As a TradeKing account holder, you're already registered for the TradeKing Trader Network. Just click the Trader Network Home tab and start exploring. Dive in to anything you like, but on your way you might want to hit these 3 main features of the Trader Network:
1. Tell the Trader Network about yourself.
Go to My Dashboard > Settings and tell us a little about yourself. You can fill out as much or as little information as you like. You can define your preferred trading strategies and investing goals, tell the Trader Network about yourself, upload a photo, or add a few of your favorite links to share with others - it'll enable like-minded traders to seek you out. You can control what information about yourself is public, too.
2. Share your Certified Trades.
Go to My Dashboard > Settings > Trade Settings to publish your real-time log of trades placed in your TradeKing account. Certified Trade data adds an extra level of transparency to our Trader Network, so you can prove your trading chops - and know who's worth listening to.
3. Go straight for the Trading Activity.
Trader Network Home > Trading Activity gives you the complete buzz on what folks in our Trader Network are trading today and why. If you've already got a stock, option or ETF in mind, just plug it into the search bar. If you're just looking for a stock with some recent action, Trading Activity gives you a nice summary of what's hot among TradeKing traders.
Trade Notes are essentially memos about why you placed a trade. They can serve as notes to yourself or as explanations to the larger TradeKing Trader Network about why you chose to pull the trigger on a particular security.
Since choosing to trade always reflects a decisive point in your strategy, conversations around those decisions are some of the richest and most interesting content our Trader Network offers.
Go to My Dashboard to quickly add a trade note to any of your last five trades. For older trades, choose My Dashboard > Trade Notes. You'll see a list of all your trades, which you can sort by trade type or position.
Trade Notes may be edited within 24 hours of being posted. We limit the amount of time you can edit them to make sure no one can claim market prescience.
Other users may ask you to explain your trade. Their Trade Note Requests will appear in your Inbox. You can respond by publishing a public trade note or simply reply privately to that user.
You may add a Trade Note at any point following the trade, but once you do, you only have 24 hours to edit the note.
On the Groups tab, you can browse groups by how recent or how big they are. You can also search for a group with a particular interest that matches yours - say, a stock symbol, sector name, trading strategy, even "offline" groups like your university's investment club.
Clicking on a group name brings you to that group's home page. You'll be able to see group members' various Trader Network activities, from forums to blogs to trade notes and trading activity posted by those members.
To join that group, click the orange button below the group's image, in the upper-left corner.
Depending on the membership rules of that group, you may join immediately or be required to complete an application. Keep in mind that some groups are closed entirely to new members.
Go to the Groups tab, then click the link marked "Start your own group".
Customize your group on the next screen. Make sure you add tags to your group profile, so that other users looking for this kind of group can easily find you.
You can specify who can find your group under Visibility to Non-Members.
Your group's status describes its membership rules: as the group owner, you can open membership to anyone, require an application, or restrict membership to invitation only.
Yes. As the group owner, you can control whether non-members can see your group, and what your membership policy will be.
To make your group visible or invisible to non-members, go to My Dashboard > Groups and look for the "Settings" link beneath your group. On this screen you'll see an option marked Visibility to Non-Members.
Your group's status describes its membership rules: as the group owner, you can open membership to anyone, require an application, or restrict membership to invitation only. To change your group's membership policy, go to My Dashboard > Groups and look for the "Settings" link beneath your group. Change your group's membership policy under the item marked "Choose a status for your group".
A weblog - blog for short - is a new way practically anyone can publish original content to the web. Blogs range from personal diaries to active communities of writers, or bloggers, discussing a certain topic. Most blogs allow other users to comment on each other's posts, creating a dynamic discussion on a topic involving many different users.
Unlike message boards, you don't have to visit the board's website to read what's new - although you certainly can do it that way. Most blog software formats your content into a feed type called
Really Simple Syndication (RSS). RSS means that, when you publish a new blog entry, you're not just creating one web new page. Your content can "broadcast" to other users who've subscribed to your blog feed. Those users can receive your update on a newsreader - like the Subscriptions tab on My Dashboard in TradeKing - or just publish your content as part of their own web page.
RSS technology is why blog content can disseminate so quickly. Message boards let you interact with other users, but they don't re-distribute content with such speed or automation.
