Research into Discord and Telegram communities uncovers selective performance sharing, pressure-based messaging and weak risk controls
DayTrading.com has published the results of an independent investigation into how popular trading signals groups operate across Discord and Telegram, revealing structural practices that significantly increase risk for retail traders.
Released under the report name ‘Inside Trading Signals Groups: 5 Pressure Tactics’, the study reviewed 112 trade alerts from seven different communities over a four-week period. Each trade was executed exactly as posted to replicate the real-world experience of traders who depend solely on group alerts.
According to DayTrading.com, the findings dispute widely promoted performance claims and raise serious questions around transparency, responsibility and risk management standards.
The investigation uncovered that:
- 68% of alerts were issued only after the initial price surge
- 74% entered trades without a predefined stop loss
- 61% altered or removed profit targets mid-trade
- 54% of losing positions were never publicly acknowledged
- 9% of losing trades were deleted
- 100% of winning trades were showcased or screenshotted
Across all trades, the raw win rate stood at 46%. However, when losses were excluded from public reporting, the visible success rate rose to 62%, showing how selective disclosure can distort performance perception.
“These patterns appeared consistently across different groups and moderators,” DayTrading.com noted. “They were not isolated events.”
The analysis also revealed that trades labelled as urgent performed worse on average. Alerts framed as time-sensitive produced an average expectancy of –0.42R, compared to +0.07R for non-urgent signals. This supports academic evidence that decision-making deteriorates under time pressure.
The report documented multiple occasions where profitable trades were heavily promoted, while losing positions were downplayed, reframed or removed. Traders who exited early to limit losses were often criticised, while large drawdowns received public praise – discouraging responsible risk control.
DayTrading.com concluded that these behaviours reinforce authority bias and create a cycle where traders blame themselves for losses while attributing wins to the system.
The study suggests that many signals groups operate more as engagement engines than genuine trading systems.
“If urgency and fear are required to keep members engaged,” the report states, “the structure itself works against disciplined trading.”
The full DayTrading.com investigation, including methodology and anonymised trade records, is available at https://www.daytrading.com/about-us/media/signals-groups.
