Forex rebates on every trade - win or lose!

I agree, D. I've also noticed that new posters don't tend to hang around on the pay-per-view for too long.

The Trader's Thread is totally devoid of ideas and inspiration. I've concluded that it's because 90% of the punters on here really don't have a clue what they're doing.

The other thing I've noticed is that the Trader's Thread on the freeview seems to consist entirely of links by Kyoto. Whilst I certainly wouldn't wish to deny Kyoto the right to make those posts, I don't particularly think that they help in encouraging others to post on the thread.

Edit: That post will probably make me a bit unpopular, but I've said it as I see it.

I do have a theory as to why these apparent problems might have come about.

Croc used to be very active in promoting his training courses for wannabe traders and that, in turn, was good for the health of the site and boards. Since his death, there doesn't seem to have been a replacement. Maybe Doris should give the matter some thought.

Just an idea.

Hillary agree with you about David, been on two off his courses,found his posts very inspiring greatly missed.
Not a good day so far long Euro/jpy stopped for -40 Long GDP seems to be going noware must be all waiting for rate decision

Volume levels appear to be about 15% of where they were yesterday across the board. As you say - people staying out ahead of the Fed.

And then what?

Where is debt being stuffed?

The Fed's magic tricks

Hello Hilary. I agree that what David provided in the community hasn't been replaced. Maybe it couldn't. MoneyAM runs the site and in some respects they seem best placed to fill that void if they consider it important - perhaps they don't - perhaps it isn't. But personally I think you're spot on in thinking it was ultimately good for the health of the site.

As for the Traders Thread in the Investors' Room - it was dead when I got there - in fact, as far as I can recall, it's always been dead. A few people thank me from time to time for posting them, so someone is out there reading them even if there's no comment. I know some old hands sitting with their multiple news feeds have got a bit sniffy in the past about the whole news thing but I've said my piece on that before and that's that. Between this and the market reports at the start of the day I'm trying to make a contribution - don't have to do it - but do anyway.

I think David fostered a very positive attitude on the threads, they were friendly and inclusive. The attitudes which are left in his absence aren't always very helpful or pleasant and what do they do to encourage anyone?

Afternoon folks, having the day off today. Got caught in a smash last night, a few bumps and bruises but I'm walking. Two cars tried to take me out after skidding on black ice, I managed to miss the first but the second got me :-( Father-in-law's 24 yr old BMW which he's had from new, very crumpled now but have just seen a car at the scrapyard which was involved in a similar smash this morning but with a fatality - puts the moneymaking into perspective.

Re the posting, agree, there are so few traders posting. I must admit if it wasn't for Hilary (you may blush now) I'd have given up on Fx long before now. Very few seem to be willing to post trades.

Kyoto (I think) did make the point that the threads look very old fashioned compared to blogs and the like - the present style suits me fine but maybe it's not appealing to everyone. I think most newbies seem to be welcomed but there are few people coming to the pay per view site. I joined it because I was fed up of the rubbish that was being spouted on ADVFN. Some good threads over there but a lot of dross.

I understand exactly what you're saying, Kyoto, and wouldn't want to see you not post. It wasn't personal.

My point was that anybody looking at the freeview for the first time would see the daily Trader's Thread and their first thought from the thread list would be of encouragement that it was towards the top of the list with, say, 40 posts on it. When they open the thread, though, they quickly realise that 15% of the posts are from Greystone and the other 85% are from you. They must then ask themselves "What's all that about? Where's everybody else?" and depart the scene.

Maybe the answer is to just have one thread which is open to both boards. I can see pros and cons with that though, and suspect that some posters on the per-per-view might object and then stop posting themselves.

It's a difficult one.

SC - glad to hear you're OK after that. MoneyAM did experiment with blogs for a while and I wrote a few posts but wasn't really comfortable with the way things worked and were implemented so I gave up. I was writing my own trading blog elsewhere back then and repeating all the posts was a bit of a bind. I don't think there's anything intrinsically wrong with bulletin boards though personally I think they could be a lot more helpful than they are - but it's all investment and MoneyAM have what they have perhaps without the numbers to support development. Catch-22 for all concerned really.

As I understand it, MoneyAM's still up for sale and if new owners turn up with investment cash they can have my 'ideal trading site/everything I'd change about MoneyAM if I could' document that I put together over the last few years :-)

since this is the only active thread i will add my opinion - there have been 3 serious corrections this year and i think many people have had their asses kicked and are no longer active. For myself i have seen the DOW this year taken over by the programme traders and 80 to 100 point moves in 3 minutes has made me very very wary and reluctant to commit with consequences to my desire to trade and post.

I am going to start posting index trades... (not scalps) on the Ftse / Dax Dow Index thread.... once the Fed is out of the way

the Traders thread on the Investors is mainly links..and agree that might be offputting...and certainly does not feed into the Traders room one, which if today is anything to go by...we should rename as the "Good morning thread"

Its up to all of us to improve things... for 2008

Hilary - no worries - I think I've been a full-time trader long enough not to take anything personally any more. I'd re-iterate though, that for four years the other Traders' Thread didn't get any posts so the white space didn't encourage anyone either. Actually what used to happen was it would disappear down the thread list and I often couldn't find it or be bothered searching for it.

