Stock Picking ("Beat Boho") Contest

[Clone]

It is a fun little game to play, but not correlated to how folks invest their real money. Although I have owned most of mine at one time or another (other than one little top of the screener unknown).

If you look at some of those other contests, the 'winner' has a strange little mix of unknown stocks. Then you look at their other portfolios, and you find that they had nine others than went worthless.

 

[SecondCor521]

PTF.

 

[sengsational]

Not very "real world" if all you own is VTSAX. I'll just add whatever the dividend is after a year to my final total.

I didn't know how to interpret that FAQ entry. It sounds like maybe they do a best effort at dividends, but want to crowd source for new entries? It seems kind of crazy for them to manage adding dividends to each contestant's account.

EDIT:
I think this is a work in progress. On the 'Fun Mode vs Realistic Mode' page:

Dividends No Maybe later this year

 

[Fermion]

And Fermion rockets back to the top, making the first $1000 on a $100,000 investment.

Hey, that is 1% in 2 days. Annualized that is a 500% return.

 

[NW-Bound]

Just look at the contest board. Is the result in real-time or what is the delay, if any?

My Quicken stock quotes are delayed by 20 min, I believe. I look just now, and the stock portion is up 2%. Yes, 2%. Holy mackerel!

The sectors where I overweigh are up huge. Hope they hold till market close. But then, what? I am not going to sell now.

 

[sengsational]

Should the contest result be limited to active posters here? I mean we are all anonymous, but frequent posters have their reputation to lose.

Else, I would create two accounts. Account A, I buy the S&P options, and leverage it to the hilt on top of that. Account B, I short the S&P heavily.

At the end, I will reveal myself as the owner of the winning account of the two, and that it's the result of the most excellent strategy by NW-Bound.

This is why we can never have nice things

Really, I'm not a fan of this kind of thing, but I made a portfolio, just for fun. It's like a blackjack tournament... all your normal rules go out the window. Your usual betting strategy: gone. Your usual hit/stand rules: gone. If your goal is winning, it's no longer blackjack, just like this contest, if you want to win, you do a bunch of nut-job extremes that no sane person would do in the real world.

PS: My goal is not to win, lol!

 

[Coolius]

Fermion, your performance gives me extreme whiplash.....

 

[NW-Bound]

I never play black jack, in fact I do not know how to play any card game. Someone taught me a game or two, and I promptly forgot it.

I love to count real money. I love money.

About the contest, it is still fun if the account is with the same name as a frequent poster. You cannot claim an unknown name as your own afterwards.

 

[sengsational]

^ Let's call that motion carried.

I do think this will be a fun distraction, because we "know" each other (in that online kind of way). And although I'm not playing to win against wild strategies, I'm playing to arrive, let's say, in the 50th percentile range against 'normal' strategies. BTW, apparently the contestants' activity will be revealed to all when the contest ends.

Can I view the stocks of other contestants? Yes, at the end of the contest. Or teachers of Private Classrooms may view them during the contest. On the Contest Status page, look for a link next to each trader called My Trades.

 

[RetiredGypsy]

I just picked companies that own some random things I have laying around. Seems to not be sucking so far.

 

[splitwdw]

We are just getting started out of the gates like in the Kentucky Derby. I'm next to bottom as of that chart, but the good news is only about $650 dollars separate the top to the bottom.

But Splitwdw's (maybe unintentional) strategy, of staying all cash might be hard to beat .

I have a selection of stocks in my portfolio and for some reason it's not showing in the rankings. In the rankings it shows $100,000. My total as of the close today is 100,138.40 I've been having problems ever since I opened the account.

 

[Boho]

I have a selection of stocks in my portfolio and for some reason it's not showing in the rankings. In the rankings it shows $100,000. My total as of the close today is 100,138.40 I've been having problems ever since I opened the account.

You can report problems at SimVest.com - Contact Us. If that doesn't work let me know if you want me to remove you from the contest so you can start a new account and rejoin.

 

[splitwdw]

You can report problems at SimVest.com - Contact Us. If that doesn't work let me know if you want me to remove you from the contest so you can start a new account and rejoin.

I just sent them an email, thanks.


edit: got an automated reply "your request has been received and they will review"

 

[NW-Bound]

We will have to credit splitwdw with $138.40 if she has to reset her account.

The race may end up being neck-to-neck, and every dime helps.

