iMarketsLive is a network marketing company founded in 2013 that offers financial trading software with an affiliate program.
Trouble is…
There are a lot of legalities to being a financial services company…regardless of whether you’re also an MLM or training company.
And apparently, that’s news to iMarketsLive.
They haven’t exactly been squeaky clean, but they’re trying to be. They’re also an MLM with a product that generates its own income.
It’s not quite Wealth Generators, but it’s not too far off.
Keep reading to learn whether this MLM is right for you.
FAQ
1. What does iMarketsLive sell? iMarketsLive sells education and services for the Foreign Exchange (FOREX) and Cryptocurrency. Services include market education, live mentorship, a harmonic pattern indicator, market setup indicator, mobile apps for FOREX market education and the cryptocurrency market, and training with master educator and CEO Christopher Terry.
2. What are iMarketsLive’s most popular products? The iMarketsLive Academy is their most popular product, with 1 million unique visits every month, 60+ full-time educators, available in 120+ countries and translated into 8 major languages. Also popular is the Harmonic Scanner, which scans the markets for valid harmonic patterns, providing information on entry, risk points, and targets and catering to multiple trading styles.
3. How much does it cost to join iMarketsLive? You can join as an IBO or a Customer. To become an IBO, you only have to pay a $15 start-up fee and a $15 monthly membership fee. That gives you their products and part of the compensation plan. To become a Customer, you need to purchase the Platinum Package. This has a start-up cost of $195 and a monthly membership fee of $145 and generates 145 in Group Volume per month.
4. Is iMarketsLive a scam? The company was investigated by Truth in Advertising (TINA) and found to have made gross overstatements about income potential. iMarketsLive COO Frank Gomez responded to many of the issues raised by TINA, which shows they’re trying to clean up their act. But that doesn’t negate the complaints listed on the TINA report. One person said, “I decided to unsubscribed (sic) and block them from my bank which apparently they already had the company in the list of scams.” [1]
5. What is iMarketsLive’s BBB rating? F
6. How long has iMarketsLive been in business? Since 2013
7. What is iMarketsLive’s revenue? $6.3 million in monthly volume
8. How many iMarketsLive distributors are there? 32,000
9. What lawsuits have been filed? In September 2018, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued iMarketsLive for violating the Commission Regulations about offering trading services without being registered to do so. iMarketsLive offered a settlement, and the CFTC accepted. [2]
10. Comparable companies: Karatbars, Primerica
The trading software might be legit, but if you’re just looking into this company for the business opportunity, there are better options out there to make money from your laptop.
Click here for my #1 recommendation
Either way, here’s the full review on iMarketsLive, the company.
Overview
iMarketsLive officially launched in July of 2013, and they’ve gathered up a significant amount of buzz and company growth in the past few years.
They’ve already got a customer base of 55,000 people operating in over 120 countries worldwide.
The NYC-based MLM is founded and led by Chris Terry, who beforehand hadn’t made much of a name for himself, but is certainly starting to now. He dabbled in network marketing, even working for Amway a few years in the 90s, but doesn’t seem to have had extensive experience in the industry before launching iMarketsLive.
However, iMarketsLive combines Forex trading with network marketing, and Terry does have experience in trading. He claims to be a multiple 8-figure trader with 18 years of experience. [3]
According to an interview he did recently, he really wants to focus the company on customer acquisition, making sure that they’re running on a sustainable long-term model and that they’re “primarily a customer base business with a network marketing model attached to it.” [4]
If that’s true, it’s refreshing, considering how many MLMs are so obvious about focusing almost exclusively on the network marketing aspect of their company and not at all about the product/customer. Considering the founder’s primary experience is in the industry of their product and not in network marketing, there’s a chance he’s not just bluffing.
Terry isn’t the only superstar, either. The VP of Sales, Alex Morton, is a network marketing prodigy who’s not only been very successful in the industry but pretty much founded the “Millennial Movement” that got MLMs to start targeting young folks better before their entire member-base dies out because they’re all baby boomers (ahem, looking at you Avon). [5]
Knowing how to target millennials is one of the most important things any MLM can learn (see the full MLM rankings), so this is good news for iMarketsLive.
