Not, if I have my position on beforehand, then it's called self-fulfilling prophecy, or MAP (Mutually Assured Profit).

I have been playing with the idea of documenting my performance for others to view myself lately, not to brag or start a signal service in the future, but to make exchange of setups, tricks etc. with other traders easier.

If you could be somewhat sure that I'm a profitable trader, you might be more inclined to share some of your wisdom with me knowing that you could get useful info in return, right ?

futures.io (formerly BMT) was (is) built on the pay it forward concept.



It means that as you contribute something positive to the community, it will come back to you and benefit you in the end. It does not mean a 1-to-1 sharing ratio where you only contribute what you get back, or only get back what you contribute.

The more involved you are in the community, the more you help new traders, the more you talk about methods and risk management and money management, psychology, the more you discuss market types, patterns, behaviors, etc etc -- the more you learn about yourself, the more you reinforce your own beliefs or call them into question. This is the fundamental difference between futures.io (formerly BMT) and other sites. Other sites are all about "why should I", futures.io (formerly BMT) is all about "here you go, glad to help".

I encourage you to start your own trading journal here on futures.io (formerly BMT). It will help your trading! And, you can post screen shots and statements there if you like to provide yourself more accountability. Many traders will find this information helpful, sure, but you are posting it for yourself as well.

Mike

Hey, while we're at it, why don't we post our tax returns?

The majority of my trading career, my trading was on display, and to a certain degree my P&L was pretty well known. When you are trading in a pit, you spend all day trying to disguise or conceal what your position is, so other traders don't take advantage of that knowledge, but you could see for yourself how big other traders traded, and how they traded.

You could also discern what kind of day they had by simply asking them , " how was your day?" The standard reply for a bad day, (and it's none of your business) was, "at least I got my health." A really good day might elicit, " I killed 'em." Traders rarely divulged to other traders, except for their best buddies, what was their exact P&L... because it wasn't really your business. However, exact P&Ls and even year-ends had a way of becoming known, because clerks always gossiped to other clerks.

Unless, a trader is trying to establish a track record, because he wants to manage OPM, I see no reason why he would want to publish his P&L. It's really nobody's business, except for the I.R.S, and he has nothing to prove to anyone, nor does he owe it to anyone. I think it's the readers responsibility to filter whom and what he wants to read and believe, and whom and what he wants to dismiss.

An alternative to publishing one's P&L would be for Mike to have an incentive based trading contest, where everybody starts with the same amount of money and there is a leadership board, like others have suggested. But if you are a serious and active trader, I don't think you will have the time for such a contest.

This is the only "performance" based endeavor where the supposedly successful people don't want to show proof of their success. mmmmmm, I wonder.....

I disagree with your statement. Take a trip to Wall Street or The Hampton's. And, if you truly have a desire to improve your own personal trading, I beg you to please move past this obsession of how much other people make or why they won't share their most intimate details with you online in a public forum.

Mike