NationStates Jolt Archive

http://www.hsx.com/

Has anyone tried it out? Do you think that it would give one valuable experience in understanding anything about the actual stock market (other than buy low - sell high)?

I tried it out and "bought" some Simpsons stock the day they announced the movie and made about a million dollars in a few days. I also made $300 on Tron 2 :p

I am currently trying to figure out the bonds, funds and options.

I done stock market games but not the real thing. People usually suggest to buy from smaller companies because they flux more.

I done stock market games but not the real thing. People usually suggest to buy from smaller companies because they flux more.


This seems like an interesting project/game/thingy. I guess independent films can be thought of as small businesses.

This seems like an interesting project/game/thingy. I guess independent films can be thought of as small businesses.
We did it through math. It drove us all insane. More insane than usual.
Yeah, I suppose it would.

We did it through math. It drove us all insane. More insane than usual.
Yeah, I suppose it would.


I think I would make little to no money in the stock market.

In this game I only pick movies that I am interested in whethere they will make money or not. It's hard for me to invest in a movie I think will suck, even if it has money making potential.

The same would probably go for real stocks... I would invest in BP and other environmentally friendly or socially responsible companies because I like their business practices, completely ignoring ho w well they are doing financially.

I think I would make little to no money in the stock market.

In this game I only pick movies that I am interested in whethere they will make money or not. It's hard for me to invest in a movie I think will suck, even if it has money making potential.

The same would probably go for real stocks... I would invest in BP and other environmentally friendly or socially responsible companies because I like their business practices, completely ignoring ho w well they are doing financially.
When we played there was an outrageous jump in an airline company around the beginning of spring. I would do seasonal things. With spring break coming, gas stocks are sure to go up.

When we played there was an outrageous jump in an airline company around the beginning of spring. I would do seasonal things. With spring break coming, gas stocks are sure to go up.


My friend has a brother in England who makes a ton of money by betting on the stock market. I thought that was a novel idea.

Go here: http://www.optionsexpress.com

Sign up for an account. It's free. Go to tools and to virtual trading. There you can buy and sell real stocks on the real market with fake money. What happens in there is what would happen in the real market had you actually bought that stock. It even has real delays to simulate the difference in lag on market orders and limit orders. It also allows you to use stop losses, trailing stop losses. It even allows you to trade at different levels. In other words, you can change yoru trading level to allow you to sell naked calls, for example, even though very few people are actually allowed to do that. It keeps track of everything you do and issues account statements every month.

Go here: http://www.optionsexpress.com

Sign up for an account. It's free. Go to tools and to virtual trading. There you can buy and sell real stocks on the real market with fake money. What happens in there is what would happen in the real market had you actually bought that stock. It even has real delays to simulate the difference in lag on market orders and limit orders. It also allows you to use stop losses, trailing stop losses. It even allows you to trade at different levels. In other words, you can change yoru trading level to allow you to sell naked calls, for example, even though very few people are actually allowed to do that. It keeps track of everything you do and issues account statements every month.


ohh kuhl! I will have to try that. All teh bolded stuff anyway. The other stuff is like a foreign language to me.

I've just signed up and built my portfolio. This is kind of cool.

ohh kuhl! I will have to try that. All teh bolded stuff anyway. The other stuff is like a foreign language to me.
Stop Loss = Your stock or option automatically sells on a certain loss, say 10% or you can set a dollar amount.

Trailing stop is set at a % or dollar amount that follows yoru stock or option up. In other words if you set a trailing stop at $10.00 and you buy an option for $100.00 then the price of the option falls to $90.00 yoru option sells, but if it goes up to $200.00 then the new stop follows it up and it will now sell at $190.00. The trailing stop is ten dollars so basically you will keeop teh stock until the stock or option price falls by $10.00.

Naked call = A call option is a contract you purchase that allows you to sell 100 shares of a stock at a certain price by a certain date regardless of what the actual stock is worth. For example, I have 100 shares of microsoft and it's worth $100/share for a total of $10,000.00. I'm betting that the stock is going to go down, but I'm not sure so instead of selling it I buy a contract for, say, $200.00 that says I get to sell this stock at $100.00/share anytime between now and Nov. 21. If the stock goes down to $80.00 in July I can decide to exercise that option and the person who issued the contract has to honor it and buy the stock from me at $100.00/share. Now, if I had not had the contract I would have had to sell the stock for $8,000.00 for a loss of $2000.00. Because i had the contract I got to sell it for 10,000. That means the only loss I took was the $200.00 it cost me for the contract. Now a naked call is when I sell a call contract on stock I do not own. That's very risky. If the stock goes teh worng way you can lose a HELL of a lot of money and you don't have the underlying entity, meaning the stock, to back up yoru loss so you better have the cash to pay off the value of the loss. The reason only certain people are allowed to do it is because your brokerage, by virtue of taking you on as a client, is guarenteeing your account so teh person who holds the contract never even knows who you are. They just get teh money. Now your brokerage is in the hole for it and they're gonna come after you. If you're smart and you invest right and don't get in too deep it's not a problem because you'll just pay them and they'll let you keep oing, but very rich people have gone broke by getting too greedy when the market moved teh wrong way.

