TradeKing: social networking for online traders

One of the most exciting developments in the world of investing has been the continued introduction of new Web 2.0 technologies — blogs, social networking, RSS newsreaders — to make the experience of trading stocks and options as easy, friendly and intuitive as possible for individual retail investors. One of the companies at the forefront of this trend is TradeKing, an online brokerage based in Boca Raton, Florida. The company is building real momentum as it promotes its own brand of social networking within the online brokerage industry.

In this brief CNBC clip from August 2, the lovely Bertha Coombs explains how online brokerage TradeKing is combining the ability to trade online with social networking, providing unique insights into the state of the market during a time of increased volatility. Using “certified trades,” TradeKing investors know that people blogging about certain stock picks are actually making the same trades they are writing about. (For those of you new to the world of online trading, this is a tremendous step forward in creating transparency within the financial markets.)

Anyway, here are two other links within the TradeKing social networking community that point to the CNBC video: a brief blog post by the CEO and a blog post by “Moose,” one of the emerging stars of the TradeKing community. Also, over the past two weeks, TradeKing has been mentioned in the USA Today:

“Social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook have been boonsnfor teenagers looking for new friends and people trying to find dates.nNow the technology, which lets liked-minded people find each othernonline, is trickling into investing.

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Online brokerages, including TradeKing and Zecco,nplus some stand-alone websites, are using social networking to letninvestors trade stock tips, compare investing techniques and researchncompanies. […]

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Social investing sites aim to differ fromnmessage boards in a key way: by holding users more accountable. Someneven track users’ real-life trades and let other investors see them.nThis stands to reduce one of the biggest problems with stock messagenboards: people trying to use them to manipulate stocks. It also letsnusers quickly determine which investors have the best track records —nand who is worth paying attention to.”

Mad props to Don Montanaro and the team at TradeKing for their great work!

UPDATE: While the video clip aired on CNBC on Thursday morning, the financial news network apparently blocked access to the video over the weekend, requiring viewers to sign up for CNBC Plus in order to watch it. Yipes!

FULL DISCLOSURE: I am a regular contributor to the TradeKing social networking community via the TradeKing Blog. In addition, I have a taxable online brokerage account and IRA account with the company.