News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Ask HN: How could I sell stock online by xaevir on Wednesday March 30, 2011 @08:09PM (#2389818)
the reason I dont like paper trading systems is one bc without real money transacted, I cant make money and two bc I think having some skin in the game changes everything. But I realize after talking to you that this may be an unrealistic dream.
Re:Ask HN: How could I sell stock online by veyron on Wednesday March 30, 2011 @08:42PM (#2389926)
I have a lot of respect for the idealism underpinning your motivation. That's partially why I got into finance in the first place.

You can also

1) charge for the advise. Something relatively small but accessible to most people. THAT would be a game changer :)

2) pitch the idea to fidelity or some other consumer facing brokerage. If you have good material, brokerage companies love it.

3) fake the trades. For example, Lehman Europe [LBIE] used to allow for infinite leverage by simulating each position (withdrawing money from the account when clients bought, and replenishing when they sold again). So you could do the following:

- hold the positions that you advocate - when people want to "buy" the signal (buy when you say buy, sell when you say sell), then basically sell the exposure to their account - when people want to "sell" the signal (opposing you), then just take a naked position. Ostensibly, if your signals are good, then you should make money :)

I would highly recommend learning about finance via a trading job or internship. There are a lot of subtleties involved. Not that you couldn't learn by reading a bunch of books, but finance is highly regulated and its important to understand all the ins and outs :)