London Global Investments

Is London Global Investments a scam?

This is the post for my findings of the London Global Investments Scam investigation and London Global Investments review.

Decide for yourself, read the London Global Investments review below...

Like Savi Trading the person I spoke to on the telephone lied. The lady told me that I could trade part of their retail clients funds... oh really? Well I would like to see their FSA regulation that allows them to do so...(they don't have one by the way...). LGI are one of the newer companies offering training, formed in Dec 2010.

London Global, well, the person I spoke to was knowledgeable with their sales pitch, to the point that I couldn’t really get a word in edgeways. But I guess it is better that way than knowing too little! LGI seem to be more holistic in their approach to students, they said that their business model is based on getting students onto their trading floor and 'making money'.

I would flag up that this company are the most expensive (and you have to pay a minimum of 50% up front). I would also say that this is probably the company I know least about (as they still haven't got back to me to arrange a visit... after one month of waiting), so I will update this as and when I find out more information.

Overall
The company seemed to go out of their way to be unhelpful. They never openly told me about progress, development and trading size. Coupled with the fact that they are also (by a long way) the most expensive, one has to decide if they can gather enough details to decide if it is worth the investment. From my own personal investigations I would recommend that you look elsewhere, as there are other companies doing the same thing, offering much more and doing it for much less. Learning is all about credibility; unfortunately I cannot find a reason to believe this company has any. Particularly when the person at the front of their company - the one that answers the phone, lies about being able to become a retail trader in their retail funds when they aren't FSA regulated....nice.

Website
The website it clean and simple, though they seem to have a problem with wrapping on their navigation bar. Maybe a little uninspiring. It has your standard testimonials, news and what looks like a traders log in for easy access. Satisfactory.

Honesty
The sales pitch was exactly what I wanted to hear, ‘we only take on as many spaces as we have on our trading floor’, ‘trading size can be grown up to every two weeks’, but the fact that 100% of their previous course has graduated onto their trading floor makes me question how high their standards are and they must have the biggest trading floor in the world!

Credibility
I’m afraid I don’t know anyone who has been on this course, so all I can base this on is the initial phone call (I’ll review this once I’ve been in to meet someone). There was only one piece of information I was given that caused a red flag in my mind. The person I spoke to said they were a brand new company, but according to Companies House they were set up in December 2010. You can draw your own conclusions from that.

Trading Size
I couldn’t get a figure out of them – the person only said that traders that continued with them were ‘fully backed’.

Trader Development
The subjects they cover are very comprehensive, the sales person I talked to said there were two hours teaching time a day, though they have full time lecturers and mentors available during the working day.

Trader Career
Apparently on average about 90% of their students are fully backed into a prop trading account, and apparently they have a fund of some sorts, but I couldn’t find out any more information about it (it all smelled a bit too much like cloak and daggers). Will update this when I can find out more. Much like a few other proprietary trading companies they seem to be all 'gumph' and no 'go'. "We have a fund", "you can trade retail clients","be a hedge fund trader"...blah blah blah. All that is easy to say, but with no FSA regulation it is all just sales lies.

Visit to the Trading Floor
I have now been waiting for over a month for them to arrange a visit for me to go to their trading floor. I have called twice to prompt and keep getting the same responce "the person you need to speak to is not available". I will update as soon as I know more. Cloak and daggers or just inept? I'll leave it for you to decide.

