Finance Trends on Twitter

Just wanted to (finally) let you all know about our Finance Trends Twitter page.

You may have already noticed the new Twitter update links in our sidebar column; I'll use this post to briefly explain (a) what Twitter is and (b) what you'll find at my Twitter site.

Quick explanation of what Twitter is about, for the uninitiated: Twitter is basically an open text messaging system that lets you share your thoughts with the world. You can also think of it as a micro-blogging service with a 140 character limit on each message, or, "tweet" (see example tweet below).

Anyone can read public Twitter messages or "tweets", but you must sign up if you wish to follow or communicate with other Twitter users. By following other Twitter users and encouraging others to follow your own tweets, you can create a network of friends and followers based on dovetailing interests ("hey, he trades stocks and surfs too!") or any criteria you like.

I've actually found Twitter to be a great source for gathering real-time information and reaction to news and events. It's also a wonderful tool for getting in touch with others who share similar interests and are talking about/doing similar things.

For example, some of my fellow market bloggers on Twitter are Maoxian, John Carney, Prieur at Investment Postcards, Toni at Prudent Investor, and Jay from Market Folly.

I've also joined Stocktwits, a community for investors and traders built on the Twitter platform, and exchanged brief thoughts and market-related links with others in the Stocktwits stream. Active traders and beginning traders alike use Stocktwits to exchange trading ideas and market commentary in real-time.

If you visit the Finance Trends Twitter page, you'll find added links and market commentary (including info "retweeted" from other users), as well as my conversations with other Twitter users and some occasional blog-focused or personal updates. Again, it's a great way to share quick bits of info (including items that don't show up here on the blog) and connect with new and interesting people.

To help new users get into the swing of things, I've added a couple of helpful Twitter video tutorials in the related articles section below. Hope to see you there!

Related articles and posts:

1. How to use Twitter - Howcast via YouTube.

2. Getting started with Twitter - CNET video via Impossible Dreams.

Seth Klarman: Margin of Safety (pdf)

Welcome, readers! Signup for free email updates at the Finance Trends Newsletter . Update: PDF links removed due to DMCA notice. Please see our extensive Klarman book notes below. New visitors, please check the Finance Trends home page for all new posts. Here's something for anyone who has been trying to get a look at Seth Klarman's now famous, and out of print, 1991 investment book, Margin of Safety . My knowledge of value investing is pretty much limited to what I've read in Ben Graham's The Intelligent Investor (the book which originally popularized the investment concept of a "Margin of Safety"), so check out the wisdom from Seth Klarman and other investing greats in our related posts below. You can also go straight to Ronald Redfield's Margin of Safety book notes . Related posts: 1. Seth Klarman interviews and Margin of Safety notes 2. Seth Klarman: Lessons from 2008 3. Investing Lessons from Sir John Templeton 4.

Slate profiles Victor Niederhoffer

Slate's recent profile of writer/speculator, Vic Niederhoffer has been getting some attention from traders and finance types in recent days. I thought we'd take a look at it here too, to offer up some possible educational value from Vic's experiences with trading and loss. Here's an excerpt from Slate's profile of Victor Niederhoffer : " I've enjoyed getting your e-mails. It sounds like you've thought a lot about being wrong. Well, the reason you contacted me, to call a spade a spade, is that I'm sort of infamous for having made a big, notorious, terrible error not once but twice in my market career. Let's talk about those errors. The first was your investment in the Thai baht, which pretty much wiped you out when the Thai stock market crashed in 1997. I made so many errors there it's pathetic. I made one of my favorite errors: "The mouse with one hole is quickly cornered." That is key. There are certain decisions you make in li

William O'Neil Interview: How to Buy Winning Stocks

Investor's B usiness Daily founder and veteran stock trader, William O'Neil share d his trading methods and insights on buying winning stocks in an in-depth IBD radio interview. Here are some highlights from William O'Neil's interview with IBD: William O'Neil's interest in the stock market began when he started working as a young adult. "I say many times that I didn't get that much out of college. I didn't have much interest in the stock market until I graduated from college. When I got married, I had to look out into the future and get more serious. The investment world had some appeal and that's when I started studying it. I became a stock broker after I got out of the Air Force." He moved to Los Angeles and started work in a stock broker's office with twenty other guys. When their phone leads from ads didn't pan out, O'Neil would take the leads and drive down to visit the prospective customers in person.

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