Maxim Trader Review

By MyPF|Forex / Ringgit|

Recently, I was asked about an investment company Maxim Trader & whether is it a scam?! Maxim Trader mainly focuses on Forex trading. Its very high returns & focus on recruitment incentives does raise some questions. Some observations are shared as per below.

Updated: Jun 22, 2017

As a note to all Web Visitors, there is the right available to Maxim Members, to go to LEGAL WATCH at the back office of the Maxim Trader website, where all legal questions will be answered, and legal licenses and records can be released to Maxim Members.

Maxim Trader is not approved by certain regulatory bodies

Not authorised nor approved under the relevant laws and regulations administered by BNM (Added to alert list on 25/09/2013)
http://www.bnm.gov.my/documents/2014/210504_FCA_en.pdf
No such company is registered or licensed in Belize (International Financial Services Commission Belize)
Maxim Trader slide claiming to be licensed by IFSC (Source: http://www.slideshare.net/maximtrader/maxim-capital-limited)
Note: The page is no longer available on IFSC website (Source: http://www.ifsc.gov.bz/maxim-capital-ltd-aka-maxim-trader/)

Maxim Trader Returns & Compensation Plan

Monthly returns of up to 8% is very high
8% x 12 months at a simple rate is at an 96% per annum
Comparatively Warren Buffet’s average is ~21% per annum
Investment is being marketed as guaranteed (Note: This may be certain individuals being misleading & not the company itself guaranteeing)
On Maxim Trader’s general warning page, they do provide statements/disclaimers on Forex trading being a high level of risk & that they are not liable for any individual consultants misconduct or misinterpretation.

Public Details of Maxim Trader Company, Website & Owner Background

Company exists since 2012 & registered in New Zealand. Company does not appear to primarily do business there.
CEO & Director is a Singaporean Dr Andrew Lim Ann Hoe (LinkedIn).
Parent company Royale Globe Holding Inc is listed as mining related without significant operations (Source: http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?ticker=ROGP).
There is little public information available of the directors in both Royale Globe & Maxim Trader.
Maxim Trader is registered at Scotia Place, Auckland, NZ.
Maxim Trader website states operations throughout Europe & Asia.
Alexa showing website visitors primarily from Malaysia, Taiwan & Japan.
News announcements on Maxim website also appear focused on Asia only.
(Source: www.alexa.com as of 2014 December)

Photos of Maxim Trader Events

In any investment, it is up to the individual potential investor to determine if any investment is worth investing in. One would especially want to without bias examine your own self in regards to:-

Understanding of investment: The greatest risk is often when one has little knowledge of an investment & over-estimates his knowledge. Do ensure you know what you are investing in & how your money is being invested, and in detail.
Safety of returns: Even secure or contractually guaranteed returns are only as good as the company or government who guarantees them (and remains in existence). If returns are guaranteed/contractual, insist on the black-and-white contract specifically under your name.
Returns on investment: This comes last after ensuring everything else. There are many investments & many opportunities out there. Paraphrasing buffet, investing should be 1) in your circle of competence; and 2) investing wisely with your 10 bullets you have limited supply of in your lifetime.

More info:

Maxim Trader goes bust with millions missing (themalaysianinsight.com)
Red flags in investing

Disclaimer: This article is a personal opinion and for information sharing only. Information is obtained from publicly available source(s) & are owned by each respective source(s). We are not responsible for and disclaims any and all liability for all comments posted which are the responsibility of the writers. Images and information, where applicable, are owned by their respective owners. Read full disclaimer.

About the Author: MyPF

Malaysia's leading award winning personal finance education portal helping you simplify and grow My Personal Finances! Follow MyPF.my on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn & TikTok to get the latest personal finance updates, insights and tips!

