Or maybe I just haven’t found the app/service I have in mind yet…
I’ve casually invested in stocks and shares for a number of years now, never anything big and only on companies I know. Like everyone else, I simply want my money to grow that little bit more.
I’ve used a handful of platforms so far, some HK based like HSBC and 8securities.com, some UK based like fool.co.uk and getbux.com. They all have their pros and cons, some of good prices but bad UI. The difficult thing about these trading platforms (same goes for crypto trading platforms) is the vast sea of information available, all the numbers, graphs showing trends and assortment of buttons can get confusing, especially for new users and those new to investment, the good news is unless the platform is really really awful the user would most likely be able to make the trade they want, that’s not the hard bit…
The feedback loop
I think the one thing most of these trading platforms is missing is providing a strong feedback loop. If I made money with one trade but lost in 2 other trade, I would like to know why! Did I buy at a bad time due something unforeseen such as interest rate hike, or did I buy at a known ceiling price? Perhaps I held on to a stock for so long the dividend gained made up for the price change? I’m not sure how others keep track of their trading history but I have a long hideous spreadsheet. It’s clumsy but it tells me why I did what.
Actually, I’d love to know how other people are keeping track of their wins and loses, I would really appreciate it if you could comment on this post or PM me 🙂
If I have the opportunity to make this into an actual platform, I’d look into these features
- A simple list of Good, OK, Bad rating on my previous trades. We tend to emotionally remember the big wins and loses, but what does average look like?
- Trends in the big macro, industry at the time of trades. Anyone could have picked winning stocks when there’s a big bull market. That’s not skill
- Significant news or announcements. Maybe I bought Apple shares due to a rumour that turned out to be false
- Expert opinion on what I did right or wrong, think of it as an investment mentor
- Hindsight of chart patterns at the time “How could have I missed the Double, Head and Shoulder blah blah blah pattern…” https://www.investopedia.com/university/charts/
- Did I make the right decision at the right time? (I really like this one), I might have lost 10% on snapchat stocks, but imagine how much more upset I would be if I lost 40%? The bigger picture is really important
- What if I traded X instead of Y? I have very limited funds, which means I can only pick a few stocks, I’d like to be able to see if I picked the right one “If only i bought Apple instead of IBM 2 years, I would have so much more”
What do you think?
So what do you think of the above? Useful? Interesting? Have a few million dollars spare to make this happen? Either way, I’d love to chat. Please comment or PM me
P.S on a side note, I personally think virtual monopoly money trading accounts are helpful, but only to a certain degree because when it’s real money on the line we don’t act the same way. We get emotional and irrational, and that’s the biggest lesson we have to learn.