Original FPA Traders Court Submission:
I am submitting the case against: www.gregssuccesssignals.com/
My Case is: Greg Stefaniak provides a Signal Service which mirrors his personal trades. The EA attached to my MT4 account allows the user to set a multiplier of the base lot size traded by Greg. This determines the lot size to be traded. Greg's base lot size is 0.02
I ran the Ea for 3 weeks using the minimum lot size and I monitored Gregs trades very closely. I realised that he was using a variation of Position Trading/Hedge Trading/Grid Trading using no stop losses. I have studied this style of trading for some time now and I completely agree with the principle of using hedged positions as an alternative to Stop Loss Orders because of Broker interference when Stop Losses are present. Greg seemed to be controlling the DD very well using hedged positions well balanced between Long and Short exposure. The largest lot size entered during this period was 3 times the base lot.
So on April 6th I decided to increase my multiplier to 10 which was a base lot of .20 as I had a $10,000 account I determined the risk to be quite safe. Then as things were going well I increased the multiplier to 15 or 0.3 base lots.
It was from the 17th April the trouble began. The GSS signals were trading the GbpUsd and Greg had already opened 2 short positions @ 0.2 lots on the 16th April. On the 17th he opened another short position for 0.3 lots. The GbpUsd started rallying and Greg opened a 4th short position on 19th April for 0.9 lots or 3x base which was not unusual based on past performance. Then it got worse as the GbpUsd continued to rally the 5th short position was opened on 20th April at 6x base at 1.8 lots which hadn't happened before. I received an email from Greg where some members had written to him worried about the DD but he said not to worry it was under control and he knew what he was doing. I let the trade run not wanting to interfere with Greg's plan and he then opened a 6th short position on 23rd April at 2.0 lots almost 7x base. This was capped at 2.0 lots because the Maxlot setting was default at 2.0 and Greg's setup video said not to touch this setting. I wondered why he was not buying the rally but I trusted that he knew what to do. Then the last straw on 27th April Greg opened the 7th Short position for 2.0 lots again which meant every pip was now costing $74. My account was on $12,500 after I added funds because I got a margin call. I left the program running on my vps server over the weekend and Monday morning my broker had closed all positions as the GbpUsd had gapped up which completely wiped out my entire account of $12,500
Since I have reported this incident on the review forum to warn other people I have had statements from other traders which show that the trades placed on my account did not appear in their account so they did not lose any money. If Greg is mirroring his trades to all his clients how can everyone be receiving completely different trades?
Also, Greg did not disclose the fact that he was going to use a martingale type approach during a trend where he would just keep doubling the base rate in a countertrend, nor did he offer any information in the setup video or FAQ regarding the recommended safe lot size to use and the recommended account size.
For him to wipe out such a large account trading at 7.4 lots when he was authorized to trade at 0.3 lots is criminal. For me to receive different trade signals to other members is fraudulent.
Greg has had ample opportunity to explain this on the Forum or write to me personally but he had done neither. I hope you can help me
I have submitted trading records of my own which show GregsSuccessSignals trades in the comments column.
Scotty is a GSS affiliate who submitted his trade history in the Review Forum
Andrew Fraser submitted his Trade records to me personally by email.
Jacek submitted his trades to me personally also but I couldn't upload these. Jacek had no trades that matched mine on the same dates.
New thread in the Scam Alerts Folder:
Review is submitted by Graeme on 04/27/12
The company was first contacted about the issue on 04/27/12 the last contact was on 05/03/12
Details: Something is wrong.
The biggest drawdown we had was $1000. How could you lose $12,000. What DivideRate were you using?
Do you use fixed lots?
I'm sorry to hear about your losses and of course I'll refund your order but something is not right.
Regards,
Greg
It's Greg Stefaniak here. Graeme, first of all I'm really sorry about your losses, but the lot sizes you were using were way too big for the acccount size you were trading with.
We trade micro lots on a long term basic so DD from time to time is not a big issue, as long as you use the right DivideRate for your account size.
Again, I'm sorry and I wish you all the best.
Greg
I'm really sorry about your loss but you set GSS up in a wrong way and it looks like you were using the broker
that doesn't allow micro lots. This is the reason you lost your money.
The biggest drawdown we had ever was $1000 and I cannot be blamed for what happened.
You were aware of the fact that trading is risky, and losses can occur.
I wish you all the best and I'm here if you have any additional questions.
