Trader Meetups (Part 6)

As you may recall from Part 1, this thread was inspired by an invitation to a “Meet & Greet/Business Card Exchange” through the Power Traders Investment Group (PTIG).  Part 5 summarized my take on the laborious effort required to become a successful trader over the long-term.  I do not believe participation in the former qualifies as part of the latter.

In Part 1, I mentioned that for many years, meetups have been used by IBD as a marketing tool.  I believe the main goal of all trader/investor meetups to be sales and marketing rather than helping me to become a better trader.

I recently attended a meetup of the PTIG that provided no actionable trade ideas and no new networking contacts.  I met a handful of new people who were beginners or hobby traders but no other full-time traders.  We analyzed some charts and talked some technical analysis but everything was evident only in retrospect or subject to curve-fitting (i.e. fallacy of the well-chosen example).  To be fair, we did not go around the room and have everyone share their leading trade idea(s).  We were not asked.  All discussion was led by the organizer:  a kind gentleman who provided cookies, veggies, dip, and who runs a subscription trading web site.  By his own admission, he has recently become interested in “internet marketing:”  a subject I hope to revisit later.

All trader/investment Meetup groups in my area have some for-profit bias.  Michigan Options Traders is a Meetup group organized and sponsored by a company that promotes itself as “the stock idea network.”  Michigan Market Traders is a Meetup group organized and sponsored by a trader education program.  The Detroit Area Day Traders Meetup Group was organized by “an independent Registered Investment Advisor offering a diverse blend of quantitative investment strategies.”

I will continue the discussion tomorrow.