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Unicorn Logic "TradeArt" and Mark "The Fraud" Thompson
This is a review about Mark "The Fraud" Thompson, his business partners Scott Dallas, Rick Kelly, his business Unicorn Logic, and his trading software, "TradeArt". Previously versions of his product were called "Halo 3x" "The Mighty River Trading Program" "The Beast" Automated Trading Software along with several other aliases.
This story starts off with me finding a random ad on craigslist about a trading program that people are supposedly making a lot of money with. I know what you are thinking, craigslist....here we go...ya, trust me...I know...
The ad read something like this "Make 250k per year trading". Sounded interesting, so I contacted the number on the ad and that is where I met Mark "the fraud" Thompson. Smooth talker and really good salesman. He tells me about how much money all his students are making, thousands daily and people are becoming millionaires using his trading strategies. I was intrigued and he sent me more information via email on the pricing for his program.
At the time, the program was called Unicorn Halo 3x, an upgrade from their original "Mighty River" program. The cost was $799 for the lifetime membership and education, along with a $199 monthly license fee. The letter said it was risk-free trading because a $50k account would be provided to you from a prop firm they partner with, such as takeprofittrader.com or apexfunding.com which offers a 90/10 split on any profits from a funded account. They would provide the training to pass the "evaluation stage" of these prop accounts so you can start live trading.
I decided to join and was added to a Skype group where there were about 70 members. Each day there were 2 zoom classes, 12 noon and 5pm, where members would listen to Mark for 1 to 2 hours talk about 5 or 6 different strategies they use. In the beginning it was all overwhelming, as I have never traded before. There was a lot to learn when it came to the ninjatrader trading platform and the halo 3x system they were using.
Shortly after coming to the group, "TradeArt", their new trading software was developed and cost $1060 (payment via cashapp lol) for a lifetime license. I paid, along with many other members in hopes the new program will pay off in the long run.
During class, Mark claimed that he has been in the trading business for over 10 years, but that he hasn't traded himself for years. That he has "employees" trading for him, multi-million dollar offshore investors whose funds his team trades everyday. No proof or evidence for any of these claims were ever made.
As I am learning, I start seeing some red flags in the group. Number 1 red flag was seeing how rude and impatient Mark would be when students would ask questions or had issues etc. He would say things like "I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS, NO ONE ELSE IS HAVING THIS ISSUE, SO IT'S NOT AN ISSUE". Then I would notice many of the classes would be quiet because people seemed afraid to ask questions or even talk about how they may be struggling with his strategies or failing their prop firm evaluations.
Second red flag was Mark would never do live trading, so as a result, he would only point at data from past charts and say "Here's a winner, here's a winner, here's a winner". But, when you would try to duplicate those winners in practice, you would lose and it never was as easy or simple as he described. He would say things like "If a candle crosses this resistance line, its a 99.999% chance that you will win that trade". You would practice that trade and see it only wins 50% of the time, if that...lol
Third red flag was Mark doesn't know anything about money management. He was recommending that students trade minis on "evaluation accounts" from prop firms that only give you $2500 of leverage on a "$50k account". Meaning if you lose $2500 at any time from your highest profit, you lose your funding challenge and have to start over. Some of the stop losses he recommended were close to $2000 if you lost.
I eventually got in touch with several other members, only to find out that some had been there for 6-8 months or longer and still haven't made any money from Mark's strategies. There would be a few people who would come to a zoom class that claimed they were making money, and trading at 95% win rate, but no proof was ever provided. And even members who claimed they were successful trading, described a completely different strategy then the strategies that were being taught in class. Mark claimed no one ever fails the class, but after talking to several members, many had failed, because many had never made any profit after months of trying his program.
After realizing there was a major missing component to Mark's teachings, (namely live trading and tech support), I decided to create a group chat where people could ask questions about Ninjatrader or strategies without fear of getting reprimanded. I thought doing a zoom call would be helpful so people can see each other live trade, helping us all improve. Chris Hanson and Erlin Sanders (2 members who supposedly are doing well trading Mark's strategies) offered their assistance to get on the live calls and teach us what they know. Supposedly Erlin started with a $1,000 live account towards the end of 2022 and the account now was at $45,000. No proof or evidence was ever provided. I paid Erlin $450 to help him set up some prop firm accounts, pay for a copier and vps (since he never used them), as a thank you for helping out the group. He did come on a couple of the zoom calls, but never actually showed his trades, he would just tell people when to get into trades which isn't the same. After a couple days he left the live zoom calls and just kept the $450 I gave him offering no further assistance to group. Shady, but ok...we moved on. Chris Hansen (the other "successful trader") offered help, but never contributed anything to the group at all, only acted as a snitch to report back to Mark Thompson what we were doing lol. Which frankly I didn't mind, because all we were doing was trading Mark's strategies, offering ideas to help us trade better and discussing issues that we had about his program, that quite frankly Mark needed to hear.
