The
Truth About Buying Trading Signals
Learn About Trading Signals and How they Can and Cannot Help You
By Mo2 |
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What are
Trading Signals?
Trading Signals are all over the place with apparent professionals that
try to sell you on-the-spot advice about where to buy and sell. Not
limited to stocks, signals are sold for currencies, commodities, bonds,
and pretty much for anything that is tradable.
What does
it cost?
That would depend on whom you are buying the signals from. There are
signal sellers that have monthly fees and those that have fees based
on different sorts of services. Rarely do you find a signal seller that
bases their commission on their winnings, there might be a few but I
guess the reason is quite obvious, they can't guarantee anything.
Accuracy
Many signal sellers claim that they have 65-100% returns sometimes monthly!
Wow, if I could have a 100% (which means doubling your money on a monthly
basis) return on a monthly basis I could turn $1,000 into over a $1,000,000
in a year. So I guess the $999.99 monthly fee is really cheap eh? Obviously,
things don't work out that way. First, we're all human when we're dealing
with a $1,000 it isn't too big of a deal but once we start moving out
of our comfort zone say the 6 digit ($100,000) range then we might feel
uncomfortable and not listen to what the signals are telling us.
Risk Control
& Position Sizes
Once our trade sizes begin to grow we might lose sight of risk and position
sizes. I've had a couple of margin calls in my trading career and it's
been devastating but I'm glad I've had them because in my young trading
career I am able to have a cautious yet clearer view of what to do with
my money.
You need to stay on top your risk. The golden rule is to only risk 1%
of your account size per trade and no more. I have greater risk tolerance
than most and therefore my risk percentage is higher but that's also
because I don't have a seven-digit account that I have to worry about
blowing up. I guess, that statement itself shows that I'm a bit of dangerous
trader.
Anyhow, be sure to control your risk. This is what makes or breaks your
fortune, regardless of what system of trading you take on. Be sure to
only risk so much even with these 100% monthly return signals.
Mo2 Thinks
Ok, what do I think
about signal sellers? I'm sure there some legitimate signal sellers
that actually know what they're doing and actually care about others
making money off of their ideas. However, for the most part signal sellers
use indicators and moving averages to sell their signals. I'm not saying
that's all they do since there are so many different types of people
selling signals that every one of them could have a different way of
producing their signals. Nevertheless, you need to understand this.
If these signal sellers could really produce the returns that they claim,
what exactly are they doing selling signals? If I could produce even
a 35% monthly return on a regular basis then I don't think I would be
wasting time selling my signals and rather keep quiet and concentrate
on making my trading/investing portfolio grow.
In reality, there is no "free lunch"
in trading. You really need to know what you're doing in order to succeed
in the trading world. Most people think it's an easy profession. Hey,
what is there to complain about when you could be at home all day and
just look at the computer and rack in thousands of dollars a day?
It isn't that easy and it probably never
will be. Trading is probably one of the toughest professions to succeed
in because not only are you trading against other amateur traders you've
going head on against hedge funds, financial institutions and other
large players that you cannot see from your computer screen.
If you're hoping to make a fortune from
trading signals, all I can say is good luck because you're going to
need it. You must learn to trade yourself. Here's one example why. If
you were given a great trading signal to go long gold at a certain price
and the it goes up $5 but then all of a sudden for some fundamental
reason, say a huge gold company out in Brazil actually finds a way to
produce gold from other minerals, then the price of gold would plummet.
(Obviously, this is fiction)
I'm pretty sure just like you, the people
selling signals would be panicking and before they tell you when to
get out they would get out first (if they're even trading in the first
place) and you would be screwed before you know it. But if you were
a seasoned trader you would know your exit point often before your entry.
Of course, you should always have a stop-loss to prevent such tragedies.
Conclusion
Just like when you watch
an infomercial and the product sounds unbelievable until you get it,
the same applies with trading signals. If you're willing to "risk"
the monthly fee to see how these things work then by all means try it.
But overall I would try and spend the time and money on trading itself.
Related
Articles
Choosing your Stock Broker
Trading as a Way of Life
Dollar Cost Averaging Investing
If you
would like to comment on this article or anything on this website, please
feel free to e-mail Mo2. He can be reached at Mo2@Mo2Thinks.com.
Thank you for visiting!