is $17.50 for CFD's and $10 for forex.

Chris

 

Hi Chris

How will you cope with the drawdowns with their method, which could be significant?

Kind Regards

 

Hi Andrew,

Each trade has a predetermined risk amount which for us is about $280 and they usually have no more than 5 open trades at once so even in an extreme circumstance where they all lose at once we still would only lose about $1500 which we are fine with. From what we have seen so far they tend to hedge positions with long and short trades together across multiple sectors and multiple countries which obviously reduces the chance of all of the trades losing at once. They also only trade the very largest stocks so no speculative shares so not much chance of extreme moves on unexpected news.

So far we have not seen two full loses in a row, there was two loses in a row but the trades were exited early and the losses were about half of what we set out to risk. It makes sense to me how they manage the trades and the risk and we are comfortable with that aspect.

I probably wont be on the internet for the next couple of weeks as we are going on a much needed holiday but I will remember when we get back to give a progress update.

Chris

 

Hi Chris

Hope the trades go well for you and look forward to a future update.

Kind Regards

 

Do NOT go near Active Traders.
They are scammers . ONLY feathering their own nests. A scurrulous 80s style white shoe company based on the Gold Coast.
I too responded to a cold call. After paying for a 3 year membership, I rang to complain about the disclosure...since my investment has halved, with no accountability ...and was told by the GM that they had no debt, and enough money in the bank from sucked-in subscribers like me to run the business with NO trades for more than 2 years.

They are slick .

Their ONLY SKILL is in selling ...not trading .
I have just received a letter from their Broking House saying they will no longer act for them....I wonder why ?

I have read elsewhere, that the people who make their trading recommendations are apprenticed with virtually no renumeration...ie they are complete newbys .

Do yourself a favour ...DON'T GO NEAR THEM . I plan to get press coverage in the immediate future

 

Scammed by Active Traders

Stay clear. Please

 

Hi Scammed

Perhaps Chris can update us on how the past 6 months of trading have eventuated?

Kind Regards

 

Just thought i would comment incase anyone else was wondering as well. I signed up last year to active traders with a 3 year subscription after 1 year i closed it because i thought i gave it a good enough chance and all together probably ended up losing about $10,000. This is the first negative feedback i have ever given but i highly recommend you invest your own money and don't leave it up to others and definitely don't give it to active traders.

 

Hi Barry, like you I had a cold call from this mob telling me that they would make money for me in both a rising and falling market. I am a conservative investor but their arguments were persuasive so I joined their service for three years. After 8 months my capital had lost
16% with only one month showing a gain.
I have a dispute with them and want my subscription returned which they have refused. Be warned!

 

Active Traders are scammers

I too signed up for a 3 yrs subscriptions ($4980) back in july 2012...fully aware of the potential risks involved.
I too fell for the cold calling smooth talking "Mr Smith", I invested $10K also in which I felt they showed great returns on CFD and FOREX trades. How I was wrong!!! I wish I had my time again...never trust anyone with your money!!!!! (Hallifax investment Services are the Brokers)

I firstly would openly admit I to am a "mum & dad investor" with no real experience in CFDs or FOREX trading and was totally reliant on Active Traders advise!!!....that's why I invested $4980.00 to manage the account.

During the 12 months i made regular contact with a representative "Ben" with my concerns over loosing trades, in which he always sucked me back in to thinking things would turn around and of course my thinking was to continue to trade to recoup my losses. They had answers for all failed trades which didn't make sense with what was happening in the market, for mine it was incompetent traders making bad decisions at my expense like many other investors by the looks of things!!

I have put a hold on trading for good and am now in the process of recouping what money I have left after loosing 75% of my investment. 9 loosing trades in a row last month is an absolute joke....they saw me coming for sure and another valuable lesson learnt!!! STAY CLEAR OF ACTIVE TRADERS...and save the heart ach of loosing your hard earned cash!!!