There have been quite a few people questioning whether or not Jeff Clark is a fraud. Is he scamming subscribers out of their hard earned money? Is he really the expert investor that he claims to be and can he help make you rich?
If you some quick Google searches about him there is some concerning information that comes up... which is why I decided to dig a little deeper into things and write this post to help out those who are also concerned.
Let's start by talking about who Jeff is in the first place.
Who Is Jeff Clark?
Jeff Clark [Source: jeffclarktrader.com]
At the moment Jeff Clark runs his own investment advisory services at jeffclarktrader.com, which include Jeff Clark Trader, Delta Report, Market Minute, and The Breakout Alert. And before this he was an editor for advisories at Casey Research and Stansberry Research (which has acquired Casey Research)... with over 15 year of running advisory services altogether.
Before the newsletter stuff he was involved managing other people's money, having founded a private brokerage house and money management firm. And... before this... he founded an investor education firm... and it's also said that he developed a curricula for an MBA program (Source: jeffclarktrader.com/about/).
Looking at his background this is exactly the type of person I'd want providing me with investment advice, but there's a lot more to talk about here.
*Note: The strategies Jeff uses in his advisory services are the same ones he uses with his own money, which have fared well for him.
Services Provided
Market Minute - Free
This is Jeff's free newsletter service. It provides subscribers with broad market analyses and is good for those who want to stay up-to-date with whats going on, but don't need in-depth information on anything or specific trade recommendations.
Jeff Clark Trader - $199/yr
This is his flagship advisory service. The focus here is on options trading and with a subscription to this you will be provided with monthly trade recommendations as well as 3 stocks that Jeff claims will fund a comfortable retirement... in addition to training on how to start options trading in the first place.
Delta Report - $5,000/yr
This is the most expensive service provided here and builds on what Jeff provides in his Jeff Clark Trader service. Here subscribers are provided with more frequent trade recommendations, once a week.
The Breakout Alert - $4,000/yr
This service differs from the others with its focus on small-cap stocks that have the potential for "explosive" profits, rather than options. Here Jeff uses what he calls the "S-force" method to identify certain stocks, but as far as how this method works I'm not entirely sure.
Misleading Promotions
I'm sure you have encountered some of the promotions for Jeff's services... which is probably why you are doing some extra research and landed on my post here right now.
There is no doubt that they are misleading. In fact, in my review of the "3-Stock Retirement Blueprint" teaser I exposed some fake success stories that were included, and this is not out of the ordinary when it comes to promotions of investment advisory services like this.
Jeff's services are often promoted in ways that lead readers/viewers to believe that they've landed on some sure-fire way to get rich quick... which isn't the case, as you will see.
I can understand how some people who get lured in through the promotional material, and who don't do any extra research, may feel scammed after being fed a losing recommendation.
The good news, however, is that Jeff provides transparency with the real performance of his services...
Recommendation Performance
I've reviewed quite a bit of investment advisory services and it is very rare that they disclose their performance records to the public so that anyone can see before buying in, but Jeff Clark does and this is a breath of fresh air.
Yes, the promo material talks about all the big wins and conveniently leaves out the losses, but if you go to jeffclarktrader.com/track-record you will be able to see all the trades he has made, winners and losers.
Take for example the recently closed positions from his Delta Report advisory service, which have been pretty bad overall...
[Source: jeffclarktrader.com/track-record]
The fact that he publishes all his losing trades publicly like this is a big deal... and certainly shows that he can be a trustworthy guy.
And don't let the screenshot above of multiple -100% losing recommendations scare you away from his services. I'm just proving a point here. His Jeff Clark Trader service, for example, has been performing much better.
*Note: The trades shown above can be somewhat misleading however, and you may not want to expect the same results. I'll be talking more about why in a second!
Scam & Fraud Accusations
I've found quite a bit complaints on Pissed Consumer and accusations of Jeff Clark being a scammer/fraudster, which is no surprise because this is a website where people usually go to bitch and complain about things.
Difficulty Contacting
The review shown below says a lot of things, but one thing in particular that I want to point out is that it mentions it being very difficult getting in contact with the customer service team, which is something I've come across in multiple complaints.
Spam
Once you give your email to them be prepared for lots of promotional offers and upsells...
This is pretty commonplace when it comes to subscription services like this. Unfortunate... but common. It certainly doesn't make Jeff a fraudster by any means however.
No Refunds
There are also quite a bit of people complaining about not being able to get refunds... and unfortunately this is the way it is. Instead of giving out refunds they (meaning Jeff Clark and his team) only give out credit towards other subscription purchases at JeffClarkTrader.com. You can read more about this in the Terms of Conditions.
This is only for some of the services however. For the more expensive services like Delta Report ($5k/yr) he does provide refunds.
I do think that it's a bunch of crap that refunds aren't issued for all the services, because with an online subscription service like this it couldn't be more easy to give out refunds... but anyways this is the way it is and it is stated in the Terms of Conditions as well as at the bottom of the checkout pages when you are going to order any of the services provided.
Trouble Entering Trades
The most concerning complaint I have found is shown below, which talks about how it is impossible to enter a trade on time. Apparently, as soon as Jeff issues a recommendation the price spikes and you can't get in for the right buy price...
There have been more than one complaint I've come across about this and it is a serious concern. Jeff, of course, gets into the trades before anyone else, which then makes you wonder of some form of Pump & Dump is going on.
*This is why I said earlier that you shouldn't expect the same results shown in Jeff's track-record.
Recommendation advisories like this are tricky when it comes to options trading because you usually have to be more quick to get in & out at the right time. Some investment advisory services require that their editors refrain from investing in their own recommendations for at least 24 hours, but this wouldn't really work out for recommending options like this.
*RagingBull.com is another place that has investment advisory services for options trading and they have also received similar complaints from subscribers.
Losing Recommendations
As if it's not bad enough that a good recommendation might turn out bad due to it being difficult getting into a trade on time, there are also a handful of complaints about losing recommendations that Jeff has made, as you could probably have guessed after seeing the track-record screenshot I showed in the previous section.
Attorney General Reports
There have been some proponents of reporting what's been going on with Jeff Clark's services to the Attorney General, one of which you can see here...
I'm not a lawyer and don't know how far a class action lawsuit of this kind would go, but some people have been trying already.
*In my opinion it wouldn't make it far.
Fraud or Not?
I don't see any real reason to call Jeff a scammer nor a fraud.
Yes, the marketing material is often a bit much and can be misleading, it may be very difficult and even nearly impossible to enter trades on time, and a fair amount of his recommendations are losers at times... but none of this proves he is a scammer or fraud.
That said, I still definitely have some suspicions and the fact that he is able to get into his trades ahead of all his subscribers and undoubtedly profit from everyone buying in after him is something that is not fair... and is a problem/concern with many of these types of services.
Conclusion
Hopefully this short review has provided some help and insight into this matter. The services Jeff provides are like many others out there and although some of the activity is shady, such as not offering refunds and getting into trades ahead of the crowd, I personally wouldn't call what's going on a scam.
I'm interested in hearing your thoughts however. Do you think this is all a scam? Is Jeff Clark a fraud? Leave your comments below...
PS: If you're still looking for a good investment advisory service then check Stock Advisor out. They are also transparent and the good news is that the editors wait 24 hours before getting into their own recommendations.
Thanks for the unbiased reporting, Kyle! Very much appreciated!