News about finance and trading can be a little bit boring. Not only that — it can take ages to go through until you find that one piece of information or data that really changes what and how you trade.

We see news a little bit differently and that’s why we’ve come up with something new. Bite-sized pieces that are more visual and stimulating to all those who consume financial news every day. Through video, animation and a filter for what really matters, we’ve created Tradebird Spots. You’ll be able to see them on top of the app’s stream and swipe through them, moving on quickly to the next piece of information.

They’ll be covering the critical points of each trading session, its twists and turns, as well as the most important tech and political developments. This way of presenting news will bring you up to speed within a minute of opening the first Spots and will point you directly towards where all the action is. Everything you need to know will be in one place at the tip of your fingers without the need to sift through headlines, and long texts that share their most important conclusions somewhere at the end. Or not at all.

There will always be a place for long articles and thorough analysis in trading. Something that gets into detail and brings clarity. And they have their place in Tradebird too — being discovered by the community and shared for its benefit. But with Spots we add another layer in the daily life of the trader, a place where the spotlight illuminates what is paramount. And adds a bit of fun.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

Markets are a complex mix between hard truths and speculation. They are tricky like that and a one size fits all approach to how a social network like Tradebird gets information across never would have worked.

This is why we introduced topics. Marked with a # sign, these are the drivers of markets outside of the currencies, stocks and indexes themselves. The best example are countries. State policy is a major factor for many instruments. For instance — if Russia says it will be bolstering its gold reserves, then this could influence supply and demand in the coming months. If Greece or Britain exit the European Union this could have profound implications for the pound and common currency.

Another example are central banks — we’ve included the 10 largest ones such as the FED, ECB and BOJ. You can also tag the two most important figures — Janet #Yellen and Mario #Draghi. We’re still not sure if they’ll see when you do that, but we’re working on it.

We also have some market terms as topics, as they best describe what is driving a specific price change or general trend. Examples are #earnings,#IPO, #M&A, as well as large organizations affecting markets — #OPEC, #IMF,#FDA among others.

Combining these with the instruments themselves adds an additional layer of organization and focus to the posts we have and aims to help the community in find more relevant information in their feeds.

You can find the full list of topics in the Browse section of the web app, or on your mobile versions.

Users of Tradebird, the social app for traders and investors, weighed in on many topics recently. Here’s what they thought about these three investments.

GBP/USD: As the value of the pound vs. the dollar continued to drop, Tradebird users asked whether the pound would become the worst performer of 2016. U.K. consumer sentiment has sunk the most since 1994 and the trading community was 72% bearish about this currency pair.

EUR/GBP: Investors were 80% bearish about the value of the euro vs. the pound. Implications of the Brexit decision continued to linger on traders’ minds, as discussion of a Bank of England stimulus increased among Tradebird users.

USD/JPY: After the U.S. jobs report revealed positive growth, the value of the dollar rallied against the yen. The trading community had an 83% bearish sentiment on the U.S. currency vs. the yen.

The above data were gathered from Tradebird, the social app for traders and investors, and were collected during the week ended July 8.

This article was originally published on The Street.

The community is the bedrock of what Tradebird strives to be. The goal we’ve set for ourselves is quite simple — get the most useful information across in the quickest way possible from one user to another.

We’re convinced this will happen by providing a space for people to express their opinions, show their research and actively provide and get feedback. A centralized way of channeling information has proven innefficient and can often provide more noise than clarity, making it even more difficult to see the right course when it comes to trading and investing.

So how do you gain followers in Tradebird? First see what you can offer in terms of expertise and knowledge. Providing consistent and informed opinions and making them easy to find through cashtags and hashtags, are the most important points to have in mind when targeting an audience. You can use the Search functionality on the top right corner to see what the respective tags are for stocks, currencies, indexes and commodities, as well as the Browse tab.

When registering an account with Tradebird, users will be able to select what their interests have in the realm of investing and trading. Some might want to see a feed made up of information and news about stocks. Others might want to focus on currencies and breaking news etc. This initial filter is what provides you with a targeted audience, one that already knows what it wants. Combining posts from the different groups of interests will increase the number of viewers, but not necessarily your followers.

