This notice explains what personal information RTM Academy (“the Academy”, “we”, “us”) holds about you, why we hold it, who else processes it, and what you can do about it. It covers rtmacademy.com, the student forum at forum.rtmacademy.com, the application process, and the email we send you.
The data controller is If Guilfoyle, Ireland. Reach us about anything in this notice at admin@readthemarket.com.
1. What we collect
When you apply
The application form asks about your trading experience, what you are trying to fix, and your circumstances. Some of that is sensitive in the ordinary sense of the word — losses, financial position, what has not worked. We treat it accordingly: it is read by If, it is not shared, and it is not used for marketing.
If your application is unsuccessful we keep it for twelve months so that we recognise you if you apply again, and then delete it. Ask us to delete it sooner and we will.
When you become a student
- (a)your name, email address and password — the password is stored as a one-way hash and we cannot read it;
- (b)everything you post on the forum: topics, replies, journals, charts, screenshots, uploaded images, and private messages;
- (c)what you write to us by email, and notes from one-to-one sessions where we take them;
- (d)the fact, amount, date and status of your payments, and the billing details you gave our payment provider. We never see or store your full card number.
Collected automatically
- (e)IP address, browser and device information, and timestamps, in web server and security logs;
- (f)when you last logged in and what you have read on the forum, which the forum software records in order to work;
- (g)whether emails we sent you were delivered and opened.
2. Why we hold it, and our lawful basis
| Purpose | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Assessing your application | Steps taken at your request before entering a contract |
| Running the programme — account, forum, materials, sessions | Performance of our contract with you |
| Taking payment and keeping tax records | Contract; legal obligation |
| Service email — password resets, session arrangements, programme announcements | Contract |
| Keeping the sites secure and blocking abuse | Our legitimate interests |
| Translating forum content so students can read each other (clause 4) | Our legitimate interests in running a multilingual programme |
| Enforcing confidentiality obligations, and defending or bringing claims | Our legitimate interests |
3. Who else processes it
| Provider | What for | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Hetzner Online GmbH | Hosting — the website, the forum and their backups | Germany |
| Stripe | Payment processing | Ireland / United States |
| PayPal | Payment processing | Luxembourg / United States |
| Brevo | Sending our email, from noreply@rtmacademy.com | France |
| Cloudflare | Domain name service and protection against attacks | United States |
| Google (Gemini API) | Machine translation of forum content — see clause 4 | United States |
| Defiant, Inc. (Wordfence) | Website firewall and malware scanning | United States |
We do not sell your personal information, we do not share it with advertisers, and we do not run advertising.
4. Automatic translation of forum content — please read this one
Students on the programme do not all work in English. So that they can read each other, content posted in the student areas of the forum — including journals — is translated automatically into the forum’s other languages. To do that, the text is sent to Google’s Gemini API.
We use the paid tier of that service, deliberately. Under its terms Google does not use the content to train or improve its models; it is retained only briefly for abuse detection, and is processed under data-processing terms. On the unpaid tier that is not the case, which is why we do not use it.
Private messages between students are not translated and are not sent to Google.
If you would rather your journal were not translated, tell us and we will keep it within your own section.
5. Transfers outside the EEA
Some providers in clause 3 process data in the United States. Where that happens, the transfer is covered by the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses, by the EU–US Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified under it, or by both. Ask us and we will tell you which applies to a particular provider.
6. How long we keep it
- (a)Applications that did not proceed: Twelve months, then deleted.
- (b)Your student account: for the programme and afterwards until you ask us to remove it. Alumni keep forum access unless they ask otherwise.
- (c)Payment and tax records: for the period Irish tax law requires, currently six years from the end of the relevant period.
- (d)Forum content: indefinitely, unless you ask — see clause 8.
- (e)Server and security logs: we keep these only while they remain useful for investigating faults and attacks, and we do not use them for any other purpose.
7. Your rights
Under the GDPR you can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you; have it corrected if it is wrong; have it erased; restrict or object to how we use it; receive it in a portable form; and withdraw consent where we relied on consent. We will answer within one month.
Write to admin@readthemarket.com. We may ask you to confirm your identity first, because we are not going to hand somebody else your journal.
If you think we have handled your information badly, you can complain to the Irish Data Protection Commission at dataprotection.ie, or to the supervisory authority in the EU country where you live.
8. Leaving, and what happens to your posts
Ask us and we will close your account and remove your name and email address from it.
Your forum posts are more complicated, and we would rather be straight with you than pretend otherwise. The student forum is a record of people working through the same problems over years, and much of its value to the students who come after you is that the working is still there. Deleting one person’s posts long afterwards leaves other students’ replies answering nothing.
Our normal approach is to anonymise: your posts stay, your identity does not. If you want particular posts removed rather than anonymised, ask, and we will remove them unless there is a good reason not to, which we will explain.
9. Cookies
We use cookies necessary for the sites to work: keeping you logged in, remembering your language, and letting our security provider distinguish you from an attacker. These cannot be switched off without breaking the sites.
We also use Google Analytics to understand which pages are read, which sets cookies in your browser. These are not set unless you accept them.
We do not use advertising or tracking cookies.
10. Children
The Academy is for adults. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18.
11. Changes to this notice
We will update this notice when what we do changes. The version date is at the top. Where a change materially affects you, we will email the address on your account.
Questions about this notice, or any request under clause 7: admin@readthemarket.com (support in English).
English (UK) 
Deutsch 
Español 
العربية 
Bahasa Indonesia