Telephone Conversation Transcript

Hello, London Global

Hiya, I’ve been trading for about six months now, and I haven’t done too well, I’ve made a bit of money but I’ve lost as well. I’ve just been on your website and it looks really good. I just wanted to find out how you provide the trading

Yes, I can certainly help you on the training. The training programme is three months long, devised to assist either novice traders or those that have been trading but have had the harsh lessons of losing money and want to go back to the drawing board. We do everything from company strategies to risk management, money management, bear with me one second, trading technology, trading techniques, time frame strategies, risk management, we train you on the front end trading systems, we train you on [GT, I think this was GT, but it’s not a name I recognise] trader systems you’re trained on analytics software. We also have a big emphasis on fundamentals so we make sure all our trainees understand trading live economic data, you’ll be trained on market core, financial TV channels all those things which seem quite basic when you say it but there’s trick, and implementing them when you trade, so I’ve really just touched on the surface there, but it’s a very intense programme, you’re trained, you’re core teaching hours are two hours a day but we encourage everyone to be here full time if possible, we have full time lecturers and mentors who are there to assist you, to mentor you, to make sure you get up to a really high standard, outside school teaching time. You’re very supported, throughout the three months, then you can progress, depending on what you want to do, to a fully backed position with us, on the trading floor, or you can just use your training and trade your own funds, and take 100% of the profit. It’s up to you.

That’s what I was going to touch on, I would be looking for more of a career type thing, I mean is it possible to have a career with you?

Absolutely, yes, that’s the whole aim of it. Our business model is based on the academy of trainees that we get through our academy to our trading floor. That’s the business model and that’s how we create the programmes. We know then you are 100% trained in every aspect of trading, and we know that we are happy to hand over the funds after you trade with us for about three months.

How much, about will I start with if I finish the programme, how much would I get from the company to start trading with?

It does depend, it depends on your ability on the final six weeks on your demo account, so those things are dependant, people do start on different amounts. Would need to be discussed if you come in for an interview, which I think would probably good for you to come in and talk to****** (name) who heads up our trading and then one of our other directors ****** (name) and if you want to talk through everything with them, about how we progress and how we get started really.

I’d love to but I’m away next week, I was just going to ask, in terms of growing the trading accounts, how often do you grow them, do you do it every month or?

Sometimes less than that, sometimes it can be less than two weeks, depending on how you do. You’re managed quite rigorously, the quicker we can get you up the levels the better, the more you’ll be trading, it’s beneficial for both of us. So yes, it can happen very quickly if I’m honest.

Ok, and in terms of payment, honestly, the money isn’t important, but can I pay in instalments?

You would need to pay at least 50% before you start and then you could, you would need to have a chat with me and ***** (name) and then we could split the remaining amount through your three month training period, but you would need to cover 50% before you start.

Ok, I’ll be honest with you, I have been scouring around the internet, I don’t know whether you’ve heard of STA Schneider...

Oh yes, Schneider, that one is quite tough, we’ve actually got someone coming in next week from Schneider, and we’ve talked to a couple of people there. That one they take on 30 people and then they back one person out of all of them

Out of all of them?

Yes, yes that’s 100% backed, we’ve obviously done our research and it’s a tough one that one. But for us, because we want to fill our floor with our own academy trainees, because it’s good for our reputation, for example our May group had their final review and all 100% are being fully backed by us.

I’ll be honest, I’ve looked at Schneider and Amplify, what sets you apart basically? Why should I go with you?

Well, I think what you should do is come in and sit in a class, meet the team, speak to some of the trainees and you can make up your mind, because obviously I’m going to sound quite biased?

I don’t mind you being biased, there has got to be a USP

Well I think our USP is that we only ever bring trainees on that can be accommodated on our trading floor, so if you obviously do well, and our targets are realistic and you are mentored so rigorously every day with weekly reviews, monthly reviews, there’s no reason for you to mess up, and out of every class we back I’d say 90%, so you should do very well with us. Especially if you’ve traded before. And also we’re a relatively new business, which has its advantages because we’re fresh and we are looking for new talent.  And we’re trying to drive this business forwards. We’ve got a fund that needs to be traded, so the quicker we can get you up and running the better really.

So with the fund, can I get a retail career if I wanted to trade retail funds or?

Absolutely, that’s something you can discuss with **** (name) and that’s an option later down the line.

Ok that’s great. I actually need to go now, but will give you a call when we’re back.

Goodbyes.