Be aware, though, it’s not all rainbows and roses. Apparently, iMarketsLive has been so focused on setting up their profit streams, they forgot one critical detail that will keep them legal.
In September 2018, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission cracked down on iMarketLive for selling commodities without being registered. A hefty settlement and fine were paid to clear the mess up, but if they’re going to stay in business, iMarketLive clearly needs to understand the legalities of being a financial services company—not just an MLM and training company.
How much does iMarketsLive cost?
You can join as an IBO or a Customer.
To become an IBO, you only have to pay a $15 start-up fee and a $15 monthly membership fee. Super cheap. You get the right to share their products and partake in part of the compensation plan.
To become a Customer, you need to purchase the Platinum Package. This has a start-up cost of $195 and a monthly membership fee of $145 and generates 145 in Group Volume per month. Huge difference in cost.
One is one of the cheapest I’ve seen, and the other is unreasonably expensive.
Of course, to access the majority of the plan and make any real money, you need to buy into the Platinum Package.
Products
The “product” at iMarketsLive is financial trading software that they claim is worth thousands and thousands of dollars for its ability to make you money.
iMarketsLive offers four different components to their package.
FX Signals Live is a hands-free trading service that allows you to set it and forget it. Basically, the program claims to mirror the trades of their experts so that you don’t even have to worry about doing any trading at all.
Live Training Room is a live webinar program where you can watch CEO Chris Terry, a “master trader”, make trades and learn from his prowess.
Harmonic Scanner is a program that will identify and explain patterns in the FOREX market to help you understand and identify good trading opportunities.
Training Education is iMarketsLive’s proprietary trading education that’s filled with a library of videos, webinars, and articles for you to learn more whenever you want.
This is another MLM with a vague, shady product for two reasons:
- There’s no differentiation between customer and representative. The product and right to be an affiliate are in one package.
- The product is already available for free at other places. It’s not hard to find financial trading software that does exactly what these programs do (perhaps even better) for free. That’s because they make their money by charging a percentage of your winnings.
The only part of the product that is at all unique from free programs is access to webinars from their CEO, but there’s not even any solid proof that he’s any more skilled and knowledgeable at FOREX trading than experts you could access for far, far less than $145 per month.
Compensation Plan
New Affiliates start out with a pretty generous fast start bonus that pays 4 levels down in recruitment:
- Level 1 (personally sponsored Affiliates): 30%
- Level 2: 10%
- Level 3: 10%
- Level 4: 10%
After that, residual commissions are paid out in a 3×8 matrix. Basically, you get three branches in your Level 1 (personally sponsored Affiliates), and each of those gets three branches, and so on down to 8 levels.
You get 8% of each Affiliate’s monthly membership fees in your downline. However, you don’t get access to all 8 levels at once. You have to move up in rank to access more levels. In order to unlock all 8 levels, you’d need to recruit 12 Affiliates.
They also have a few other weekly bonuses, such as a Platinum Bonus (a one-time $5-$35 for each Platinum Package you sell) and a Chairman Infinity Bonus ($1,000-$40,000, but you have to be ridiculously high in rank to even be eligible).
Recap
The compensation plan is decent enough, but the monthly membership fees are pretty high.
They’d be more than worth it if this was an investment you actually saw a return on, but FOREX trading is extremely complex and very, very high risk. Even the Forex Live website is littered in warnings about how risky it is. [6]
Basically, it’s not for beginners, and certainly not for people who want to “set it and forget it” with some app.
What’s more, it’s clear that the focus here is on the network marketing portion of the company and NOT on customer acquisition, as the CEO claimed. All of their customers are also Affiliates, and there’s no differentiation between the two.
I’d be willing to bet that the only people making decent money in this company are making it off membership fees in their downline.
Look, I’ve been involved with network marketing for over ten years so I know what to look for when considering a new opportunity and iMarketsLive has some red flags.
After reviewing 200+ business opportunities and systems out there, here is the one I would recommend:
Click here for my #1 recommendation
from MLM Companies
No comments:
Post a Comment