I think ET really needs to ad a Forum on Stock Fundamentals. While most people here are extreme short-term traders and have little-to-no intraday interest in a stock's fundamentals, we all have swing or long term holdings. Moreover, traders who focus on specific stocks over long periods of time are likely better off if they keep up on some fundamentals of their counters. By not including a forum on Fundamentals, ET is effectively pushing readers/posters to other boards. The following order of forums would make sense: Trading Execution Economics Fundamentals Technicals Trading Programs Of course the forum would need to be moderated with an iron fist to keep out the Yahooligans.
Ok, since nobody else shares my interest, I'll respond to myself. Today picked up the book "Tricks of the Floor Trader" by Neil Weintraub. The forward is written by Pat Raffalovich and he includes this story: "A fundamental trader and a technical trader were watching the late evening news. A story appeared about a man preparing to jump off the roof of the Wrigley Building in Chicago. The fundamental trader bet the technical trader the man would not jump. And sure enough as the story concluded it was a false alarm. The fundamental trader felt guilty about winning the bet. 'You know,' he said, 'I knew the guy wouldn't jump because I saw the story on the morning news.' 'Well, I saw the same story on the morning news too,' said the technical trader. 'But according to my charts, it was impossible for him not to jump on his second attempt.'"
I tried the same suggestion a while back, without success. I think there are two problems here at ET that prevent the successful launch of such a forum. First, I disagree that "all of us here have some long term holdings". I'm not sure how many do, but I'd be surprised if it's really more than half. So many here are just looking for the holy grail handout, not a harder, slower more work intensive method of making millions. I see posts every month from people wanting to know what to do with their option positions and they barely can keep the differences straight between calls and puts. The second problem is the general lower quality of posts over the past year or so and the lack of high quality posters, partially as a result of the above. The top fundamental guys here - and I know a few personally - have challenged others who have expressed an interest in fundamental analysis to step up with some work to prove they are serious and will work to learn. Nearly all are not willing and aren't serious about putting in the real work necessary. They prefer the picks be handed to them. I wish it would happen here. I wish there were posters here who had stayed around who I could have learned from. These days the place is dominated by the likes of "mr market" and others who do little except boast of bogus returns and results. While a small minority complains about him - he has generated a following here - which is why I have given up trying. Good Luck.
I suspect that the reluctance to work is only part of it. At least some of the difficulty lies in an inability to determine just what constitutes fundamental analysis. In any case, if you really want a forum, I suggest you begin with a thread or a journal and gauge interest. If there is interest, you'll be better able to make a case for a fundamentals forum. But if members don't contribute to your thread - or make posts to your journal - often enough to keep it near the top, then there's not much point in reconfiguring the site.
That about sums it up. We don't create forums unless there are some significant active threads already taking place. If we see that there is enough discussion about a particular topic to justify a dedicated forum, we will not hesitate to create it.
I'd like to know if some of the better traders park their profits into something they consider long term or retirement or do they throw it back into the mix. Do they build a safety net along the way just in case they wipe out?
Rather than ask your question here, it would probably be better to start a thread in one of the other forums, if you want it to be seen by those most likely to reply.