So eventually after a couple months being in the program, many things started to reveal themselves..That Mark has no employees that are trading for him, because he was asking students to "test" out new versions of "TradeArt" being released..why wouldn't he have his employees doing that, who are trading his strategies? Why rely on students? Mark claimed to have 1,400 people using TradeArt, why didn't he ask any seasoned traders for their help with testing the program? Nope, he asked newbies lol. He probably only has this small group of 70 students and that's it.
Then come to find out he was selling an automated trading software back in January 2023, but then he stopped because everyone was losing money using it. Then I started noticing in the group chat history going back as far as December 2022, that dozens of members had been kicked out of the group. That is, paying customers, who paid for a lifetime membership and lifetime training were getting booted, for perhaps missing one of their $199 monthly license fee for the software, trying another program or making Mark angry in some other way. Even if someone couldn't afford the software fee, why should they be denied the education while they get on their feet financially? Why would you be threatened if a student tries another program if they are struggling with yours and not getting the help they need?
Its clear Mark does not care about his student success. I spoke to countless students who never made any money and he never reached out to them to see how they were doing. If you didn't get successful from his zoom classes that had no live trading, “its your own damn fault and too bad for you if you fail”...that was his attitude. One student, I paid for his monthly license fee because he couldn't afford it and also paid for a prop firm challenge for them, yet a month later Mark removed him from the program stating he didn't pay his license dues and is no longer entitled to education even though they paid to be part of the program.
Then I found out one of the students, a guy named Herb (that works with a company called TTG Ventures), overcharged a new student referral. Had them pay $12,500 to be part of the program, when the true cost should only be $799. Of course, when I called Herb, he denied any wrong doing and still to this day hasn't refunded the new member whom he overcharged. Of course, during this, Mark sat on the sidelines, did nothing, allowed Herb to continue coming to class and participate in the program. Wait a second Mark, you just let a guy scam one of your students for $12,500 and you are ok with that? Maybe since Mark is a scam artist himself, he was proud of Herb, who knows...
So let's fast forward to what happened more recently. I logged into ninja trader and noticed my license for TradeArt was no longer active and got a notification to contact “tradingemergency.com” to get the issue resolved. Seemed a little strange since I paid $1060 for a lifetime license already. When I researched the company (tradingemergency) I found out they offer an automation program which sounded interesting, so I asked them for a trial to use their software. They agreed and also had sent an email to Mark about my license issue. Mark LOST it lol. Said I was trying to circumvent him and that I was not allowed to contact his “partners”. He had TradingEmergency revoke my 14 day trial for their automation software. Why is Mark so threatened with other programs students look at in their spare time? Why is the only “evidence” of Mark’s success (or “partners” success) been a chart with a method called “Chandelier” on a 1 minute chart (not Renko boxes that he teaches), that also, coincidentally are offered by TradingEmergency on their automation program? Wait a second, is Mark using an automation program for his trades and teaching everyone else a manual strategy? Does that seem ethical, if you are teaching strategies you aren’t even using yourself?
Apparently him and his partners are trading thousands of accounts daily, making millions...yet his business is somehow being affected by little old me? lol. Maybe he is broke 62 year old man, paying $800 a month for an apartment in Vegas, who is flying coach at LAX to meet his “partners” (Rick Kelly and Scott Dallas) in Texas and talk about how much I am a “threat” to their business. Why am I a threat? Because I tell the truth? That most people aren’t successful using your program? That people aren’t going to learn properly if they don’t see you live trading? That there are major red flags about Mark, considering he has never shown his face or proof of his success. Why are you and your partners using an automation strategy from TradingEmergency when your manual strategies work so well? Why can you find every single strategy you say is proprietary and your “team” developed...all online for free?
Needless to say, Mark eventually removed me from the group because I was such a threat to his business and lifestyle. He couldnt’ have a member like me exposing the truth about students failing for months..or running a “side group” where member can ask questions without fear of getting yelled at or reprimanded. He couldn’t have a member like me contacting TradingEmergency to get my license issue resolved or testing out their automation software that they themselves had used.
He runs ads on craigslist because he wants to get people who are ignorant to trading in the group, so he can manipulate them, saying its so easy to win, when in reality, trading is hard... and takes time, patience and good risk management to win consistently. You can’t teach people to use minis on a prop account with $1500 of leverage, its dumb and irresponsible. Mark would have people use a 80 tick stop loss with 3 contracts, risk over $1000 on a $1500 account lol. Does Mark even trade? No, actually he doesn’t... he uses an automation software that trades for him.
So at risk of making this review too long...Let’s just bullet point the Lies and Red Flags that were uncovered being part of Mark’s program.
Mark does not trade his own strategies
Mark does not have employees that trade for him
Mark and his partners do not have 1400 students using TradeArt trading software
Mark does not trade thousands of accounts per day
Mark does not have overseas investors where he is trading millions of dollars of their money
Mark claims his students are making thousands of dollars daily (they aren’t, most are struggling)
Mark claims no one ever fails his class, yet I spoke to dozens who have never made any money
Mark never, not once has traded live in front of his students (Red Flag)
Mark and his partners Scott Dallas and Rick Kelly do not have 1 single review online after supposedly being in the trading business for over a decade (Red Flag)
Mark claims he will give a “free” 50k prop account to new student, that it will be included in the cost of the program (it’s not, you pay for those on your own)
Mark removes students from class who can't afford to pay the $199 monthly license fee, yet keeps thieves in class who steal $12,500 from other members (great guy, right? lol)
Mark does not give any students individual attention to help them understand Ninja Trader or using his software (members that joined before me, were asking me for help? Bizarre?)
