Trading 101 – How To Filter Out "Noise!"

Let’s face it, the bottom line is that we are all (OK, most of us are) here to either learn a little about how to invest (or day trade), and would like to make some money doing it. It really is that simple for most of us.

I said most for a reason, as some are here to create “noise”. When I say “noise”, I don’t mean one that goes around cursing everybody, or someone that types ALL IN CAPS.

If one is serious about investing/trading and genuinely wants to understand how to do this, then this is quite often one of the things learned later down the line.

I am sure quite a few people here have read different books on investing and a patter that you will notice throughout them is at some point, the writer/investor says something like, “Once I learned to tune out “advice” given by others, or the fear of missing out, due to some constantly saying “look at me and how I have grown my stocks by 200% in 3 weeks, that’s when I started to become a proper investor”

OK, you could argue and say… “There is nothing wrong with someone giving out direct stock advice and telling me what I should invest in, heck, it has actually made me some good money. “.. But then, are you an investor, or a gambler?

Nothing wrong with being a gambler either, but it is best for one to know in which direction they are approaching this.

So, what is noise?

Noise can be summed up quite simply.

1, “Next big stock to rocket is GIO, it will go through the roof. Though DYOD… (I am not on the stock market as yet so please don’t try to buy shares in me!)”

2, “I have made 300% in 3 weeks in these stocks I am showing you in my portfolio – Impressive eh!”

3, “I have made 300% in 3 weeks in these stocks I am showing you in my portfolio – Pay me and you too could “possibly” make the same.”

4, “Look at how this stock is rocketing. If you jump on now, you could also catch some of this profit.”

Do you see a pattern in any of these?

What is happening is one of two things.

1, People are mentioning stocks (especially low volume stocks) and this COULD BE because the more people that buy into it, the better the pricing…

Granted, you may think that on one Stocks and Shares board, price couldn’t be steered. But what you may also notice is that there are similar posts across other boards, and also on places such as ADVFN. (btw, nothing against ADVFN, it is a great place, just that one may notice some go there to try to hype up stocks also)

2, People mentioning how much profit they have made and there may be a payment to join one’s services.

What they all have in common is that they all require a “Call To Action” in some way. Nothing wrong with a Call To Action, but in these cases, it isn’t about what one can do for themselves but more about what one can do to “possibly” help others.

As trader or an investor, it would serve you well to learn what to take on board and what to filter out.

If you want to know where you are on the investing ladder, be it beginner or advanced, then running a free scorecard test may help with this. Just answering a few basic questions can often give people a better idea of future investing goals.

Gio C