Quantitative Trading - Platform my Korean in-laws are crazy about rn

[derpyderpins]

@Hysteria I'd like to know if you think this is a huge scam or if there's something to it.

So as per the title my wife introduced me to this "quantvine" investment/trading platform:

https://www.quantvines.top/?tid=2TW5KH

Yes that's a referral link, because I went ahead and made an account. This is not financial advice but if you do check it out please use my code 2TW5KH so I can climb up the pyramid scheme. Which is what it is. I've also called bitcoin a pyramid scheme, yet recently put some money in it.

I'm torn on this, so I want to go over what I know about it and the experience so far.

First, what it claims to be: quantitative trading is basically trying to game algorithms in stocks or whatever you're trading where the price fluctuates: by low and sell high in a short amount of time for a small gain that you then do a bunch of times so it adds up. The app's background claims that they use ai algorithms (red flag one - buzzword topic) to automate and optimize this, so you invest some money and a few times a day you can make a quantitized trade with their algo, they keep half and you keep half of the profits. Okay, that doesn't sound too sketchy to me from a theoretical standpoint.

The company is out of california but they're clearly all koreans if you deal with customer service. On one hand, Koreans are really smart so I could see them making some awesome system to take advantage of markets. On the other Korea had a big scandle with a shitcoin that was a scam and cost people a ton of money. (referenced in Squid Game season 2, lol).

Relatively new site, didn't get many results searching about it, scam detect sites listed it cautiously but I didn't see any evidence of a scam so far. I count that as red flag 2, though, because it's so new.

Red flag 3 is the promised returns. When starting out, if you do all your daily trades, you get a 1.8-2.1% profit on your total account amount. That is insane, and my instinct is that if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. If you understand compound interest, you're doubling your investment something like every 40 days.

So, why am I even entertaining this? Well my wife's family said they and their friends are making money on this (some of whom I trust to be relatively savy), so I figured I'd just dabble and look smart for being skeptical when it didn't work. You have to load your account with crypto stablecoins, and I had some extra for no reason, so I tried to load a bit into my account.

Money didn't show up . . . I figure 'lol well that's gone. They got me.' But, it turns out I fucked up with sending the money ($100) and it was lost to the blockchain. They sent me $100 back to my crypto wallet. I honestly didn't expect to ever see it again, but that was a weird move for something that's supposed to be a scam.

So I put some in and my account is going up 2% / day (just 3 days so far) as advertised.

I still have every ounce of my common sense saying this is a scam, but my father-in-law already doubled his investment and withdrew that (as in yes it made it to his crypto wallet then bank), so he's playing with free money now. I figure I'll do the same thing, cover the entry cost then let it go.

Oh yeah, I called it a pyramid scheme. That's because they have the typical pyramid system where your customers are your sellers: if you sign up with my code I get some extra bonuses, so then you want to sign people up, and so on.

So, yeah, probably too good to be true, but then again bitcoin once only cost pennies. I'm willing to risk a little bit to maybe get in on something early.

I'll report back once my money vanishes lol, or if I get to the point where I've doubled and am able to successfully withdraw. I hit my bonus in december when I did not expect to so I've got that to play with.

One pain if you decide to try is that you really have to load it with USDT on the tron network, which coinbase doesn't do and binance is banned where I am. I set up a wallet with Kraken and that did it no problem.

Give me thoughts or make fun of me for being a sucker or whatever.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I've never dabled in trading so, I wouldn't be able to judge. It wouldn't surprise me if they'd worked out ways to 'play the system' so that both they as the hosts/ teachers and their customers 'win' though. I definitely think you're right to exercise caution though!

It reminds me a bit of 'matched betting'. Have you heard of that? That's legitimate. Obviously, the bookies aren't mad keen on it because it's probably not the kind of customers they actually make the most money from. But, it's legal and you can make some money- especially at the start with all the offers they provide to get you hooked. (The offers is where the profit cones from.)

 

[derpyderpins]

I've never dabled in trading so, I wouldn't be able to judge. It wouldn't surprise me if they'd worked out ways to 'play the system' so that both they as the hosts/ teachers and their customers 'win' though. I definitely think you're right to exercise caution though!

It reminds me a bit of 'matched betting'. Have you heard of that? That's legitimate. Obviously, the bookies aren't mad keen on it because it's probably not the kind of customers they actually make the most money from. But, it's legal and you can make some money- especially at the start with all the offers they provide to get you hooked. (The offers is where the profit cones from.)

