The stock-picker gets to set a price for the report, keeping half the proceeds. IExchange gets the other half. Investors looking for an idea, or looking to confirm a hunch, can search iExchange's roster of reports. Before they buy, investors can check out the stock-picker's track record. IExchange will tell investors what the average return is for a particular analyst and how accurate the person has been in the past.
Expired reports are free.
IExchange's real product is the ability to hold analysts accountable. Plenty of amateur stock picks are available free all over the Web, but there's no systematic way for a newcomer to know who's got a good track record. Still, the investor is paying for the report, not the tracking engine, at iExchange. Theoretically, an investor who's more interested in the tracking capability could input any broker's picks into iExchange and see how that person stacks up. Financially, iExchange will be on good footing in the near term, even though selling content on the Web is a challenge few have been able to meet.