About Financial Chat

Financial Chat runs live "chat" forums, currently dedicated to financial topics.
Financial Chat's forums enable large numbers of geographically dispersed individuals to gather and communicate on-line, on a real-time basis.

Education
Many of Financial Chat's users are new to the world of investing or trading and are interested in learning more. Financial Chat offers these people live interaction with some of the best traders and analysts in the world. Many of Financial Chat's users are experienced and seasoned traders and analysts, many whom have worked for large Wall Street firms.

Real-time sharing of ideas and expertise
Financial Chat brings together a diverse community of industry professionals, with talents ranging from finance and business to biotechnology and telecommunications. With over 2000 people commonly online at once, it is almost certain when a question is asked regarding a company or a technology, someone in the audience will be able to address the question. This gives users of Financial Chat instant access to people familiar with many sectors of the business world. It is this sharing of expertise that makes a community like Financial Chat a success; if you're not an expert on telecommunications and have a question there is undoubtedly another member who is.
Financial Chat is also a forum for research and real time brainstorming. The internet has shifted the balance of power from the hands of the "establishment" to the hands of the people that embrace technology. Whether it's Etrade, CNBC, or theStreet.com, for example, the finance community is now being driven by the END users, which are the individual investors. Access to good information has instantly made this major paradigm shift possible. The internet has allowed the end user to make more informed decisions by letting them sort through ALL available information and making investment decisions based on the facts.

Dissemination of events or news
With over 2000 live users, there is a better chance that someone will see news or events that have the potential to move the markets or securities before a lone individual will. The free flow of information gives users of Financial Chat an edge over many other traders. Generally Financial Chat's forums will break a story or a trend, from a synthesis of insights and observations, FAR ahead of major news services, television, print or web based, allowing users to make immediate informed decisions and contributing to the efficiency of today's markets.

Support network
Anyone who has worked for a large brokerage or trading firm can describe the benefits of being in a space where many people are doing a similar task. Brokerages thrive on the information exchange in their trading rooms. The floors of major exchanges work in a similar manner. People who are on the floor get the "color" of the markets, its ebb and flow and signals of investor sentiment more quickly than those outside of the exchanges.
The "daytrader", through the use of enabling Internet technology, is a solitary creature. These traders generally trade from home or smaller brokerage firm's premises and are lacking the benefits that the major brokerages and trading firms have, namely the TRADING FLOOR. Financial Chat provides the informational characteristics of a VIRTUAL TRADING FLOOR, with all of its informational benefits, and an easy commute, offering investors a network of people in a similar situation, a "support group" of sorts. The average user of financial chat spends over 10 hours a day on it, which points to this.

Primary Forums
ActiveTrader our most seasoned forum, has been around for over 9 years with many of its active members since its inception. ActiveTrader is the largest group of live equity traders and active investors on the Internet, and is hosted on Financial Chat's chat servers. This is the place where many of the stock ideas and themes are discussed WELL before they end up on national television and in newspaper coverage. It is a community driven information source, where information and content is democratically decided. The nature of chat is dynamic and, due to its 2-way nature, is inherently faster in finding and disseminating information than any other media source. This quality is why traders whose success depends on fast information have embraced our forums.
ActiveTrader is also Financial Chat's most active forum with over 10,000 users and roughly 2000 live people at any given time during trading hours. ActiveTrader's discussion is generally focused on stocks that are moving based on news or momentum. It contains many seasoned veterans and professionals, as well as new traders. Active Trader not only is a place to exchange ideas, it's also a vibrant community. Traders and investors use ActiveTrader not only to share ideas, but also as a support network.
ActiveTrader and Financial Chat are currently 100% free and does not accept any money other then standard web based advertising. It's an open forum run by traders for traders. Financial Chat and ActiveTrader have received national coverage in such prestigious periodicals such as Barron's, The Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Forbes and Individual Investor (see NEWS for some recent articles).
Financial Chat's community is diverse community, with users ranging from 20-year-old college students to retirees investing and trading their IRAs to professional money managers and traders. Active Trader allows the traders the independence of being anywhere the Internet allows, and having the resources and information of any large trading floor and the "feel" and excitement of the exchanges.

Moderation
Financial Chat is committed to providing a safe and ethical trading space for individuals to engage in fair and honest trading. Towards that end Financial Chat operates a sort of "neighborhood watch", where all forums are monitored by operators, who maintain overall decorum and ensure topical discussions. Many of these operators are professionals within the securities industry and routinely verify the veracity of claims and news, as posted by users, to the best of their ability.
Financial Chat provides forums only. It hosts defined forums by providing the connectivity and the servers on which many different types of traders can meet. Its forums cover the range of securities from Equities (stocks) US and Foreign to Commodities and futures, Bonds and even Weather derivatives. Within these securities it also covers MANY different investment and trading styles, such as forums for Technical Analysis, Momentum and Daytrading as well as arbitrage strategies. It also has areas and forums where seasoned traders can swap ideas with other seasoned traders, and people new to the markets can ask questions and learn.