Hollywood Stock Exchange seems like it could be fun, thanks for the link.

I just picked up 5000 shares in Natalie Portman at H$94.78 per share. Since V for Vendetta seemed to do pretty well, I think her future career has some good things layed out for her. It certainly has been kind to her so far.

Hollywood Stock Exchange seems like it could be fun, thanks for the link.

I just picked up 5000 shares in Natalie Portman at H$94.78 per share. Since V for Vendetta seemed to do pretty well, I think her future career has some good things layed out for her. It certainly has been kind to her so far.
I've got 681 shares of director David Fincher and 100 shares of actor John Turturo. Plus I've bought stock in Clerks 2, the remakes of Day of the Dead, Evil Dead, and a Borat movie among others. Can't wait to see if they make money.

Sounds alot like Celebdaq (http://www.bbc.co.uk/celebdaq/)

Stop Loss = Your stock or option automatically sells on a certain loss, say 10% or you can set a dollar amount.

Trailing stop is set at a % or dollar amount that follows yoru stock or option up. In other words if you set a trailing stop at $10.00 and you buy an option for $100.00 then the price of the option falls to $90.00 yoru option sells, but if it goes up to $200.00 then the new stop follows it up and it will now sell at $190.00. The trailing stop is ten dollars so basically you will keeop teh stock until the stock or option price falls by $10.00.

Naked call = A call option is a contract you purchase that allows you to sell 100 shares of a stock at a certain price by a certain date regardless of what the actual stock is worth. For example, I have 100 shares of microsoft and it's worth $100/share for a total of $10,000.00. I'm betting that the stock is going to go down, but I'm not sure so instead of selling it I buy a contract for, say, $200.00 that says I get to sell this stock at $100.00/share anytime between now and Nov. 21. If the stock goes down to $80.00 in July I can decide to exercise that option and the person who issued the contract has to honor it and buy the stock from me at $100.00/share. Now, if I had not had the contract I would have had to sell the stock for $8,000.00 for a loss of $2000.00. Because i had the contract I got to sell it for 10,000. That means the only loss I took was the $200.00 it cost me for the contract. Now a naked call is when I sell a call contract on stock I do not own. That's very risky. If the stock goes teh worng way you can lose a HELL of a lot of money and you don't have the underlying entity, meaning the stock, to back up yoru loss so you better have the cash to pay off the value of the loss. The reason only certain people are allowed to do it is because your brokerage, by virtue of taking you on as a client, is guarenteeing your account so teh person who holds the contract never even knows who you are. They just get teh money. Now your brokerage is in the hole for it and they're gonna come after you. If you're smart and you invest right and don't get in too deep it's not a problem because you'll just pay them and they'll let you keep oing, but very rich people have gone broke by getting too greedy when the market moved teh wrong way.
Shit, I just fucked that up.

here are teh two kinds of options:

Call option = allows you to buy 100 shares of a stock at a certain "strike price" by a certain date regardless of what it's market price is. I curently own a few calls on Cooper Cameron for $50.00 until August. That means I get to buy the stock for $50.00 no matter what the price is. I bought the contracts for $110.00 each. Right now the stock is at $45.00 about. This means that my contract has no value. I am betting taht between now and August the stock will go up over $50.00. When it does I can either exercise my option and purchase 100 shares at $50.00 or I can just sell the contract itself because it will have value. Now, lets say teh stock goes up to $55.00. Well, I get to buy 100 shares for $50.00 for a total purchase price of $5,000. But it's worth $55.00/share so I can turn right around and sell it for $5,500 for a $500 profit. The option only cost $110.00 so my total profit per contract is $390.00 for a more than 200% profit. If I had actually bought teh stock itself my profit woudl have been 10%.

I'm tired of typing. If this thread is still around I'll type about put options later which is where you can make money when a stock goes down by buying the right to sell at a higher price.

Dan you should give stock lessons here! Thanks for the education :)

Hope you others enjoy the hollywood stock exchange... in a month lets see who's made more money

Shit, I just fucked that up.

here are teh two kinds of options:

Call option = allows you to buy 100 shares of a stock at a certain "strike price" by a certain date regardless of what it's market price is. I curently own a few calls on Cooper Cameron for $50.00 until August. That means I get to buy the stock for $50.00 no matter what the price is. I bought the contracts for $110.00 each. Right now the stock is at $45.00 about. This means that my contract has no value. I am betting taht between now and August the stock will go up over $50.00. When it does I can either exercise my option and purchase 100 shares at $50.00 or I can just sell the contract itself because it will have value. Now, lets say teh stock goes up to $55.00. Well, I get to buy 100 shares for $50.00 for a total purchase price of $5,000. But it's worth $55.00/share so I can turn right around and sell it for $5,500 for a $500 profit. The option only cost $110.00 so my total profit per contract is $390.00 for a more than 200% profit. If I had actually bought teh stock itself my profit woudl have been 10%.

I'm tired of typing. If this thread is still around I'll type about put options later which is where you can make money when a stock goes down by buying the right to sell at a higher price.


oh okay - when I start investing I will get the tips from you! :D

Sounds alot like Celebdaq (http://www.bbc.co.uk/celebdaq/)

Yeah they do seem very similar.