The Rise of Social Trading

The concept and idea of social trading has always played a role in the financial markets. Whether the face to face interaction occurred on the trading floor of the exchange or in the main room of a prop shop, trading and investing will continue to be a social activity. However, the vehicle for that social activity, the mechanism in which we communicate is constantly evolving. It is fair to say that the potential reach of our communication is greater than it has ever been. Tools such as Twitter, Facebook and other social networks have allowed us to share our thoughts within seconds to potentially thousands of others who are interested in our work and insights.

From a technical analysis perspective, we are influenced by the market and we simultaneously influence the market. As our individual trades are executed, they are assimilated into the charts that then become the basis of our future decisions. The charts, in many ways are considered one of the first social feedback loops for the investment community.

The Role of Social Trading

If you ask most home based traders about their work, the feedback would often reflect the fact that the job can be fairly isolating. Good or bad, the thrill of a winning trade is often subdued by the fact that no one else saw it executed. Utilizing social networks to share trading ideas changes all of that. The idea of building a thesis and sharing it broadly has tremendous appeal for those looking to engage their fellow trader, build a trading club or compile a track record for building a subscription based newsletter.

The benefit of social trading is not strictly limited to the contributors of the content. The traders and investors who read and consume that content also benefit in a very direct way. By isolating new trading opportunities brought to light by others in a near real time environment, traders can now quickly become aware, analyze and make decisions about an idea that they may have otherwise never known about.

Social trading used to be limited to those within our sphere of influence, our friends, family and colleagues. Today, we have the capability to reach out exponentially further and across continents to engage traders that we have never met and most likely never would have met prior to these tools being conceived.

Hello Social Trading. Enter Scutify

With the new age of social trading, and with Scutify leading innovation in that domain, traders just have one platform to go to. The amount of time and quite possibly, the frustration that someone has about communicating their ideas in a fast moving market is no longer the sizeable issue it was in the past. This innovation has made it easy for people to participate in social discussions and at the same time get information quickly to the common trader.

The integration of these social networks in our trading applications has only increased their respective usage. The days of constantly flipping between charting platforms and browser windows to share an idea are quickly disappearing. Rather than shifting gears in the process from the role of trader to the role of market commentator, we now find the social component as part of the trading process. Anything less opens up the possibility for skepticism and doubt about the validity of the traders comments and claims. Like most aspects of the trading process, speed and fluidity are of the utmost importance.

With Scutify’s integration with Tradier Brokerage, active traders will now have an end to end experience from gaining invaluable stock insights from establish market gurus, and also have an easier path when executing trades.  So the focus from switching platforms is gone, and traders can participate in social discussions and have that edge to that is not possible elsewhere.

Tradier Brokerage Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC