This thread is background for some of the people who have asked me about the credibility of quite a few posts on ET. One of the most prolific but vacuous posters on ET is JMowery1987.
As you may know, he has some very strong and slanderous views on some companies. Because these boards are essentially anonymous, readers may need to understand a bit more about the man behind the mouth so that they can weigh his advice up before they decide to act on it.
Although some of what I post may seem to be malicious, it is not my intention to be. Granted, he has irritated the hell out of a lot of us but all of the facts here have come out of his posts.
An added benefit of his postings is that it helps us to see who is on the other side of the trades we make. Many people think that all of the fresh meat disappeared during the tech years or was shaken out by the $25000 rule but JM is an indication that some of it may be coming back into the market. One of the greatest books I have ever read on trading (not going to name it because if you have not read it you are probably not ready for it â except to say the theme is Eating and Losers) deals extensively with this and it is always interesting to see the logic or lack of logic behind a lot of traders out there.
Jmowery1987 (JM) is a nineteen year old boy who recently started trading (less than a year ago) who currently lives with his family and trades off a single screen in his bedroom. He constantly changes his approach to trading and is now thinking of giving forex a whirl.
He appears to be highly immature not only in the way that he communicates but also very unschooled in the ways of the world. For example, he has recently been asking on ET how to rent an apartment. In this thread he seems to have great difficulty understanding what an apartment lease is. He also does not have any credit, not even a credit card. He has previously had significant difficulties in opening a trading account.
He seems to spend too much time on the computer (12-18 hours a day) and does not have any friends around. Apparently his only three friends joined the Air Force and left him all alone. He also talks of other compulsive behaviour such as checking stock prices constantly while he was in class to the detriment of his grades. I think that this type of obsessive behaviour is quite significant.
His knowledge of market activity and history is very shallow. "I was born in 1987, I didn't know there was a big market crash." Most of what he knows seems to have been picked up on these boards. He has also learnt a "lot" hanging out on Yahoo boards etc. His knowledge of technical analysis seems to be equally shallow as he gets very excited when he sees a pattern he recognizes to the extent that he has to post it in here.
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=1082708#post1082708
He has major issues with not getting enough respect from his family, from posters on ET and from people in the town where he lives. Judging by his contribution to many of the threads here it is not difficult to see the small boy raging and shouting to try to achieve a feeling of significance.
One of his favorite pastimes is raging at bigger companies which he feels do not immediately act on his requests. His approach appears to be the classic "bend the world to my way". Given that he is trading from a single screen, I do not believe he can accurately assess complex programs which a lot of day traders use on up to 6 screens.
He will also latch on to a thread and spend a large amount of time looking for information on Google which he can then post back on ET. Although this can sometimes be helpful, it can be more harmful if you think that you are getting firsthand information from a knowledgeable source.
(JM if you disagree with anything I have posted here, please feel free to correct me)
So the final question is, when deciding on advice from a discussion board, consider who you are talking to. A picture is worth a thousand words.
As you may know, he has some very strong and slanderous views on some companies. Because these boards are essentially anonymous, readers may need to understand a bit more about the man behind the mouth so that they can weigh his advice up before they decide to act on it.
Although some of what I post may seem to be malicious, it is not my intention to be. Granted, he has irritated the hell out of a lot of us but all of the facts here have come out of his posts.
An added benefit of his postings is that it helps us to see who is on the other side of the trades we make. Many people think that all of the fresh meat disappeared during the tech years or was shaken out by the $25000 rule but JM is an indication that some of it may be coming back into the market. One of the greatest books I have ever read on trading (not going to name it because if you have not read it you are probably not ready for it â except to say the theme is Eating and Losers) deals extensively with this and it is always interesting to see the logic or lack of logic behind a lot of traders out there.
Jmowery1987 (JM) is a nineteen year old boy who recently started trading (less than a year ago) who currently lives with his family and trades off a single screen in his bedroom. He constantly changes his approach to trading and is now thinking of giving forex a whirl.
He appears to be highly immature not only in the way that he communicates but also very unschooled in the ways of the world. For example, he has recently been asking on ET how to rent an apartment. In this thread he seems to have great difficulty understanding what an apartment lease is. He also does not have any credit, not even a credit card. He has previously had significant difficulties in opening a trading account.
He seems to spend too much time on the computer (12-18 hours a day) and does not have any friends around. Apparently his only three friends joined the Air Force and left him all alone. He also talks of other compulsive behaviour such as checking stock prices constantly while he was in class to the detriment of his grades. I think that this type of obsessive behaviour is quite significant.
His knowledge of market activity and history is very shallow. "I was born in 1987, I didn't know there was a big market crash." Most of what he knows seems to have been picked up on these boards. He has also learnt a "lot" hanging out on Yahoo boards etc. His knowledge of technical analysis seems to be equally shallow as he gets very excited when he sees a pattern he recognizes to the extent that he has to post it in here.
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=1082708#post1082708
He has major issues with not getting enough respect from his family, from posters on ET and from people in the town where he lives. Judging by his contribution to many of the threads here it is not difficult to see the small boy raging and shouting to try to achieve a feeling of significance.
One of his favorite pastimes is raging at bigger companies which he feels do not immediately act on his requests. His approach appears to be the classic "bend the world to my way". Given that he is trading from a single screen, I do not believe he can accurately assess complex programs which a lot of day traders use on up to 6 screens.
He will also latch on to a thread and spend a large amount of time looking for information on Google which he can then post back on ET. Although this can sometimes be helpful, it can be more harmful if you think that you are getting firsthand information from a knowledgeable source.
(JM if you disagree with anything I have posted here, please feel free to correct me)
So the final question is, when deciding on advice from a discussion board, consider who you are talking to. A picture is worth a thousand words.
* , I might as well have a loser like the OP tell me about it. 
