Our IM Academy review looks at this educational platform and the pros and cons of signing up. There are quite a few strong opinions on the credibility of this academy. Therefore, we look at what they offer, if they’re a scam, and whether or not you should sign up to learn with them.
We can’t do an IM Academy review without determining if you can be profitable with them. After all, what’s the point of signing up for a service if you’ll pay them and not see a return on your investment? Especially with trading.
Table of Contents
IM Academy Review Introduction
Just to let you know, IM Academy is an MLM entity. MLM, or Multi Level Marketing, has you make money through recruiting. So yes, you can make money with IM Academy by recruiting friends and family to sign up with them. They also teach trading techniques. So, there is an educational value like many trading communities on the World Wide Web.
Now, is MLM something you want to spend your time doing? That’s another question. How much do you enjoy getting Facebook messages from an old high school friend looking to “catch up”? And then BAM, they hit you with a business opportunity. Nine times out of ten, we roll our eyes and ghost them. Our IM Academy review lets you know that’s how you make money with them.
iMarketslive.com
You might be wondering who iMarketslive is. Depending on who you ask this question to, you may get a wide range of different answers. On the surface, iMarketslive.com and the iMarkets Academy are forex trading software and educational sites that help users learn forex trading skills. Notice what we said on the surface. The site certainly straddles the line of legitimate educational and trading software and a multi-level marketing business. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum! Typically, this type of business model can be a turn-off, but for others, MLM and trading are their bread and butter.
The IM Academy, which teaches people how to trade in foreign exchange markets, was founded in 2013 in New York City. The founder and CEO of iMarketslive is a man by the name of Christopher Terry. Was Mr. Terry an experienced investment trader with a long history of finance and investing?
Terry was in construction and managed a company before ultimately walking away and starting iMarketslive. Terry also has a long history in multi-level marketing companies, from working for Amway and Zeek Rewards, a brand deemed a Ponzi scheme by the SEC.
So kind of a shady individual running an organization that any quick Google search will tell you is a multi-level marketing scam. This all seems to add up pretty well. This is not to say that everything about iMarketslive is negative. But read on in their IM Academy review, and you can make a final decision yourself of whether or not iMarketslive is a legit trading platform or a good old-fashioned MLM business.
Is Forex Trading Legit?
Sure, there are plenty of investors who play the forex market daily. The global forex market is the largest financial market in the world, with trillions of dollars in trade going through every day. In terms of dollar transactions, the forex market dwarfs the stock market and cryptocurrency market several times over. But does that mean it is easy to trade on the forex market? Hardly.
Since forex is a global market, it makes sense that iMarketslive operates in over 120 countries worldwide and offers support in several major languages. But forex trading isn’t something one just picks up and learns by watching video tutorials and reading guides. Like other forms of trading, it takes lots of time, trial and error, and sweat and tears.
Forex trading is difficult, period. Currencies don’t fluctuate as wildly as stocks. Nor do they have CEOs or quarterly earnings calls so that shareholders can judge their performance. The forex markets are complex and take years to master. But we learned in our IM Academy review that Terry and iMarketslive lead users to believe that it’s something that any regular Joe can do with the press of a button on their mobile phone.
Is IM Academy a Pyramid Scheme?
While IM Academy is not a pyramid scheme, its business model looks like one. They get away with how they run things. But they do have members who try to recruit others so they can level up. The more people you recruit, the more money you make. Now, what does that sound like to you? If you do your research, you’ll see that in 2018, at least 95% of their users made less than $300. The top 5% did well, which is the surefire sign of a pyramid scheme.
The word pyramid scheme gets thrown around often, and it’s not always a legitimate claim. You have to be on the lookout for the typical phrases like “Do you want to make money at the click of a button?” Or how about “You’re slaving away at a 9-5 job when you could make three times as much in just 2 hours, all from the comfort of your own home.” Typically, when we hear that, we run.
iMarketslive Offerings
If you ask Terry, iMarketslive allows individuals to experience financial freedom by taking the forex trading market into their own hands. When you visit the iMarketslive website, it’s unclear what the company does.
You can find dozens of optimistic-sounding phrases like, “How would you feel if you had total control over every aspect of your life?” or “What if there was a way for you to build a better life and experience more happiness and fulfillment?”. The word forex is used only once on the homepage when iMarketslive’s Harmonics software is being described.
We found in our IM Academy review that when you sift through positive language and encouraging slogans, you’ll realize that iMarketslive is funneling you toward its various membership levels. The further down the homepage you go, you’ll begin to see prices and rates for different types of enrollment. Once you can reach a pricing page, you can see all the different packages iMarketslive has available.