All the best,
Greg
Company representatives' emails: Greg Stefaniak <support@ultimateforexclub.com>
I am submitting the case against: www.gregssuccesssignals.com/
My Case is: Greg Stefaniak provides a Signal Service which mirrors his personal trades. The EA attached to my MT4 account allows the user to set a multiplier of the base lot size traded by Greg. This determines the lot size to be traded. Greg's base lot size is 0.02
I ran the Ea for 3 weeks using the minimum lot size and I monitored Gregs trades very closely. I realised that he was using a variation of Position Trading/Hedge Trading/Grid Trading using no stop losses. I have studied this style of trading for some time now and I completely agree with the principle of using hedged positions as an alternative to Stop Loss Orders because of Broker interference when Stop Losses are present. Greg seemed to be controlling the DD very well using hedged positions well balanced between Long and Short exposure. The largest lot size entered during this period was 3 times the base lot.
So on April 6th I decided to increase my multiplier to 10 which was a base lot of .20 as I had a $10,000 account I determined the risk to be quite safe. Then as things were going well I increased the multiplier to 15 or 0.3 base lots.
It was from the 17th April the trouble began. The GSS signals were trading the GbpUsd and Greg had already opened 2 short positions @ 0.2 lots on the 16th April. On the 17th he opened another short position for 0.3 lots. The GbpUsd started rallying and Greg opened a 4th short position on 19th April for 0.9 lots or 3x base which was not unusual based on past performance. Then it got worse as the GbpUsd continued to rally the 5th short position was opened on 20th April at 6x base at 1.8 lots which hadn't happened before. I received an email from Greg where some members had written to him worried about the DD but he said not to worry it was under control and he knew what he was doing. I let the trade run not wanting to interfere with Greg's plan and he then opened a 6th short position on 23rd April at 2.0 lots almost 7x base. This was capped at 2.0 lots because the Maxlot setting was default at 2.0 and Greg's setup video said not to touch this setting. I wondered why he was not buying the rally but I trusted that he knew what to do. Then the last straw on 27th April Greg opened the 7th Short position for 2.0 lots again which meant every pip was now costing $74. My account was on $12,500 after I added funds because I got a margin call. I left the program running on my vps server over the weekend and Monday morning my broker had closed all positions as the GbpUsd had gapped up which completely wiped out my entire account of $12,500
Since I have reported this incident on the review forum to warn other people I have had statements from other traders which show that the trades placed on my account did not appear in their account so they did not lose any money. If Greg is mirroring his trades to all his clients how can everyone be receiving completely different trades?
Also, Greg did not disclose the fact that he was going to use a martingale type approach during a trend where he would just keep doubling the base rate in a countertrend, nor did he offer any information in the setup video or FAQ regarding the recommended safe lot size to use and the recommended account size.
For him to wipe out such a large account trading at 7.4 lots when he was authorized to trade at 0.3 lots is criminal. For me to receive different trade signals to other members is fraudulent.
Greg has had ample opportunity to explain this on the Forum or write to me personally but he had done neither. I hope you can help me
I have submitted trading records of my own which show GregsSuccessSignals trades in the comments column.
Scotty is a GSS affiliate who submitted his trade history in the Review Forum
Andrew Fraser submitted his Trade records to me personally by email.
Jacek submitted his trades to me personally also but I couldn't upload these. Jacek had no trades that matched mine on the same dates.
New thread in the Scam Alerts Folder:
Review is submitted by Graeme on 04/27/12
The company was first contacted about the issue on 04/27/12 the last contact was on 05/03/12
Details: Something is wrong.
The biggest drawdown we had was $1000. How could you lose $12,000. What DivideRate were you using?
Do you use fixed lots?
I'm sorry to hear about your losses and of course I'll refund your order but something is not right.
Regards,
Greg
It's Greg Stefaniak here. Graeme, first of all I'm really sorry about your losses, but the lot sizes you were using were way too big for the acccount size you were trading with.
We trade micro lots on a long term basic so DD from time to time is not a big issue, as long as you use the right DivideRate for your account size.
Again, I'm sorry and I wish you all the best.
Greg
I'm really sorry about your loss but you set GSS up in a wrong way and it looks like you were using the broker
that doesn't allow micro lots. This is the reason you lost your money.
The biggest drawdown we had ever was $1000 and I cannot be blamed for what happened.
You were aware of the fact that trading is risky, and losses can occur.
I wish you all the best and I'm here if you have any additional questions.
All the best,
Greg
Company representatives' emails: Greg Stefaniak <support@ultimateforexclub.com>