[TheAlchemist]

A bit crude feedback here, but I very strongly advise against it. You are trying to solve the wrong problem. The problem is not that people should become better traders - the problem is that people should NOT trade at all. They should invest.

Trading as you describe it is not profitable - and it's almost by definition impossible for it to be profitable through some well known signals that one could share on a platform. So if your goal is to sell snake oil, then go for it. But if you want to really help people, then make a platform to teach them how to invest.

[notahacker]

And to add to that, the fundamental problem with novices relying on signals in financial markets is that past performance is not a guarantee of future results, and that applies particularly in short term trading where the "picking up pennies in front of a steamroller" strategies that generate superficially impressively consistent results do so because they're trading against a risk which will wipe out most of traders' capital and all their gains when it occurs every few years...

[dieselgate]

How do you differentiate trading and investing - do you consider them different by long/short term outlook? They can certainly have overlap but curious what you mean on a more granular level.

I think you make a great point, though.

[TheAlchemist]

I differentiate it mostly by the long/short term outlook indeed. Although there may be some other differences.

For instance, when somebody says he's trading - I understand - looking at the charts, momentums, indicators and who knows what else. When your mindset is one of investing, you don't really need that. The price a stock had a month ago, a day ago etc is irrelevant. All you should care about is what's the price you need to pay to buy one share, and what's the estimated value of this share - which you can try to evaluate based on the financials of the company, maybe even by being very optimistic about their business prospects, etc.

Now, it could happen that you buy shares of a company that you feel is 'cheap' (ie value >> price) then the price skyrockets in 3 months, and you decide to sell. That's fair - and it definitely doesn't happen very often. My point is - if you trade, you may buy / sell if the share price move 5-10%. When you invest, you know that 5-10% is just random walk of the market. It doesn't change at all your position (or shouldn't at least - unless you think that your valuation is so precise - in which case you're a fool !)

[colesantiago]

So basically speculation, financials alone doesn't cut it.

I don't see a difference.

I think it is more blind luck more than anything.