Don't go by finfluencer's portfolio on trading platforms: Beware of random trading tips

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

I didn’t realise when I wrote this, but a version of Taleb’s idea has been developing for a while in the ‘finfluencer’ corner of social media. People who claim to give trading advice regularly post screenshots of how much money they make from trading. This is, of course, normal for almost any activity on social media and has been going on for a long time.

The problem is that screenshots are easy to fake, and unless someone is an expert, it’s hard to differentiate real trading performance from the illusory. Surprisingly, some people believe these screenshot merchants. I suppose if you can reach thousands of people, there will always be some who are gullible enough or desperate enough to believe anything.

Over time, it became widely understood that screenshots were not proof of trading prowess and a more authentic method was needed. Of course, this disbelief came about only after many such screenshots turned out to be fakes. What many finfluencers displayed as their past trading performance did not in any way match their advice to people.

This ‘problem’ has now been resolved in a somewhat strange manner. Some brokers and trading platforms have devised ways to allow traders to display their profits and losses in a verifiable manner publicly. Essentially, traders can now generate a link on the trading site, which can be distributed publicly.

Whenever anyone clicks on the link, he can view the trader’s profit and loss (P&L) records. However, before generating the link, the trader can choose what to hide. Whether it is time periods, asset type, or the principal amount, everything can be customised.