CAG Stock Trading Competition - Now Live - Enrollment Open

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wubb

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Comp began June 5th. Newcomers may join through the entire competition.

If you are interested in joining follow this link:

http://simulator.investopedia.com/MyPortfolio/JoinPrivateGame.aspx?G=37656&PW=CheapGamer

It's a private game
Name = CheapGamer
Password = CheapGamer

Assuming you don't have an account at investopedia, you'll need to click the 'Create a new account' link from that page to setup you own account and once you do that you'll be able to join this comp. CheapGamer/CheapGamer is the name/password for the competition, not the login/password for your account.

I just made everything the default. You start with $100K (of play money obviously) and can make pretty much any sort of trade - limit, call, market, option trading, etc. The site is free.

Runs through 8/18/2006. If it's a good comp, we can just make another one to roll into at the end.

If you want to check that you successfully joined, make sure you are listed on the comp's rankings. http://simulator.investopedia.com/rankings/default.aspx?RGID=37656
 
case matters, so it has to be 'CheapGamer' and not 'cheapgamer'. If you're sure you're typing it right let me know and I'll try with a new account. If that doesn't work I'll just create a new comp and leave it public. :lol:
 
[quote name='mtxbass1']I just ended up creating my own account. Do I need to join a certain competition, or just the general 100k one?[/QUOTE]

Ah okay, I see the problem.

CheapGamer / CheapGamer is the name and password for the competition. You need to create your own login for the site (like you already did) and once you have that created you join the competition named 'CheapGamer'.

So yep, joing the CheapGamer competition. You can use the link in the OP once you are logged in.

I updated the OP to hopefully be more clear, but I can understand the confusion as that link takes you directly to a login if you aren't currently logged in to your account at investopedia.
 
This sounds like fun. I'll set up a account later tonight. I am actually in the middle of reading all the articles and tutorials at investopedia right now. I guess I can get some practice picking stocks at the same time I'm learning.
 
Yeah we had one going on from TGN on marketwatch. I was easily in first, but they screwed up and didnt give me proper credit when my stock split :/
 
Cool, looks like there is some interest here so I'll sticky this until Sunday or so. Starts Monday, but as noted people will be able to join whenever.
 
This is pretty cool but I know nothing about the stock market. I signed up but not with the CAG group. I want to read through all of the Tutorial websites before I feel comfortable with trying out the stock market simulator.
 
Yep, I believe you can do short selling. Once you sign up you can look at all of the trading options, it just doesn't let you place any trades until Monday.

I'm probably going to fool around with some short sells myself as I've never done them IRL.

Macy - Did you register for an account there? Once you have an account join the CheapGamer comp. If you want to post more detail about what's not working I'll try to help.
 
Wubb, I think I joined the CheapGamer competition. Is there a way for you to tell that I'm on the list? Or for us to see who else is in the competition for that matter?
 
You are in. I can look at the rankings and that gives everyone who is currently in the comp. I think anyone should be able to see that page that's logged in. Though you probably have to be in the comp to see the rankings.

Check the link and if you can see the list (while logged in) I'll add it to the OP.

http://simulator.investopedia.com/rankings/default.aspx?RGID=37656

Current list

1. Maklershed 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00
1. cdeener 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00
1. Ikohn4ever 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00
1. bobo2k4 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00
1. WeaponX2099 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00
1. wombat5277 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00
1. wubb 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00
1. btw1217 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00
1. mtxbass1 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00
1. jbroush99 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00
 
[quote name='wubb']You are in. I can look at the rankings and that gives everyone who is currently in the comp. I think anyone should be able to see that page that's logged in. Though you probably have to be in the comp to see the rankings.

Check the link and if you can see the list (while logged in) I'll add it to the OP.

http://simulator.investopedia.com/rankings/default.aspx?RGID=37656

Current list

1. Maklershed 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00
1. cdeener 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00
1. Ikohn4ever 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00
1. bobo2k4 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00
1. WeaponX2099 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00
1. wombat5277 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00
1. wubb 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00
1. btw1217 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00
1. mtxbass1 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00
1. jbroush99 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00[/quote]

Excellent. Now I'll just have to remember on June 5 to buy stocks. I have a few in mind already.
 
[quote name='Xevious']This is pretty cool but I know nothing about the stock market. I signed up but not with the CAG group. I want to read through all of the Tutorial websites before I feel comfortable with trying out the stock market simulator.[/QUOTE]


I was thinking about doing the same thing. I don't really know anything about stocks but I want to try it after I get some more info about the market.
 
It runs until 8/18/2006. I'll update the OP. You can make them end pretty much whenever you want or last forever. If people maintain their interest through that whole time I'll just make a new comp when that one ends. And/or we could have one never ending comp along with a series of 1-2 month long comps. But for now I figure we see how this one goes. Heck, I may even lose interest in it :mrgreen:

For anyone hesitant about joining because you don't know much about stocks, don't sweat it. It's play money and just for fun. Jump in and buy a couple hundred shares of companies you know/like/frequent. Like Gamestop - GME, Electronic Arts - ERTS, Starbucks - SBUX. Some companies aren't publicly traded but many are.

Use a stock symbol lookup to see if a company you like is traded.
 
