TradeOnTheFly is a relatively new trading chat room started by Michele Koenig (aka offshorehunter) in 2015. Michele originally ran the swing trading room on InvestorsUnderground, and Trade On The Fly is now basically the swing trading chatroom on Investors Underground. The Trade On The Fly service is hosted on the Investors Underground technology and uses their backend for payments and whatnot. So you can get access to the TradeOnTheFly chatroom through an Investors Underground membership, or through the TradeOnTheFly service.
We did not have concurrent subscriptions to Investors Underground and Trade On The Fly so we could not verify this, but we assume all the comments in TOTF chatroom are the same whether you access the chat through TOTF or IU. In other words, you can chat with everyone in the room regardless of which service you are signed up through.
The advantage of subscribing through TOTF is that you have access to Michele’s scans, trade history, blog posts, and other features you don’t get through an IU membership. But purchasing an IU membership gives you access to the TOTF chat room and all the IU chat rooms and features (see our full Investors Underground review here).
The main distinctive of TOTF is that they focus on swing trades and slower-paced daytrades which may be a lot easier to execute for many people, especially new traders. Michele posts a scan 3 times per week that usually contains ~3 trading setups. She tracks her posted trades on 3 GoogleSpreadsheets titled ‘main trade ledger’, ‘small account trade ledger’, and ‘longer term trade ledger’. She also has a twitter feed (@offshorecharts) where she posts updates on her trades.
TradeOnTheFly MainTradeLedger
The TOTF chatroom does not have screen sharing, which may be a big negative to some people, but it uses fairly powerful chatroom technology (the same platform as InvestorsUnderground) that is customized for trading. For example, you can click ticker symbols and then filter for posts that mention the ticker. You can also post chart images. There is not a lot of useless chatter in the chatroom (which is different from a lot of trading rooms), and you can filter the chats to only see those from certain traders or moderators.
You don’t actually need to use the chat room to take advantage of the service if you just want to take swing trades based on the 3x/week scans. The main advantage of the chat room is to find additional daytrades. However, the daytrades that are posted in TOTF are higher time-frame trades than most other chat rooms as they are often based off of 15, 30, or 60m charts which make them easier to execute and manage, but the total quantity of trades is less.
TradeOnTheFly Chatroom
The main negative with this service is that the trade setups are not very clearly defined in general, or when they are sent out. For example, some trading services will have a list of their setups and the criteria for each setup. That makes it easier for newer traders to learn what to look for, and it is helpful to have a guide as to the what kind of stop or target to look for in a particular trade. Also, the trade alerts in the chat often have an entry price but not a stop or target. On the other hand, the trades in the scans often do have a stop and some suggested resistance levels that could be used for profit targets.
It should be noted that Michele created a professional quality trading video called ‘The Basics of Swing Trading Using Technical Analysis’. We have not purchased the video so we cannot comment on it. It may be that it would be easier to follow and understand the trades if you’ve seen the videos, but you don’t need to buy it to get value from the TOTF service. If you would like to get a feel for her style of trading you can read this article she wrote on Swing Trading Tips and Strategies.
Michele seems to be a successful and knowledgeable trader. She’s been trading since 2001, and according to the TOTF website Michele verified $545,000 in profits on profit.ly in 2013. Also, I would recommend her ChatWithTraders inteview even if you aren’t planning to subscribe to her site.
Overall, this site can be a valuable help to many traders, especially those who prefer to trade at a slower pace. But it may take some time in the chatroom to get used to the trading style and make the most of the information posted there. Many traders will probably have an easier time following the trades posted in the scans.
Pros
- Nice Website and Chat Interface
- Michele’s slower-paced swing trades are easier to follow than many trading rooms
- Michele is by all accounts a knowledgeable and successful trader
- Chat Room comments are limited to relevant market comments and trades
- Spreadsheets track current and past trades
- Frequent webinars are offered on various topics and allow traders to ask questions
- Michele has a trading course that explains her trading style (additional cost)
- A Twitter feed updates traders on trading setups
- You can get access to the TOTF chatroom through an Investors Underground membership (click here for reduced prices) which may be a better value for some people.
Cons
- The trading course needs to be bought separately
- The trading setups (especially in the chat room) often do not have suggested stops and target.
- Michele’s range of setups are not that clearly defined (unless they are more clear in her online course).