I've had many of the same problems also I got screwed out of some sweet deals because the buy stock limit is set at 2 dollars... I could have doubled my money!!! :-(
Isn't that the minimum for an individual trade, not price per share? In any case, that could be fixed by changing the settings.
Yeah, there's a reason I haven't just played penny stocks.
You couldn't play penny stocks in the real world. This game ignores market impact. If you tried to buy $100,000 of a penny stock, you would account for most if not all of the liquidity for that day. Even if someone was willing to trade with you (unlikely, as the volume would be low), you would effectively push the price opposite to your position. You'd effectively make a bad market for yourself and then invest in it, losing money.
It's a cute game, but it ignores the realities of trading large amounts of money.
On the other hand, TheKnoxinator has made no less than 36 stock purchases - he has paid $358.20 in broker commissions, which accounts for almost half of his total losses; one of his transactions involved buying only $2.40 worth of shares, which is less than a quarter of the commission paid for that same transaction.
Admittedly, not the smartest decisions I've ever made. I went for the spread out approach just to see what would actually happen.
It looks like I made a mistake - the cost is cost per share, so it looks like your cheapest transaction was $120 worth. Nonetheless, that still means you're losing 8% of that transaction on the broker fee alone.
Should we start a new game where we can trade penny stocks, then?
Yeah, there's a reason I haven't just played penny stocks.
You couldn't play penny stocks in the real world. This game ignores market impact. If you tried to buy $100,000 of a penny stock, you would account for most if not all of the liquidity for that day. Even if someone was willing to trade with you (unlikely, as the volume would be low), you would effectively push the price opposite to your position. You'd effectively make a bad market for yourself and then invest in it, losing money.
It's a cute game, but it ignores the realities of trading large amounts of money.
At the very least, the game has a market volume limitation - you can set the limit at 10-100% of the current market volume. While it doesn't simulate your influence on demand and supply, setting a low limit on trade volume would reduce the lack of realism in such a situation.
Wow! Adobe's stock closed at $33.24 today, which means I made 5.4% today and am currently in 6th place with $101,269.15. I'm really going to have to think about selling early rather than waiting for a medium-term return.
Wow! Adobe's stock closed at $33.24 today, which means I made 5.4% today and am currently in 6th place with $101,269.15. I'm really going to have to think about selling early rather than waiting for a medium-term return.
Yea, you jumped past me bastard :-p
I'm going to see if this gamble will work out in the short term.
Weren't you just going on about how you shouldn't take excessive risks? Penny stocks are nothing if not risky.
In any case, as I said, we can restart the game, configuring for greater realism and allowing penny stock trading, if that is desired.
I think the best strategy in this game would be to execute real-world stock fraud in order to make a huge in-game profit.
Penny stock trading is very risky, but then again it's not. See, even though your earnings will fluctuate wildly up or down with just small changes in price, the stocks are so cheap that recovery is possible. If you lost half your money, you can sell, pick another penny stock, and there's actually a chance of recovery. It's stupid in real life, but it's the best way to win a stock market game. It's how I won in 7th grade.
Don't restart a game that I'm winning. The game is a year long. Let it be.
Also, I'm making a captain obvious move today, watch out.
See, even though your earnings will fluctuate wildly up or down with just small changes in price, the stocks are so cheap that recovery is possible. If you lost half your money, you can sell, pick another penny stock, and there's actually a chance of recovery. It's stupid in real life, but it's the best way to win a stock market game. It's how I won in 7th grade.
Recovery is impossible in real penny stocks. The price can and often will drop to effectively zero, and you lose your entire investment. There's also the liquidity problem I noted before.
See, even though your earnings will fluctuate wildly up or down with just small changes in price, the stocks are so cheap that recovery is possible. If you lost half your money, you can sell, pick another penny stock, and there's actually a chance of recovery. It's stupid in real life, but it's the best way to win a stock market game. It's how I won in 7th grade.
And yet somehow, you vehemently oppose the effect of making your fluctuations larger by using margin. This is exactly the mechanism, reason, and explanation we gave you for why margin in a stock game is the optimal strategy.
And yet somehow, you vehemently oppose the effect of making your fluctuations larger by using margin. This is exactly the mechanism, reason, and explanation we gave you for why margin in a stock game is the optimal strategy.
Oh you're obviously so smart, so far ahead of everyone else. Oh wait...
Oh you're obviously so smart, so far ahead of everyone else. Oh wait...
Meh. Playing optimally in a game of chance is not a guarantee of success. Likewise playing like a dork doesn't mean you're going to lose. This is a common feature in games of chance and the reason why such games are very hard to learn. E.g., take Poker and the first thing you must learn is to disconnect the (often very emotional) experience of winning / losing from the rational analysis of how you played your hands. This is not easy by any means, since you're effectively trying to hack hardwired chemical reactions in your brain.
