What better to start off the OneSeason Buzz blog than with a little controversy. There were several events that occurred throughout the last week in regards to 3rd party texts and software IPO alert systems. There are several of them now. First we have Bob and Ryan Rafforty's tool, Player Monitor (also known as Bob's Tool), who announced last week that his service would no longer be free and the he would start charging $10 per IPO for his PC alert tool to keep it more exclusive to around 20 people, giving all proceeds to charity. We also had Oneseason Alerts come out and say last week that they also would (exclusively for 20 people) start charging the same $10 for his text and PC alert tool.
Next was OneSeason Trader and they launched a partnership with Oneseason Text which charges for "Text Me Credits" that you can use on upcoming IPO's, in which they only take up to 30 paid requests per IPO. This was excitedly announced on Oneseason Trader Radio last night. So between the 3 services a potential total of 70 paying alert service customers.
This whole week, these announcements raised many questions for the OS users. Will I ever get an IPO again? Should I sign up? Is this legal? What happens if I am on the waiting list for years? What about the new guy who signs up in June, how long will he have to wait on a list? Can I be successful on these paid lists? Should I sign up or shouldn't I? Who is trying to get my money?
These are all valid questions that run through traders minds. And there has been much heated discussion in several of the OS chats. Heck, I even contemplated several of them while signing up for one of the alert systems last week.
While I do not have all the answers to the above questions. I do know that alert tools are legal and do not violet any OS policy. And I ended up landing the last 2 IPO's, BBEN and DIRK, using one of these services. In the midst of my success, I was really beginning to wonder if the new guy would be left behind and never ever have a shot at an IPO. Yes you can F5 tornado all day long, if you don't have a job. But other than that you will lose to the users taking advantage of the paid services hands down.
Then, those of us who were listening to OST radio last night with Knup and JC, heard a few Bombshells go off. They were interviewing the CEO of Oneseason ,Mike Sroka, and Knup mentioned the hot topic of IPO alerts. Mike responded that he "Did not know that IPO's would be such a hot topic" and that OS has decided to speed up the API development feed for IPO's within the next week, so that tools can be built around it in a safe and secure way. This was a huge announcement, because it levels the playing field for everyone who knows how to develop 3rd party apps.
The next bombshell was the improvement of IPO distribution and that timestamp priority is not the optimal way of issuing IPO'S to users. Mike said "They have some good ideas internally" to make it better without breaking any of the constraints that would then compromise OS. "Revisions to the IPO process are coming in the near term".
The last bombshell was when Bob Rafforty called in and announced that his tool, Player Monitor, is going back to a free service after the next IPO release. Which shocked everyone, since Bob was the first one to announce he was charging last week.
So what does all this mean.. Who the heck knows? Paid alerts, are they here to stay? The new IPO, API feed, levels the playing field for developers. And what do the revisions to the IPO process mean for the future of paid alerts if timestamps are not as critical to getting an IPO as they are now? And the big one, Bob's tool slated to become free again to hundreds of users. I'm not sure you will see 70 users paying when they can get the same IPO, API feed via Bob's tool in the next week.... But, then again... This is the world of OS and anything is possible!
Last week a new era began in OS, has it already ended. Let us know what you think. Leave us a comment and be sure to vote on our pole, "Do you like the idea of paying for IPO text and software alerts?".
Best of Trading,
Snypes
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