Football Index

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jamesedwards
Posts: 2234
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2018 6:16 pm

Wow, I dabbled for a bit in FI in 2019 but got out when Covid was about to shut down the world. The Index held up well at first but I stayed out because the spreads became ridiculous. Now I check back into the market for the first time in 6 months and it seems the bottom has dropped right out of it. Anyone know what went wrong? Lucky escape for me.
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Naffman
Posts: 5626
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2013 5:46 am

jamesedwards wrote:
Wed Dec 09, 2020 11:28 pm
Wow, I dabbled for a bit in FI in 2019 but got out when Covid was about to shut down the world. The Index held up well at first but I stayed out because the spreads became ridiculous. Now I check back into the market for the first time in 6 months and it seems the bottom has dropped right out of it. Anyone know what went wrong? Lucky escape for me.
When I looked deeply into it, I just couldn't see how FI were making any money, people were buying these 'shares' getting ridiculous capital growth (100+%) whilst also getting about 20% dividends per year from FI.

It really does look like a ponzi scheme looking at people's behaviour as they kept buying more and more expecting the same level of growth, its almost like they forgot they were betting against the house.

Even now people are saying 'how can x get below £5, he's got so much potential' - they don't even realise it's all make believe and he's really worth 0 if FI don't play ball.
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Euler
Posts: 24701
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2010 1:39 pm
Location: Bet Angel HQ

The business model as I understand it is that commission and the IPO's fund the dividends. If you think about it, when they IPO a new player they are on the other side of that effectively.

I've never spent much time on it TBF but that seems to be the model. From there its just down to the irrationality of it's participants.
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Euler
Posts: 24701
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Location: Bet Angel HQ

Curiously they emailed out an update this evening: -

https://trade.footballindex.co.uk/update-101220/
rik
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Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2014 5:16 am
Location: London

is it possible to market make as on betfair, profit from offering a „spread“?
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Naffman
Posts: 5626
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2013 5:46 am

Browsing twitter it's really concerning looking at how big some of these 'portfolios' are, if you're not in the 5 figures it seems you're a small fish.

It seems people are depositing more and trying to catch the bottom.

People are losing thousands daily, but had no concerns when it was the other way around.
jamesg46
Posts: 3769
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2016 1:05 pm

It seems the new CEO has recognised the call for liquidity providers from their existing customers, probably due to them losing thousands daily. Problem is Football Index won't attract any serious liquidity providers without a fixed float. Imagine a crypto that could just keep pumping more crypto coins into circulation, it would be worthless. Football Index are acting like the Federal Reserve and just printing shares, its laughable and anyone with a portfolio I'm afraid will at some point end up licking their wounds.
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Naffman
Posts: 5626
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2013 5:46 am

jamesg46 wrote:
Fri Dec 11, 2020 6:57 am
It seems the new CEO has recognised the call for liquidity providers from their existing customers, probably due to them losing thousands daily. Problem is Football Index won't attract any serious liquidity providers without a fixed float. Imagine a crypto that could just keep pumping more crypto coins into circulation, it would be worthless. Football Index are acting like the Federal Reserve and just printing shares, its laughable and anyone with a portfolio I'm afraid will at some point end up licking their wounds.
And the problem is that's the only way they can keep paying dividends as the commission is nowhere near enough to fund it.

The FI community blames the 'order book system' for all their losses to make it like an exchange which I think is a good idea but still FI will be paying these dividends out which for the life of me cannot see how they can afford.

Seems a few smart people (well not smart otherwise they wouldn't have got involved in it) are/have got rid of their portfolios and with new customers avoiding it like the plague it feels almost a matter of time before liquidity runs out.
jamesg46
Posts: 3769
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2016 1:05 pm

Naffman wrote:
Fri Dec 11, 2020 7:23 am
jamesg46 wrote:
Fri Dec 11, 2020 6:57 am
It seems the new CEO has recognised the call for liquidity providers from their existing customers, probably due to them losing thousands daily. Problem is Football Index won't attract any serious liquidity providers without a fixed float. Imagine a crypto that could just keep pumping more crypto coins into circulation, it would be worthless. Football Index are acting like the Federal Reserve and just printing shares, its laughable and anyone with a portfolio I'm afraid will at some point end up licking their wounds.
And the problem is that's the only way they can keep paying dividends as the commission is nowhere near enough to fund it.