Oh you're obviously so smart, so far ahead of everyone else. Oh wait...
You're only a bit less than two-thousand ahead, boyo, and you still have 328 days(at this point) to maintain your lead before you've got any reason to be crowing about being in front.
I know I'm not very good at this whole stock market thing, but might I advise a little less chest-beating, and a little more playing, lest one or more of the other players makes you eat crow in the remaining 328 days?
Damnit, the limitations of the game make certain things very difficult.
Basically, anything that happens outside of market hours is impossible to capitalize on. For example, I tried to sell short on Dell because of their 5% drop in profits. The problem was that the price of Dell was already down over 6% when the market opened. In order to capitalize on that in this game I would have had to sell short yesterday before knowing this information. If dell had made the announcement during market hours, I could have profited with a market order. But because my order only goes in after the market opens, my only option is to sell short after it already dropped 6%, or buy it at this low price and bet it will rise again. Neither of those are good options.
So even though there is an obvious move to make bank, I can't do anything because the game does not allow it.
Basically, anything that happens outside of market hours is impossible to capitalize on.
It's impossible to do so in the real world, too. How do you think this works? You can only capitalize on captain obvious like that if you know about the captain obvious before everyone else does and buy/sell the previous day. It's called "insider trading," and it's illegal.
It's impossible to do so in the real world, too. How do you think this works? You can only capitalize on captain obvious like that if you know about the captain obvious before everyone else does and buy/sell the previous day. It's called "insider trading," and it's illegal.
But in the real world, people are trading after hours. They are also able to have trades execute immediately the second the market opens, not way way later.
But in the real world, people are trading after hours
Not really. Not enough for it to matter. There's almost no liquidity after hours, and the prices are usually way, way off from what anyone would want. You effectively can't, especially if there's something going down.
They are also able to have trades execute immediately the second the market opens, not way way later.
For most people, no. You go into the order book based on a number of factors, but only large institutions have any capability to actually have an order at the top of the book with a favorable price when the market opens. You also have no guarantee that you'll get what you want.
Heh, I'm in 4th all of a sudden. Adobe has risen another ~2.2% so far today, which is ~4.4% what with the margin. It's starting to get unnerving trying to work out when and if I should sell.
Heh, I'm in 4th all of a sudden. Adobe has risen another ~2.2% so far today, which is ~4.4% what with the margin. It's starting to get unnerving trying to work out when and if I should sell.
Yea, I've actually been cursing you for most of the week, I keep looking at Adobe and saying "I could jump in, but really how far can it go up" and then it jumps another few %...
You know that whatever stocks are listed there are probably going to spike, up or down, after their earnings are out. You just have to figure out which ones, and bet accordingly. That's what I did with Netflix, and it's why I'm in 1st place. I need to pad my lead, so I bet on Metro PCS today. I figure with their increased advertising, people trying to save money, and people really hating contracts, that they've had some good profits. Their stock went way down today, but I bought it at the low point, so I actually made money so far. We'll see how this goes.
Comments
It's a cute game, but it ignores the realities of trading large amounts of money.
The price per share limitation sucks.
While it doesn't simulate your influence on demand and supply, setting a low limit on trade volume would reduce the lack of realism in such a situation.
I'm going to see if this gamble will work out in the short term.
In any case, as I said, we can restart the game, configuring for greater realism and allowing penny stock trading, if that is desired.
I think the best strategy in this game would be to execute real-world stock fraud in order to make a huge in-game profit.
Don't restart a game that I'm winning. The game is a year long. Let it be.
Also, I'm making a captain obvious move today, watch out.
You Dork!
Ooh ooh apropos:
I know I'm not very good at this whole stock market thing, but might I advise a little less chest-beating, and a little more playing, lest one or more of the other players makes you eat crow in the remaining 328 days?
Basically, anything that happens outside of market hours is impossible to capitalize on. For example, I tried to sell short on Dell because of their 5% drop in profits. The problem was that the price of Dell was already down over 6% when the market opened. In order to capitalize on that in this game I would have had to sell short yesterday before knowing this information. If dell had made the announcement during market hours, I could have profited with a market order. But because my order only goes in after the market opens, my only option is to sell short after it already dropped 6%, or buy it at this low price and bet it will rise again. Neither of those are good options.
So even though there is an obvious move to make bank, I can't do anything because the game does not allow it.
Nevermind, it finally went through... The market is going to be down today..
Behold! the NYSE Earnings Events Calendar.
You know that whatever stocks are listed there are probably going to spike, up or down, after their earnings are out. You just have to figure out which ones, and bet accordingly. That's what I did with Netflix, and it's why I'm in 1st place. I need to pad my lead, so I bet on Metro PCS today. I figure with their increased advertising, people trying to save money, and people really hating contracts, that they've had some good profits. Their stock went way down today, but I bought it at the low point, so I actually made money so far. We'll see how this goes.