

Ask HN: would you share your stock portfolio to be able to see everyone else's - cstefanovici

1. Users share portfolios and trades automatically by linking their brokerage accounts.<p>2. We let you see what others are trading, search for the best investors by any criteria, and follow them to see every move they make.<p>3. We analyze performance and patterns and award badges to identify investment strategies and success, in order for users to be able to decide who to follow.<p>Would you use it?
======
beagle3
<http://techcrunch.com/tag/kaching/>

If I understand correctly, that is exactly what Kaching (now wealthfront) did
in the beginning. I've heard of a couple of other startups doing basically the
same, but the only one that ever had any traction AFAIK is kaching.

There's a regulatory minefield out there that would have to be cleared, e.g.,
if I myself am sharing my portfolio, I would need a really good opinion that
I'm not on the hook for going "investment advice" by the SEC.

Also, I subscribe to a couple of investment newsletters - I might be in
violation on their TOS if I "publish" their advice automatically, even if I
keep their analysis to myself. Completely automatic publishing would be
unacceptable for me - it needs to be at least screened by ticker / market, and
probably at the individual trade level.

~~~
bensbends
I don't know much about investing, but want to get into it more and thought
that something like this would be really helpful to someone like me. What sort
of "regulatory minefield" are you talking about? That sounds ominous.

And with investment newsletters, you buy stock based on information that they
sell you, but it's your choice right? Would you really be in violation of
their terms?

~~~
beagle3
Basically, there's a fine line between "giving information" and dispensing
"investment advice". The former is protected by the constitution. The latter
is regulated by the SEC, and requires you to be certified to do that (and
there are similar requirements in all western countries).

In other words, if you in any way say "I think you should buy this", you raw
afoul of the SEC, but just saying "I just bought this, and I think it's a good
idea" you probably don't.

Now, would a service like that describe need SEC certification? Would the
individual contributors? It can be constructed in a way that wouldn't, but
that's far from trivial to either build it that way, or to even be convinced
that it is for a contributor.

and re:"the violations of their terms", I meant their copyrights and the TOS
you sign on. If I re-publish it (even if it's just by showing the whole world
what I did), I might. It's not enforceable, but probably legal, and many such
publications assert that you are not allowed to redistribute their advice in
any form.

~~~
bensbends
So based on what you said (since I really have pretty much no knowledge of my
own) this sort of thing MIGHT be a good idea because they are indicating that
the users would just see what trades other people are making. In a comment
further down they mentioned that "The data would be entirely made up of
trades, no opinions, comments and noise". If that's the case and there is some
kind of disclaimer saying that nothing is investment advice, then no one would
be liable right? Or am I oversimplifying?

I guess the only other thing I would worry about would be ending up trying to
learn from someone who has as little experience as I do.

~~~
beagle3
I'm not saying it MIGHT be a good idea. I'm saying it MIGHT be permitted by
SEC rules, or it might not. I do not know enough about the legal side of these
things, except to know that it's a minefield, nothing is as simple as it
seems, and that I would consult my $500/hr SEC specialist attorney about
matters such as this before I make any information available.

------
1123581321
I would not be interested unless I knew you were using Yodlee or something
similarly reliable for access and did not store my raw data.

~~~
cstefanovici
That's precisely the intended approach. We don't store your brokerage login
data, we get an access token when you link your account and allow our
application access.

~~~
1123581321
Sounds interesting, then. Looking forward to it!

------
DigitalBoB12
What makes you different than StockTwits <http://stocktwits.com/>

~~~
cstefanovici
All trades would be real, auto posted trades from linked brokerage account.

The data would be entirely made up of trades, no opinions, comments and noise.

Searching would be possible by any criteria such as sector, market cap... To
find investors who invest the way you'd like to.

------
tjbd3
Will everyone be able to see how much I have invested?

~~~
cstefanovici
We hide how much you have invested by not disclosing how many positions you
purchase.

You'll see trades from people you followed: what's being bought or sold, at
what price and how that trader has performed in the past.

~~~
eshvk
I feel like if I don't know how large a position someone is purchasing, the
whole intended purpose of this activity becomes rather futile: There is a
distinction between a person buying 1 share of Zynga vs. 100000 shares of
Zynga and that gets obscured.

~~~
bensbends
Can you explain that? I mean, isn't it just scaled to how much risk someone is
willing to take? And I guess...how much money they have?

I would diversify my own portfolio based on my own needs, but if I saw a
successful investor picking up new stocks I would be inclined to research it I
think.

