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Trading chat rooms are as valuable as any trading tool for novice traders looking to accelerate the learning curve to advance active traders looking to sharpen their edge. Stock and options chat rooms have become full-blown online communities where hundreds, sometimes thousands, of traders can congregate—to ask questions, share, test ideas, get feedback, and rub shoulders with trading pros.
Being able to see trading ideas flowing from people in real time can be a great way to make money in the stock market. It’s one of the reasons trading chat rooms are so popular.
While active traders are in it to win it with the attitude that they must always look out for themselves, they thrive on connecting with other traders for the camaraderie, bursts of energy, and knowledge it generates. Their only opportunity to hang out with other traders at will is in chat rooms, and that can be quite a valuable thing considering how lonely active stock trading can be at times. Regardless of your trading style, or the one you want to learn, there’s a chat room flush with like-minded traders willing to share their thoughts.
But not all chat rooms are created equal. While it’s essential you choose one that supports your trading style, several vital elements can make a massive difference in terms of its value to you. You need a chat room with a high level of activity. If there’s little activity, you gain less for the time you spend. The same goes for the quality of the moderators. A poorly moderated chat room that can’t control the group can also be a waste of time. Finally, there must be civil engagement and respect for differing opinions.
We reviewed dozens of trading chat rooms to find the best in seven categories.
Best for Swing Traders: Swing Trading Club
Best for Penny Stocks: Profit.ly by Tim Sykes
Best for Access to Real-Time Market News: Benzinga Pro Chat Rooms
Best for Discord Chat Room: Black Box Stocks
Best for Options: Options Trading Club
Best for Social Media Community: Hashtag Investing
Best for Educational Resources: StockDads.com
Best for Lots of Trading Activity: Trade Ideas
Best Trading Chat Room for Swing Traders: Swing Trading Club
The Swing Trading Club is a service that uses a discord server as a swing trading chat room.
Alerts for swing trade opportunities come from within the discord chat and are provided by the community members. They have channels within the group specializing in stock and options swing trades.
We tested out the service ourselves. There is a channel in their chat room for Stock Trade Call-Outs, and one member called out a trade to buy the ticker CRH at the opening bell and said he’d be setting the profit target at $2 higher than his entry price.
We followed the trade in a paper trading account, and sure enough, it hit the profit target a few days later. We liked how easy it was to follow his trade idea.
The Swing Trading Club also has a swing trading course that teaches most major swing trading strategies that are popular today. It’s great for beginners who are just getting into the swing of things (pun intended!) and even those who are just learning how to buy stocks in the first place.
This service is the most affordable of all the trading chat rooms on our list. It’s only $19 per month. That’s about as close as it gets to being a risk-free service to check out.
This service might be the right fit for you if you want an affordable way to get your foot in the door with a swing trading community. It’s also good if you like getting stock picks from a community that collaborates together.
Best Trading Chat Room for Penny Stocks: Profit.ly by Tim Sykes
Millionaire penny stock trader Tim Sykes has downloaded all his secrets into his Profit.ly trading site in the form of a vast video library and vibrant chat room.
Pros
- Founded by one of the top penny stock traders in the world
- Vibrant chatroom with top pros as moderators
- Frequent research reports and video lessons
- A wide variety of educational materials
- Reasonably priced
Cons
- Tim Syke’s flashy style may be a turn-off
- Sykes rarely participates in the chat rooms
Tim Sykes has made millions trading penny stocks. But his greatest accomplishment is his development of many successful proteges, trading pros in their own right, who now populate the mentor programs and chat rooms of Profit.ly, Sykes’ highly successful penny stock trading course.
Essentially, Profit.ly, with its vast video library and roaming team of Sykes-trained disciples, amounts to a massive brain dump of everything Sykes knows about successful penny stock trading. The heart of his stock trading course is the chat room, expertly moderated by successful trading pros who also act as mentors.
During market hours, the chat room focuses on momentum trading strategies with discussions of specific stocks. Trade ideas are exchanged, and anyone who presents one must back it up with sound reasoning. After market hours, the discussion centers on more in-depth due diligence for stocks and a question-answer period. While Tim doesn’t participate regularly, successful pro traders always attend and moderate the chats.
Members pay $75 monthly ($697 annually) for daily chatroom access and receive a stock watchlist and real-time alerts. For $150 monthly, you also have access to Tim’s Alerts and a vast library of more than 4,000 videos covering over 410 hours of topics in 50 categories. Access to daily and weekly video lessons is also included.
Anyone with an interest in trading penny stocks would benefit from Profit.ly. However, beginner or intermediate traders may want to consider the $150 plan because the $75 plan doesn’t include much training.
