In the past few days, thousands of angry traders have been spewing vitriol about several high-profile trainers who, it is alleged, have consistently made false claims about their trading prowess to lure gullible investors into buying their online trading courses or open brokerage accounts from which they make crores of rupees as referral fees. How serious is the issue? Or are angry investors just looking for someone to blame as they slowly realise the truth of a study released by the market regulator early this year, which showed that 90% of active traders dabbling in derivatives trading had lost money in 2021-22 (Read: 90% of Traders May Lose in the F&O Casino, but Here Is Why the Casino Will Only Get Bigger?)
The Indian capital market has seen an unprecedented boom in the past three years as tens of millions of new investors entered the stock market with the sole objective of making quick money. Given the hunger for information and quick trading expertise, many self-styled experts with just a few years of market experience found a money-making opportunity in offering stock market trading courses that charge anywhere between Rs4,000 and Rs60,000.
These trainers often rely on strategies unrelated to their actual trading skills or knowledge. The swagger to project themselves as successful traders with fraudulent claims of humungous profits, social media proficiency and tech-savvy are tactics that help promote their training courses while also generating income via...
Unfortunately, Gregg Phillips’ claims that he was twice teleported from one place to another aren’t the biggest problems for this top government official with a long history of shady deals, charit...