How to take the best from any online stock trading forum

A lot of beginners in trading are reading online stock trading forum. It is a good learning option for them to read such forums. Online trades could be improved by using information from these online forums.

There are many discussion places for beginning traders and also for traders that are already active in equity markets. The choice of the best forum for anyone is very personal issue.

I used several online forums when I was in the early phases of my trading education. As I was looking for some info there and reading a lot of posts in a forum I noticed several patterns and recognized some issues I want to tell you about now.

These points will help you to understand some pros and cons of using online stock trading forum information. I would also to provide some hints on how to find the most useful info for education progress.

Free education for traders and investors in online stock trading forums

Every online forum is full of posts and messages with plenty of information available. There is info that is typically available in some paid material, but here it is free.

Like live trade journals of some forum members. They are publishing their ideas and also reasons why they want to trade any particular ticker. It is possible to find some traders with similar strategies and types of trades and compare their thoughts with own.

Trading forum example

Info about stock brokers

Online stock trading forums are a good source of information about experiences with different equity brokers. It is possible to find positive and also negative reviews of brokers used by private traders. And it is also part of this business where everybody speaks very freely.

If you are interested in a very specific feature of any broker, it is really easy to ask a question and some answer will soon be available. Or if you want another opinion on some broker info obtained somewhere else, it is good to go through broker info messages in such an online forum and compare experiences.

Most members of trading forums are beginners

Traders who are using the forum the most are beginners and in the early phases of their market education. They post plenty of messages there. If you want to find really useful information, try to find several users who look like more experienced forum members. Even full time private traders come to these forums to check them from time to time.

They are not posting so much but their posts are the most useful for you. Do research and try to find some of them, note their user names and follow their activity. Do not be afraid to send them also private message if you want to ask them something specific. If your question is not dumb then they will be pleased to answer.

Use search function of stock trading forums

It is hard to read all info in any market forum. So it is much more practical to think about what you are looking for. And then use the search function with your question defined or with specific keywords defined. It speeds up the process of finding a final answer to your needs.

Be careful and do not believe everything

Most of the swing and day trading forums are free. It is possible for anybody to register and start posting. So do not believe everything. Try to verify every piece of info, especially those which can lead to some payment from your side.

It is necessary to understand that a lot of users are beginners with little real trading experience. And also to expect that some users are trying to promote their company or services.

Thoughts about paid or closed-group forums

It can be very good to use some good closed or paid swing or day trading forum. Any closed group with selected and invited users could provide very useful insight and info to each of its users.

Also a good commercial forum for investors could be very valuable in the first years of every trader. And they can be valuable also in later years just to see fresh ideas.

Any good online stock trading forum – closed or paid – could provide detailed info about different market strategies, systems, individual picks and setup. It is also possible to ask very concrete questions and receive very concrete answers, which might not be possible in free stock trading forums.