00:26:03 · Jordi Hays, John Coogan
[00:26:03] S2: Yeah. Really [00:26:03] S0: dark. It's super dark, and you're like, this is awful. Like, what is going on? But if you dig into this person's if you dig into this person's account, the next video is like is like, I lost my house day trading and, like, here's how I'm planning to win it all back. And then it's like, click my link in bio. And then you click on the link in bio and it's like, here's my trader mat... Trading mastermind. I have a free course. And then I have a $49 course. And then I have a $100 course. And so all of this is actually a funnel to an info product. And this is designed to go viral. And I don't know if they lost the house or not. Like, I I I have no idea. It could be that they're doing better than ever because they're not actually trading at all. [00:26:48] S2: Very, very counterintuitive way to market an info product being like, I just lost my house because I was bad at something. Now follow me as I run it back up. [00:27:01] S0: Maybe. It's [00:27:02] S2: weird. But... It's it's it's... Again, it's like it's... I saw it and it made me very sad.
00:27:02 · Jordi Hays, John Coogan, Luke Igel
[00:27:02] S2: weird. But... It's it's it's... Again, it's like it's... I saw it and it made me very sad. [00:27:07] S0: Yeah. Totally. Like, that is the correct emotional response, but the nature of the algorithm and negativity bias on social media is this is something that you see and you're like, oh, this is horrific. I can't look away. And then a lot of... There's just a funnel. And some people click and they watch another video. And they're like, oh, this is this is inspiring. She's she's working her way back up. And they're they're they're staying in the game. They're they're not they're not, you know, hanging up their jersey, I guess, or whatever you wanna [00:27:35] S2: They're not quitting right before they hit it big. [00:27:36] S0: Basically, that's the pitch. And, yeah, it's really, really dark. So so I I I started going down this because I was like, okay. [00:27:47] S2: Who's on the [00:27:47] S0: side [00:27:48] S3: of It's the interesting because [00:27:49] S2: it just like, it it it sticks in your mind because it is such a tragic scenario. Totally. But then what's interesting is they're just like spinning it as, oh, yeah. Well, it's all good. We're... I'm sticking... I'm... Yeah. I'm not... We're not giving up yet. Yeah.
00:28:05 · John Coogan, Jordi Hays
[00:28:05] S0: Yeah. So it's very, very odd. But there's actually something very interesting going on because when you see that, you think casino style gambling, you think that somebody took their capital if they have their nest egg, their kid's college fund. Like, when I was a kid, like, the the don't gamble meme was he gambled away his kid's college fund. Like, that was the most degenerate thing you could do as a father. Would be gambling away money that was in your retirement, money that was saved, your nest egg, your rainy day fund was gambled away usually at a physical casino because you couldn't resist the temptation of blackjack or poker or slots or something. Then we came to the era of the phone, and all of a sudden, it became sports betting, offshore betting casinos, crypto casinos. People were losing money on crypto. But, again, crypto is a moment where you have to put capital at risk. Like, you have to have the nest egg. This is different. This is people that are... So there are people that are getting fleeced and losing money, but what's interesting is that it's not that they're taking a nest egg and putting it in a stock that then goes down and they pick the wrong stock. That's not exactly what's happening. Oftentimes, what they're doing is they're signing up for subscriptions to trade fake stocks. It's a simulated market that gives them the the feeling of, okay, maybe one day they will be able to get good enough at day trading that they will have access to capital. [00:29:37] S2: Well, and these platforms pitch it as do your simulated trading with us.
00:29:37 · Jordi Hays, John Coogan
[00:29:37] S2: Well, and these platforms pitch it as do your simulated trading with us. [00:29:42] S0: Yes. [00:29:42] S2: And if you're good, then we will give you then we will stake you and we'll give you capital that you can trade. We'll basically turn you into a mini hedge fund. [00:29:51] S0: Yes, exactly. Exactly. [00:29:53] S2: And we did a little research on these companies and they're shockingly large. [00:29:59] S0: And there's lot of them.
00:29:59 · John Coogan, Jordi Hays
[00:29:59] S0: And there's lot of them. [00:30:00] S2: And there's a lot of them. Yeah. We found one that has done hundreds of millions of fees Yeah. Which for them is like clearly, like, better than software margins, right? Because they just have... They basically have like a fake trading app. Yeah. And they're like, yeah, place your trades. It's tied to real data. Yeah. But then they just promise this, pay the $100 a month, prove that you're good at trading, and if you're good, we'll give you capital. Yes. Because it'll be a win win. But, of course, over time, a lot of these companies have been exposed as Ponzi schemes where they take other customers' money and basically, like, you're doing the simulated trading and they're like, you get an attaboy, like, you did a good job, and then we're giving you like a reward. And so they'll pay them, which I think is part of what makes this process addicting, which has driven some of these people to go and get a bunch of subscriptions. Yeah. Which is just like very very strange because every subscription could be a $100 a month. Yep. Multiplying that out, it's like you could just be investing. But when you're investing, nobody nobody says good job. Yeah. If you do a little bit better.
00:31:29 · John Coogan, Jordi Hays
[00:31:29] S0: Jarring to me because I saw multiple reels from people who were like, I I have a prop trading account or I'm working with a prop firm or I blew my account or I blew an account or several accounts. And I was just like, you are not working with Citadel or Jane Street. Like, this is just... This does not compute. Like, you're not on the phone. Like, your counterparty is not a a a a hedge fund. Like, something else is going on. And it turns out that the counterparty is basically a SaaS it's not They're not. It's actually not the hedge fund that's making money off of this. It's the independent... [00:32:19] S2: The hedge funds would love to be trading. They would love to be trading against these people. [00:32:23] S0: Yeah. They're like, get in the real market. Go on a real... On... [00:32:27] S2: Don't be scared. Yeah. Don't be scared. [00:32:29] S0: Come on. And and we'll make a penny every time you make a trade. Like, we're happy with with doing market making, you know, but instead, it's it's these firms that are that are actually just taking a $100 a month from people. They'll do it on credit cards. And so that's where you get people. Again, we don't know if this one's real or not, but there are actual people who who will put multiple $100 a month subscriptions for these simulated trading challenges on their credit cards, and they're not even putting any capital in the market. So there's actually no chance of like, oh, you actually did get into a good stock and it did well. Like, it's it's purely fake. It's crazy. Crazy. Crazy. Yeah.