The FI community blames the 'order book system' for all their losses to make it like an exchange which I think is a good idea but still FI will be paying these dividends out which for the life of me cannot see how they can afford.

Seems a few smart people (well not smart otherwise they wouldn't have got involved in it) are/have got rid of their portfolios and with new customers avoiding it like the plague it feels almost a matter of time before liquidity runs out.
I've just been on Twatter after reading your post to take a look & it's a bloodbath. FI are able to pay a Dividend because they're the ones holding the cash from the worthless shares sold, infact they're the only ones in this with anything that is actually worth something.

Great business model for (FI)... you give me cash for something that doesn't exist or hold any fixed value that we can constantly sell more of and in return we will pay you a tiny % of your money back as a Dividend. Money flows in like a river and trickles back out of a hose pipe. It's deeply troubling what the optics of this are going to be for the exchange industry, not if it goes tits up but when.
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Naffman
Posts: 5626
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2013 5:46 am

jamesg46 wrote:
Fri Dec 11, 2020 7:37 am
Naffman wrote:
Fri Dec 11, 2020 7:23 am
jamesg46 wrote:
Fri Dec 11, 2020 6:57 am
It seems the new CEO has recognised the call for liquidity providers from their existing customers, probably due to them losing thousands daily. Problem is Football Index won't attract any serious liquidity providers without a fixed float. Imagine a crypto that could just keep pumping more crypto coins into circulation, it would be worthless. Football Index are acting like the Federal Reserve and just printing shares, its laughable and anyone with a portfolio I'm afraid will at some point end up licking their wounds.
And the problem is that's the only way they can keep paying dividends as the commission is nowhere near enough to fund it.

The FI community blames the 'order book system' for all their losses to make it like an exchange which I think is a good idea but still FI will be paying these dividends out which for the life of me cannot see how they can afford.

Seems a few smart people (well not smart otherwise they wouldn't have got involved in it) are/have got rid of their portfolios and with new customers avoiding it like the plague it feels almost a matter of time before liquidity runs out.
I've just been on Twatter after reading your post to take a look & it's a bloodbath. FI are able to pay a Dividend because they're the ones holding the cash from the worthless shares sold, infact they're the only ones in this with anything that is actually worth something.

Great business model for (FI)... you give me cash for something that doesn't exist or hold any fixed value that we can constantly sell more of and in return we will pay you a tiny % of your money back as a Dividend. Money flows in like a river and trickles back out of a hose pipe. It's deeply troubling what the optics of this are going to be for the exchange industry, not if it goes tits up but when.
Very well summed up - give them 10% divs per year and 50% capital growth and then they'll continue to pour money in.

If it sounds too good to be true and all that.
jamesg46
Posts: 3769
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2016 1:05 pm

Naffman wrote:
Fri Dec 11, 2020 7:50 am
jamesg46 wrote:
Fri Dec 11, 2020 7:37 am
Naffman wrote:
Fri Dec 11, 2020 7:23 am


And the problem is that's the only way they can keep paying dividends as the commission is nowhere near enough to fund it.

The FI community blames the 'order book system' for all their losses to make it like an exchange which I think is a good idea but still FI will be paying these dividends out which for the life of me cannot see how they can afford.

Seems a few smart people (well not smart otherwise they wouldn't have got involved in it) are/have got rid of their portfolios and with new customers avoiding it like the plague it feels almost a matter of time before liquidity runs out.
I've just been on Twatter after reading your post to take a look & it's a bloodbath. FI are able to pay a Dividend because they're the ones holding the cash from the worthless shares sold, infact they're the only ones in this with anything that is actually worth something.

