So I’ve been maintaining a trading blog for over a year now with no incident. It’s a quiet blog that receives a trickle of visitors each day. I usually talk about my trades, and more importantly, the backtests and systems I’ve developed.
My main fear is someone using my backtest / system results, blowing up their account and launching some stupid litigation against me.
I’ve thought about putting up financial disclaimers, but from what I understand, if you engage in replying to comments, you’re effectively engaged in conversation and providing considered advice anyway. And if you post detailed, specific information that other people can use financially, it’s the same deal.
So now I’m thinking of just shelving my blog, or reducing it to one where I just post generic trading info and perhaps the occasional snapshot of my performance. Nothing specific that can be used against me. Thoughts?
you probably made the blog for one of two reasons, yourself, as a journal, and others, as a teaching aid.
if it’s for yourself and you’re worried people are going to jack your stuff, put it on private. problem solved.
if it’s for others, I don’t think you have much to worry about. Maybe I’m not well versed in law, but is it likely that someone will try to sue you for methods you produced and put online first? (after all if they used your backtests, it’s from you). Do they have nothing better to do with their time but to spend money to launch a law suit? If your stuff is out on the web and it’s for educational purposes, I don’t find it plausible for someone to claim those ideas as their own. Either you’re a bit paranoid, or I’m a bit uneducated in matters of lawsuits against financial advice (likely)
Hey Liquid. Maybe I’m being paranoid, but I don’t have much respect for the intelligence of the average human being either. 
I just read an article about some lady suing McDonalds because they refused to serve her in the drive thru while she was riding her gopher scooter.
Amputee on gopher refused McDonald’s ice cream
Those things are hard to see and will not survive an impact with a car. And in a high-traffic area like a drive thru, there will be plenty of cars entering and leaving 24/7. This lady would sue McDonalds if they DID serve her and she was hit by a car.
So basically there is an abundance of stupid out there. And as a trader, I want to maximise my upside while limiting my downside.
