KD or the Retail Trader? (Part 1)

Motivation for this post is an e-mail I received from “NS” expressing interest in working together to develop trading strategies. You be the judge as to whether the ultimate takeaway is particular to KD or a statement about retail traders in general.

I introduced KD in the second-to-last paragraph here. As part of his offerings, he created a “strategy collaboration spreadsheet.” This is a networking tool for anyone interested in working with others to develop trading strategies.

Collaboration has been discussed many times in this blog (i.e. here, here, here, and here).

The e-mail I received from NS reads:

     > Hi Mark,
     >
     > I am a father of 3, Husband, CEO, Systematic trading enthusiast. Traded
     > stocks discretionary for 12 years, have been trading stocks systematically
     > for 1yr Looking for a partner to join forces for accountability and
     > collaboration to complete new strategies. What is your availability for
     > an introduction meeting?
     >
     > [corporate signature]

While I continue to search for collaboration, I got an ominous feeling from this e-mail. Kudos to NS for introducing himself and providing some personal background. I just didn’t know how he found me. I have been away from the KD world for over a year. Did he read my blog and message me through the website? Was he someone I contacted in the distant past? Did he get my name from a third party? NS’s e-mail felt totally out of the blue.

After some deliberation, I responded:

     > Hi NS,
     >
     > How did you get referred to me?
     >
     > Thanks,
     > Mark

This ends in a very interesting way, which I will get back to later.

When I purchased KD’s “Y” (a brand name that will remain masked), I added my name to the collaboration spreadsheet and started e-mailing people. Over the course of 4+ months, I reached out to 12 people from the spreadsheet. For those who did not respond at first, I sent a follow-up two weeks later “in case they missed” the original. This was my message:

     > Hi X,
     >
     > I am contacting you from the Y collaboration spreadsheet. I’m
     > looking for someone with whom to exchange ideas, feedback,
     > impressions, test strategies, etc.
     >
     > I hope you’re making it through this COVID-19 crisis okay!
     >
     > Thanks,
     > Mark

The difference between my e-mail and the one I received from NS is mention of Y. Y should be easily recognizable because everyone paid a lot of money to get it. This makes us a shared community. Y should provide for a warm lead—at least warm enough to warrant a short response from those not interested and/or an explanation of why (since they did voluntarily add their name to the spreadsheet in the first place). Nobody owes that to me, of course, but for some I tend to think “common courtesy” would include it.

How exactly did I fare with my outreach attempts?

I will continue next time.