DISQUS

Krishna Mony · 1 year ago

Well said. If the so-called expert fund managers goof up with our money, we'd rather do it ourselves!

Why not? Certainly there's enough room for one more player in social investing reco site. But what after that? Another Gautam or Sanjay will find it clumsy and build yet another and so on... The reason being each investor is unique in terms of return and investment horizon outlook. What's good for a trader, may not be good for a long term player. Haven't you noticed the same stock that gave you 3x returns over 3 months last year is down by 70% in about one bad week of Jan `08? The mistake was that we stayed on, hoping for the 3x to be 4x. But that greed makes the market. No one can better it or wish it away... We'll all fall victims to it soon if not already...!!!

Cheers,

Krishna

manish jain · 1 year ago

well said. Another social stock selection is Motley Fool with their CAPS product. But anyways, yes there is nothing as such in India.

However, sometimes the wisdom of crowds doesn't work so well - Jan 2008 in the indian markets or the continuing slump in China. But there is wisdom when real money is on the line, then people really focus on good ideas. I've seen several hedge funds that take input from brokers and rank them, then based on their rankings get commissions.

"...only 20% of asset managers managed to beat the S&P 500" - As i tell most people, stick to Index funds and forget it.

Akshay · 1 year ago

Gautam,

a very well written article i must say. There is definitely the need and room for a "credible" social investing site in India - something of the sort that brings together the best of all the other previous ventures you refer to above, as a one-stop-shop for the average retail investor, where one can get access to other users (social networking), latest news, market and stock specific research if possible, expert opinions (users can use their own discretion regarding how qualified they deem the "expert" to be), user ratings based on past recommendations etc. Such a comprehensive model would definitely make investing much easier for the average joe and also eventually attract the more "serious/sophisticated" retail investors - in as much as they'd like to flatter themselves by thinking so.

Cheers,

AS

admin · 1 year ago

@Krishna - You raise a very valid point about each investor being unique in terms of investment time horizon, and return outlook. I would go on to say that different investors have different risk appetites. A good social investing site would be one where by looking at user's profile or his actions on the site, you could quickly understand these things about a person - and therefore evaluate whether you as another user should listen to what he is saying.

@Manish - Agreed that the Wisdom of the Crowd doesn't work every time. But it is my belief, that if a tool is built in such a way that (subject to enough people providing and opinion) those that have demonstrated a superior track record in terms of forecasting get a greater weight than those that have a poor record, then it would work more often than not - this is the basis of Motley Fool's CAPs. Another example - Marketocracy.com (I talk about it here in my Book Review of Wikinomics: http://www.moneyvidya.com/blog/?p=67). Marketocracy runs its fund based on the 100 best performing fantasy portfolios on its site. In its 6 years it has generated cumulative returns of over 80%, while the S&P; 500 has returned 30% for the same period - this, in spite of the internet bubble of 2000 and the subprime mess of 2007/8(and 9?). So it is taking Crowd Wisdom' into account but putting greater stock into the higher performing crowd.

Madan Rawtani · 1 year ago

As you pointed out, there is a need for a platform for people to share information, rate it and find it when they need it. This platform could be used for creating communities not only around stock investments but also other investment opportunities like real estate investments etc. Essentially the idea is to provide a platform where information can flow freely across a community and create a level playing field for everyone and in some way encourage people to share information by incentivizing it.

We have been working on this problem and have come close to building something that we believe can be an answer to the above problem. Would be nice to hear from you so that we can exchange ideas.

Cheers,
madan.

Sunny · 1 year ago

Here's what you're looking for:

www.cakefinancial.com

-Sunny

tushar · 1 year ago

Hello friends,

I read through the above blog ( very well written indeed!) and also discussion that followed in the comments. I would like to introduce you to www.stockezy.com which has taken the first few steps to provide a better solution towards social investing. Our main focus has been towards enhancing user experience and provide a clean and easy to navigate user interface.

We have only launched a month ago : August 20th and are in process of actively adding new features. Our goal is to change the way users consume stock market information. You can make avail of our stockpicks, user-opinions, news, and portfolio tracker.

Keep us on your radar, the social networking application is soon to be launched. I welcome your feedback, suggestions,
at tushar@stockezy.com.

regards,
tushar

Soham Das · 11 months ago

The one thing, which irks me is the absence of the real trading instruments available in the markets. Which actually, stops one from using a social investing equity curve as his credibility. Why not have commodity futures, index futures, options, currency futures included too?

More work? Sure it is...

But more holistic? You bet!

I am a retail investor who trades actively in FNO. But I can't check my own performance because there is no FNO.

I hope MV is listening

moneyvidya · 11 months ago

Hi Soham,

Thanks for your message. I've just dropped you an email.

Gautam