Do you believe what you read on a messageboard?

[gaj]

i have learned TONS on msg boards and the internet.

obviously, there's a lot of stuff to wade through. and i don't mean stuff like "buy stock ABC, it's going to the moon"


but technical stuff, people's psychological stuff, etc. - there's an amazing amount of information out there.

silicon investor used to be the place to go for financial stuff, long ago (like when GNET was the symbol for Go 2 Net). ET became better than SI at some point, and now some of ET's 'goodness' has spread across the land into blogs, podcasts, RSS feeds, etc.

but the internet - and msg boards - gave me lots of tools to work with.

 

[marketbarometer]

I will embarassingly raise my hand and say yes. The yahoo boards have been around a while, 10 years I think... Those were different times and I was a different person. It was during a wild bull market. Sure, I took a few tips here and there. We all have done it once where we see a tip on some messageboard and run with it.

However, now is a different time. Here is how I structure my stock picks...

I look through an industry index. Then I quickly enter symbols into a charting program like stockcharts.com. I quickly glance at the chart and if I dont like what I see, I move on quick. I will sometimes go through over 500+ stocks in one 8 hour sitting. My charting skills are very advanced and I can quickly determine patterns at a glance.

Then I develop a list of stocks which I dig deeper into...I develop a list of stocks that are tradable during a 12 month period (not just for trade right now or next week)

For example, I found TRMP back in December. The chart pattern indicated that it would be soon back at 16. Sure enough, it made it back. I have an extensive list of stocks where I have placed them into a program that will alert me when they get back to the target levels.

Im a slave of the charts more or less. In fact, I turn off the news during the day because it distracts me from my analysis and slows me down.

Everyone has their own way of trading and finding stocks, but when I have gone against the charts, its been an expensive mistake. The charts are the center of my universe, although, I do not trust them all the time...i.e. through an earnings call and I would certainly not ever touch anything in the way of bio-tech/drugs. Just say no to the drug stocks.

I will admit, the above routine is arduous, but thats how business is supposed to be...

Quote from NihabaAshi:

Are you stating you have taken advice from Yahoo! stock boards and put real money on what someone suggested would be a good trade or investment???

How often have you done such???

Do you still use Yahoo! stock boards for any trade analysis even though you no longer listen to specific advice on what to do and what not to do???

Mark

 

[stonedinvestor]

I have to say been trading stocks for over 20 years.
Never went to a message board until last year.
I find them to be filled with complete and utter idiots.
The yahoo one is really the worst I envision kids in their dorm room typing this crap.
It's useful just to see how many other people are in on a play. Sometimes I'm surprised a little idea I thought i had all to myself will have a large and active message board filled with investors from all over the country. I usually move on.

Ironically I find the only time the message board format works is on EXTREMELY spec stuff- penny stocks-- there you will find folks dedicated to penny stocks as well as the usually bucket houses and pushers greasing them along and posting under false names- since research is so hard to find on these names- the boards help flush out the original idea everyone is so excited about.

 

[flytiger]

Quote from marketbarometer:

Whenever I read a Yahoo stock board, thats when I lose money.

When I seperate myself from the news and message boards...concentrate on the charts first and foremost...thats when the big money gets made.

You think maybe this could have been a reason:

By: greedy_malone ----THE WHOLE TRUTH and NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH---
21 Sep 2006, 12:48 PM EDT
Msg. 381612 of 384257
Jump to msg. #

This is my cue to exit the boards

I have been told a massive sting operation is underway by Federal officials from several departments including the FBI, CIA, Secret Service, State and local police to round up the naked short sellers and their associates.

I am told that there will be a rather significant departure of top level bashers on RB. Me being one of them.

If the legal arm of this investigation reaches me I want you to know this was done for the betterment of my family and that I did my best to remain inside the level of the law when I posted on RB. I do not believe any of my posts were ever illegal in nature or in violation of any securities regulations.

We have been told that a denial of service campaign is underway by the shorts to hamper the gathering of evidence by the Federal agents. I felt the need to have something posted here apologizing for any illegal actions I may have been a part of in hopes that there will be mercy shown to me if needed.

Sincerely,


I've caught a couple of these guys meself. There are banks of them working for scum. One firm, a few years ago, had seven traders and 193 bashers. Whatever new technology presents itself, realize there is a segment of the population that will attempt to monetize it through less than legal ways.

Charts rule.

 

[ElectricSavant]

you sorta learn to separate the wheat from the chaff

 

[marketbarometer]

We like to believe the people who write those messages are kids in high school messing around or college students in a dorm room.

The scary part is that many of those posters are adults probably over the age of 30. . .

 

[rateesquad]

Quote from marketbarometer:

We like to believe the people who write those messages are kids in high school messing around or college students in a dorm room.

The scary part is that many of those posters are adults probably over the age of 30. . .

Is there a problem with HS kids or college students on this board???

I started to trade at 15 (Swing)....Now been trading for 3 years....
Yup, that makes me a college student.

What I have come to see on this site is that people below the legal drinking age are here to learn and most of them do so. I hope you will reconsider your position.

Cheers,

 

[marketbarometer]

We were talking in context of the yahoo message boards.

On many yahoo message boards there are extremist messages. We like to believe the people who authored the extreme messages are kids fooling around when in reality they might be grown knowledgable adults with responsibilities.

This is a reality that is truly scary. . .now you know why civilians are permitted to carry around pistols in the majority of the United States.

Quote from rateesquad:

Is there a problem with HS kids or college students on this board???

I started to trade at 15 (Swing)....Now been trading for 3 years....
Yup, that makes me a college student.

What I have come to see on this site is that people below the legal drinking age are here to learn and most of them do so. I hope you will reconsider your position.

Cheers,

 

[nutmeg]

Picked this up somewhere thought it was interesting.



The urge to act out an entirely different persona is widely shared across cultures as well, social scientists say, and may be motivated by curiosity, mischief or earnest soul-searching. Certainly, it is a familiar tug in the breast of almost anyone who has stepped out of his or her daily life for a time, whether for vacation, for business or to live in another country.

"It used to be you'd go away for the summer and be someone else, go away to camp and be someone else, or maybe to Europe and be someone else" in a spirit of healthy experimentation, said Dr. Sherry Turkle, a sociologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Now, she said, people regularly assume several aliases on the Internet, without ever leaving their armchair

 

[marketbarometer]

I bet they dont have signs like this in England or Australia. At my airport, all weapons need to be checked. hehe