7 Comments

andrew lim January 20, 2015 at 12:12 am - Reply
the comment that you write is timid … i presume that you have never invested nor study in the finance industry
“Assumptions are dangerous things to make, and like all dangerous things to make — bombs, for instance, or strawberry shortcake — if you make even the tiniest mistake you can find yourself in terrible trouble. Making assumptions simply means believing things are a certain way with little or no evidence that shows you are correct, and you can see at once how this can lead to terrible trouble. For instance, one morning you might wake up and make the assumption that your bed was in the same place that it always was, even though you would have no real evidence that this was so. But when you got out of your bed, you might discover that it had floated out to sea, and now you would be in terrible trouble all because of the incorrect assumption that you’d made. You can see that it is better not to make too many assumptions, particularly in the morning.”
~Lemony Snicket, The Austere Academy
Constructive input please. I am human & if there’s an error it will be corrected/updated.
Otherwise…
“Time is your most precious gift because you only have a set amount of it. You can make more money, but you can’t make more time. When you give someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you’ll never get back. Your time is your life. That is why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time.
It is not enough to just say relationships are important; we must prove it by investing time in them. Words alone are worthless. “My children, our love should not be just words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action.” Relationships take time and effort, and the best way to spell love is “T-I-M-E.”
~Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life
- Lilian Fan November 11, 2015 at 2:27 am - Reply
  Pretty sure Andrew Lim is a part of the Maxim cult. A GF of mine has asked me to go to their “exclusive seminars” and PONZI SCHEME was the first thing that came to my mind. Luckily I didn’t invest with them at all. Taiwan has arrested the “founder” of the Taiwanese Branch and HK has frozen all accounts in their Hong Kong holdings.
Norman Tan February 3, 2015 at 3:20 pm - Reply
I liked your article on Maxim. I have friends who invited me to their talks which I found is all hype. I have invested and lost money in former money game scams like Swisscash and MegaeForex and I saw the same scammers in the maxim’s seminar. A lot of people will liose their pants in the end but what to do, human greed never stop looking for easy to make money. Keep up the good work in exposing such schemes. You are saving a lot of people from financial loses through your research and education.
Hi Norman, Thanks for your feedback & glad you liked the article.
We seem to have both experienced losses in the past.
Hopefully we can help educate others from making financial losses due to greed.
Lee Tze shih February 17, 2015 at 1:30 pm - Reply
Can you comment why the can perform so well by looking at the report from myfxbook?
http://www.myfxbook.com/members/MaximCapltd01/singapore-global-fund01/1055975
Hi Lee Tze shih. Good returns shown on the myfxbook page. I cannot comment on specifics as I am not privy to the individual trades.
Commenting in general though, 2013-2014 was a good time for most forex traders. I would only consider investing in something with a minimum 5-yr historical period of consistent returns (and preferably 10-yrs). High risk investments offer potentially high returns (and spectacular losses).
What would be good to know is
1) Increased transparency of investment information to the average investor
2) How exactly the forex returns are given to clients who invest in the Maxim Trader scheme (It appears to not actually be forex trading, but an investment which pays investors a fixed percentage profit made from forex trading)?
Gary February 22, 2015 at 9:07 pm - Reply
In your blog above, you understand about assumptions and time. But why are you making red flag’ assumptions and wasting time on assumptions? What has being a Singaporean to do with raising a red flag? What has registering in a residential area to do with red flag? Many businesses started from home and became big enterprises, further you just need a PC and a good network to run many businesses. As an investment consultant, which investment has no risk? You should give facts instead of assumptions so that people can make decision.
Hi Gary,
Taking a look at the investment was at the request of a contact. I am but merely sharing my humble opinion having no stake or interest in the company’s performance. Any decision is indeed the individual’s to make.
Just re-looked at the article. You are right that being a Singaporean is of course not a red flag. It was actually just listing owner related information but may have been misleading with the header nearby stating red flag. The section has been renamed.
As a small startup company, starting from your own garage would be all good (& pretty hip to boot). However, when investing in a company, one would be wise to scrutinize details including the company’s background.
David March 24, 2015 at 6:28 am - Reply
Sounds like a Ponzi scheme, smells like one. Only the greedy and naïve people think it is a legitimate business and they will get burnt. Company has been deregistered from the Financial Service Providers Register (FSPR) since 30 November, 2012. it is not licensed, authorised or regulated by FMA of NZ. I have written confirmation from FMA of NZ.
Thanks for the info David. You would be most welcome to share with us the response from FMA.
Albert November 27, 2015 at 5:01 pm - Reply
just a quick comment on the question why the performance on myfxbook is good: they are trading through its own broker, meaning they can manipulate the result themselves. Who knows, maybe they never trade at all. And for someone who claim to be a “financial expert” (aka the Dr. Lim), 200% return (consistently) from forex trading with 5m account, is simply not possible! just go to any forex broker and investment bank and you will find out the truth!
As the old saying if it’s too good to be true…