If you want to check out what the bigger blogosphere has to offer, try a blog-only search engine like
Technorati or
Blogpulse. These search engines and topic-specific portals like the TradeKing Trader Network help you find like-minded people in communities worldwide.
Simply go to My Dashboard and click the Blogs tab. Then fill out a title for your post, type a few quick lines, and add a few tags to help your article find the right Trader Network Members. Then click the Submit button to publish. Don't forget to add a few tags to help people find your blog easier.
Forums - also known as message boards - offer users a common place online to meet and discuss topics that interest all of them. Discussions are usually organized by threads, so that users can start a new thread or chime in on an existing one.
Forums are usually moderated by a Trader Network manager, and all users are required to follow a TradeKing Rules and Guidelines, as well as the TradeKing Trader Network's Terms of Service.
Forums are different from blogs in that users have to visit the forum URL to see what's new. To check out what's new on a blog, you can visit the blog URL or "subscribe" to receive that blog's updates on a newsreader - or even publish that blog as part of your own website.
Just click on the Trader Network Home > Forums, then search or browse for a forum discussion that matches your interests. You can also sort discussions to view more recent threads or according to certain categories.
When you find a discussion you like, click on its title to view all comments. To add your own reply, scroll to the bottom of the screen, and then click "Submit".
Click on the "Tag It" link wherever you see it, then enter tags or choose from a list of frequently used tags.
The Subscriptions tab on My Dashboard is a centralized place where you can view updates for all the sites you follow, as soon as they've happened - without wasting time visiting multiple websites or blogs. You'll always have the very latest news, all on a single screen.
This icon adds content you choose to the Subscriptions tab of My Dashboard. You'll always have the very latest news there, all on a single screen.
To subscribe, click on the orange icon to open a larger window. Just click "Save" if you want to save the item to the Subscriptions tab on My Dashboard. If you're already using a newsreader like Google Newsreader or FeedDemon, you can choose to add the content to your existing newsreader.
There are lots of ways to find traders who share your interests.
You can search for traders by various criteria using the search bar in the upper-right hand corner of your screen.
You can browse to find users who share your interests, too. If you read a blog post or trade note from a certain user, click on that user's profile image to learn more. From there, you can explore that user's Trades, Trade Notes, Blogs and much more.
If you click on the Details tab of any user's profile, you can see that user's preferred trading strategies, investment objectives, and other information.
Check out most active users, too. Users whose blog posts or trade notes have received lots of votes or lots of comments are probably right on the money in other ways, too. You can check out their Trades and other information on their profiles to learn more. Whenever you can filter a page for "Most Votes" or "Most Comments", you may find the same faces popping up.
Don't forget to complete your profile, so users can find you! More detailed information will help like-minded traders find and connect with you.
It all starts with your activity: if you complete your user profile and add a trade note or two to your trades as you make them, that's a great way to "stick your toe" into the Trader Network and see who reaches out. Remember: adding detail to your profile will help like-minded traders find and connect with you.
You might get messages or trade note requests from users who've found you on the TradeKing Trader Network and are curious about what you've been trading lately. If you're a veteran trader, don't be surprised if folks contact you looking for advice or tips on a strategy you've had frequent success with.
Check My Dashboard to see if anyone new has contacted you.
Because this user has opened a brokerage account with us, TradeKing knows he or she is a real person with valid email and mailing addresses.
TradeKing brokerage account customers, like this user, can publish actual data about their trading activity, straight to their blogs. Certified Trades publishes key stats about each trade placed in this user's TradeKing account. (Certified Trades does not include trades placed in other brokerage accounts.)
Certified Trading lets you prove your trading chops, know who's king, and who's just bluffing.
This user works for TradeKing as a staff member, either full-time or as a paid consultant.
Everything this user posts is subject to internal approval by TradeKing's compliance officer before it goes live to the public - which results occasionally in some response delay. Because TradeKing offers no investment advice, staff members are not allowed to make specific recommendations about any security or trading strategy, on their blogs or anywhere else.
If you have an account-related question, we're happy to help - but not all of us are FINRA-registered representatives. Email
service@tradeking.com or call us at 877.495.5464 for fastest assistance.
