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FIO Transparency and Facts

  #1 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
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Hi guys,

A couple of recent threads has lead me creating this topic on transparency.

The threads in question are:



and



It is my goal with this thread to provide even more transparency so there is no question or reservation from anyone who is questioning the business practices or motives of myself or the site.

Mike

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  #2 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
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I don't want to rehash too much of what I've already said in the two above mentioned threads. So I will try to just do a quick recap on a few things...

Site sponsors (businesses that pay money) along side their campaign start date:

CTS - May 2011
DTN IQFeed - March 2011
FXCM - October 2011
MarketDelta - March 2013
Mirus Futures - December 2010
NinjaTrader - September 2011
OrderFlowAnalytics - May 2013
TopstepTrader - December 2011

As you can see most everyone has been here for a long time. I have gone into detail about the process of sponsorship in the other thread, including making it absolutely clear it is not about money.

I documented the shear number of businesses that try to pay money, to which I say no to 99% of. I showed you my email box of the number of companies trying to advertise with banners, pay to get webinars on futures.io (formerly BMT), or buy email lists.

You can see from the list above that the number of sponsors is very small. This is by choice. I fully sell out the "inventory" of the site, this means the number of impressions available. You can also see there are very few ads on every page. Once again I want to reiterate this is not just about money --- if money was the most important factor then there would be more ads one every page, and I would be saying "yes" to all these other businesses that want to pay me.

Why do I say no? Very simple -- reputation. I don't want anything to do with most of those companies. I do not allow any type of referral business model on futures.io (formerly BMT). I do not earn referrals for anything on the site. I also do not, have not, and will not sell, lease or rent the email list to anyone. You guys have seen the types of emails that other sites sent out, most commonly categorized as "get rick quick" type junk. But there are also reputable firms, including some on the list of sponsors above, that want to do emails. I say no and turn down the money because I believe it is a disservice to use members email addresses in this fashion, so I don't allow it.

In fact, I also want to point out that I do not earn money when you click on an ad. That type of ad revenue model is called "CPC" or cost per click, and it is not what futures.io (formerly BMT) uses. Instead, we use CPM which is cost per thousand impressions. It means I charge advertisers based on how many impressions are shown to viewers, regardless of whether or not anyone clicks on them. Naturally I work with advertisers to get their CTR (click through rate) as high as possible, meaning the number of clicks received vs number of impressions delivered. It is in my interest, the sponsors interest, and the members interest to show relevant ads. All parties are benefited.

When a site sponsor comes on board, I make it crystal clear to them that does NOT give them rights to use posts for self-promotion. In other words, we do not allow them to use posts to market to users --- just like we don't allow any non-sponsor (regular vendor) to do it.

Mike

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  #3 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
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Vendors

Basically vendors are anyone that has some product or service to sell. It could be programming talent, it could be a trading room, it could be mentorship or coaching, or a platform, brokerage, etc.

I refer to the short list of site sponsors as "sponsors" even though they are also vendors. All other vendors (non-sponsors) are simply called "vendors".

Vendors are not allowed to use nexusfi.com (formerly BMT) to promote their product or service. This means they cannot come on the forum and start posting links to their website to drive traffic to their site. We consider that "spam" or simply "self-promotion", and we do not allow it.

It has nothing to do with whether or not they have paid us money. I want to make this crystal clear, because there is at least one other well known forum where their business model is that they will delete any post from a vendor if a product or service is mentioned, unless that vendors pays up. That is not how we operate on nexusfi.com (formerly BMT).

Vendors who have paid us nothing are allowed to respond to users and answer questions, if we believe they are not trying to sneak in a sales pitch. For example, we tell them they cannot mention performance or customer testimonials, for example a trading coach or trading room vendor might say "I've taught over 2,000 people how to trade, and they are making $20,000 a month now, and just the other day Bob told me I am the best thing since sliced bread". We view that as self promotion and delete the post and send a warning PM to the vendor. If a post is deleted, all members will see the deletion notice. It will show the date/time, poster, who deleted it (me), and the reason, ie "self-promotion is not allowed".

That said, vendors are allowed to respond if nexusfi.com (formerly BMT) members have asked questions like "Does product ABC do XYZ?". As you can imagine this is sometimes a gray area but I do the best I can. I'm also working on a new initiative that builds on the things I've learned over the last 4 years, and it is called "Certified Trustworthy Vendor". This will allow vendors who meet the strict program requirements a bit more freedom on the site. I am still working on that, there is a thread here for discussion:



Mike

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  #4 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
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Swing Trader
 
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Webinars

Some people think I get paid by people to allow them to come and do webinars. That is absolutely incorrect. In fact I often have to pay the speaker to come and lecture, just like those speakers would command a speaking fee at an event such as traders expo, etc.

