I suspect few here need this public service announcement, but still... May be useful.
In the past few days, my YouTube ads have once again been filled with varying forms of "earn easy money while sitting on your lazy ass" ads, and I suspect that I am far from alone in noticing that. It probably means that some company somewhere went and bought itself a few million views, and YouTube took their money with far less scepticism than they apply to the content produced by their own creators. What else is new? Anyhoo...
Most such things are for some variation of binary trading. While often presented as, or at least made to look not-unlike legitimate stock trading, it is not. It's gambling at poor odds. The concept behind it is that you bet on a stock to go either up or down, then collect your winnings - or take a loss. Neither you nor the service provider ever own any of said stock within the context of those transactions, and your winnings get lower the more "sure" the prediction. Gamble on a stock that is certain to go up increasing in value, and you will break even.
[EDIT: Contextualising]If, against all reason, the above stock goes down, you'll get nothing. Your upside in this case is zero - your downside is a hundred percent. Consider the opposite scenario; you have bet against a "sure" stock. Your upside may well go up to some ninety percent, but your downside is still one hundred, and very likely besides. In the long run, your avenue to lose is always open while one to gain - far less so. Now, if you just went and bought that same stock - you may have lost 5% of its value and sold at a minor loss - or held on to it for a chance of recovery and profit. Or you may have out-right made some five percent and earned some fifty bucks on a thousand. Actual stock trading, even day trading, is a slow, patient process of accumulating value rather than placing bets.[/EDIT]
As any day trader may tell you, hourly markets are volatile. You can generally predict the direction a specific stock may take in the long run, but rarely with any degree of repeatability on the scale such companies often operate with (where your potential winnings lie, as opposed to merely breaking even by mostly following the market) The vast majority of people end up doing nothing but pissing their money away on deglorified digital scratch cards, while thinking that they are doing something else entirely.
Another segment of this broader issue is apps and services offering copy trading. While a little better, remember that when you copy a trader, he has already made his purchase. Your prices can - and will - vary.
Most people end up losing money on such activities long-term. While the products offering such activities themselves may not be scams by legal standards, the way they are presented arguably is. Resist falling for it. If you think it looks interesting and/or legitimate, always read the entirety of the fine print.
In other news, them "hand crafted Japanese knives" for 99,99 are still mass-produced in China and readily available from Ali Express for about "a buck fifty."
Anyone who believes everything that they read on the net is a moron imo.
Not necessarily. I think people are perfectly allowed not to know better. It does can cost them, however.
You're not allowed to lie on the interwebs, it says so right in the bible.
...And how would you tell who's doing his religious duty on the Interwebs, and who is not? Does the Bible have a flow chart for that?
Yes, but only people with magic hats can read the algorithm.
Then that Bible is as full of crap as the other one, I fear.
I can sell you a magic hat.
I'll give it to you for cost. Forum discount. You'll have to cover the shipping though.
I have a magic hat already. I put it on, and can no longer see my hair. Uncanny. :smilenod:
This had is more magicer.
Quote from: No one on May 12, 2023, 01:09:02 PMThis had is more magicer.
Is it made of tin or gold, No one?
It's a space age material. Unlike anything on Earth.
They're going fast. ACT NOW!!!!!
We have a reputable company that my parents-in-law vetted for us. I plopped my chewing gum wrappers down with them and I have 75% more wrappers after 8 years. On a side note, I asked them about bit coin and was told that it wasn't regulated, so they couldn't deal with it for me. Good thing, too.
Bit coin is what fascists like to throw around, ain't it?
Not just them. It's popular among scammers, criminals, people trying to get rich fast, The Bigger Fools and some legitimate investors, too.
Trouble with Bitcoin as with a lot of crypto is in who practically controls the value and what guarantees it.
In case of Bitcoin, the only guarantee you have is not dissimilar from that of a pyramid scam: that there will always exist some fool willing to pay more for what you have than you yourself paid for it. It's not as bad as some other such currencies in that it is at least underpinned by actual electrical energy wasted in its creation (proof of """"work"""") but it's still... Hollow.
That said, yes, it is perfectly possible to "get rich fast" from trading crypto, but that much in the same way as it's perfectly possible to win the lottery - it's also perfectly possible to gamble away what little you have in its entirety chasing those sweet, sweet private jets. As a method for saving for the future... Yeah, I'd not recommend it. Find some cheap (in relation to company value as opposed to currency value per share) stocks in food, insurance and other such stuff people can't do without for that. Those tend to pay dividends too.
When I get these calls, I answer in a pretend foreign language. Sometimes, I tell them they sound pretty and ask if I can wear their skin. Occasionally, I throw in the dead, cocaine, and hookers too.