He generates a profit but realises he would need to invest thousands more to cover the fees he is paying for tips and education or to come close to making a living. Dion also explores the other side to this company, the side that encourages you to sign up new members, first to cover your fees and then to make money of your own.

Next, Dion looks at a company called FTMO. He travels around the UK and Ireland to meet smart, driven and hopeful traders who are investing substantial time and money in challenge fees and education, with the aim of trading with FTMO. But when Dion takes a closer look at the company, he discovers that traders who pass the challenge are trading on a demo account with fictitious funds and that it is up to FTMO whether any of these trades are executed in the real world or not.

Lots of people have big dreams about becoming a successful trader, but with four out of five people losing money on actual trading, Dion suggests checking out the price tag and the fine print before signing up with educators in this field. Audio described. Timings where shown are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes. The Sky Was Pink Holden Remix. Wind down as the titles get to work. Home News Sport Weather iPlayer Sounds Bitesize CBeebies CBBC Food Home News Sport Reel Worklife Travel Future Culture TV Weather Sounds Close menu.

To many, he was simply handing out money to strangers because he'd made it big in the world of online trading and he wanted to give something back. But Gurvin wasn't talking. He'd already left Plymouth and his social media profile had been deleted. He'd vanished and it soon became clear the cash handout had been part of a carefully-curated stream of online promotion. Before his profile disappeared, Gurvin had been a social media influencer with , Instagram followers.

His online persona was almost entirely focused on affluence: pictures of his gold Maserati, designer clothes and jewellery punctuated with snaps of a pet goat. Some of Gurvin's former Instagram followers said he'd made his fortune from forex - or foreign exchange - trading.

This involves buying and selling currency and making profits or losses depending on the value of the trade going up or down. It didn't sound like natural territory for a bio-med student - but on his Instagram profile he explained his philosophy with the words: "No rich parents.

No excuses. Straight hustle. Gurvin, and many like him, promote the idea that trading can be done in your spare time. In Gurvin's case, you could pay him for a trading "course" and he promised to go further: to share the secrets of his success.

Via his company GS3 Trades, he'd trade on behalf of anyone open-minded enough to explore this new way of making money. According to a UK Parliamentary document , there's been a rise in the popularity of retail trading platforms since the pandemic - but the risk for retail traders is high, and prices can drop or crash and thousands of pounds can be lost in minutes. Jonathan had come across Gurvin on Instagram. In , he signed up to GS3 Trades and was added to a WhatsApp group where multiple investors had direct contact with Gurvin.

His initial investment was £1, Jonathan, 24, was aware that forex trading comes with risks but he was assured by Gurvin that GS3 Trades was regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority FCA , a national regulatory body that has strict rules to control the amount of risk that can be taken with investors' money.

When Jonathan saw his investment grow, he put in more money. In the space of a few weeks, he'd invested £17, That was all of his savings. The value of the investment continued to grow until it peaked at almost £30, But on Christmas Eve , everything changed. The investment made a sharp fall and by Boxing Day, Jonathan's £17, investment and any growth he'd seen was reduced to £ Jonathan said misleading messages from the organisers of GS3 Trades stopped him from withdrawing his money.

He explains: "Before we signed up we were told we could withdraw the money any time. But when we were in the chat, Gurvin and his administrators were like, 'If you withdraw we'll kick you off the system. It will close all the trades. It will make everything go south. Jonathan is one of many investors with the same story. Gurvin's GS3 Trades had in fact been operating multiple investor groups via WhatsApp, all with the same guarantees of FCA regulation and promises of easy withdrawals.

In the end, total investments in excess of £3. Jonathan recalls members of the WhatsApp group struggling to grasp what had happened. People lost everything. Looking through the WhatsApp group chats, voice notes and testimony from those who have lost money, it became clear that Gurvin wasn't working alone. Multiple people referenced the names Tristan Jones and Mirko Notturno as "group admins".

There were also references to a company called Infinox. Jonathan and the others I spoke to for this documentary all had the same story - they'd been told GS3 Trades had been making their investments through a brokerage firm called Infinox, a financial group with an FCA regulated firm based in the city. A broker is an individual or firm that acts as a middleman between an investor and the market - and you need a licence to act as a broker.

The broker places the trades on your behalf and they'll charge a fee. When their investment was lost, Jonathan and the other investors like him realised that their money had actually been traded through a company that is not subject to UK regulation, Infinox Capital registered in the Bahamas. I tracked down Tristan - who was at one time an Infinox employee - and when I asked about his relationship with GS3 Trades, he responded: "We provided execution at Infinox… I was simply an employee there.

