Why Stocktwits, Twitter and real time searching matters for traders?

Twitter It!

What has prompted me to write this article was that last Thursday, on Thanksgiving day I was, just like the rest of you “chilling”. Yet, my twitter account, where I follow those I consider experts in their field, or at the very least, give reference to valuable information, kept on mentioning Dubai. Dubai, Dubai, Dubai….again, and again.

I saw absolutely nothing on the major TV channels; some sites mentioned Dubai and some did not. Meanwhile the S&P futures was down 25 points overnight! Most would only wake up to this fact in the morning, some would panic, and some would take advantage of the opportunity, while some would just talk about it.

I am not here to analyze Dubai’s problems, but this had an impact on me, because I am a system trading broker.  Regardless of all the risk management and precaution one can take, being aware of major news which could function as a “shock” is another tool that would help me, my trading customers and my staff, to take immediate action.

This my fellow traders, is why you should run and open a twitter account.  As long as we are on the topic, here is another great service you should consider, www.stocktwits.com, a service that tracks in real time, recommendations from futures and stock traders.  It pulls its data from Twitter in real time. Think of Stocktwits as a real time Twitter for stocks and futures traders.

Let me point out Stocktwits versus the traditional sites that traders are used to.

1)     Real Time: You see recommendations occur while the market is open. You have a chance to track those that trade your investment vehicle, see comments in real time and find exactly what is relevant to you. Over time you have the opportunity to be selective as far as who you want to follow.

2)   Free. You will be shocked to see what analysis goes into those sites and to what extent people share this information absolutely for free.  This beats all the skeptics who say Free has no quality.

3)   Experts not amateurs! people who really trade! Simply put, they don’t have an agenda to push. It’s known that traders are lonely people, So this gives the amateurs and pros a chance to interact in a friendly forum (Rare! If you have been exposed to any trading forums which can be rude towards new members).

4)   Anonymity.  Interact with others, without exposing your identity, and make yourself many cyber buddies who share the same interests.

A few other tips: If you get into stocktwits, you put the symbol; of the stock with the $ sign ahead of it. For futures, you have to do the following:

1)     Put the $ symbol

2)   Put the future symbol

3)   Put the _  (underscore) sign

4)   Put the letter F

For example, for the emini SP, you put the following: $ES_F

Here is a complete list of Futures Symbols for StockTwits and Twitter. Go give this a try!  Besides all the valuable info you will get, you will also meet guys who have a great  sense of humor, like Howard Lindzon (@howardlindzon) who is the brains behind Stocktwits(!).

Go there now and realize what Trader Power is all about.