On top of that, if there are prizes like Books to be given away, 99% of the time I am buying those (ie: Amazon), shipping them to the presenter, and then giving them away during the webinar. This is my expense.

Most webinars that are not from site sponsors (more on that in a minute) are Elite Only webinars. This means only Elite Members can view them. However, I always provide the presenter with a direct link which they can share with their audience. This allows their audience to attend the live event (not recording) even if they are not Elite Members. I also have given away plenty of prizes to those guys, as I do not discriminate in any way on prize winners (ie: Elite or not).

A recent example would be the webinar I have just scheduled today. The webinar presenter is a vendor. They are not a site sponsor. They have never paid money or compensated me in any way. I have also not compensated them in any way. However, just because they are a vendor some people automatically assume I am getting paid by this person for them to come and speak on futures.io (formerly BMT). It's just not true.

Why would I schedule such a presentation? Aren't all vendors evil? No. Not all vendors are evil. Unfortunately, when it comes to trading, it does seem there is a disproportionate number of bad vendors who overstate their performance or overstate the likelihood someone will make money off their tools or services. However, not all are this way, and I do my absolute best to find quality presenters to come and talk on futures.io (formerly BMT) to expose members on futures.io (formerly BMT) to a wide variety of topics and methodologies.

Now getting back to site sponsors, and their webinars. I allow site sponsors two different kinds of webinars.

The first kind is what I call a "promotional" webinar. This is something where they are basically selling their product or service. I do not attempt to hide or disguise this fact, I list clear descriptions of those events. I also limit the number of events to about two or three per year per sponsor.

The second kind is what I call a "sponsored" webinar. Yes, a sponsor sponsoring a webinar. LOL, let me explain. What I mean is if a futures.io (formerly BMT) site sponsor wants to bring on a third party, such as an author or educator, as a guest speaker. I have to agree to that person and I do my usual research on them. If I agree, then the first 5-10 minutes of the webinar go to the futures.io (formerly BMT) sponsor for them to do a very quick run down of the products or services they offer. Then the remaining 90-100 minutes of the webinar go to the guest speaker/main presenter. When an event like this is put on you will see in the webinar description something like "Sponsored by xxxx".

I also want to point out that I have a strict set of rules in our webinars. Everyone is told that we do not allow hard selling during the presentation, no secret sauce, no "act now" deals, etc. There have been some mistakes along the way in 150+ webinars and 4+ years of doing them. I have a list of speakers that will not be invited back due to them breaking my rules. In other cases I have told speakers I was unhappy with the event, and that they could come back only if they made certain not to repeat the behavior that I do not allow.

Why are most webinars Elite only? Because to put together the event from start to finish takes a monumental amount of my time, and I don't work for free. Webinars from site sponsors are always open to everyone. Most all other webinars are Elite only. There have been some exceptions naturally.

Mike

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  #5 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
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Elite Membership

I've heard people claim all kinds of things with regards to Elite Membership. I went into a lot of detail in the prior two threads I linked in post #1, but a brief summary is as follows:

Elite Membership is a way for serious traders to have a stake in their community. Without this stake or investment, it has been shown time and again [on other trading forums] that there is no respect for the community, so it gets trashed quickly, overrun with "trolls" and other rude and childish behavior.

Site sponsorship (banner ads) vs Elite Membership -- they are completely separate. There are banners on the site because it would be a poor business decision for their not to be. Before you jump to assumptions, be sure you've read the earlier post on site sponsors because I've made it clear that money is not the #1 factor. Elite Membership would still be required even if the banner ads brought in 100x more revenue. Without the membership we lose what makes nexusfi.com (formerly BMT) special, the investment from each member into the community.

Why has Elite Membership gone up over the years? First it was $20 for lifetime, then $25, then $50, and now as of a couple days ago it is $100 for lifetime access. There is a thread about that here:



The answer is 100% positively, absolutely NOT about putting more money in my checkbook. In fact, the goal is to reduce the number of Elite Members in order to keep the overall quality of the site at its highest level. Anyone that is a serious trader will not question the difference between $50 and $100, but someone that is only here to download an indicator and then give it to their friends, or someone who isn't happy unless they make others miserable will likely second guess their decision to spend $100. That is the goal anyway.

