Are Traders' Account Statements on Social Media Real?

The account statements posted on social media can't be verified, and many of them are manufactured. More importantly, they wouldn't help you even if they were real: looking at someone else's account adds nothing to yours and tells you nothing about how they think. Judge a teacher by their knowledge, analysis and discipline, not by their numbers.

Why does the surface fool you?

Mohamad opens the episode Account Statements with simple images. The sea looks calm from outside and holds another world underneath. A body looks huge and may be pumped up with things you can't see. A beautiful tree can be rotten inside. A statement on social media is the same kind of thing: a picture, not a fact you know.

What did you gain from someone else's account?

That's the first question he asks himself in front of any statement. Assume every number is true. Did any of it come to you? No. If you saw an empty account instead, would anything change in yours? No. The benefit is zero either way. And when the benefit is zero, what you're looking at is marketing.

Seeing a full account does you exactly as much good as seeing an empty one: none.

Why does it work? Because you came to trading wanting money, and what hurts you most is losing. Someone displaying profits puts a finger right on that weak spot. Then think it through: if you learned from someone who shows off profits, would you expect to lose? You'd expect to win like him. And if you lose, what do you say about him — and about yourself?

How are statements manufactured?

He describes methods he has seen himself — not so you can use them, but so you recognise them:

• Two opposite accounts: a buy on one, a sell on the other, then only the winning screenshot gets posted. The poster isn't making money from the market — he's making it from the course he sells.
• Fabricated withdrawals: a programmer can build a withdrawal page that looks entirely real.
• Numbers without dates: a balance and a trade, with no idea when or over what period.
• Borrowed cars and villas: a dealer or a friend hands over the keys so you can film whatever you like.

Why a statement hurts you even when it's real

Suppose the person is genuine, the account really is profitable, and they open a trades channel for you. Then one day they decide to leave social media and shut everything down. What do you do? You haven't learned anything; you were waiting for a phone notification to tell you when to enter. That isn't learning.

There's something demeaning, too, in flashing money at people who need it. Someone opening their wallet in front of you while you're struggling, then saying "come and learn from me", isn't respecting you. Far better to rely on yourself, learn, and make your own result. And that won't come from someone who shows you their account.

So what do you judge a teacher by?

He says someone who really teaches doesn't need to show you a single dollar. It's enough to see the levels, the analysis, and how price moved around them. That's why the channels publish analysis, levels and the confirmation condition — not account statements.

The real measure: your analysis, not your trades

Who told you success is measured by how many trades win? Your measure is how accurate your analysis is. Analysis is what leads you to the trade. You can analyse any time, but you can't enter any time. And someone who can't read direction but goes looking for a trade is looking in the wrong place.

See also Why You Should Ignore Trading Advice on Social Media and Are Funded Trading Accounts a Real Opportunity?. Start with the free awareness series.