Great business model for (FI)... you give me cash for something that doesn't exist or hold any fixed value that we can constantly sell more of and in return we will pay you a tiny % of your money back as a Dividend. Money flows in like a river and trickles back out of a hose pipe. It's deeply troubling what the optics of this are going to be for the exchange industry, not if it goes tits up but when.
Very well summed up - give them 10% divs per year and 50% capital growth and then they'll continue to pour money in.

If it sounds too good to be true and all that.
Just the fact that they're adding shares into circulation as demand increases after an IPO is deeply flawed. "Minting shares" :lol: It's basically stealing the profit away from it's users who own shares in a player that wasn't in as much demand when they got in. All well and good going to an order book system but if you're going to jump the que as demand increases by adding shares into circulation before a user can sell their existing shares for a profit then at some point a lot of people are going to be holding bags of nothing while FI are holding bags of cash.
jamesg46
Posts: 3769
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2016 1:05 pm

For it to function in any sort if meaningful way FI or the new CEO needs to introduce share splits & reverse splits ASAP but of course while they're stealing the bag is the incentive really there.
jamesg46
Posts: 3769
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2016 1:05 pm

The more I browse through Twatter the more I get the feeling that this is all going to end very badly for a lot of people.

People reinvesting their Dividend payouts is a win win for FI and I'm reading lots of it. Release an IPO, people buy shares on the basis of a % return through a Dividend, demand increases through people reinvesting their Dividends so FI mint new shares recycling the payouts back to themselves in exchange for for a freshly minted share.

Am I getting this wrong or does this come across as a huge scam? I'm seeing people with upto 20k in portfolios... the CEO hasn't stepped aside, he's past the blame on imo.
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Naffman
Posts: 5626
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2013 5:46 am

jamesg46 wrote:
Fri Dec 11, 2020 10:07 am
The more I browse through Twatter the more I get the feeling that this is all going to end very badly for a lot of people.

People reinvesting their Dividend payouts is a win win for FI and I'm reading lots of it. Release an IPO, people buy shares on the basis of a % return through a Dividend, demand increases through people reinvesting their Dividends so FI mint new shares recycling the payouts back to themselves in exchange for for a freshly minted share.

Am I getting this wrong or does this come across as a huge scam? I'm seeing people with upto 20k in portfolios... the CEO hasn't stepped aside, he's past the blame on imo.
I was struggling to see how FI were making money but you made it quite obvious, let people pay £10 a share (that are realistically worthless), pay them 10% a year in divs and then when it comes time to sell after 3 years get rid of 'instant sell' and let other people buy the shares back instead of FI.

Whereas those who bought in quite early and sold pre-covid using 'instant sell' would've made loads from FI.
jamesg46
Posts: 3769
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2016 1:05 pm

Naffman wrote:
Fri Dec 11, 2020 2:05 pm
jamesg46 wrote:
Fri Dec 11, 2020 10:07 am
The more I browse through Twatter the more I get the feeling that this is all going to end very badly for a lot of people.

People reinvesting their Dividend payouts is a win win for FI and I'm reading lots of it. Release an IPO, people buy shares on the basis of a % return through a Dividend, demand increases through people reinvesting their Dividends so FI mint new shares recycling the payouts back to themselves in exchange for for a freshly minted share.

Am I getting this wrong or does this come across as a huge scam? I'm seeing people with upto 20k in portfolios... the CEO hasn't stepped aside, he's past the blame on imo.
I was struggling to see how FI were making money but you made it quite obvious, let people pay £10 a share (that are realistically worthless), pay them 10% a year in divs and then when it comes time to sell after 3 years get rid of 'instant sell' and let other people buy the shares back instead of FI.

Whereas those who bought in quite early and sold pre-covid using 'instant sell' would've made loads from FI.
I've been through their "game rules" after posting this up and I can't find where Berry got that FI are "minting shares", the nearest I can get to that claim is that they hold the exclusive right to change the algo at any time that controls the price curve. All of his other claims seem legit imo but I can't find any reference to the minting and that is a big claim.
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