Sebi cracks down on finfluencer Avadhut Sathe, blocks market access and seizes Rs 546 crore
SEBI began its probe after receiving complaints that ASTA was not just teaching trading but was giving direct buy-sell calls during live market hours
PTC Web Desk: In one of its toughest actions against a financial influencer, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has barred Avadhut Sathe, founder of the Avadhut Sathe Trading Academy (ASTA), from the securities market and ordered the seizure of Rs 546 crore.
According to Sebi, the money was collected through unregistered investment advisory activities, misleading thousands of retail traders who believed they were only paying for educational courses.
How Sebi got involved
The regulator began its investigation after receiving complaints that ASTA was not just teaching trading but was giving direct buy-sell calls during live market hours. As part of the probe, Sebi reviewed videos, WhatsApp chats, social media posts, payment records and statements from participants.
One example cited in the order showed Sathe conducting a live session where he instructed viewers to take a Bank Nifty futures position at a specific price with a defined stop-loss and target. Sebi said this clearly crossed the line from education to investment advice.
The order noted that ASTA regularly used private WhatsApp groups, sometimes with hundreds of paying members, where Sathe and his team gave instant trading instructions. These “counselling batches,” Sebi said, acted exactly like advisory services.
Why Sebi said it was not education
Sebi found that ASTA heavily promoted its courses using claims of “high-probability strategies” and highlighted only profitable trades to attract more customers. Loss-making trades were never shown, creating what Sebi described as a false impression of guaranteed returns.
Despite a warning earlier this year, Sebi said Sathe continued these practices and made them even more private to avoid detection.
Some of ASTA’s programmes cost up to Rs 6.75 lakh per person, and Sebi concluded that people were primarily paying for real-time trading instructions, not just theoretical knowledge. This made the entire operation similar to a paid investment advisory service, without a licence.
What Sebi has ordered
Sebi has now banned:
Avadhut Sathe, ASTA, and director Gouri Sathe from accessing the securities market
Conducting any activity linked to investment advisory, portfolio management or research
Running live sessions or training modules that include stock recommendations
Banks have been directed to freeze their accounts until ₹546 crore is placed in fixed deposits under Sebi’s lien.
The three have also been asked to submit complete financial records, GST filings, bank statements and details of all customers who paid for their programmes.
Sebi said this strict action was necessary because Sathe’s influence was “widespread,” and many followers believed his strategies were foolproof, exposing them to serious financial risk.
This is the largest-ever amount seized from a finfluencer in India, marking a major shift in Sebi’s efforts to regulate online market trainers and protect retail investors.