Trading in a Group

A few days ago I went to a local brokerage office to close my account. I have no need for this a/c, simply because I no longer trade stocks that are listed in Bursa Malaysia.

While I was at the brokerage office filling up the necessary forms, I saw quite a large group of people hanging out in the lobby, watching the price movement of the stocks off from several monitors.

At first, I could not understand why these people wanted to do this. They could have easily track how their favorite stocks were doing from their own homes, thanks to Internet.

It was only after observing them for a while that the reason became more obvious. Besides watching their portfolio, they were also engaged in discussions of their trades, their reasoning for investing in such-and-such companies etc.

Kind of like "collaborative" investing, no?

And what is my take on this?

I think sharing ideas is good. But if you have open positions in the market, it can be quite tempting to veer off from your original trading plan and be influenced by what the others are saying with regard to the trades that you are currently in.

I do, from time to time, engaged in discussions over at online trading forums - it's a great way to learn how the others from around the world approach this business. If I find ideas that can further strengthen or compliment my existing trading framework, I would incorporate them as part of my trading arsenal.

But I would NEVER look for some kind of "signal service" - I like making my own trading decisions, whatever the outcome may be.

Whenever I goof up, I can always learn from my mistake, try not to repeat it again and move on.

If I have to depend on other people to make trading decisions, I might as well hand my money to some mutual fund/unit trust companies to invest on my behalf.