Urban Forex: Are They Good?
This is my in-depth review of Urban Forex. Everything in this article is based on my research and personal experiences.
I've not taken any of Urban Forex's courses, however, I've consumed many of their free YouTube content and discussed experiences with some of their students.
This is what I'll cover:
Where are they located?
When was it founded?
How many employees do they have?
Who Is Navin Prithyani?
Urban Forex's Relation to Black Tower Investments
Forex Courses
Mastering Price Action 2.0
Iconic Trader Program
Mastering Technical Analysis
Forex Apps
FX METER Currency Strength
STINU Position Size Calculator
Is It Worth Learning Forex with Them?
Their customer reviews
Their youtube channel
Who Are Urban Forex
Urban Forex (UF) is a beginner-friendly forex educator that focuses mostly on heavily simplifying technical analysis.
It is owned by Navin Prithyani, who generally is the main content creator for their products and services.
Where are they located?
Urban Forex are registered in Hong Kong under the address - Unit 01, 82/F Int'l Commerce Centre, 1 Austin Road West, Hong Kong, HK.
Although registered in these Regus offices, the majority of Navin's video content is recorded in other locations based on his YouTube Channel.
When was it founded?
Urban Forex was founded in 2009, which aligns with their first ever posted youtube video 13 years ago.
How many employees do they have?
According to LinkedIn, Urban Forex has 18 employees, with the majority based in India and the rest spread widely across the globe.
Who Runs the Company?
Navin Prithyani seems to be the owner and main director of Urban Forex. His image and ideologies are plastered all over the website.
Who Is Navin Prithyani?
There is limited information about Navin's history from verifiable sources. From what we've seen on his Youtube channel and social profiles, Navin is a forex trader that contributes content to a variety of forex websites.
His current main job title is CEO at Black Tower Investments Ltd., with main contributions to FX Street, Urban Forex, and Stinu.
Urban Forex's Relation to Black Tower Investments
Although the name suggests, Black Tower Investments is not an investment firm. From my research, It appears it is the registered name for Urban Forex and two of their mobile applications.
The address of both Black Tower and Urban forex are the same:
What Do They Sell?
Urban Forex provides a variety of forex-related courses and applications. Let's take a look into each course first before delving into the applications:
Mastering Price Action 2.0
Mastering Price Action 2.0 (MPA 2.0) is a beginner-level forex course based on forex price action:
It lasts around eight weeks and is priced at $149 (as of 23/09/2022). In terms of the content, it contains eight chapters with 31 short videos:
Getting Started
Fundamentals
Buyers and Sellers
Pair Selection
Identify the Players
Gauging Momentum
Money Spot Illusion
Putting it Together
From user reviews, the content appears very similar to the YouTube videos by Navin, which suggests it is focused primarily on basic historical price action behaviour.
Here's a review from Mohit Rayapureddi on his experience from May 2022:
It's always wise to take reviews with a pinch of salt - however, in this circumstance, Rohit, like many others, find the course content to be very elementary.
Does that make the MPA price action course bad? No, but it may mean Urban Forex have failed to align expectations of what the course teaches.
Over 61% of their Trustpilot reviews are bad, with 10% poor and the remaining excellent. Take from that what you will.
Urban Forex Bundle
Rather than just taking the beginner MPA 2.0 course, if you fancy taking the 'full works' can enrol on an Urban Forex bundle priced at $2,754 (as of 23/09/2022).
This bundle includes ten modules, including:
Mastering Price Action 2.0 (from above)
Mastering Price Action 1.0
Core Basics
The Iconic Gateway
Motivation and Daily Routines
Mastering Volumes in Trading
Mastering Money Management
What Type of Trader Are You
Mastering Technical Analysis
Daily Conferences
Webinar
Elite Community
After assessing reviews and discussing with anonymous students (both positive and negative), the conclusion is that this bundle is good at technical analysis but lacks fundamental analysis.
The trend seems to be beginners absolutely love Navin's content, but as they progress in their experience, they are less attracted to his content.
His focus appears to be teaching day-trading rather than longer-term positions. Which, in my opinion, increases a trader's costs and reduces the quality of trading positions available.
Statistically, the market volatility is just not there for consistent day trading (only 20% of the days). And this is why many day traders tend to distance themselves from trading after a few months.
It's essential not only to learn how to day-trade but also to learn longer-term economic trading strategies also. Most of the time, professional traders are holding positions for weeks or even months. Just take a look at JP Morgan's global macro forex strategy here.
FX METER Currency Strength
The FX Meter is an app that relays the strength of 8 major currencies in the market (USD, CHD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, NZD). It works using historical exchange rate data and averaging the price movements each day.
The app is a free download, but the content is restricted behind a paywall starting at $9.99 per month or $67.99 annually.
Referencing screenshots from their App-store images, the technical currency strength meter is very similar to better free versions available online that offer over 23 currencies instead.
In my opinion, technical strength meters like this should not be used to forecast the currency market. However, they are very useful for quickly assessing current and historical market conditions across the board on a single screen.
It saves traders time on opening all forex pairs on multiple tabs.
For its intended use as a market summary tool, the app works well for major currencies only. It falls short by not offering all other tradable currencies that many other free strength meters offer.
As a trader, it's wise to assess all tradable currencies, so you have a complete view of the market, not a partial scope.
A good way I like to remember this principle is to imagine driving a car without any side windows. It works if you're driving in a straight line and there are no other external forces or cars on your road.
In reality, it would be a matter of minutes before you are impacted by another driver or you swerve entirely off course.
Without a complete view of your surroundings, you are destined for failure. The same applies to forex trading.
STINU Position Size Calculator
The STINU position size calculator helps traders calculate their position sizes in units or lots.
Like the FX meter app by Urban Forex, Stinu is a free download with content blocked behind a $14.99 per year paywall.
In terms of value for money there are again, free online applications that do the same thing, just take Janestuk's app-store review here:
Is It Worth Learning Forex with Them?
After considering all courses and apps, Urban Forex offers, there are two things I takeaway:
The content is geared toward beginners
It only covers technical analysis, with some psychology
Would I recommend it to a beginner? The honest answer is no.
Trading is more than just technical analysis. It involves proper research, accurate statistics, and a complete strategy that covers economic research to volatility analysis. If any one of those is missing, it is inevitable for traders to suffer significant unexpected losses at some point in their journey.
Am I the only one that believes this? Let's take a look at their customer experiences across the board.
Urban Forex Reviews
As of 23/09/2022 on TrustPilot, Urban Forex has an average of 2.5 Stars, with 61% of 62 reviews being bad.
Most of the 1-star reviews come from the lack of in-depth material, length of content, and lack of application to the financial markets.
Interestingly, Urban Forex's own website has outstanding 5-star reviews. Which begs the question if they are genuine or not. Then if we take a look at their free content on YouTube, many viewers enjoy Navin's teachings:
Final Thoughts
Urban Forex has helped many traders for free via their YouTube channel understand price movements on currency pairs. Beyond that, they fall short.
Their courses and applications are entry-level and shouldn't be viewed as anything more.
All-in-all, if you are entirely new to trading and are looking to learn the most effective ways to trade, I would recommend our Logikfx's free trading web class over Navin's paid content.
Sources
Urban Forex LinkedIn Profile
Urban Forex Website
TrustPilot Reviews for Urban Forex
Urban Forex YouTube Channel
Navin Prithyani's Personal LinkedIn Profile
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