How to Avoid Slimy Stock Traders

I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of different stock trading experts during my fifteen year career as a stock trader. Most are great, but as with any profession, there are those that really give it a bad name. Unfortunately, they are the ones that can burn a new investor and turn them off from a fantastic pursuit for life. In the hopes of warning you away for some of the slime before you go through what I did, here are a few of my experiences, and a couple suggestions for avoiding the encounters yourself.

I’ll never forget my worst experience with a stock trading service, the ultimate in slime and an incident that changed my life. It, finally, taught me the important lesson that some people are just in it for themselves, regardless of who they hurt along the way. It also made clear to me that I would have to be different than that, and cemented my personal creed that if a business opportunity requires me to hurt someone else, I just pass it up.

The stock trading service I was subscribed to provided a list every day with stocks that they recommended we subscribers buy or sell short. This is fairly typical for a stock trading service, as were the impressive statistics they showed me to support that the stocks they chose would perform as predicted. I was sold and signed right up.

If you are dealing with a reputable stock trading service, it can be a great way to find profitable stocks on a consistent basis. But, unlike those credible services, this had a different goal that I was not aware of at the start. Turns out, the key management personnel of the service were recommending stocks to their subscriber group for the sole purpose of controlling the prices for their own gain.

Let me give you an example. First, the owners of this service would buy IBM stock through their account. Then, they would send out a recommendation to the subscriber group, telling us to buy IBM. Once the 3000 + members started buying the stock, the stock price would rise as a result of the activity. When the price per share increased to a point that these slime were satisfied, they would cash in for a profit.

I couldn’t believe that this service was using its subscribers to front run their own orders. Their goal wasn’t to assist and help the subscribers as advertised, but rather to make their own profit and get out. Not only was this wrong, but the subscribers were paying them to make it happen!

It is true that most stock trading services will not conduct business in such a slimy manner. But there are less insulting, but no less slimy ways for a stock service to take your money and run. I really hate those services that convince a new investor that stock trading is just too risky to do alone. They put on the hard sell to sign up for their expensive monthly plan so that they can do all the work.

I know that stock trading is difficult to start, but it becomes easier once you find a system that works for you. Any person or service that tries to convince you that you can never become accomplished enough to go it alone is just out for the monthly subscription fees. And the services that are seeking folks on a wide enough scale to be profitable on subscription fees alone are generic in nature and won’t consider your individual risk tolerance or trading styles.

I know that some investors don’t want to bother trading stock on their own, and are content to buy into a monthly service to tell them what to trade. That is fine, and the return is usually adequate enough to keep these folks happy. However, my experience is that if you can find a process that works for you and structure it around your personal risk tolerance level, you will be more satisfied with the trading experience and will realize better profitability over the long run.

It does take some upfront legwork to find someone to help you learn the ropes without taking control over from you. But there are plenty out there and you will be pleased with the result as they will take the slime out of the profession and help you help yourself become proficient at stock trading. I guarantee, you will enjoy the results for many years to come.