Yahoo chat is pathetic. Not only are there tons of fakes, wannabe's, losers, and not to mention, most the time, they aren't even on topic. Is there a chat room out there (FREE) that real traders go to other than the one here on ET that no one uses, lol. - nathan
Lots of traders form small groups of like-minded individuals to chat with during the day. Seems to be the best route to go. A large room with all different level traders doesnt work too well, imo.
Agree. Most of the large free chat rooms can be noise (distraction) due to all the different trading styles, different trading instruments et cetera. Therefore, if someone is looking for a room with traders using similar like trading style or whatever... The smaller free rooms are the route to go. If someone can't find a room that's suitable to their needs... It's very easy to form your own room and then look for like minded traders to join your free chat room. If the room has any merits...word of mouth will bring in new members. Try to find a room with a few good traders, no signal callers, no head traders...everybody just sharing and trying to help each other when help is needed. Also, there are many different conferencing chat tools like IRC, Hotcomm, ICQ and then theres the higher end fancy conferencing stuff that allows true collaboration that can be easily found via Google search. Later on after the room has been active for many months...make it private and invitational only. In fact, the best free chat rooms out there are private and invitational only (they contact you and not the other way around). Yet, if your not looking for a room where everybody is trying to help each other and your looking for a signal calling room (head trader saying when to buy and when to sell)... Start with zxcv1fu thread at http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=49805 However, almost all the discussion in that thread are about fee-based rooms and looking for some guru trader to mimic his/her trades. Mark (a.k.a. NihabaAshi) Japanese Candlestick term
Nathan, Just a quick follow-up to my last message. Sometimes it helps to join one of the bigger chat rooms and then be an active poster in the rooms in hopes someone will notice you based upon the content of your messages and then invite you to one of the private (FREE) and invitational only rooms. The above suggestion is an option if you don't want to form your own room. Last of all, in comparing the FREE private rooms versus the FEE-BASED guru rooms... The free rooms usually are better than the fee-based rooms and contain profitable traders more on your own level via the following: * Similar trading tools * Similar position size * Similar trading style However, in a fee-based trading room traders tend to blame the guru trader if trading isn't going well whereas in the free rooms you can only blame yourself if trading doesn't go well. Mark
Mark Where do you go to chat if any? I use IRC, Yahoo, and now Paltalk...It'd be great to talk to you in person sometime. - nathan
Excuse me, I would like to give an opinion on this subject. It seems to me that good traders often don't like to be distracted. Personally I find it difficult to execute while a message screen is blinking off the side. My first priority is the decision making process. At this point in time, I have a single associate who has become a good friend. Periodically we maintain contact via IM. That is about all I can handle. I also think that there is a difference between the retail trader who is looking to learn from observation and discussion during trading hours, and the professional who has already obtained his skill set and is trying to make a living. Although I am always open to learning new concepts, I am mostly focused on my work. Thanks Steve
Agreed. I dont have AIM up anymore specifically because it can be very distracting while trading. While I can totally understand why a rookie trader would like to have constant contact with a veteran trader, I truly dont know why the veteran guy would want to. He has nothing to gain. Personally I think Cashmoney would be better off trading by himself but writing down specific questions about things he doesnt understand or needs help with and then PM'img guys after the market closes to try and get some answers. The opportunity costs are just too high intraday for the seasoned pro.