 

[splitwdw]

We will have to credit splitwdw with $138.40 if she has to reset her account.

The race may end up being neck-to-neck, and every dime helps.

Make that 100,388.26 as of 7:51PM This is funny!

 

[ERD50]

We will have to credit splitwdw with $138.40 if she has to reset her account.

The race may end up being neck-to-neck, and every dime helps.

No, no, no. Boho is going to win by miles, and dollars, and tons. He knows how people think. The slow start is just to lull everyone into complacency.

-ERD50

 

[NW-Bound]

Not surprising to me that Fermion is leading. I have been overweighting some sectors and those jumped bigly, er, big league today.

My stocks ended up 1.88%, but after getting diluted out by pedestrian MF's, and of course 30% of cold cash, I am only up 1.16%. Thought I did well, but Fermion got 1.23%.

My number is real money while Fermion's is virtual, but I wonder if he is fully invested. I still have 30% cash. I think Fermion's contest account may be only 20 or 30% invested, and he has but 1 or 2 positions, and both cylinders were firing today. My best position is up 7.5% today, but only 2% of my portfolio is in it.

People who do individual stocks, and high-beta ones at that, know what I am talking about. Need strong stomach.

 

[panacea]

How fun- I'm in! Getting set up now!

 

[easysurfer]

Oh man! I hope the market does not crash, and the contest result gives more ammo to people who say one should keep it all under his mattress.

I've got actual, not virtual, money to lose.

My emoji (is that how you spell that?) was meant was sarcasm.

Poor Splitwdw. Still stuck on 100K without a paddle .

 

[RetiredGypsy]

I don't know what's happening but I like it. It's late, but the money changed again. I guess Wall Street never sleeps?

 

[NW-Bound]

My emoji (is that how you spell that?) was meant was sarcasm.

Poor Splitwdw. Still stuck on 100K without a paddle .

I knew you were jesting, and just played along. But then, with the market, anything is possible. Really.

Just checked again, and there are more posters whom I "know" signing up. This is great! Splitwdw is still shown as at the starting line along with them, not being able to get her car started.

But hey, come to think of it, this is more interesting than the Indy 500. Unlike any race, here the contestants may go backwards, and the ones stuck at the starting line may become the winner. Race cars do not have reverse gears, but anything is possible here. One "Wh***" is all it takes.

PS. And the order changed. Sie (who is that?) jumps a bit past Fermion. Must be because Sie got some MFs, who reported late. Forgot what the order was, else I could see who is doing MF, and who is doing stocks and ETFs. How frequently do they update during the day?

 

[harley]

I'm in. And I'm going to be actively trading, at least the way I do in my play portfolio - whenever I remember to. I expect to prove to all of you what I've proved to myself over and over. I'm not a good active trader. My success in my real portfolio is due to basically two long ago trades. Buying Apple at an adjusted price of ~$1.25, and buying Brk.B at ~$58. Other than that, some winners, some losers. Pretty much all the other trades I've done have cancelled each other out.

Actually, I wouldn't like to bet against just holding the cash. I think the market is severely inflated, and I wouldn't be surprised if pretty much everything is lower in a year. I don't know how to do shorts and puts and all that, so maybe someone could win using those methods. But I absolutely wouldn't be shocked if just owning stocks is a loser for the 1 year period.

 

[easysurfer]

I knew you were jesting, and just played along. But then, with the market, anything is possible. Really.

...

Yeah, if the market tanks, the 100,000 mark may look better and better.

 

[NW-Bound]

...Actually, I wouldn't like to bet against just holding the cash. I think the market is severely inflated, and I wouldn't be surprised if pretty much everything is lower in a year. I don't know how to do shorts and puts and all that, so maybe someone could win using those methods. But I absolutely wouldn't be shocked if just owning stocks is a loser for the 1 year period.

Shorting the market is extremely dangerous. I was doing a game with myself, making a small bet trying to win just a dinner for two at a fancy steak house, as reported on LOL thread. Not doing so well, even after hedging it, but that contest with myself will not play out until late April when the option expires, so a turn about face is still possible.

The market is hot right now, and if you time it right, ride it up and bail out to cash, you can watch other contestants get swept away. Let's keep eyes peeled for that "Wh***" proclamation.

 

[Totoro]

Is there a way to reinvest dividends?

Get an accumulating ETF, like IWDA or CSPX.