[quote name='wubb']It runs until 8/18/2006. I'll update the OP. You can make them end pretty much whenever you want or last forever. If people maintain their interest through that whole time I'll just make a new comp when that one ends. And/or we could have one never ending comp along with a series of 1-2 month long comps. But for now I figure we see how this one goes. Heck, I may even lose interest in it :mrgreen:

For anyone hesitant about joining because you don't know much about stocks, don't sweat it. It's play money and just for fun. Jump in and buy a couple hundred shares of companies you know/like/frequent. Like Gamestop - GME, Electronic Arts - ERTS, Starbucks - SBUX. Some companies aren't publicly traded but many are.

Use a stock symbol lookup to see if a company you like is traded.[/QUOTE]


Allright, you've convinced me :D

Thanks for setting this up Wubb. I've always wanted to dabble in the market so this is a great way for me to get introduced to market dynamics and everything. I'm just letting you all know ahead of time, though, that I'll probably be last :D

Also, I just saw the documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room yesterday. I feel like that movie alone taught me alot about the how risky stocks can be. Eesh.
 
Don't be so sure. Performance over a short ~2 month period is going to have a lot of luck involved IMO.
 
Heh, I will have to get signed up for this. It will take me back to the days where I pretended I owned stock in Hasbro, Pepsi, etc when I was a kid, tracked them in the paper. :D
 
[quote name='Dkellar']Well, I joined for the hell of it. This will be a great way to learn a decent amount about the stock market.[/QUOTE]


That's what I'm thinking too.

This whole thing is pretty damn fun. My biggest issue is trying to figure out how many shares of each stock to buy. What is a good number? I'm going to just keep experimenting and see if I run into anything useful.
 
[quote name='basketkase543']That's what I'm thinking too.

This whole thing is pretty damn fun. My biggest issue is trying to figure out how many shares of each stock to buy. What is a good number? I'm going to just keep experimenting and see if I run into anything useful.[/quote]

Depends on the price and how confident you feel but 100 is generally a good round number.
 
Remember though in real world investing # of shares to buy is an arbitrary number IMO. You want to look more at the total cost (and even better the % of your total portfolio you want to put in a given holding) So you'd decide you want to put $5K in Wal-Mart and you'd just do the math to figure out how many shares that would be. Another important thing to look at is the % of the purchase you have to pay in brokerage fees. You want to keep that percent as low as possible. So if you pay a $20 commision to buy $200 of some stock you are paying 10% commision which is crazy high. (Assuming you are doing a discount internet broker.) Basically don't be scared to buy shares of a company that trades for $85 a share just because you'd never be able to get 100 shares a pop.

My dad is obsessed with buying round multiples, and I just think it's a little too handcuffing.

But for something like this game I'll probably just buy stuff in multiples of 100 myself. :mrgreen:
 
[quote name='wubb']Remember though in real world investing # of shares to buy is an arbitrary number IMO. You want to look more at the total cost (and even better the % of your total portfolio you want to put in a given holding) So you'd decide you want to put $5K in Wal-Mart and you'd just do the math to figure out how many shares that would be. Another important thing to look at is the % of the purchase you have to pay in brokerage fees. You want to keep that percent as low as possible. So if you pay a $20 commision to buy $200 of some stock you are paying 10% commision which is crazy high. (Assuming you are doing a discount internet broker.) Basically don't be scared to buy shares of a company that trades for $85 a share just because you'd never be able to get 100 shares a pop.

My dad is obsessed with buying round multiples, and I just think it's a little too handcuffing.

But for something like this game I'll probably just buy stuff in multiples of 100 myself. :mrgreen:[/QUOTE]

What is a decent price for internet broker commission? What is a good site for internet stock trading? Is investopedia any good for that?
 
I don't think you can do real trading with investopedia.

One choice is a broker like www.buyandhold.com (sharebuilder.com is similar) With that service you pay a monthly fee ($15 IIRC for B+H) and can make unlimited trades. The catch is that your trades are made during their trading windows at the market price. (They basically bundle all of their customers orders into one big ass order as I understand it.) So you can't do a limit order or buy or sell RIGHT NOW. But you can have a few things set to buy every month and not have to think about it.

But for a normal broker - where you put in normal buy or sell orders and pay a commision per order there are a bunch of choices.

Investopedia has an artilce on picking your first broker:
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/younginvestors/06/firstbroker.asp

And there are sites that have comparison charts breaking down the differences in fees and services between the major players. Like this one (although this one only has 4...
http://www.fool.com/dbc/tables/compare.htm

I'd definitely take a look at scottrade.com in addition to those.
http://www.scottrade.com/brokercomparison/brokercomparison.asp

$7 per trade may be the lowest out there for market or limit orders.

Be sure to check if there are any annual/quarterly or account maintenance fees.
 
[quote name='basketkase543']Jesus christ, my stocks got slaughtered today. I ended the day at -$300. Eesh![/quote]

That's nothing.. counting comissions, I am down over $1700... A drop in the bucket when you've got $100K to play with!
 
Dow loss: nearly 200 points
Fed Chairman Bernanke fans inflation jitters; also says economy is slowing.
By Grace Wong, CNNMoney.com staff writer
June 5, 2006: 4:06 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The Dow Jones industrial average shed nearly 200 points Monday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke underscored his concerns over inflation and said the economy was starting to slow.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/06/05/markets/markets_newyork/index.htm?cnn=yes
 
The only thing I don't like about this competition so far is that you are pretty much limited to certain stocks and options. Many companies are missing that are traded (MSFT comes to mind). I wish they had other commodities as well, such as precious metals.

Gold is on it's way to $2000 an ounce...
 
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