I've thought about there being just the one traders' thread before and in the scenario which crossed my mind subscribers would have posting rights whereas free users wouldn't - if spam or trolls proved to be a problem. I don't think having two separate threads has served much of a purpose - there aren't the numbers of traders here to support them. But I'm just a poster in the end, it's MoneyAM that decides what they want to do.

SC, sorry to hear about your troubles. Glad to hear that you're OK.
As for the Traders site, there do seem to be fewer people posting now and maybe it is because there is no "easy" money to be made now that the markets go up and down rather than up. We have had a great run since 2003 and the bull market made it easy for us all. I would imagine that most people want to long a stock for the rise and it is harder to get the mindset into place looking for shorts when they are begging to be taken. I still have that problem but am curing myself slowly. It helps when the shorts make money and proves your decisions correct.
The point about the computerised programme traders is valid. I even saw a prog on TV recently where a new fund management co was redesigning its software to speed up the execution of trades. They said the human was too slow and their new system could identify the trades and complete them in milliseconds. Robotic (bot) trading is taking over and is certainly more prolific that when Croc was monitoring them. This has means that I too am trading the indices as they are being manipulated a bit less than individual stocks. Haven't tried FX yet as it looks far too dangerous for me at the moment although I am sure I could get on the job training through this group if I asked nicely.
TT

TT/ Kyoto some very valid points made there...

we do need to entice some new blood...and also make it worthwhile for the existing ones to keep returning.

Of course everyone wants something differnt. I remmeber a time when there was alot of "long at...." "short at.." and that was criticised for being too dry...as reasons for trades were not included... but now we are at the other extreme where few trades are posted at all

Also many of the more prolific posters have gone...for numerous reasons...

can you lot not get a fecking job...it is q4 and year end...go and sell some software :-).

ps the credit crunch is biting hard...just try getting any banks to fork out any new cap-ex spend and you will soon see...it is a feckin nightmare out there.

it is very close to home but to make some money think about what is the first thing to get scrapped when times are tough?...answer is technology...so look at which vendor/s have the largest exposure to the finance sector....and take positions accordingly...only a matter of time

well i think the lack of activity is largely because

1. there are now very few traders actually left and
2. we aren't that welcoming.

About a month ago I decided to try and learn how to trade FX.
Of course since I'm just beginning at this I don't feel I have much if anything to contribute. I would like to but what is there to say to seasoned veterans ?

Cleary some of my posts have been very naive looking back but that simply reflected the level of knowledge I had at that moment in time. If you were a newcomer to trading this feeling of "feeling like an idiot poster" would have been multiplied a hundred times. there are various ways to learn but one of them is asking questions. I have asked and sometimes I've had no answer. I guess if you are a newbie and you don't get an answer after a few attempts you just give up and move on. It's not like there aren't 100 other fx bulletin boards and chatrooms out there.

Sometimes i've got lots of answers and I thank you all dearly for that - I appreciate every piece of help I can get. Sometimes I haven't understood your answers or even worse thought I did but a week later realised I'd missed the point and in the meantime had asked another idiot question which just made you guys and girls realise I hadn't understood your answer.

The thing is this is what newcomers feel - they need time and tolerance and often need things repeating to them in various ways before it becomes obvious.
I don't think we are very good at it and I include myself in that looking at the advice I have given on the traders thread over the years.
If we don't help the newcomers they will never stay. on the other hand they do of course have some obligation to put some effort in themselves.


i think the level of posting is just likely to fall and fall over time though. Initially it was driven by the explosion of the tech boom and bust and fixed price internet access to say nothing of cmc's cheap commission structure. the traders thread has been killed off effectively by cmc as the minimum trade size necessary to day-trade and cover commission is now too large for the beginner who will blow their pots before they gain enough experience.
that leaves FX and futures. I would like to think I will be around to help the newcomers when I gain a better insight

I will join in - I used to post more, I liked croc & he is sadly missed. I have given up trading stocks as I'm useless at it but do trade cable now & then but I also work so it's a bit spasmodic.

Just doing a survey on Yahoo:

Listed below is a product description of a Finance website that is planned to be launched very soon. This site will be

A trustworthy financial web site that provides a comprehensive range of financial information on personal finance products and investments. It will allow users to make informed financial decisions based on information from traditional resources such as newspapers and magazines, but also comments, reviews and ratings from other users of the web site.

Using a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 is not at all appealing and 10 is very appealing, how attractive is this product description?

And using a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 is not at all likely to use and 10 is very likely to use, how likely are you to use such a site in the next 12 months?

Seymour: Sorry to hear about your accident -- but if you're OK, I'm sure your father-in-law's 24 year old BMW can be replaced. Your survival may be down to German engineering.

Wee Trebles all round: You're a bringer of joy to us high techies, aren't you? Merry Xmas to you too, pal.

It's true that things have slowed up on the Traders' Thread, but there is a lot of good stuff on this one. I suspect strongly that this is quite well read by the lurkers: I always read it although I don't post that much. I hang on Hilary's every word, don'tcha know.

I think that the shift simply reflects the difficult markets, as a number of people have observed. Wild horses would not drag me to ADVFN, it seems to be a complete zoo now.

Interesting to see Cable fall on the 1/4% cut...but 2.0350 area seems to be holding it... still feel we could sneak back up to 2.0600 although 2.0475 will probably contain any move today