IM Academy, an online platform specializing in financial education, was founded in 2013 by CEO Christopher Terry and CFO Isis Terry. Their goal was to provide a more accessible option for students who wanted to learn about financial markets and market engagement strategies but needed the flexibility of an online education. A decade later, the Academy continues to expand with this goal in mind, offering four academies focused on financial markets, as well as additional academies and services in areas such as travel and lifestyle, e-commerce, and social media.
With the number of options available to students continuing to grow, IM Academy has sought to help students decide which Academy or combination of academies is right for them. In October 2022, it launched the IMpowered bundle option, which allows students to select a base of two academies at a lower rate than individual academy pricing, then add additional academies at less than half the cost of their individual rates. Leaders at the Academy decided to offer this option to provide flexibility for students, who often have a variety of interests across different markets — and who can now try different academies at discounted rates to find the right fit for them.
“It doesn’t matter your plan. The master plan is for you to start off in life where you are now and to get to the other end. It doesn’t matter how you get there as long as you leave a variance and are flexible to make changes along the way,” said Christopher Terry.
For Terry, the IMpowered bundle is a key addition to IM Academy because it allows students to experiment with different options as they plan their educational journey.
IM Academy’s Platform
After beginning with a focus on the foreign exchange market, IM Academy expanded to apply its pattern-based and time-based approach to market analysis in other areas. In addition to the FRX Academy, it now offers the DCX Academy on digital currencies, the TBX Academy on time-based intraday scalping strategies, and the SFX Academy on the stocks and futures markets. These market-based academies are complemented by the ECX Academy on e-commerce, the SMX Academy on social media brand building, and the MMX Academy, which focuses on live mentorship to develop a productive mindset. In 2022, IM Academy added its TLX travel and lifestyle service, which offers members access to discounted rates at hotels and resorts and the opportunity to take themed trips with other IM Academy students and educators.
The four market-based academies share an emphasis on teaching students to analyze charts at different timescales to identify entry and exit points based on market activity. This approach relies on pattern-based and mathematical analyses, as well as an understanding of historical trends and the impact of world events on markets. Some strategies apply across markets such as currencies, stocks, and cryptocurrency, while others are more nuanced and directed at a specific asset class.
Chart analysis is a crucial component of each Academy, so IM Academy emphasizes providing all students at these academies with proprietary market analysis tools. In 2022, it released the IMpulse tracker, which displays market activity on a graph representing both activity and momentum at scales ranging from intraday to long-term. This tool is designed to help students search for trends by analyzing distilled information from over 50 data points represented in an intuitive style.
Equipped with this tracking tool, students apply pattern-based analysis strategies learned from videos, readings, and live online discussions with educators at their academies. For example, students at the SFX Academy study Fibonacci retracement, a technique that analyzes market activity by applying ratios derived from the Fibonacci sequence, a mathematical pattern found across nature at micro and macro levels. Students learn from Carolyn Boroden, who helped design the SFX Academy and is known as the “Fibonacci queen” for her work as an analyst with over 40 years of experience in analyzing charts and implementing engagement strategies.
At TBX Academy, the focus is on the intraday strategy known as scalping, which involves making several exchanges throughout a single day or even within a few hours. The key for this strategy is to understand the timing of market movements and analyze peaks and valleys of intraday activity. IM Academy students at TBX learn how to analyze charts with a more fast-paced strategy in mind.
Other students may prefer analyzing markets across longer time frames and with an emphasis on quality exchanges over quantity. In providing students with advanced chart analysis tools and access to educators with experience in a variety of strategies, IM Academy encourages students to apply an analytical, pattern-based approach to the method that works best for them. The IMpowered bundle allows students to try out these various approaches across multiple academies and lock into their preferred educational and strategic plan.
“When you do anything, any business, anything, a plan is necessary. When you’re looking at the markets, you have to have a game plan,” said Terry. “Some people look at just Elliott wave. Some people look at just market profile. Some people look at stochastics. Bruce Lee, when he invented jeet kune do, he was initially learning wing chun. And he took different arts from other areas, and it created his own model and it worked. The same with the markets. You have to have your own model. You pick from here, you pick from there, and you make it your own. So you always want to always seek new information and grow.”
Follow IM Academy on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/immastery.academy/ to learn more.
Note: IM Mastery Academy is not an advisory or broker service. IM Mastery Academy provides online educational services only.
