Trading Tipsters: Hot Tips and Their Real Value

You must be a professional trader or a budding trader if you're reading my first blog entry here on this website. Curiosity probably brought you here. A simple Google search and a few clicks probably brought you to this website. You probably wanted to find out a little bit more about trading or some sort of news to use as a part of your trading the markets. If you've come here to find out some hot tips - well you won't hear anything from me. You may hear some tips from other people but not me... Why? Because I don't believe in share tips or anyone else's analysis of any stock or security. There are many tipsters out there giving out their hot tips, claiming they got 30% to 60% or even more returns in previous years (and growing). I'm here pondering what their real value is to the trader. And what about the investor - any value to them?

Well I can say flatly that most of these tipping services aren't targeting the long term investor. (Unless you're reading a tipping service called "The Intelligent Investor"). This entry was prompted by some emails arriving in my inbox today. There are two 'trading tipsters' that are vying for my membership.

The first is "Fat Prophets". If you want to subscribe to their trading tipster service well a three year subscription will set you back $1,995 up front for a three year subscription. AND you get a FREE watch of value $1,195. So by my calculation their three year services for you is worth $800. What a load of BULL. Are they so desperate to get subscribers? Wow. According to them they had to extend their promotion due to "overwhelming demand." Hmmm...

If you are a true professional trader, is there a need for these trader tipster services? I don't think so. Personally I think their returns are dismal. Secondly, I see trading as a challenge, a pursuit for excellence. Where's the excitement of getting someone elses suggestions? In my opinion, it is people who are wowed by the returns of 20-40% on their capital every year that is offered by these tipping services. They are greedy, and there is only one thing on their mind: money. But of course - you are entitled to your own opinion. These services offer a line of confidence to perennial losers or for the beginners.

The second trading tipster I received tonight is from a company called FNArena. Looks like they are also owned by the same company that runs Australasian Investment Review. They ask $25 for a month's subscription of $180 for a whole year. Now they don't actually make any tips themselves. All they do is relay all the broker's recommendations for all the stocks the brokers cover to the trader. Again, there is nothing wrong with the service and for some traders this methodology of basing their trading decisions on what the brokers say may fit their trading strategy. But personally, I think it is simply another waste of time (time reading every report) and money. Time is better spent looking at charts, reviewing past trades and lookig over trigger scans and then looking at those charts.