I was emailed recently by David Segal of The New York Times because he stumbled upon Stocktwits.com in his research for today’s New York Times piece on Day Traders 2.0 – ‘Wired, Angry and Loving it . David got the wired part correct.
In the spirit of ‘all press is good press’, we spoke a few times at length about trading, the markets, Stocktwits.com and David asked for some intros to traders that use our product.
If you talk to me as long as David did, you will get some good soundbites. On my end, I am never sure about the context so I am always crossing my fingers. Here is one of the quotes he chose:
“There’s this idea out there that retail investors are dumb,” says Howard Lindzon, the co-founder of StockTwits, which curates a gusher of stock tips and financial news alerts tweeted by 20,000 regular contributors. “Well, it turns out that the institutional investors are pretty dumb. They nearly blew us all up with leverage.”
If my name was Charles Schwab, I too would NOT have contributed to an article with David’s headline. Day trading is a myth. It is also a ‘tired’ term…like journalist…like newspaper.
My friend Steve Gomez is profiled in the article as was his business and maybe I am not a good friend for sending The Times his way for this story. The one thing I do know about Steve and the friends that I do have that trade, is they keep moving forward and they adapt. They try everything. I know we all dread the word ‘Day Traders’. I am sure Schwab dreads the term and for whatever money Schwab makes off traders it plows into better services. They could not afford the ‘Talk to Chuck’ campaign if they too had not evolved beyond day traders.
At Stocktwits, we are about connecting people. We are an ‘idea engine’. We are about discovery, sharing and speed. We are also about filtering and curation. If we do all of these things well, we will be about profits.
The New York Times is about profits as well so an article with a title about day traders will bring about some juicy Google Ads about skyrocketing penny stocks and 3,000 percent returns.
Anyways…
I’ve found doing publicity that it’s the rule, not the exception that no matter what brilliant things you might say, it’s the one odd, misspoken, out of context, or unintentionally provocative comment which will get printed. Fortunately I’ve also found it to be true that “All publicity is good publicity, as long as they spell your name right.”
:) indoobedably
Well the NYT article covered the ‘wired’ part all right, but I was more interested in the ‘angry’ part. Remember back in the day, like early 2009 or so, when Soren was calling for a wholesale boycott of CNBC?
Personally, I prefer the term ‘marginally undercapitalized person’ (or MUP) to ‘day-trader’.
Well the NYT article covered the 'wired' part all right, but I was more interested in the 'angry' part. Remember back in the day, like early 2009 or so, when Soren was calling for a wholesale boycott of CNBC?
Personally, I prefer the term 'marginally undercapitalized person' (or MUP) to 'day-trader'.
I read the article. I don’t think it reflected poorly on Steve Gomez or his business, and, if anything, he’ll probably get a boost from it. That Steve and his partner aren’t making mega bucks as day traders won’t be a surprise or be seen as a negative for most readers; I don’t think the attraction of day trading has ever been about the (remote) prospect of making mega bucks. I think the attraction for most has been about the possibility of making a living doing something they like.
Not my thing, personally — I don’t see how I’d have any advantage trying to trade liquid stocks with the big algorithmic sharks — but more power to the day traders, if they enjoy what they do. BTW, the NYT article reminded me of this blast from the past, an article about day trading in the NYT Mag, from 1999: “Riding the Mo in the Lime Green Glow”.
i agree that it’s a great win for steve , but I cringe at the title and attitude.
it was a nice story and i hope I did not convey that…i just cringe always
have at calling people day traders. it was a moment in time.
I've found doing publicity that it's the rule, not the exception that no matter what brilliant things you might say, it's the one odd, misspoken, out of context, or unintentionally provocative comment which will get printed. Fortunately I've also found it to be true that “All publicity is good publicity, as long as they spell your name right.”
:) indoobedably
I read the article. I don't think it reflected poorly on Steve Gomez or his business, and, if anything, he'll probably get a boost from it. That Steve and his partner aren't making mega bucks as day traders won't be a surprise or a negative for most readers; I don't think the attraction of day trading has ever been about the (remote) prospect of making mega bucks. I think the attraction for most has been about the possibility of making a living doing something they like.
Not my thing, personally — I don't see how I'd have any advantage trying to trade liquid stocks with the big algorithmic sharks — but more power to the day traders, if they enjoy what they do. BTW, the NYT article reminded me of this blast from the past, an article about day trading in the NYT Mag, from 1999: “Riding the Mo in the Lime Green Glow”.
i agree that it's a great win for steve , but I cringe at the title and attitude.
You make great points.. I am not sure why all of a sudden the negative day trader press, argg. Speaking on behalf of day traders.. Yes, we picked the hardest job in the world, yes day trading can suck energy right out of you, who cares we are not normal people anyway!… The trade off is we have the potential to make an unlimited income. You are only limited by yourself. Formulate a plan, trade the plan, tweak the model as the market evolves, sounds easy? no.. can it be done, yes.
its a business. i agree. day traders sounds like 1999. it came, it went.
You make great points.. I am not sure why all of a sudden the negative day trader press, argg. Speaking on behalf of day traders.. Yes, we picked the hardest job in the world, yes day trading can suck energy right out of you, who cares we are not normal people anyway!… The trade off is we have the potential to make an unlimited income. You are only limited by yourself. Formulate a plan, trade the plan, tweak the model as the market evolves, sounds easy? no.. can it be done, yes.
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Well said Howard!
http://www.BusyStock.com is a free emerging provider of financial service with a distinctive approach.
The unparalleled stock screener built for traders, with 5 day high/low watch, 20 day high/low watch, ATR, RSI, MFI, MA crossover and more. http://www.BusyStock.com offers a fresh perspective beyond what traditional data can reveal.
In the meantime, BusyStock.com's Earning Release Tracking tool has been the buzz for a long time.
Also, We follow Pre-Market with a unique Top 100 Stock list.
We thank all of you for your support and your constructive input which helps us to grow and serve you better. If you like our site, tell your friends. If you don’t, tell us.
Well said Howard!
http://www.BusyStock.com is a free emerging provider of financial service with a distinctive approach.
The unparalleled stock screener built for traders, with 5 day high/low watch, 20 day high/low watch, ATR, RSI, MFI, MA crossover and more. http://www.BusyStock.com offers a fresh perspective beyond what traditional data can reveal.
In the meantime, BusyStock.com’s Earning Release Tracking tool has been the buzz for a long time.
Also, We follow Pre-Market with a unique Top 100 Stock list.
We thank all of you for your support and your constructive input which helps us to grow and serve you better. If you like our site, tell your friends. If you don’t, tell us.
http://www.BusyStock.com is a free emerging provider of financial service with a distinctive approach.
The unparalleled stock screener built for traders, with 5 day high/low watch, 20 day high/low watch, ATR, RSI, MFI, MA crossover and more. http://www.BusyStock.com offers a fresh perspective beyond what traditional data can reveal.
In the meantime, BusyStock.com's Earning Release Tracking tool has been the buzz for a long time.
Also, We follow Pre-Market with a unique Top 100 Stock list.
We thank all of you for your support and your constructive input which helps us to grow and serve you better. If you like our site, tell your friends. If you don’t, tell us.
it was a nice story and i hope I did not convey that…i just cringe always
have at calling people day traders. it was a moment in time.
its a business. i agree. day traders sounds like 1999. it came, it went.