Another point to have in mind is that you don’t only get readers by increasing the number of followers. You also get people to give a second opinion, to challenge your own and test it against arguments and criticism. It’s a two way street that takes time to build, but could give back many times over. Once you realize this, it gets easier to see what gets you followers.

– knowing your stuff and sharing it
– using the right tags to get your post to those who definitely want to see it
– interacting with others, providing answers
– being open to different opinions and discussing them
Have any questions for us about followers or something else? Let us know in the comments or email us at feedback@tradebird.com

What did you think about the better-than-expected U.S. jobs report, the increase in U.S. oil rig count or the preparation for Amazon (AMZN) Prime Day? Users of Tradebird, a social app for traders and investors, weighed in on these and other topics last week. Following are seven investments that a majority of Tradebird users thought would increase in value. (To see the investments Tradebird users thought would decline in value, click here.)

Amazon: As Amazon prepared for Prime Day, an event that offers more than 100,000 deals to Prime members, investors said they were bullish about its stock. Sentiment stood at 92% bullish.

Netflix (NFLX) : The Tradebird community was 77% bullish about Netflix. As the company’s international expansion is now complete, investors expect improved profitability and subscriber growth when Netflix reports it’s second-quarter results.

Google (GOOGL) Google is rumored to be designing a smartwatch in order to compete with the Apple Watch, causing sentiment to be 75% bullish about this search giant.

Facebook (FB) Facebook announced that it began testing encrypted chats in its Messenger app in order to prevent snooping among users. Investors responded positively to the announcement, and sentiment on Facebook stock was 100% bullish.

GOLD: Although gold futures dropped following the release of the U.S. jobs report, Tradebird users were 68% bullish about this commodity, which is viewed as a safe haven in times of market volatility and economic downturns.

S&P 500 : Many U.S. stocks rose after investors welcomed a strong employment report on Friday. The S&P 500 index hit an 11-month high, and Tradebird users were 56% bullish on the bellwether U.S. stock index.

The above data were gathered from Tradebird, the social app for traders and investors, and were collected during the week ended July 8.

This article was originally published on The Street.

The bullish or bearish sentiment that can be attached to posts in Tradebird is one of our key features. Choosing one can easily be done by picking one of the two buttons when posting — a green bull and a red bear — to show what you think.

The idea behind this is that users share where they think a certain instrument is headed. The goal is not to correctly gauge what has already happened with it, but rather where it’s going. By providing a sentiment together with posts with hopefully useful info, analyses, charts or news, we are attempting to tap into the knowledge of the crowd, relying on people who are interested in a certain stock, currency or index, to share their informed opinions and analyses.

Here’s how it works. By combining the total number of opinions with a bearish or bullish sentiment that traders have chosen to share, a percentage is generated. This percentage reflects all Tradebird users’ knowledge and inclinations, making for a possibly effective tool that not only reflects what is currently happening with a stock, currency or index, but also acts as an indicator for the future. There are of course risks to using the sentiment and Tradebird in no way guarantees its accuracy.

We’re open to any and all suggestions about Tradebird, give us your thoughts in the comments below or at feedback@tradebird.com.

Want to know what real traders think about important investments and markets? Well, the Tradebird social trading app monitors users’ discussion of market activity and asks them whether they’re bullish or bearish on a wide range of important investments and market indices.

Tesla (TSLA) : With thousands of driverless cars already sold, and many new features to be released in the future, investors feel positive about Tesla’s stock. The current sentiment among Tradebird users is 67% bullish.

S&P 500 : This bellwether U.S. index climbed closed higher last Friday, capping several sessions of recovery following the post-Brexit selloff. The index finished the second quarter up 1.9%, and Tradebird users were 55% bullish on it.

DAX: This is Germany’s blue-chip stock market index and consists of the 30 largest companies on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. As the global rally continues following the Brexit referendum, stock markets across Europe were higher by the end of the week. Sentiment for the DAX was at 54% bearish last Friday.

FTSE 100: The FTSE 100 Index pushed ahead after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney hinted at lowering interest rates in the near future. This blue-chip index for the London Stock Exchange now retains a 52% bearish sentiment.

Nikkei: Japanese stocks have regained about half of the losses they incurred following the Brexit vote. The Nikkei rose 4.9% by the end of last week, the largest weekly gain since April. Tradebird users were neutral on the index.

