Right, but they are splitting. Maybe the game zeroed you out in the process of giving you the extra shares.
Obviously, I’m just guessing. I’m the kind of lousy trader that forgot to get into DNA even though I was aware they were splitting.
Right, but they are splitting. Maybe the game zeroed you out in the process of giving you the extra shares.
Obviously, I’m just guessing. I’m the kind of lousy trader that forgot to get into DNA even though I was aware they were splitting.
I added over 100K to my total and it wasn’t enough to stay in first!
Chris, you are a machine!
Inconceivable!
As a finance guy (I prefer to keep it generic) I have access to real-time quotes through my work. I don’t use the 20 minute advantage, because this would be a pain in the ass.
Unfortunately, there is a more serious flaw in the system that can be exploited to unfair gain.
The least you guys (cnote, bafaa) could do is buy a beer for Uncle Beer! You 1%'ers have no compassion for the downtrodden.
Barman! Keep them coming for the man at the end of the bar! He could use a few.
I don’t like thinking the kinds of things that I have been thinking lately.
Specifically, I don’t like thinking that people cheat.
You see, I stumbled across a flaw in our game the other day. I took advantage of it, to see if it would work, and it did.
Or did you think that I jumped from the bottom 5 to the top 5 playing fair?
Anyway, another Teeming Millionaire has told me about another way to cheat that I had not even considered. Couple this new information with the unbelievable performance some of our members are achieving and what do you get?
Suspicion. Ugly suspicion.
I’m sorry… but I can’t help it. I am not singling anyone out here (and I apologize again to the one Doper I did single out, via email). Like I said, I don’t like thinking these things, and I want to stop being suspicious.
So, I found another site.
I created another Stock Market game - a better one. The site is better, cooler and offers many more tools for us to use. Things should be more fun, and more fair. Specifically, all trades are delayed 20 minutes automatically, and after-hours trading is not allowed.
Best of all, the site gives out a $1,000 award every month and we are all eligible!
*Competition ID: SDMB
Competition Password: ceciladams *
[list=1]
[li]Go to http://www.virtualstockexchange.com/competitions.[/li][li]Enter the competition ID from above into the competition ID text box under “Looking for a private competition”. Remember the comeptition ID is case sensitive, so enter it exactly as it appears. Then press Go.[/li][li]Read the competition summary etc. and click on Join button.[/li][li]Follow directions.[/li][/list=1]
The game begins on 10/19/00 and ends on the first day of the new millenium. Best of luck to us all.
Would you mind posting the ways people could cheat. I’m quite curious now, my curiosity is piqued. And I’ll be right over, keeping my nice and steady 9-10% gain.
and here is the fixed link
I know of 2 ways:
1 - I discovered that E*Trade updates quotes far more quickly than the site did. About 10 minutes earlier! So, it was like having a crystal ball - day trading was a snap.
2 - It seems that you could listen to the news at night then buy a stock at that day’s closing price… when the stock opened up the next morning, Instant Profit!
The new game delays all trades 20 minutes (bye bye #1) and does not permit trading when the market closes (So long, #2).
Thanks for coming along!
To expand on #2, you could see a stock go up 50% in after hours trading, which isn’t accounted for in the game until the next day. So before the market opens the following day you could put all your money in this stock, get it at the 4:00 closing price, and at the market open, make an instant 50% gain then sell. The only way to get around people taking advantage of this specific cheat is to have a game where you can only buy and sell stock while the market is open (M-F 9:30-4:00) that would be more realistic.
*Originally posted by sdimbert *
2 - It seems that you could listen to the news at night then buy a stock at that day’s closing price… when the stock opened up the next morning, Instant Profit!
Oh. That’s show just how inexperienced I am in the stock market because I didn’t realize that was cheating. I’d read the press releases at 6 pm, plan my strategy, and buy the stocks for the next day.
No wonder it was easier than I anticipated.
Hmm. I did this the night before last by shorting IBM, and last night (or this morning, one of the two) by shorting Extreme Networks. And here I thought I was just being alert.
But you’re right, the opening was probably well in the direction of the day’s close on both of these guys.
Oh well. Tonight it’s EBAY (tremendously good earnings reported). We’ll see how that works out.
*Originally posted by sdimbert *
So, I found another site.I created another Stock Market game - a better one. The site is better, cooler and offers many more tools for us to use. Things should be more fun, and more fair. Specifically, all trades are delayed 20 minutes automatically, and after-hours trading is not allowed.
And that means what? That I can’t purchase stocks after I get home from work around 6 pm and sign on to the net? Or on weekends either?
Too bad for me, I guess. shrugs
They’ll hold your buy until the open and then execute it.
I’m gonna try to index my way there and keep trading costs low.
Don’t know what that would amount to in just two months.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Kat *
**
That I can’t purchase stocks after I get home from work around 6 pm and sign on to the net? Or on weekends either?
Too bad for me, I guess. shrugs **
Well, Kat, that is the way the Stock Market works in real life.
If you call a broker and try to buy a stock after the Market closes, all he can do is hold your order until the bell rings the next morning. Same with the online brokerages… the order will sit until the Market re-opens.
Given that, does anyone know hot “after-market” trading works? I see those reports on the TV news shows that talk about stocks rallying in “after-market” trades.
Damn.
I’ve been working on a post that would best explain how I was going to withdrawal my status in this competition ever since I spotted It earlier today. Fucking too late and not in time.
I’ve found, quite by accident, a way to cheat at this game.
Instead of posting the thread I’ve been working on now, I’ll post it in the morning and tell you all then.
I wanted to post something showing that I think I might have had gains the non-official way.
Well, as you can probably tell, instead of finishing the post I wanted to make, I went to the bar instead.
I was hoping to post it in the morning and avoid any conflict of interest then.
Now I’m sitting here thinking people thought I was trying to pull something over on them when, in fact, I only realized it earlier in the day.
In responding to puglvr’s thread, something occurred to me. I was having an unfair advantage to where the stock was heading without other people knowing it.
I simply thought this was part of the game. The fastest way to information leads to the best profits.
If you all had any idea how pissed I am at not posting my thoughts the second I realized it, you’d know that I’m truly pissed off here.
I wanted to be the one to suggest that there is a way to sway the system.
The problem is, or was, I’m not sure how much of an adantage I had over the others. You can argue both ways.
Listen. I’ve had more than a few, I’ll respond and post in the morning, and hope that there is a way we can all play fairly.
Well sdimbert, you targeted me. I don’t blame you. I thought, as I was killing the field, that this would happen.
No one need be angry, offended or upset - I just didn’t think things through all the way before setting up the game. As I told you four pages ago, I set this game up to learn, implying that I don’t know everything.
Those of you who sent me email concerning the “holes” in the game, thank you. I think our new home will provide a more realistic setting. If anyone has any problems, let me know, via AIM, Yahoo!, ICQ or email.
PS - the old game will not let me end it, so I am just going to let it peter out. If anyone wants, I can delete your participation - just let me know.
One does not have to know about the holes in order to exploit them. It can happen by accident. That’s how I found one.
I don’t think there’s any cause for anybody to be upset. I think sdimbert’s doing the right thing by moving us to a site that will be more realistic.
If I can make a suggestion:
Maybe we should start a new thread.
I was planning on dropping out but I’ll give this new site a shot. I’m already shorting RMBS.