...left in the dark... No, Tim, we're the ones in the light. And that's where I want to stay.
"Jealousy"? No. Were that the case, we'd be holding out tongues and trying to get in. I'll try to explain further why I would never want to (not that you're asking me!). BTW, I have the time to spend on this, because I am basically sitting out the market right now, and this is just something to do. You people should just ignore me until later (or forever!) if you're busy trading today. But to go on ...
We all learn the ropes over time, and in my early days of investing, I tried some private investment groups on the net. My conclusion is that they never work for very long. It is extremely difficult to coordinate the actions of 100 or 150 people, especially in day-trading (it may work better for long-term investing). One problem is that people differ in the speed of their isp servers and in their brokerage execution speeds. Some get messages before others, some are able to execute quicker than others. This results in some buying lower than others, or selling higher, and eventually in some members selling into the buying of others. Moreover, there will be always be some who take the quick scalp even as you are urging the group to stick together. Inevitably, dissension builds with the disparities between the results achieved by one member as opposed to another.
Furthermore, when you try to do this on a private site, you are cutting off the support of the much broader constituency of investors and traders who hang around the public boards. The small group you are forming will not itself be able to move a stock, whereas the broader constituency can, especially in the case of low price, low float stocks. You will have to consistently guess direction correctly, lacking any power to influence direction. As good as your stock-picking abilities may be, you will begin to have losers, and it will not take many to disenchant members. On top of this, none of us know it all, and it is not wise to cut off your group from outsiders who may possess valuable information or DD on any given stock that might put a different light on it, one way or the other.
None of this makes a whit of difference to me, personally. I have long since learned the art of doing good DD and making my own choices and decisions. It wasn't always so, and in my early days I went through some frightening losses. I was doing what others kept telling me not to do, but I wouldn't listen. I know now that everyone has to learn for themselves, by personally experiencing the pain. Perhaps the most important lesson I learned is that making money is not nearly as important as not ever losing money. That one lesson alone has made all the difference in the results I achieve now, consistently.
Tim, not every outsider who hangs around a message board is an MM in disguise, a spy, a hyper, or an otherwise unscrupulous neer-do-well. I have dropped into your thread often because I think you have good market savvy, and because your thread attracted a lot of people who had things to say that made sense. No man (or woman) is an island, and I'm always willing to hear what others have to say. Then I decide for myself, one way or the other. I don't imagine the thread will be like that any longer, and I'm sorry to see that happen. But I'll live just fine without it.
No matter how much I may disagree with the wisdom of the course you and your followers are embarking on ... I truly wish you all the best of luck.
Regards and Happy New Year,
J.C. |
