Back in 2004 I entered the world of penny stocks with a colleague of mine. The daily routine soon went from reading ESPN on my planning period and lunch break to searching the message boards for the best stock opportunities I could flip between classes. I knew I’d eventually leave education when my evenings were spent blogging stocks instead of writing unit plans.

Now before I go any further, you need to understand this… if Profit.ly existed in 2004, I’m positive I’d have been a successful trader much sooner because it allows you to not only identify but learn from the best.

Probably one of the biggest problems I faced early on that cost me a lot of money was not knowing who I could trust and more specifically, who the best traders were. The internet literally changed the stock industry overnight and everyone became a stock picker offering ‘expert’ advice. Free newsletters and chats popped up like weeds, you could find a great deal of meaningful information on them but over time they became cesspools full of pumpers and scumbags.

Realizing the shift, traders like myself turned to premium newsletters acknowledging that good information is worth paying for and ‘free’ information isn’t actually free. If you’re looking for a concrete example, just read the disclaimer at the bottom of the next ‘free’ alert you receive…it basically tells you that the third party is unloading shares into your buying to pay for the very marketing you’ve subscribed to receive – for ‘free’ remember.

Sensing the shift, big business stepped in and turned financial media into entertainment literally overnight. You don’t have to go far to find a paid newsletter where the person giving you the picks has little trading experience at all let alone a history of successful trades. So instead of getting fleeced on a promotion, you now get milked monthly by someone who isn’t able to show you if they actually know what they’re talking about.

Now the next penny stock paradigm shift is upon us as more and more newsletters join Profit.ly detailing the ups and downs of what it’s like to be a really be in the trade. Enough with the, “I called it at $1.04 and it went to $7.00 or 573 percent” bullshit. Profit.ly shows what it’s really like to be in the trade and it’s one of the only tools I’ve found since I started in this business that’s really proving who can actually trade and who is just providing entertainment.

If you want a good analogy, chain restaurants fit the bill… they’re excellent at marketing, the food is okay and borders shitty and there definitely isn’t a chef in the kitchen – let alone anyone I’d want cooking lessons from.

So if you want to become a better trader, go Profit.ly and do some surfing. Look for people who verify their trades like I do. Learn from what they did right and what they did wrong. And know this, if you subscribe to a ‘free’ or paid newsletter that’s not on Profit.ly, you’re probably eating at a chain restaurant my friend.

I’ll leave you with this, it’s a well known fact 90% of traders lose money and experts suggest 99% of traders shouldn’t be trading. So if you’re trying to learn and put yourself in the 10% who win and 1% who should be trading, don’t you owe it to yourself to learn from people like myself proving they can trade? If the person or newsletter you’re trying to learn from isn’t on Profit.ly, you need to ask them one question, why the hell not!!! I’m guessing you probably already know the answer though.