I have seen matched betting mentioned on the passive income subreddit. I made a little off of football betting with the initial promotions like 7-10 years ago but realized if I kept playing I wouldn't maintain. It's interesting. It's like a free to play game where they're happy to not make money on you so long as a few people get hooked, which is sad if you think about it but might as well take advantage.

On trading, I've dabbled and learned enough to understand the entire market is entirely fake broken and stupid. The derivatives market is literal quadrillions of dollars and it controls everything. Forces behind the scenes determine the price of things, not supply and demand.

While that's depressing it is actually what makes me think this might be legit. Everything is so fake and wild that there is certainly space for people to crack it, as you say. Another day this morning where I made my 2% no problem. I like that there's no losing money on the trades. The only way a scam could play out is if the company and everything vanishes, you know? Like there's no "price" to go down like with scamcoins. We shall see.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I have seen matched betting mentioned on the passive income subreddit. I made a little off of football betting with the initial promotions like 7-10 years ago but realized if I kept playing I wouldn't maintain. It's interesting. It's like a free to play game where they're happy to not make money on you so long as a few people get hooked, which is sad if you think about it but might as well take advantage.

On trading, I've dabbled and learned enough to understand the entire market is entirely fake broken and stupid. The derivatives market is literal quadrillions of dollars and it controls everything. Forces behind the scenes determine the price of things, not supply and demand.

While that's depressing it is actually what makes me think this might be legit. Everything is so fake and wild that there is certainly space for people to crack it, as you say. Another day this morning where I made my 2% no problem. I like that there's no losing money on the trades. The only way a scam could play out is if the company and everything vanishes, you know? Like there's no "price" to go down like with scamcoins. We shall see.

Yeah, matched betting is best at the very start when every company is giving you offers. I agree though, I actually think it's terrible that people are being encouraged to become addicted effectively. So- effectively being encouraged to lose what they probably can't even afford!

Plus, I expect our governmenrs fully endorse it. There's all this shit about 'playing safely' but I don't think they really care if they profit from it. It's like every other addiction- nicotine, alcohol, sugar. If they were that concerned about the health risks, I'm sure they could do more to restrict these things.

Do you pull all your money out at the end of each session? I'd be tempted to do that- just in case. Like you say, it could very well be legit. I'm sure you can legitimately affect stocks with enough members. So yeah- my worry would be lapsing into a false sense of security and leaving large sums with them and them one day disappearing. I guess there's no guarantees- like banks (are supposed to) have? But sure- if they take a percentage from everyone- then they're 'earning' already. Sounds interesting. Not for me though really. Maths is my worst subject!

 

[derpyderpins]

Yeah, matched betting is best at the very start when every company is giving you offers. I agree though, I actually think it's terrible that people are being encouraged to become addicted effectively. So- effectively being encouraged to lose what they probably can't even afford!

It's very sad that there's an industry built off exploiting a certain type of mental illness to destroy some lives of the most vulnerable.

Plus, I expect our governmenrs fully endorse it. There's all this shit about 'playing safely' but I don't think they really care if they profit from it. It's like every other addiction- nicotine, alcohol, sugar. If they were that concerned about the health risks, I'm sure they could do more to restrict these things.

Definitely. They want to be able to say they are doing what they can while allowing freedom so it keeps the boost to the economy and lobbyists as high as possible.

Do you pull all your money out at the end of each session? I'd be tempted to do that- just in case. Like you say, it could very well be legit. I'm sure you can legitimately affect stocks with enough members. So yeah- my worry would be lapsing into a false sense of security and leaving large sums with them and them one day disappearing. I guess there's no guarantees- like banks (are supposed to) have? But sure- if they take a percentage from everyone- then they're 'earning' already. Sounds interesting. Not for me though really. Maths is my worst subject!

So I was just talking to my wife about that idea: put in like $1000, make your daily $20, then take it out to be safe. One rub is that this is crypto, you get hit with transaction fees. So how they have it set up is that you deposit your funds and it is in your "financial wallet", then you transfer it to your "quantize wallet" and that is the amount that you base your gains off. That transfer comes with a fee, as will transferring back, and then - of course, this is reasonable - there is a cost to withdraw because there's always a cost to send crypto. So my sense is that it may be enough to dissuade daily withdraw.

