Credibility testing with a private forum?

Trading is a very lonely and isolated profession and I enjoy coming here and obtaining/sharing information with other traders, but i'm getting tired of having to sift through posts to figure out who the seasoned pros are. It's an unnecessary task IMO.

Would it be possible to create a private forum based on third party audits for those who trade successfully?

Specific instruments or trades need not be disclosed. Withdrawls/Deposits for a specific period should be sufficient. A year back sounds like a good start.

Is this not a good idea?

 

This has been suggested for +10 years by many and the fact that it hasn't happen...kind'uv lets you know how the forum owner (Baron) feels about it.

Yet, why do you need someone else to do such for you when you can easily put up your own forum/website as such and then post your own audited record to show that you're successful and that you only want others like you to join.

Forums and websites (good layouts/templates) are like $100 - $200 per year.

I'm not being sarcastic but there really isn't anything preventing you from doing such yourself considering a few members did such a few years back. Unfortunately, they didn't find anyone to join and they themselves were not profitable...the latter made profitable traders suspicious of their intentions in requesting only audited members along with the fact they didn't even have audited records themselves.

Do you know how much it cost these days to have a third party audit ?

Do you plan on disclosing your own audits ?

Do you think Baron (ET owner) should absorb the audit costs himself considering he'll find a way to profit from such considering this forum is a business for him via sponsorship advertising ?

What's your definition of successful ?

Seriously, if you're looking to only talk about the markets with successful traders...you're going to need to setup something yourself and then hope others will allow you a peak into lives and you'll have to do the same to prevent suspicions.

Further, its a mind boggling management of such and maybe that's why Baron is not really interested. For example, what if someone gets into that private forum via the audit that shows he/her is successful. Will you want them to be audited every single year to maintain their membership considering traders have up and down years...some years not profitable. Think about that carefully, lets pretend someone is successful via your definition for 3 years and they get audit so that they can join someone's private forum and then they have a negative year...

What will you do ?

Kick them out of the forum...put them on probation...notify other members that this person had a negative year as if their advice is no longer valuable ?

Simply, do it yourself to see how hard it is to understand Baron's viewpoint.

 

I would personally also be willing to pay for a separated forum where any old Joe Blow who starts posting ridiculous shit on his very first day couldn't post. The rationale is that many wouldn't dream of paying even $10 per month just to cause trouble. The other issue is multiple accounts, which I think almost sometimes leads to people pushing up their own thread or agreeing with their alter ego to make it seem like someone actually agrees with them.

I know that over at Big Mike, they have a special access pay section, but since Big Mike seems to exist only for the purpose of selling shit for vendors, its not even something I would consider.

Many here do say that most expert traders have nothing to prove and wouldn't want to verify anything, but I think if the option was there, some might follow through. Once a verified trader disagreed with someone who has a differing opinion and yet doesn't in any way back up his claims, I think it would be pretty obvious that the verified trader would have more weight, and this extra bit of respect would encourage other to do so. It would be interesting to see how a change like this would change the dynamic of the posting nature here at ET.

 

In my opinion, the only way this could be achieved for the overall benefit of the community here would be to make the posts viewable to all, else nothing is stopping you from creating your own forum. I have little interest in a private "profitable only" forum, but I would be adamantly against a paid variant of this site. "Premium content" would inventiably lead to conflicts of interest and segregation that would dilute the already sporadic valuable information here.

As @wrbtrader points out, your definition of successful matters too. Will this include traders, researchers, and software developers who work in institutions and are salaried? What if you work on a team and you don't have an individual trading track record? If you don't have some broader definition of "successful" than individual trading track record, you're left with a bunch of discretionary day traders who are either successful or survivorship bias. It would be interesting stuff to read I guess, but not really my scene. I wouldn't pay. I probably wouldn't be accepted either as I'm currently in one of the aforementioned marginalized categories.

There are certain other corners of the web where good traders hang out...no audits necessary, the number of participants is small enough that you develop a rep for good questions and answers and you either get replies or you don't and people just pass you by.

 

I use to think like you -- but now, I could care less.
I even made this suggestion myself some months back...if there was some way to display your real world, personal account % performance.

I just pop in here for small talk.
Doesn't really matter to me who's on the other end...could be a multi-million dollar trader, or someone who's been grinding it for five+ years but still not successful.

Trading is trading -- the market doesn't care what your account size is. also trading wisdom as well...trading is such a broad spectrum world...that it would be unwise to put those certain people on a pedestal like they're gods. (and vice versa with the normal or unsuccessful one's) -- there's always something to be learned and digested somewhere.

 

Not all successful traders have audits of their trading and the ones that have an edge, won't share it.

 

Exactly, so the really interesting people will not show up.
I personally am not interested in any audits or any other check ups. I don't need them either, so why make public what you prefer to stay secret?

 

Yes - easily; but persuading people to join it would be a whole other story. Find a way to do that, and I'd open one myself, pay for its maintenance myself, and keep it entirely free of all commercial interests, sponsorship and advertising.

"Instinctively appealing and attractive", certainly. "Good", perhaps very much less so, for the reasons explained above by WRB and Robert.

 

After reading the responses, I see how creating a segregated forum would create problems. The whole idea would be for independent traders here to put their money where their mouth is. Superstardom shouldn't be a prerequisite.

I'd personally be willing to join but have zero interest or time to organize it. Perhaps a better idea would be to make it voluntary and tag the successful traders with some kind of a "Certified" status in the public forums. This way everyone can learn and it would also quiet down alot of the drivel.