COURSE |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| DESCRIPTION | Learn how to read penny stock charts, premarket preparation, target buy and sell zones, scan for stocks to trade, and get ready for live day trading action | Learn how to buy and sell options, assignment options, implement vertical spreads, and the most popular strategies, and prepare for live options trading | How to read futures charts, margin requirements, learn the COT report, indicators, and the most popular trading strategies, and prepare for live futures trading |
| INCLUDED | Daily watch lists • Trade rooms • Trading scanners • Discord • Live streaming Day Trading > | Daily watch lists • Trade rooms • Options scanners • Discord • Live streaming Options > | Futures target levels • Trade rooms • Real time teaching • Discord • Live streaming Futures > |
Harmonic Scanner
This is what iMarketslive has named its patented software. It scans the markets for real-time data. You can set up notifications for pricing pattern alerts or buying or selling opportunities. This replaced the old program that iMarketslive offered, FX Signals Live.
This was software that just copied the trades that Terry was making. Only users would get alerted to these after he made them. This, of course, is illegal, so FX Signals Live was taken out of commission in 2016 and replaced by the Harmonics app.
iMarketslive & Forex
Without actually taking the courses or using the software, I do not doubt that iMarketslive and the IM Academy are aimed at helping people learn how to become forex traders. The potential for making money in the forex markets is incredible.
A focused teaching style can help people understand the intricacies of trading. But when learning to trade and invest becomes a marketable product to sell, it becomes a slippery slope. How legitimate is a business? If Terry was such a successful forex trader, why would he need to start a company to make money off of teaching people how to trade that way? Well, it is another source of income, and a business is a business. There is nothing inherently wrong with providing unique education, working hard to make that education valuable, and charging for it.
iMarketslive provides its users with full learning academies, live mentorship, and additional tools like virtual seminars and even weekly webinars held by Terry himself. They also offer live trading rooms with real iMarketslive forex traders.
Users can actively chat with them as they scan the markets and make real trades. But even throughout this, iMarketslive rarely mentions the risks involved in trading on the forex markets. Everything in the vocabulary is positive and discusses how you can make money by signing up for their iM Academy.
IM Academy Pricing Review
As with many multi-level marketing companies, iMarketslive offers multiple entry levels for users who can be anything from normal to Elite Academy members. Not surprisingly, these memberships range from $16.71 monthly for the IBO Membership to $274.95 for the Elite Academy membership.
Each monthly subscription also includes an enrollment fee, so you can see how quickly these fees can begin to add up. Here is an IM Academy review of some examples of the fees involved in signing up for a membership.
The standard IBO Academy membership rate. The $16.71 is a recurring monthly fee for users. By the way, IBO stands for Independent Business Owner. Why is it so much cheaper? I’ll let you know more about this later.
The FRX Academy membership includes a $174.95 monthly recurring membership fee, which is not included in the image.
IM Academy Compensation Plan
The more people you recruit to IM Academy (iMarketslive), the more monthly compensation you can make. If you recruit 30,000 people to sign up for iMarketslive, you get the highly sought-after Chairman 500 ranking, which will net you $500,000 per month in passive income. New IBO’s can get their membership free if they reruit two news members.
So, to get this straight, if you recruit people to the site, you get rewarded. If those people you recruit can recruit more people, they get rewarded. Can you see what kind of shape this organization is beginning to look like?
This is where things go off course for iMarketslive. Rather than participating in the actual learning and forex trading, you can opt to be an IBO. Think of this as a full-time recruiter.
IM Academy Trustpilot & BBB Rating
IM Academy has a 3.9/5 star rating out of 2201 ratings on Trustpilot. They have a 2.23/5 star rating, averaging 39 reviews on the Better Business Bureau (BBB). They have an F rating.
Final Thoughts
Generally speaking, if it walks like a scam and talks like a scam, it might be a scam. Do your due diligence. Is iMarketslive a pyramid scheme? Well, not explicitly. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be allowed to continue to operate as a business. The ability to sell its product as a service seems to have exploited the loophole under U.S. law. But that hasn’t stopped many people from claiming that iMarketslive is a scam.
Your monthly membership subscription and initial enrollment fees are outrageous, especially in the internet age, where most things can be found at little to no cost. Sure, the customer service and live support from traders are nice. You can learn a lot from other traders and have a good stock scanner.
But plenty of investors are willing to livestream themselves or post YouTube videos of how they trade for free. Yes, free doesn’t guarantee the best, but you have options. The biggest question you can ask yourself is, does this ring true when iMarketslive and the IM Academy treat your membership fee as an investment in your future wealth?
Trading in a volatile market like the global forex market is anything but a sure thing. As a result, when you sign up for the IM Academy, the only thing you can guarantee yourself is a large monthly bill and being part of an MLM company.
Frequently Asked Questions
IM Academy is an mlm company that some call a pyramid scheme. It's not known to be illegal, though. Some members make money but the majority do not.
The residual income for IM Academy depends on the members ranking within the business. Income ranges from $37.50 per week up to $125,000, however most don't make money.
IM Academy was formed in 2013 by Christopher and Isis Terry. They are based in New York, USA.
Investors cannot purchase shares of IM Academy because the company is privately held.
