“Always have to question why someone would start a sub service if their strategy is profitable, consistent, scalable and they have the capital and ‘move size’ lol”

This sentiment is a common suspicion held by some, and is quite understandable. If you are making lots of money as a trader, why would you bother with side side hustle? Surely must mean that you in fact have no actual trading business and instead are PRIMARILY just a subscription service!

I’ll admit that it’s difficult to do multiple things well, so if the subscription site is super slick, marketing top notch, and the pitch uses manipulative techniques like “Don’t you deserve to make money?”, or “Watch your profits skyrocket!”, then they might not be the trader they present. So then why would a successful trader take up such a side hustle?

Give the people what they want

Speaking personally, requests to share what I know have been fairly constant since I started sharing my UVXY trades in 2015. I’ve debated whether or not I wanted to make the commitment, take on the responsibility, and do all of the work. For me, it was the liability in continuing to share my trades for free on Twitter once I became a licensed Investment Advisor. I was told by compliance that the ‘NFA’ disclaimer just isn’t strong enough to prevent enforcement action against me should someone lodge a complaint. Starting a service where clients had to read and accept my disclosures seemed the only path forward.

Why charge if you make so much trading?

There are a couple very important reasons to charge for a service even if you don’t ‘need’ the income.

1. Charging for the service engenders a sense of value in the offering. The provider ‘should’ put a consummate amount of effort into the service, and the client ‘should’ be interested in the value received in exchange for their payment.
2. Charging commits the provider to ongoing service. There’s no incentive to dedicate time if there is no compensation so a free site might not be updated or improved for extended periods (how many tired websites have you come across?) A service provider is committing their time and attention when there is a client based with at risk subscriptions.
3. Charging needs to be commensurate with the effort. The same detractors who bash traders with subscription services would be equally suspect of a free site. How valuable can it be if it’s free?