GBP/USD: Despite the release of a positive U.K manufacturing PMI report, the value of the pound was almost unchanged by the end of last week. Traders were 69% bearish on the British currency vs. the greenback.

EUR/USD: The value of the euro to the dollar hit a weekly high, yet still maintains a 55% bearish sentiment from the trading community.

Bitcoin: The digital currency has seen increased volatility over the past month. Although it climbed 24 hours before the Brexit decision, traders now feel neutral about it.

First Solar (FSLR) : As the trading community continues to discuss solar power, investors carry a neutral sentiment on First Solar. The company expects to be under $1 per watt by 2017 on a fully installed basis, making it more competitive with more dominant forms of energy.

The above data were gathered from the social app for traders and investors Tradebird and were collected during the week ended July 1st.

This article was originally published on The Street.

Building on hashtags and cashtags, the most powerful feature in Tradebird is its customizable live stream. Mixing instruments, topics and knowledgeable people, provides the ideal ingredients of a great news and opinions source.

Making the selection is done by simply following and unfollowing the ones you want. You can find the follow button by hovering over a user’s name, or any place an instrument or topic are mentioned. Their full list is also available in the “Browse” tab.

There does seem to be a risk that you might miss out on someone new who has more to add. You can go around this by keeping instruments and topics you are generally interested in so that you’ll still be able to find new users that could have something useful to say. And if the quality of someone’s posts goes down or you just don’t want to see their posts anymore, you have two options. You can either unfollow them by hovering over their username and clicking “Unfollow”, or block them by expanding one of their posts and clicking on the “Block” button beside the comments.

We do have a default 55 instruments and topics that new users automatically receive in their feed. Their selection is based on the most traded among them, as well as the topics receiving the most attention.

But this doesn’t need to be the final set-up. No one but you knows what your specific interests are and that’s why all the necessary options for change are placed nearby. With them you can add and remove whatever you feel is right at all times.

Let us know in comments or at feedback@tradebird.com, what you think and what else you’d like to see added.

Want to know what traders think about well-known investments? Are they bullish or bearish? Well, they share their thoughts on Tradebird, a social app for the trading and investing communities, and here are six important investments they expect to increase in value. (To see investments they expect to decline in value, click here.)

Microsoft (MSFT)

In addition to the $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn that Microsoft announced last week, Microsoft also acquired Wand Labs and partnered with Primus Power and KIND Financial. At the end of a week of announcements from the software giant, Tradebird users were 85% bullish on the company.

LinkedIn (LNKD)

Tradebird users were positive about LinkedIn, and their sentiment was 78% bullish. Both LinkedIn and Microsoft cite LinkedIn’s recent growth as a catalyst for the deal.

Apple (AAPL)

iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sales were halted in China after the country’s intellectual property regulator deemed the design too similar to a Chinese phone, though the company stated all products are still available. Despite this setback in a key overseas market, Tradebird users are 57% bullish on the stock.

Amazon (AMZN)

As major players in the technology industry compete to build their artificial intelligence capabilities, Amazon hired Carnegie Mellon professor Alex Smola to lead its Cloud Machine Learning platform. The current sentiment among Tradebird users on Amazon is 86% bullish.

General Motors (GM)

General Motors stock received an overweight rating from Piper Jaffray, and the trading community has responded positively to the news. The stock has 79% bullish sentiment.

Gold

After a seven-session winning streak, gold futures finished narrowly lower by the end of the week, but with 73% bullish sentiment the trading community is keeping faith in the precious metal.

The above data were gathered from the social app for traders and investors Tradebird and were collected during the week ended June 17.

This article was originally published on The Street.

While the looming Brexit vote remains to be a hot topic in the markets, the trading community of Tradebird is talking about so much more. Here are three investments that users expect to decline in value.

GoPro (GPRO)

GoPro isn’t getting a lot of love from Tradebird users. Sentiment is 91% bearish. The stock fell 19% in May, and many Wall Street analysts have a not-so-positive hold rating.

Volkswagen (VLKAY)

The German automaker continues to see fallout from the scandal over diesel-emissions tests. Sentiment among Tradebird users is 82% bearish.

The above data were gathered from Tradebird, the social app for traders and investors, during the week ended Friday, June 10.

This article was originally published on The Street.