This may seem like an odd time to be launching something related to stock-trading, but when you think about it, the kind of turmoil we’ve seen lately — with indexes plummeting by thousands of points, only to rebound again the next day — is the perfect environment for some traders. All you have to do, of course, is pick the right spot to get in and out. Will the newly launched StockTwits.com help you do that? I honestly have no idea. But it couldn’t be any worse than listening to some of the “professional” investors and money managers who got us into this mess.

StockTwits comes from the occasionally fevered brain of my friend Howard Lindzon, a Toronto and Arizona-based venture capitalist who was also instrumental in creating the stock video show Wallstrip. While many people continue to be puzzled by the purpose of Twitter, a small but growing group of traders and analysts like Howard and his partner Soren Macbeth have turned it into a kind of instant-messaging version of the banter that goes on between traders: stock symbols, news tips, rumour and innuendo — all laced with a hefty helping of profanities and off-colour jokes.

If that’s your cup of tea, then I encourage you to sign up with StockTwits.com and start following — and even debating with — Howard, Soren and some other smart people like @wood83, @infoarbitrage, @gregormacdonald and @pkedrosky.