Mark regularly makes new skype groups, with different names, when a “rebellious” student comes along and he wants to keep the rest of the students ignorant of the truth and compliant
Mark regularly makes threats against his students to kick them out of the program if they do
anything he doesn’t like. (Sound like a guy you want to do business with?)
In conclusion...
Several members in the group were blocked and kicked out of the program because they simply talked to me or looked at another program for trading to help improve their skills.
Mark Thompson is one of the most evil, unethical, cowardly, disgusting human beings I have ever met.
Don’t take my word on any of this, I’ll provide screenshots and evidence so you can decide for yourself. Personally, I suggest you stay as far away from this scammer as you possibly can.
There is so much more to this story, but I hope this was enough to give you an idea of what kind of a person Mark "The Fraud" Thompson is. Any follow up questions, just ask.
Hopefully this review will help in your decision of whether or not to do business with Unicorn Logic Trading, Mark Thompson or his partners Scott Dallas and Rick Kelly.
Below are all their business details
Location
Unicorn Logic LLC 6543 South Las
Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89119
Unicorn Logic Systems
1601 Elm Street Dallas, TX 75201
Mark Thompson/Founding and Managing Member
Rick Kelly/Member and CSO (Chief Strategies Officer)
Scott Dallas/Founding Member and Consultant
The River Trading Group
a Unicorn-Logic and Trade Pro LLC Company
Phone Number +1-214-561-6008
Phone Number +1-702-213-7003
You can read some of my previous posts to get my view on mechanical day trading software programs.
This is what beginning traders need to ask: are those eye catching back tested numbers truth or fiction, have you figured out how to do your own two+ solid years back test of the software to be purchased before purchase and trading.
I would simulate trade any program for a year before any real money trading, there are usually draw downs. The numbers could be made up, or did they cherry pick a segment of the back test where the program did real good and use those numbers for the claimed results ad.
If you want to see the Skype chat history for "The Mighty River Trading Group" since early December 2022, you can see it on my youtube channel, look up Unicorn Logic Exposed or use the link below.
@UnicornLogicFraud, We have a serious problem with the way you are conducting yourself on this forum.
When you first arrived, you were informed by the system that you needed to have at least 10 prior posts, or to be an Elite member, in order to make a review post. You very quickly made enough meaningless, one-liner posts, boosted your post count, and immediately posted your review.
Someone then pointed out to you that you were risking being banned for making all these posts just to increase your count, and you then deleted a number of your posts, but the review was already in.
You have now done this once again. You had reduced your post count down to the level where you could no longer post in a review thread, so today you made another six rapid-fire, one-line (or shorter) posts in just 22 minutes, got your count back up to the level you needed again, and made another post in this thread.
There is a reason for the restriction on posting. It is to prevent exactly what has happened, for someone the forum has no experience with coming in to make a review, whether positive or negative. Reviews have a potential impact, and we do not want it to be so easy to just put one up.
The moderator team actually discussed, the first time around, whether to simply delete all your posts, including the review, and ban you for deliberately making meaningless junk posts to boost your post count, but decided you may not have understood that it was against the rules, and that you may well have a legitimate beef with this vendor. We also gave some consideration to the fact that you deleted many of those posts when you encountered an objection. So we decided to leave your remaining posts, and your review, in place, and not to ban you, which we would normally have done.
Unfortunately, we did not warn you at the time that you were breaking the rules, and we assumed you would not just do it again anytime you needed to.
We are now correcting our mistake:
Moderator Notice
@UnicornLogicFraud: The additional junk posts you made today have been deleted.
Consider yourself on notice that making meaningless posts that do not contribute anything to the forum is not a valid way to earn the right to post a vendor review.
You are free to post anywhere you like within the forum, wherever there is no prior post count or other requirement, but making non-contributory junk posts just to formally satisfy a requirement is a violation of the rules.
Since your post count is now once again below the requirement to post in a review thread, now that your latest junk posts have been deleted, you are currently going to be unable to make any additional posts to this thread. If you are willing to play by the rules, and to observe both the letter and the spirit of the rules, then you can rebuild your post count the way it should have been done in the first place: by actually trying to add something of value, in posts that have meaning and contribute to other members. Since posts that have some value normally take some thought, this is not something to be done slap-dash and quickly, and another flood of posts done for no reason other than to get your count up will not be acceptable.
If you return to the practice of inflating your post count, you will be banned and your posts will be deleted, including the review posts you have worked to get around the rules to make.
If you can conduct yourself within the rules, all will be well. If not, expect to be banned without further discussion.
I hope this has been clear.
Bob.
When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote
