Start off with $100,000 of virtual money and after one month of trading stocks, be the Doper with the most highly valued portfolio (last place will mocked and ridiculed).
How to play:
Sign up for a free account with Investopedia here. Please use your SD name to make it easier for participants to keep track of who is who. If your SD name is already taken, make a minor change such as adding a number after your name (my Investopedia name is xrayvision as dashes are not allowed).
Sign up for the first round which will last from 01JUL09 to 31JUL09 any time before the start of the game (late entries are not allowed). To sign up, PM me and I will PM you in return with instructions on how to find the game page and a password. Please don’t give the password to anyone else.
During the game, you can view a list of all Dopers portfolios which will be listed in order from best to worst. You can also click on the portfolios and view the trade history. The list will remain even after the game has ended.
Here is some information you’ll need to know:
Daily Volume Rule - Trades cannot exceed a certain percentage of volume for the day. The value is 10%. This prevents a thinly-traded stock from being traded in the simulator when it can’t be traded in the actual markets.
Quick Sell Rule - You cannot sell a security within a 15 minute period to reflect the fact that we are working with delayed data. This is our way of ensuring that users don’t “cheat” by trading in and out of a stock using real-time data.
Diversification Rule - The maximum amount of one stock that you can buy is equal to 50% of your starting cash. For example, you can only purchase up to $50,000 in any single stock. We do this to make the game more realistic. Though some might argue that they want to put their entire portfolio in one security this is more like gambling than investing.
Market Delay - Because we use a 20 minute delayed datafeed, it is necessary to hold market orders for a certain time before being filled.
Margin Interest - 8%. The value represents the interest rate your account will be charged if you use margin to purchase securities.
Cash Interest - 1%. This value represents the interest rate the cash balance in your account will earn. Interest is earned on the daily cash balance however it is paid to your account on a monthly basis. You can view interest payments in the Trade History section of your account.
Commission - $9.99 per trade
Changes I made to the default game settings:
Stock trading only (no options trading)
No late entry allowed
No minimum stock price to buy or short or for margin
Commission for all trades is $9.99
Anyone who has played in at least three games (a new game starts on the 1st of every month) will have an official ranking based on the ranking system explained near the bottom of this page. There will be a winner each month and a champ at the end of the year (the Doper with the highest rank).
I’d like to have a quick practice game where a few of us could try this out and see if the settings I chose work well and if the rules need to be altered in any way and if any pertinent info needs to be shared with those that sign up for the first real game.
If you’d like to participate in the practice game, sign up for an account after clicking the link in the beginning of this post (don’t forget to choose a name as close to your SD name as possible). PM me and I will PM you back a password. After you receive the password, click here and sign in if you aren’t already. Point your cursor over “Simulator” and then click on “Games”. Click on “Join Game”. In the “Search Games” box, type in SD test game, click on “Search” and then “Join”. Trading starts Monday morning at 0930 EST and the game will end Wednesday. Don’t worry about making the best choices that will win you the game; it’s just for testing the waters.
On or around 15JUL09 I will post a link to the August round of “Stock Market Genius”.