Best Trading Chat Room for Access to Real-Time Market News: Benzinga Pro Chat Rooms
Pros
- Robust free membership platform
- Reasonable pricing
- Up-to-the-second stock market news
- Live audio squawk box
- 14-day free trial
- 5 Trustpilot rating
Cons
- Squawk box not available 24/7
- No moneyback guarantee
Benzinga Pro is a financial news feed on steroids, providing investors with a plethora of real-time news and information to help them get and stay ahead of the market. Benzinga Pro is powered by Benzinga, a highly acclaimed financial news platform designed to level the playing field for individual investors through a robust feed of market-moving news, data, and education.
It’s no wonder then that the major topics of discussion in the chat rooms often center on buzzworthy news as it happens. It’s one thing to see the news as it breaks on Benzinga’s news feed; it’s another to gain additional insights on how it might impact the markets or particular stocks. And because users can run the live chat parallel to other Benzinga tools, such as the stock screener, market movers, and charts, they can immediately incorporate those insights into their trading strategies.
Users can also access an audio squawk box that calls out actionable news before, during, and after market hours. Benzinga’s Inside Trading Tracker alerts users to the goings-on of corporate insiders as to who’s buying or selling what and changes in their holding.
The chat room discussions are not limited just to stocks. Members also discuss options and a variety of other investments. Subscribers of any experience level can narrow their focus by choosing among any one of seven Benzinga chat rooms at any time, including the Benzinga Pro Lounge, Benzinga TV, Benzinga Crypto, Benzinga Day Trading, Benzinga Options, Benzinga Community Support, and Benzinga Bootcamp.
Benzinga’s live chat feature can be accessed through its Pro Essential plan, costing $197 monthly or $1,997 annually. The chat room is available on top of the many trading tools Benzinga offers, including real-time Nasdaq quotes and scanners, watch lists, trade alerts, and an extensive educational library of articles, courses, and podcasts. You can try out Benzinga’s chat room and other services with a 14-day free trial.
Benzinga Pro is a solid choice for beginning to advanced traders who value access to up-to-the-second breaking news along with top-tier trading and stock research tools.
Best Discord Trading Chat Room: Black Box Stocks
At $99 monthly, Black Box offers the best overall value for access to its state-of-the-art trading tools, live training and educational courses, and live moderator-led Discord channel.
Pros
- Highly active chat room
- Live interactive trading room
- Fully integrated social media channels to follow, message, or subscribe to other members
- Daily educational classes
- Free live webinar training course
- Very reasonable price
- Members get deals on stock trading apps
Cons
- Requires customized filtering to block the high number of irrelevant alerts
Founded in 2014 by a group of experienced traders, Black Box Stocks is a tremendous value considering its wide array of proprietary trading tools and emphasis on training and education. However, its greatest value may be its Discord channel which enables users to reinforce what they learn through live interactions among hundreds of active traders.
Black Box’s Discord channel is not your traditional chat room, though users can message and follow each other via integrated Twitter channels. Instead, it consists of a live trading room where you can watch experienced traders at work conducting scans. Moderators sit in to monitor the interactions, answer questions, provide guidance, and push out stock and options trading alerts. Information on trading strategies is stored on a server so members can scan previous posts for tips and ideas.
With its free 3-hour live Bootcamp webinar, new users can jumpstart their training to start using the Black Box proprietary trading tools, including scanners, Options Flow, and Advanced Analytics. They can also access daily live and recorded classes to add to their knowledge. All the training and education are reinforced through the Black Box Discord server.
Membership costs just $99 monthly ($959 annually), and Black Box typically offers a 20% discount for new members.
Black Box Stocks’ vibrant and active chat room is highly suited for traders of all experience levels who want to learn and grow alongside experienced and helpful traders.
Best for Options: Options Trading Club
Options Trading Club is a Discord-based platform focused on options trading. They market themselves as a skilled, selective group of traders who focus on educating each other.
The trade alerts from Options Trading Club come through their Discord chat room. They focus on a high ROI with their investing strategy, which is similar to many other options trading strategies considering the leverage that options provide.
Their standard membership rate is $99 a month and gives you full access to their Discord chat room.
The Options Trading Club might be a good fit for you if you like the idea of being part of a community. It’s also a good option to consider if you’re already familiar with Discord and are a member of other Discord servers.
Best Trading Chat Room for Social Community: Hashtag Investing
Hashtag Investing has made it possible for any do-it-yourself (DIY) investor to join a global community of investors to share thoughts and ideas on investing.
Pros
- A social community exclusively for investors
- Real-time group chat
- Direct and private messaging
- User-friendly, much like WhatsApp, Slack, and Facebook Messenger
- Five-star Trustpilot rating
Cons
- Not a platform for the practical application of knowledge
With “Hashtag” as its name, there’s no hiding what this investing site is all about. In the same vein as Twitter, Facebook, Slack, and WhatsApp, Hashtag Investing is a social media site. But there are no freeform discussions or feeds on Hashtag as it was developed exclusively by investors as a community for investors to discuss investing.
Based on the premise that one of the best ways to learn about investing is by sharing thoughts and ideas with other investors, Hashtag is all about spreading investing knowledge.
