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Trading Services Part 4: “Trade Alerts”

In the endless sea of gurus and trading services out there, how do you decide which way to go? You may find yourself evaluating each one based on what kind of services they provide. Because as everyone knows the more time and effort you put into honing your trading skills, the better your profits will be down the line, right? Well, not exactly. In fact, often more time studying, trading or even just watching the market can lead to far LESS profits when all is said and done.

And you’ll also end up losing one of the most valuable commodities we all hold dear… Time. To save time and a lot stress you need find someone who knows where to tap. Consider the boilermaker story…

If you’ve already read Pt. 1 “Educational Videos”, Pt. 2 “Sunday Morning Setups” and Pt. 3 “Live Chat Rooms”  and you’re familiar with the boilermaker story then feel free to scroll down… otherwise read on!

The Boilermaker, or Knowing Where To Tap by Steve Andreas

There is an old story of a boilermaker who was hired to fix a huge steamship boiler system that was not working well. After listening to the engineer’s description of the problems and asking a few questions, he went to the boiler room.

He looked at the maze of twisting pipes, listened to the thump of the boiler and the hiss of escaping steam for a few minutes, and felt some pipes with his hands. Then he hummed softly to himself, reached into his overalls and took out a small hammer, and tapped a bright red valve, once. Immediately the entire system began working perfectly, and the boilermaker went home.

When the steamship owner received a bill for $1,000 he complained that the boilermaker had only been in the engine room for fifteen minutes, and requested an itemized bill. This is what the boilermaker sent him:

For tapping with hammer: $1.00
For knowing where to tap: $999.00
Total: $1,000.00

If you have to be on call all day long to be able to catch the latest “Trade Alert” interrupting your work or pleasure just to be able to trade the market, then those folks likely don’t know where to tap.

I firmly agree that signals are a necessary part of trade execution, but when you start getting into alerts triggering all day long based on random whipsaw price moves, well, it starts to look like maybe these guys haven’t really done their homework. And if you’re at work, how can you possibly respond to the alerts? If you think you can slip away to make the trade without it affecting your job, think again. The stress of almost missing that trade is bound to show to your co-workers and your boss and can affect your work (and your health) down the line in ways you can’t even begin to imagine.

Why are we so drawn to things like alerts, texts, notifications, etc.? It all comes down to FOMO (fear of missing out), and the folks that are selling you the alerts are counting on you getting too wrapped up in the trades to notice your ever-shrinking account. Getting several alerts a day may make you feel like you’re getting more for your money, but that extra trading begets extra grumpiness which the people around you aren’t going to appreciate one bit.

The good news is you don’t have to subject yourself to the chaos of endless trade alerts because there are many proven strategies out there that provide only end of the day signal entries. The book “Short Term Trading Strategies That Work” by Connors and Alvarez outlines their RSI 2 method with a strict “buy and sell at the close” plan.

But what if I get stopped out during the day? No worries, none of their strategies use stops and they have backtesting research to prove that you don’t need them. How many times have you been stopped out of a position only to watch it snap back into outer space without you in it. Brokers are well aware of this phenomenon and they take full advantage of it by offering an incredible array of stop-loss order types. The more “safe” you feel using stops, the more they rack up in fees from your pocket.

Many websites offer trade alerts and many other types of premium services. Feeling like you’re getting your money’s worth with all the extra stuff, can give you a false sense of security just long enough to deplete most of your savings. And a wealth of information doesn’t necessarily make you wealthy. The answers are more often found in the most unassuming places… You just need to know where to tap. -MD

Coming up in part 5: “Free Advice” is often the most expensive.

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