Mike

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  #6 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
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If anyone else has questions I will try to answer. But no, I will not be posting tax returns or etc so be realistic with your questions.

Thx for your support, as always.

Mike

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  #7 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
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Swing Trader
 
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Big Mike View Post
Site sponsors (businesses that pay money) along side their campaign start date:

CTS - May 2011
DTN IQFeed - March 2011
FXCM - October 2011
MarketDelta - March 2013
Mirus Futures - December 2010
NinjaTrader - September 2011
OrderFlowAnalytics - May 2013
TopstepTrader - December 2011

As you can see most everyone has been here for a long time.

Should have also mentioned that although the site started June 2009, I didn't start allowing banner ads until December 2010. Mirus Futures was our first sponsor, and I am happy to say they are still here Thanks guys!

Mike

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  #8 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
Site Administrator
Developer
Swing Trader
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Custom solution
Broker: IBKR
Trading: Stocks & Futures
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Posts: 50,399 since Jun 2009
Thanks Given: 33,174
Thanks Received: 101,539

Why was futures.io (formerly BMT) created?

Because as a trader I was disgusted with the other communities. I couldn't stand them, with all the fighting, rudeness, childish behavior. Since I have a strong tech background to boot, I knew I could do better. And I think that I have You be the judge naturally.

Mike

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  #9 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
Site Administrator
Developer
Swing Trader
 
Experience: Advanced
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Thanks Given: 33,174
Thanks Received: 101,539

Special Elite Offers page

https://nexusfi.com/elite_membership/



Some people think I get compensated or earn some sort of commission or referral fee. I do not. I try to make it extremely clear with the text on top of the page:

Note: Big Mike Trading does NOT receive compensation for these referrals, we simply worked out these special deals to help our Elite Members who have chosen to support the site. Even though we believe these are great products and services, you should always do your own research before doing business with a company.

But I just wanted to reiterate once again in this thread a few things... a) I do not get any type of referral fee or commission for any of the leads generated by the Offers page, and b) You do not even need to be a site sponsor to be on this page. There are presently three companies on that page (more soon) that aren't even site sponsors, so there has been absolutely no exchange of money or any sort of compensation whatsoever.

So why do it? Simple, I believe these are good companies with good reputations, so I want to put them in front of traders who are looking for their services. In order to be on this page the companies must meet several requirements, of course first and foremost is a good reputation, but also things like mandatory trials or written money back guarantees, clearly visible contact information, and of course a discount to Elite Members.

Mike

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  #10 (permalink)
 
bobwest's Avatar
 bobwest 
Western Florida
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Perhaps because I am staying up late (it's now almost 1:55 AM ET on 7/11/13), it looks like I am an early, maybe the first, responder to this thread.

I will say that:
(1) I am not necessarily an expert trader (whatever that is), but I have been in the game, off and on, since the early 1980's. (Yes, '80's.) I have made some, I have lost some. A little more on the plus side than the minus.

(2) In this time span, I have seen an amazing range of people who have wanted to sell stuff to traders. Some of it was pretty good, most was not. I posted charts on paper by hand then, too.... there was no charting software then, and you didn't give a lot of space to the unproductive stuff. So bad stuff just didn't make it.

(3) Over these years, I have not seen a resource for traders as good as futures.io (formerly BMT). (You have not paid me for this, nor could you have, and I am not totally inexperienced, either.) This is real.

I view different individual futures.io (formerly BMT) postings every day, and that includes the webinars; sometimes I learn something, sometimes I say, "Hey, no way!" and mostly I use them to see what other traders are doing/thinking. Given the depth of the community here, I usually come away with something valuable. This is really the best thing you have here.

There is a a little bit of defensiveness in some of your recent posts, where you are defending your accomplishments in this forum against your critics. Well, who cares about them? Please take this from me: You have absolutely nothing to be defensive about. You do a very good job.

This futures.io (formerly BMT) thing you have is a Very Good Thing for everyone who puts in a little time to understand what it is. If they don't want to, well, let them do something else. The market really does not care what anyone decides to do. Some people will make better decisions than others, some won't.

Thanks for listening, and keep on with the Good Fight. Just wanted you to know that there are people who appreciate you. I'm sure the majority of people on futures.io (formerly BMT) feel that way.

Bob.

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