My Friends and Colleagues,
I wanted to start out as introduction that I am aware not all of you know me, not truly. Some of you may know me as a sometime combative personality. There were reasons for that. That process is now well underway in government and other areas also. They were words against some elements that have taken advantage of traders for a long time. As I have been involved in trading for years, and watched while countless of my colleagues were devastated, and then finally came to know what truly happened, I was shocked, angered, and in some ways, heart-broken. I personally paid over $350,000 in commissions in a single year to one of these brokerage firms. In something as serious as this, strong words were in order. As I am sure all of you realize, those words got blood boiling. It also identified some people who are likely involved. I am not a crusader, or God, but I did believe I owed it to some fallen colleagues to speak loudly and clearly against what has happened. That is now quietly taking its course, and the New York Times and Wall Street Journal articles have done some great good, though as we all know reporters sometimes twist facts, and not all of it is accurate. But the important details are precise.
Now where do we go from here? I established a site, Stock Operators, and launched it August 31. There are principles enshrined at that site I believe are critical:
1. ALL broker affiliations and any advertising are outlawed - the only revenues the site receives derive from direct membership subscription fees, ensuring that the only interest we have is the trading and investing success of our members.
2. Moderators may NOT trade any stocks at all, let alone those they recommend to members. This ensures a total dedication and commitment to the interests of our members' success, and complete objectivity calling stocks. I believe all of you know that aside from the obvious front-running and share-dumping taking place at some sites, a moderator who plays his or her own calls cannot possibly be objective. For my part, when I began to moderate and not trade I began to see the markets far more clearly than ever before. That is my work for you, keeping a cool head and staying objective.
3. The kind of dishonesty, hype, egotism, moderator egomania and every-man-for-himself syndrome prevalent in other places we are attempting to replace with a calm, supportive atmosphere of professional camaraderie.
I have agreed with Jeff Haverlack (TraderJ) and Dale Baker (50% Gains Investing) to join together as equal partners to build the site as we believe it can be done, all of us working to these principles and others we find to have been sadly lacking in trading for so long. I am very happy to say today that leaders such as Jeff and Dale, known for their honesty, fairness, and professionalism, have joined me. I always knew something like this was better done with the kind of diverse talent and personality we bring each one of us than off alone in solitary pursuits. Jeff, Dale and I have gotten to know one another and I am very happy we seem to agree on these issues, and the need to build something different in DT. An honest place, led by professionals, where all of you have a fair chance to excel as traders. Also a first step in reversing the alarming and most undeserved name day traders have received in this country.
I apologize for the formality of this my first statement to all of you here. Believe me, we are informal in the Vault at STOPS. I want to take this opportunity to invite you all to come join us and see if you may find a comfortable and profitable home with us. You may sign up for a full one-month free trial at this link:
stock-operators.com
Rates are not set as of yet but we have agreed they will be no more than $300.00 monthly for the Trading Vault, which I will lead, and $45.00 for the Investment Vault, led by Jeff and Dale. Part of one good trade. The link Trade Record (which, this week-end, will be updated to include the past few weeks and thereafter on a daily basis) is calculated using fills reported by members. I hope some of you at some point will take some time to read Integrity and Trading. I wrote it in August. A great deal of thought went into it. Sadly, it is all true.
But the future lies ahead of us, and some great trading and investing as professionals together. The traditional welcome to the site is the old Italian toast, but our very first member, an old friend and normally quite reserved, boogie, when he joined two months ago, exclaimed, "May we all enjoy FAT profits and happy times!" I laughed wholeheartedly - and immediately added that to our intro. We hope you will come join us, and perhaps find a successful trading home together with others who believe in day trading as a profession worthy of respect.
Welcome Amigos, All of You,
Ollie |
