I have been on Wall Street for over twenty five years. I was a retail broker, sold institutional debt for Kidder Peabody, started a successful capital markets division for a boutique firm, started and founded a hedge fund that grew from nothing to five hundred million bucks. I currently trade other people ‘s money, as well as my own, for my hedge fund. In between, I started a broker dealer in 1994 with four partners, that grew to 200 people in four cities, Los Angeles, Boston, Midtown NY and the canyons of Wall Street.
I started this financial blog on New Years Eve two years ago. I wanted to talk about the market, but more importantly I honestly wanted to give back, as all my friends and family were destroyed in the tech bubble and many were getting bludgeoned by following the the “experts” in the financial media. Little did I know that they were about to be eviscerated by the deleveraging of the late 2008-2009 crash. The housing bubble (SUBPRIME) had burst, even though Alan ( media overrated and glorified) Greenspan said things would be just fine. Jim Cramer was suggesting you buy the housing stocks. He called them “land banks”. He also told you to buy Lehman and Bear Stearns with both hands. Both went bankrupt. I worked at both and had a different opinion.
Bernanke said the same, The man was in front of Congress countless times opining that “we are definitely not in a recession”. He has eaten many hats since. Yet he guides us? He never apologized.
The same people now tell us we are recovering. I speak as recently as Friday afternoon when our President said jobs were improving. They are NOT improving. Tim Geithner was telegraphing a bad jobs report all week in the media if you were listening. I am so tired of the “dumbing down of America” .We’re not “dumb”.
So why Stocktwits.com?
I have seen it all and done it all on Wall Street., I have seen every fake, liar, grifter and wannabe on Wall Street and in life. Many of you have too.
In my personal opinion/experience, Stocktwits is the closest thing to pristine and honest transparency that you will ever find anywhere on the internet. I am not an internet nerd ( I learned how to do an e-mail attachment nine months ago), but I do know honesty and this is the real deal. I continue to be impressed on a daily basis with what these folks continue to do to improve investor awareness and education. I was approached by Howard Lindzon, the founder, about a year go to join his team. Howard has done everything and anything on the venture capital side of things. At the time, I asked him if he knew anyone in VC heaven to recover all my lost loot in bad VC deals. He honestly said “no, you’re screwed”,we both laughed. Full disclosure, I am an investor in Stocktwits.
Do you trade stocks? S&P futures?, foreign exchange? strictly ETF’s? Stocktwits has carved out a beautiful value added area for you. Just check out their awesome stream of input,and knowledge in that particular area. You can pick your groove and go with it. You will be amazed at the quality of friends you will meet. I started my hedge fund with Todd Stottlemyre,two time World Series winner, we met on Stocktwits. He has since left my firm to explore another opportunity, but we talk everyday and chat every night. He has become one of my best friends.
My blog calls to task the financial media, at least it attempts to, it’s what I promised the day I started it. Stocktwits is the antithesis of conventional thinking, which I think in this current environment is priceless.
Some folks call Stocktwits “the Human Ticker” or the “Bloomberg for the little guy”. If you like the idea of having hundreds of eyeballs in one of your stocks, then Stocktwits is for you. Unless you like the idea of spending 20k a year for Bloomberg terminal. I love Bloomberg, but you get my point.
Some great folks to follow : @alphatrends, @toddsullivan, @chessNwine, @daytrend,@reformedbroker, @howardlindzon, @ppearlman, @tomkeene,@agwarner, @stocktwitstv, @harmongreg
There are so many more, but that is a great place to start.
I am so proud to be affiliated with these good folks. They truly make a difference. As more and more investors have decided to “do it themselves”, Stocktwits will thrive for a very long time.