PipStop

It’s been weeks since I blogged – mostly because I’ve been busy with a whole whack of things. But now that LOST is officially over, I can focus on other things again .

On Wednesday we’re welcoming Ryan O’Keefe to the Vancouver Forex Meetup group – so if you are in the Vancouver area, I’d encourage you to come. We have a few spaces left, and I know that Ryan’s approach will resonate with the majority of traders out there.

He’s here Wednesday night, so grab a spot through the Meetup group!

Just a couple of things that I get bombarded with CONSTANTLY.

FOREX SPAM
If it isn’t one shady company it’s another. Recently “Go Markets” (Go Markets Forex Broker) a broker based in Australia. All of a sudden I start receiving emails from them, so I replied and asked how I got on their list. The response was (and shockingly I actually did receive a response):

Dear Sir,

Thankyou for your email,

We arrange mailouts from a variety of sources, you may have given your details to a website that discusses FX trading or online forums.

If you wish to be removed from our mailing list then feel free and this will be done

Kind regards

Go markets

I “may” have given my details? I never use my personal corporate address to sign up on any list. The only way this address would have been gathered is by someone I’ve communicated with manually adding my name. Sheesh. For all the good that some are doing in the Forex trading industry – there are forex spammers and forex scammers who will do anything to get seen.

So, if this is the way they market their business … do you think they conduct their business in a similar way?

—–

INDIAN SEO
Speaking of being seen. Search Engine Optimization is big biz these days and TradingMetro gets hit hard CONSTANTLY by Indian SEO companies that make it sound like they’re based in some English speaking country. Today I received an email from “Kent Cornwall.” It’s ALWAYS some anglo name. And the IP Address is always similar. Another form of spam.

Your Name: Kent Cornwall

Email Address: kentcornwall88@gmail.com

Subject: SEO Services

Message: We would like to get your website on first page of Google.

All of our processes use the most ethical "white hat" Search Engine
Optimization techniques that will not get your website banned or
penalized.
Please reply and I would be happy to send you a proposal

IP: 122.163.122.220
HOST: abts-north-dynamic-220.122.163.122.airtelbroadband.in

I call these time wasters and unfortunate attempts at “business.” 

I usually don’t sit through presentations at Moneyshows and Expos – but this one by Matthew McCall on ETFs was very good. He cycles through a ton of various ETFs and although his commentary doesn’t accompany this, it’s still a useful presentation to flip through.

My general thought on the Moneyshow is fairly luke-warm. And that’s only because it serves a purpose to me to see what and who are out there. It’s a great place to make contacts.

For traders, though, it leaves much to be desired. I only had to enter the Hyatt Regency for a few minutes to realize that people are bombarded with “stuff.” Just walking past folks sitting down pulling one flyer after another out of their giveaway bags made me wonder how any of this could be effective – for anyone.

Walking around the exhibit floor, though, most everything is a big ticket item, so a few sales can make the thousands of dollars spent on a booth worth it – maybe.

I had one exhibitor tell me that it was by far the most sparsely attended Moneyshow she had been at, but the most effective because she had more of a chance to actually talk to people and answer their questions.

The Moneyshow franchise is gobbling up its competition, most recently the Financial Forum, which got the Moneyshow into Vancouver for the first time.

One thing that Moneyshow needs to do more effectively is reach out to those in newer markets through local partnerships.

All in all, though, the philosophy of let’s throw as much crap against the wall and see what sticks, burns bright with the Moneyshow. I’m not saying that’s bad, it’s just the way it’s been. All I’m saying is, it can be done better.

It’s a constant thought I have with TradingMetro … how can we better deliver what to traders what they need (not what they’re necessarily looking for – as all the stuff that’s out there promotes confusion).

We’ll see how it goes .

While the “Fall” might be a little dramatic, and with today’s email from Jason Alan Jankovsky announcing the end of his education and trading services, it makes me wonder …

There are gurus out there who go through cycles.

The …

“I can trade” cycle, to

“I can teach others to trade” cycle, to

“Wow I’ve just run some numbers and if I can get X number of people to pay me X dollars” cycle, to

“Marketing with – depending on who it is – reckless abandon” cycle, to

“Man, this isn’t as easy as I thought” cycle, to

“I’ve just got to take it easy and get back to my roots of trading for myself” cycle.

