StockTwits Review

Over the years, traders and investors have been wondering what Stocktwits is all about. So, if you’re also looking for reliable reviews of this service, you’re in the right place.

Is the service worth giving a shot? And if yes, what kind of value can you actually reap from it?

Our verdict is that this is a pretty decent platform. After all it has a good chart room and excellent heat maps which make it easier for you to make informed decisions.

However, it has two major downsides. And we genuinely believe that it’s important for all our readers to be aware of these before signing up. Stick around to find out what those are.

About Stocktwits: An Overview

This is a platform that was launched in 2008, and it borrows its idea from Twitter. The only difference is that Stocktwits is specially designed for investors. 

The founders are Howard Lindzon and Soren Macbeth. They had a vision of creating a forum where investors could interact and have detailed discussions on relevant issues such as the market conditions, investing strategies, and personal finance. 

Over time, this platform has grown to have 1.3-million members while the company is a member of FINRA and SIPC.

Besides the interactive aspect, Stocktwits has developed into a reliable research tool by new investors, and it acts as a supplement to all other information that you may have gathered from other sources. 

The User Interface

In essence, Stocktwits has a layout similar to Twitter. Like the social media platform, traders on this platform can create posts that feature charts, links to relevant articles, and expert opinions on different stocks. 

Then, when a forum member makes a post about a particular public company, he can use a “cashtag” as a way of tagging the post. Sound familiar?

You also have the option of creating a watchlist whereby you can arrange all the companies that you are following. To add a particular company on the list, simply look for the ticker symbol of the company you are interested in and then click add.

The significance of a watchlist is that it gives you easy access to information relevant to the company you are tracking.

Another thing about the platform is that towards the bottom of the page, you can find links to articles from firms such as Forbes, and Marketwatch, which would be of use to you as a trader.

Key Features

If you have ever used Twitter, once you access Stocktwits, you will have a Déjà vu moment. However, this does not mean that everything is copy-pasted from the popular social media platform.

Over the years, the service has developed some innovative features, and we are going to take you through them so that you can understand what you will be dealing with.

1. Message Streams

These message streams that the service provides are real-time, and you can categorize them according to certain cashtags or general themes. 

Some of these categories include:

• People- here, you select the users you have an interest in, and you want to observe their insights
• Trending- this allows you to stay updated on the topics that are being mostly discussed on Stocktwits
• Your Watchlist- you can follow all that is being talked about concerning the companies on your watchlist
• Charts- stay up-to-date with posts that contain visual presentations such as charts, and graphs
• Suggested- this feature provides you with recommended content and information regarding the companies that you have an interest in

All the information on the message streams comes from a wide range of sources, including veteran traders and online trolls.

Note that the message boards are not that serious, and you may come across the occasional banter on the platform.

2. Chat Rooms

The financial chat rooms in Stocktwits are categorized into Featured, Popular, and Premium. The purpose of these rooms is that you get to interact with investors with whom you have similarities, such as the investing styles. 

For instance, if you are a day-trader, you are going to be more comfortable in the day-trading chat rooms while the buy-and-hold investor is best suited in a room with long-term investors.

You will notice that most of the rooms are in the Featured and Popular tabs are entirely free. However, the Premium chat rooms are the ones with credible investors whose validity had been confirmed by the team running Stocktwits.

3. Heat Maps and Data

This is the major distinguishing factor between Stocktwits and Twitter. Twitter users categorize their message streams by specific stocks and cashtag. 

The stocks platform, on the other hand, collects all the data on those stocks before creating visual representations in the form of Heat Maps.

Besides that, there is a section that can pick out the top stocks that are trending due to their level of social activity. These activities may be on an increasing or decreasing scale.

4. Compatibility with Robinhood

The partnership between Stocktwits and Robinhood allows traders to navigate between Stocktwits for researching stocks and Robinhood for trading purposes.

This cross-platform experience makes everything easier for the trader, and it is easy to set up and use.

So, on any stock profile that you find on this platform, there is a ‘trade’ option, which if you click, it will direct you to a trading screen on Robinhood. Here, you can specify the number of shares that you intend to buy or sell.

Issues with Social Orientation

Now that you have understood the significant features of Stocktwits, it is now time to see whether it lives up to its billing as a viable trading tool.

In general, this platform is a social media network that is specifically set up for traders. It is packed with handy features that you ought to take advantage of to grow in the trade.

Since this is a forum that traders are free to post as they wish, there are several issues that you are going to encounter:

• Self-promotion
• Credibility 
• Noise

We are going to discuss these issues in detail.

Self-Promotion

As a large forum with traders and investors, Stocktwits is a viable hunting ground for marketers, especially those targeting a niche audience. 

Users often have a hard time navigating through the platform while avoiding clicking on a link that would direct them to another site.

Whereas these ads are the primary source of revenue for Stocktwits, it would make sense if the team running the program found a way of regulating the ads.

Credibility

Like any other social media network, it is impossible to validate all users’ credibility in Stocktwits. The issue with this factor is that we are in the world of finance, where credibility is vital. 

For instance, a stock tip from Warren Buffet is likely to cause a movement in the stock market and cannot be disregarded just like that.

A smart way of gauging users’ credibility on Stocktwits is by monitoring the number of followers that they have. This may not be the best way of assessing credibility, but it has proven to be successful on twitter.

There are official accounts on the social trading site, but they rarely give messages in the ticker streams.

Noise

This is a problem that is common in many other financial message boards such as Yahoo Finance and InvestorsHub. While the idea behind their formation was noble, the practical part has proven to be a challenge.

It is impossible to limit the board to constructive discussions only. Therefore, if you are an active trader or an individual interested in research, you may find this platform to be too noisy.

A smart way of dealing with this issue is by filtering messages depending on how credible the user is.

Which Type of Trader is Stocktwits for?

The fact that Stocktwits has a strong resemblance to twitter implies that it is meant for the younger generation, including millennials. However, this does not mean that the older age-group would not find it to be of some benefit.

We have come up with several categories of investors who are likely to find Stocktwits to be of great help:

• Those who want to pick individual stocks
• The ones interested in conducting preliminary research as they move on
• Investors looking for a platform where they can exchange investing ideas with other like-minded individuals
• If you are using Robinhood and other stock-trading apps such as Webull that are commission-free

Activities That You Should Avoid

If you want the platform to be as valuable as was the intended purpose, there are several measures that you can take as an individual. We are going to focus on the activities that you ought to avoid, and they include:

• Avoid getting into confrontations with the online troll. Of what use would it be?
• Do not send ad-links or other stubborn links that require registration for you to view the content
• Avoid including $tickers in messages whereby you are not sharing any investing idea regarding that particular ticker
• If you include a $ticker in your side-conversations, it would be noise to other traders on the stream that are not part of your conversation

Is It Worth It?

Stocktwits has its flaws, but it still remains a quality website that you ought to think about. In general, the platform leans more towards social networking rather than a trading tool. 

Should you be interested in actionable trading without any noise, there are many viable trading rooms out there that you could seek membership.

The service stands out in the generation of ideas and entertainment and research. In fact, you can think of the site as a financial social network with entertainment.

Once again, be prepared for all the noise that exists on the platform.