Another factor my wife pointed out is that at level one of the pyramid scheme it says "account balance: $35~500." My wife suggests that means the most you can be doing trades with is $500 until you climb the pyramid. The fact that they use "~" tells me it could just be an estimate of your account size, but idk. I'll be testing that shortly.

Even so, at $500, that's about $10/day. You're making ~$300/month. I'd actually be a little happy if that is the catch because it's eye rolling and annoying but it takes away from the "too good to be true" feeling without destroying it.

"Math is my worst subject!" That I think hits at something. There is a barrier to entry for them to bring people in: understanding crypto wallets and transferring. I was thinking I would jump up the pyramid quickly if I got my mom on it, because she'd tell all her friends, who would tell their kids, etc. But, then I thought "that means these older women will have to figure out how to get a crypto wallet and put the right coin there and send the right coin to the right place on the right network," and I started to think "maybe that is why they need to pressure their current users to introduce people."

 

[Hvergelmir]

I was thinking I would jump up the pyramid quickly if I got my mom on it, because she'd tell all her friends, who would tell their kids, etc.

Here you're risking a lot more than money!
I'm not sure you want to be responsible for two or three generations of relatives loosing their investments.

No trading strategy (AI or not) is rock solid, long term. If nothing else competitors may deploy a competing strategy, eating their profits.
Even if the company is trying to be honest (which is a big assumption), they may start failing at any point.

 

[derpyderpins]

Here you're risking a lot more than money!
I'm not sure you want to be responsible for two or three generations of relatives loosing their investments.

No trading strategy (AI or not) is rock solid, long term. If nothing else competitors may deploy a competing strategy, eating their profits.
Even if the company is trying to be honest (which is a big assumption), they may start failing at any point.

I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone put more than $100 in because of the red flags, but I agree probably best to keep family out of it.

 

[Hvergelmir]

Frankly i suspect that it's a laundry scheme, where profit attributed to trading is an infusion of illegal money.
Keep us updated, though. It's an interesting thread.

 

[derpyderpins]

Frankly i suspect that it's a laundry scheme, where profit attributed to trading is an infusion of illegal money.
Keep us updated, though. It's an interesting thread.

Laundry has been making sense to me since you said it and the more I've thought about it.

But as an update, the $500 limit was indeed a catch, as is the fact that you are charged a 12% fee to withdraw. So, if you put in $100, it becomes $500 in about three months, and then you make ~$8-$8.50 per day if you account for the withdrawal fee. This is assuming you don't climb the pyramid. So, it is some nice passive income but limited.

I don't suspect that the scam is on the end-user, which is why I like your explanation of money-laundering. My in-laws are making bank lol and and have been able to withdraw so even if the app vanished overnight as a family we'd be good.

 

[Hvergelmir]

Just came to think about this thread again. How did it go? What has happened so far?

 

[derpyderpins]

Just came to think about this thread again. How did it go? What has happened so far?

Oh shit I forgot. Yeah the scam fell apart it was hilarious. Some Korean crypto platforms started refusing to deal with them because it seemed shady, then everyone rushed to pull their money out and collapsed it so no one can do anything now. We actually came out a little positive in terms of what we withdrew, but a lot of the ""gains"" are locked there forever. My in-laws made a few grand, but I know some people put too much in too late and lost it all.

Just came to think about this thread again. How did it go? What has happened so far?

This was all a couple weeks ago. So it legitimately worked for a few months

 

[noname223]

When I read your first post I was pretty sure this is a scam. It sounds like a lot of bullshit. There are many people who pretend they would be good at daytrading. But I don't think they can actually read the market. Often they only have luck. And the AI hype can make people think AI could read the market/ predict the future.

Daytrading is simply not a good way to make money. Despite others might claim something else. Moreover, when you said there is a pyramid it made it even more sketchy and suspicious.

 

[derpyderpins]

When I read your first post I was pretty sure this is a scam. It sounds like a lot of bullshit. There are many people who pretend they would be good at daytrading. But I don't think they can actually read the market. Often they only have luck. And theAI hype can make peopl think AI could read the market/ predict the future.

Daytrading is simply not a good way to make money. Despite others might claim something else. Moreover, when you said there is a pyramid it made it even more sketchy and suspicious.

Yeah lol it was obvious from the start but it was a fun little saga.