I asked him why he'd threatened investors who wanted to withdraw their money by suggesting, "All profits will be cancelled. Infinox Capital Limited has an office less than metres from the Bank of England. It's a world away from the virtual, aspiration-presented-as-reality on the Instagram pages of Gurvin, Mirko and Tristan. As part of his journey into this new generation of forex traders, Dion spoke to some of IM Academy's forex traders and mentors.

They wouldn't disclose their salary, but some of them said they were making "sexy money". Dion says this is backed up by the Instagrams of some forex influencers, which "show the lifestyle you can achieve through forex trading.

There's fast cars, holidays, boats, and because you then see these influencers teaching trading on webinars, you think, 'this is possible, I can be one of them'". Some media influencers promote forex trading as a way to make a reliable income from a small amount of money, with little risk - which is unrealistic, he says.

He adds, "a trade has two sides. If one side wins, the other side loses. There's also platform providers to take into consideration and brokers who charge transaction fees. Influencers may try and attract new subscribers through showing bank account screenshots, exotic and luxurious properties and cars purchased through winnings, as well as the lure of financial independence, all through trading. It is not at all representative of the average person's trading experience.

In Dion's case, he initially did make money. And he says, "if I actually wanted to make a grand a month I would have needed to be trading with over £13,". Was it beginner's luck for Dion? It seems likely. One study of individual Forex traders suggests that more than four in five lose money. In the case of IM, they don't monitor their students' trading so don't know whether they counter this trend. The more time Dion spent looking at these companies, the more he noticed many Forex education companies have recruitment and referral strands as part of their business.

Many companies do a lot of their promotion through Instagram and influencers, often appealing to people in financially precarious situations - especially people who didn't have incomes during the pandemic.

In the case of IM, he explains, "getting other people to sign up was a way to waver your monthly membership fee, and also of earning commission. Within many companies there are internal ranking systems, so the more you recruit, the higher you go in that system and the more money you make". Dion put this point to IM, who disputed the recruitment claim and said traders were earning commission on product sales.

Slick Instagram accounts and YouTube channels point to foreign exchange Forex trading as a route to extra cash. BBC reporter Dion Hesson dives into this world, meeting a host of passionate and charismatic young educators, some of whom say the Forex training they sell will put him on a path to financial independence.

But what is the reality? Having paid for two months membership, Dion tests his skills on the live market. He generates a profit but realises he would need to invest thousands more to cover the fees he is paying for tips and education or to come close to making a living. Dion also explores the other side to this company, the side that encourages you to sign up new members, first to cover your fees and then to make money of your own.

Next, Dion looks at a company called FTMO. He travels around the UK and Ireland to meet smart, driven and hopeful traders who are investing substantial time and money in challenge fees and education, with the aim of trading with FTMO. But when Dion takes a closer look at the company, he discovers that traders who pass the challenge are trading on a demo account with fictitious funds and that it is up to FTMO whether any of these trades are executed in the real world or not.

Lots of people have big dreams about becoming a successful trader, but with four out of five people losing money on actual trading, Dion suggests checking out the price tag and the fine print before signing up with educators in this field. Audio described. Timings where shown are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes. The Sky Was Pink Holden Remix.

Wind down as the titles get to work. Home News Sport Weather iPlayer Sounds Bitesize CBeebies CBBC Food Home News Sport Reel Worklife Travel Future Culture TV Weather Sounds Close menu. BBC Three Instatraders. Home Three Home. Main content.

Watch now. Show more. Show less. Last on. Wed 30 Mar BBC Three. Music Played. Role Contributor Presenter Dion Hesson Executive Producer Fiona Blair Executive Producer Nisha Lilia Diu Producer Georgia Sawyer Director Aaron Black.

Tue 3 Aug Tue 29 Mar Featured in Documentaries A selection of the best documentaries from BBC Three! Related Content Similar programmes By genre: Factual.

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There's fast cars, holidays, boats, and because you then see these influencers teaching trading on webinars, you think, 'this is possible, I can be one of them'". There were also references to a company called Infinox. With a balanced approach, the narrative is highly relatable for any retail trader. Featured in They're really trained well to do what they do. Download for free now. In his five-part series, journalist Mobeen Azhar finds out how investors lost millions of pounds after getting caught up in forex - foreign exchange - schemes.

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