December 2008 Trading Simulator Contest - win a trading book

[Thierry Martin]

I have reset the trading simulator for December - 1st prize, 2nd and 3rd prizes are trading books. The first prize winner will also have his win displayed under his name in the forum.

Once you join, you won't have to rejoin every month, I'll just reset the contest at the end of every month back to the $100,000 for everyone.

If you already played in previous competitions, you already have an account and your can join the December contest with the same username and password by going here. If you have forgotton the game password, which you need to join the December contest, just email me and I will send it to you.

If you are new to the simulator, you can join at anytime up. This thread will be used to discuss the game and post updates on the standings.

You start with $100,000 and you can trade stocks long or short. Whoever has the highest amount at the close of trading on Wednesday, December 31, 2008 wins.

The trading simulator/contest is open only to registered members of this forum. (Registering is free!)

Send me a private message and I will send you the link and password for your free sign up.

[Thierry Martin]

[ZaNoob]

How long does it take for this thing to execut trades? I was finally up, wanted to exit so I can reverse position but it's taking forever. Kind of annoying since I'm also trading and the game take takes forever to execute a trade.

ehh n/m 20 minutes and then some to show the transaction

[TheChartGuru]

Originally Posted by ZaNoob

How long does it take for this thing to execut trades? I was finally up, wanted to exit so I can reverse position but it's taking forever. Kind of annoying since I'm also trading and the game take takes forever to execute a trade.

ehh n/m 20 minutes and then some to show the transaction

I have had at least 4 problems executing trades in December. I made a trade, it was confirmed, but it was never executed. Oh well, it's just for fun.

[Florida]

Originally Posted by TheChartGuru

I have had at least 4 problems executing trades in December. I made a trade, it was confirmed, but it was never executed. Oh well, it's just for fun.

I have had similar problems as you have stated, but in every case, when I checked it out, it was my own error.

For example, in the 2 orders in your portfolio that show "cancelled", if you look at the price DUG was trading for at the time of the order being executed, there was not enough buying power to execute the trades. You have to allow for the delay in execution when placing a market order, if the equity price has increased after you placed the order, and you are trying to get the maximum number of shares, it may exceed your buying power. Better to place an order for a slightly lower number of shares, to guarantee execution, then add the few additional shares later when you can see what you still have available in buying power.

Another issue I have found in the past is if you enter an order before the market opens in the morning, and show it as a day order, it will not execute. If you place the order as a good until cancelled, it will execute as expected. Apparently the system deems all orders that are in place prior to market open as being from the previous day, and cancels them, even if they were placed that morning, unless you indicate good until cancelled.

There are other situations that have occured during the months I have been playing, but I can' remember them right now, (or maybe I can, but just don't want to share with the competition).

Bottom line, I have not had any issues with the platform that has not proven out to be operator error.

Good luck,

[Wardaddy]

On my POS Dell the trade widget won't load sometimes but when it does I've never had a problem. My DIAL-UP went down for several days at the first of this month while I was holding one of the triple leveraged ETF's. Not a good idea to hold those for more than a day at a time.

[stockrookie09]

does anyone know any good fantasy trading games?

[Thierry Martin]

Congratulations patrick01 (only 1 trade!), Florida and ZaNoob!