Unlike typical social media platforms with delayed feeds and messaging, Hashtag users communicate in real-time through live chat, so conversations flow freely and smoothly. Spam, trolls, and low-quality content are instantly flagged and removed. Plus, all conversations are shielded from public view.
Members can roam among several chat rooms, including Market Talk, Stocks Talk, Options, and Day Trading. There’s even a chat room focused on trading Tesla stock.
Currently, there is no cost to join Hashtag, and members can enjoy several exclusive benefits, including discounts on investing tools offered by industry leaders, such as
- 25% off ValueWalk Premium (any plan).
- 15% off Benzinga Pro (any plan).
- $10 off Sure Dividend Newsletters.
- 30% off the first six months of TrendSpider.
- 30% off Dividend Earner stock screeners.
- 20% off OptionStrategiesInsider Ultra and Executive memberships.
Hashtag provides investors of any experience level or investing style with the enriching experience of connecting with others in a comfortable community setting.
Best Trading Chat Room for Educational Resources: Stock Dads
Stocked full of outstanding educational resources, StockDads.com was created for the express purpose of making investment learning more manageable for busy dads.
Pros
- Automatically assigns a personal mentor to help develop a customized learning journey
- Extensive list of active learning channels
- Chats with licensed pros
- Welcoming, friendly chat room
- Meager starting price
Cons
- Not a platform for the practical application of knowledge
StockDads.com was designed by dads for busy dads who want to learn to invest on their schedule, which typically leaves little time for learning. StockDads.com is a membership-based community that gives dads a place to connect with other dads in a friendly and welcoming environment.
The site is built on a discord server with a vast number of channels providing extensive educational resources, alerts, investing tips, and a community chat. Dad can roam between chat rooms focusing on stocks, options, crypto, and sports betting. Users can communicate through any device utilizing video streams and text chats in private or public settings.
Members can access the Stock Dads Academy, a library of video tutorials and electronic books on a wide range of investing topics.
When you become a member, you are automatically assigned a mentor who works with you to develop a learning roadmap so you can spend your time wisely in channels that interest you.
Members focusing on stock investing pay as little as $25 weekly, while those interested in crypto trading pay $35 weekly.
StockDads.com is an excellent value, particularly for novice and casual investors who want to learn to invest and stay on top of the markets on their own schedules.
Best Trading Chat Room for Lots of Trading Activity: Trade Ideas
The Trade Ideas chat room is well-known in the industry and is professionally moderated, civil, well-attended, and highly insightful.
Pros
- Always buzzing with activity
- Moderator is an advanced trader experienced in controlling the room
- Easy registration and access
- Includes free paper trading simulator and visual access to scanner and charting tools
- Top-tier platform on which to learn
Cons
- You can expect some trolls and unruly characters
For more than two decades, Trade Ideas has carved out a reputation for its high-end scanning tools and top-notch educational resources. Its services include cutting-edge trade alert software features, backtesting, live trading, and AI-driven market insights.
From 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., the chat room is typically very active, with hundreds of traders across the experience spectrum. Moderated by professional traders sharing valuable insights, it is well-controlled and civilized, creating more space for helpful trading ideas and strategies. Chat topics are split between day and swing trading, and a post-market recap is posted after the market closes.
As a bonus, members also have visual access to charting tools, pre-set stock scanners, and trading strategies. Using the free paper trading simulator, you can also immediately apply what you learn in the chat room.
If you spend enough time in the Trade Ideas’ chat room will learn about many of its best-in-class features and tools available to paid members, such as its highly acclaimed stock scanning and screening tools, live trading, performance tracking, risk analysis, trade alerts, and charting.
Trade Ideas offers two membership levels: Standard ($118 monthly or $1,068 yearly), which includes a standalone platform with access to 10 charts and 10 price alerts with visual trade assistance. The Premium plan allows access to 20 charts, 20 price alerts, an AI robo-advisor, and Brokerage Plus for automating your trading process. Both plans include access to the trading chat room.
Trade Ideas’ service is best suited for those who are looking for an abundance of activity in a trading chat room and who are ok with paying to get access to it.
Bottom Line
In trading and investing, knowledge is power, and there’s no better place to cultivate it than with a community of like-minded people who want to help each other. That’s the value of trading chat rooms, regardless of your experience level.
But not all chat rooms are created equal. Many can be a waste of time and money if it doesn’t meet your needs. We did the research to help you narrow the choices of the best chat rooms in six categories.
- For serious traders or beginners serious about becoming one, Trade Ideas is the best trading chat room for lots of activity
- Benzinga Pro is peerless as a real-time investing news feed that can stimulate conversations for investors who want to get and stay ahead of the markets.
- Black Box Stocks expertly applies discord technology to enable users to experience live trading by successful pros.
- If you want to get started trading penny stocks, Tim Sykes is the master, and his Profit.ly site is the place to learn.
- For investors looking for a social media experience for engaging with other investors, Hashtag Investing is your best bet.
- If you’re a dad with little time on your hands to learn to invest, StockDads.com was created with you in mind.
