Back in the late 1990s, Parker Conrad and Michael Sha daytraded from their dorm room. At first, it went very well - that is, until the dot-coms crashed.

Despite all this, they are still stock market junkies. In fact, they have created a unique site for traders to hang out in -- Wikinvest. But this is no fly-by-night operation -- the company recently snagged $2.5 million in venture capital.

However, are wikis really a good platform for this? Even with the success of Wikipedia, there are many failed attempts in the wiki space, right?

"It's important that a wiki focus on a group that is passionate about its category," said Parker. "And that's the case with investing. It's also large. Even though we have been running only for about three months, we have attracted quite a lot of contributors."

It also helps that the Wikinvest site has some cool features. For example, each stock has a 3-point bull and bear case.

What's more, there's a bit of a "long-tail" aspect to things. That is, you can find useful information on obscure stocks.

I'm also impressed with Wikinvest's charts, which allows you to annotate things. So, if there was a big drop in the stock price, you can click the particular section and the get relevant news.

I suspect we'll be seeing more features as time goes by. And, it also looks like Conrad and Sha's hard daytrading lessons will have not been for naught.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Wikinvest - anybody can become a market guru originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 19 Oct 2007 09:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

With the continued success of Wikipedia, there's some talk about whether there are opportunities to create popular niche wikis.

That's what Wikinvest is trying to do. And as the name implies, the site is focused primarily on individual investors.

In fact, this week the firm received $2.5 million in venture funding (the lead investor is DCM).

Basically, it's a bet on the "wisdom of the crowds." And, it's a model that has worked with discussion boards, such as with Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO).

Yet, there are risks.

Continue reading Wikinvest: Investing gets wiki-fied

Wikinvest: Investing gets wiki-fied originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.