There are a lot of trading communities out there, some of them offer fantastic places to get to know other traders while some of them can be a little on the toxic side, things that you really don’t want to get involved in. We are going to be looking at whether or not you should be spending some of your time in the online communities and the advantages and disadvantages that they may bring to you and your trading.
Social Interaction
One of the major advantages of being part of a trading community is that it is a source of social interaction. Those that have been trading for any period of time will be able to tell you that trading is quite a lonely endeavor. You are by yourself in front of your trading terminal, and that is it. It takes your time away from things like your family and your friends. So many people will begin to feel quite lonely. The trading communities offer an outlet for you to get back in touch with people and people who have the same interest as you which is a fantastic thing. It will help you feel more involved and will help prevent you from suffering from some of the psychological issues that can come with trading by yourself.
Get Trading Ideas
Trading communities can be a fantastic source of information when it comes to trading ideas. A lot of the communities have dedicated places within them where people can talk about and discuss the different trading ideas that they are having. This can either give you some inspiration for your own trade ideas, or it can be a way of getting complete trades from people that you have spoken to and that you know are only putting out good signals. Use the ideas that you find to broaden your own view of the markets, it may well help you look at your strategy from a different point of view which would, in turn, help you to develop your own strategy better.
Feedback On Your Ideas
Another great thing that communities provide is feedback on your own trading ideas. You can post up what your trade idea is, and what you are thinking of trading. The community will then give you some feedback, perfect for putting something up before you place the trade as others will often see flaws in what you have done (if there are any) or they can offer some suggestions to make it better, it can also be an added confirmation of your trade. Use the communities to get as much feedback as you can, whether you listen to it is another matter but getting the feedback is a good start.
Learn About Trends
More often than not, someone in the community will be posting up when different trends are starting or potentially ending, they will do all of the analysis for you, saving you a lot of money. It is a good way of finding out what potential trends are available and are coming up that you can trade.
News Analysis
Along with trend analysis, a community will also offer you a great way to get free analysis from multiple different viewpoints about the upcoming or past news events including things on the economic calendar. Learn what effects it may have on the markets or what it had done in previous years. Sometimes it can take a long time to analyse all the markets, so seeing what other people have done can save a lot of money. Not to mention the fact that the news can be quite confusing, you may not understand what it all actually means, so you could use the communities as a way of working out what the news actually means and what it will potentially do to the markets.
False Rumours
There are however downsides to the communities, one of those things is false rumours. You need to be on the lookout for these. Traders love rumours, and they love to spread them without actually looking into them. Much like many things in life people love to spread gossip and rumours, regardless of what it is or if they actually know anything about it. The same happens with trading, someone somewhere on the internet posts about something, others then spread it. These end up in the trading community and often have large discussions about it, you need to take care. Do not believe everything that you read, rumours are rumours, there is no solid information behind them and so you should not base your trades on what you have seen people posting, not without any proof or evidence anyway.
Scams
There are a lot of scams out there and a lot that are related to forex and trading. You always need to be vigilant as the trading communities also have them there. A lot of the good communities are doing a good job of preventing them from posting, but they still manage to squeeze through the gaps. Just like anywhere else, if anyone is posting things that are too good to be true, they probably are, if they are asking for a tie to do with money avoid it at all costs, and do not share any account details with anyone. Scams are out there and they are a part of the communities, so keep an eye out for them.
Exaggerated Egos
People love to make out that they are better than they are. The majority of traders lose, yet you will see people posting about how great they are doing, or how they just bought their 15th Ferrari. You need to be cautious of people posting about how well they are doing, or posting up fantastic results. People love to exaggerate and to make themselves look a little better than they actually are.
Those are some of the pros and cons that come with different trading communities, they can be a fantastic way to get to know new traders or to get new trading ideas as well as feedback on your own ideas. There are some negatives also, the people there are not always the nicest. They can try and scam and they can exaggerate results, overall it is a good idea to try and get involved in one, the worst that will happen is that you do not like them and you can stop visiting, but the best thing is that you find a new place to call your trading home and you become a part of the community.