It’s one continuous round where these gurus, at some point or another especially IF they are not making a comfortable enough income and/or not established enough as a name in the industry will eventually come back to where they started and that is – trading for themselves.

Call it burnout, it’s burnout due to – most times – not making enough to justify having what’s essentially a full-time job. Gurus realize that going into business for oneself isn’t just about showing others how you trade – there are things that start from a website, to payment processing, to delivering products/services, to constantly being “on” which is made so tough by all the things that – to trading gurus don’t matter.

The staying power of gurus isn’t based on who’s best, but who’s got the most will, money, and zaniness.

So TradingMetro partner Gordon Philips, a brilliant trader, decided to just focus on his managed fund, and dump everything else. Jason Alan Jankovsky sent the following out:

Dear FOREX Trader,
It has been a wonderful past few years but I am on to other things. Thank you for your interest in my webinars and education.

I will keep you informed  as to products and services I will offer moving forward but for now–I am focusing on my personal trading. As always, consider me your friend in the business.

I’ll let you know when I have special services available and you will always be welcome to contact me directly. My website will be closed over the weekend so please make a note of my contact email (listed below).

Thanks–good luck and good trading,

Jason Alan Jankovsky

Trading Forex isn’t easy. It requires work, but there are those who perpetuate the ridiculous notion that Forex trading is easy, so people get into it and have skewed expectations which drives gurus crazy. I’ve seen the pullback of Forex trading gurus one of whom has started sending semi-regular emails out again – Rob Booker. Rob, I think, has realized more than ever that, it’s not about sheer numbers, not quantity, but quality. Trade well for yourself, teach a few people to do it well too, and you will have your own religion – of sorts. In Bookers case, the Book of Rob.

I’m sure we’ll see more “falls” or “burnout.” As more folks want to get into trading the demand for gurus grows, and as it grows there is more turnover. In all that turnover don’t get suckered by some wannabe guru. There are good ones out there and it’s what we strive to want to partner with at TradingMetro.

The World MoneyShow is coming to Vancouver next week (April 6 – 8).

It’s always interesting to attend these shows – for me it’s just to see what is out there and to network with providers and traders in the industry. I don’t remember there being any past MoneyShow in Vancouver, so it’s nice to have it here and not to have to travel to New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles.

Registration is FREE for all. I will be there for parts of the first two days and will hold court with any traders who want to get together on April 7 at 2 p.m. It will probably be in the Mosaic Lounge in the Hyatt.

Just follow me on Twitter and you’ll know the latest updates … @thesocialtrader.

I’ll share more details on the whys in the coming days, but for now I wanted to let everyone know (like you can’t tell yourselves …) that we have redesigned our homepage to be more simple … hopefully you like the new look. It was designed and created based on feedback that we received.

We just went live with it a few hours ago!

Do you like? Dislike? Got suggestions? Whatever it is shoot away.

I’ve been back at home for a few days to take care of some things (all family related really), and just missed Robbie Booker’s CFTC webinar. He’s got a great page put together on information for state side traders to educate themselves. The webinar did a solid job of explaining things too.

When you have a few minutes take a look!

This may seem really strange only to me – maybe I’m really not that much of a non-conservative.

As a volunteer at the Paralympic Games I’m staying in the Whistler Paralympic Village. and it really does feel like we’re completely isolated from the outside world. I don’t want to say that it feels like we’re at war or that it feels like jail, because I don’t know what either feels like – but I do know that it feels a little weird.

Combine that with brand new townhomes we have to live in – ones with no kitchens, only bedrooms, with two beds per room. And it’s co-ed. I’m in a mostly uninhabited unit where I really don’t know who else resides. There is a living room area with a couch and coffee table, but no TV. In fact if we want TV we go to one of the three laundry trailers (which is where I watched LOST last Tuesday).

There is also NO wifi in the complex, EXCEPT for in two of the three laundry trailers. I’m lucky that I have an iPhone I can teather with. No fitness area, no running trails or anything, no games room, nothing. Pretty odd. The oddest thing is that they hand out condoms like crazy here. If you’re not handing them out, they’re available in a variety of areas for people to grab.

So in a way that’s the message that organizers are trying to send? Interesting to say the least. For me I’m too busy to worry about anything. If I’m not writing articles for the IPC newsletter, I’m working! Or eating. Or attending events.