Tradergames: 50% poker / 50% trading

Roberk,

That was an informative and interesting reply, thanks a lot.

Played it for the first 10 days it was operational but then people seemed to catch on the way to play. I only played it when the market was very quiet as obvioulsy making/losing (!) real money is a bit more important than playing for a few hundred pounds. I found the best strategy was not to trade. The markets were quiet and people just paid away spreads. By the end of the time period everyone was usually down and so at the end you would enter a tiny trade just to qualify for the pot! Not sure if that tactic would still work because after a while everyone seemed to be doing it. Might have anotherlook though!

Hi roberk

Very interesting site.Am I right in saying you got to trade 4 shorts and 4 longs within 2 hours of the competition.?

Also, they give you a 100,000 paper account, how much do you place when trading in these competition.per trade.


sun

HI sun,
No not 4 trades; the only thing is you must place at least one trade during a game. That trade could be the winning trade. I am a daytrader so I usually make over 5 or 6 in a 2 hour game but some players only make 1 or 2.
They give you 50 million playmoney for each game and you can buy and sell the whole amount each trade or a minimum of 1 million and any multiple in between. I tend to put on the full amount when I enter a trade and then scale out as the move looks to be ending.

When I first started playing I would scale in as well but many players watch what other players are doing and follow their moves. So if I am right - but only have small position- Joe will see my direction and follow with a full 50 million and quickly overtake me - frustrating!

Hi roberk

So you saying if you are a good trader some joe public could follow you. So the thing to do is put some foot soldiers in the market so to speak.with a low stake To fool them.

Do the other players now what stake you are placing.If so the foot soldier approach wont work. Im going to open an account Monday and have a go?

Thanks

sun

HI Sun,
Yes the other traders can know exactly what trade you make, but not the amount ,as soon as you place it because they can make you one of their favourites and get news of what you are doing, or they can look at the watch page, see the trades made and have a good idea of what you have done, including the exact size, (although if all traders enter positons near the same time it gets confusing).
Your 'foot soldier' faking move is a a good idea- might try that myself! It can still work becuase they think to get ahead of you by putting on a bigger position.

roberk

That's a shame they know the amount you stake. But you can confuse them by placing small stakes maybe. but they catch on to that In time.

So if one is good at trading, it would be still hard to make money, as the not so skilled would follow you moves. I give it a go anyway see how it goes

We chat more about this Monday.

Cheers

sun

I'll be looking out for you Sun
An attraction of the site for newbie traders is that they can follow the best players. It's like they are standing behind the pro traders screen watching what he does.: mentoring at no cost.
I don't mind that at all because finally a trader has to find their own methods. I belong to a couple of futures chatrooms and learn the techniques of the pros there - but only take a few of their trades as I grow to rely on my own methods.
I learn from every game too- it's like trading boot camp. I've traded almost every day for the last 2 years but I learn more from a 2 hour game than from 2 or 3 days of trading.
I thought I was an aggresive trader, but in fact find I am timid. I put on several trades every day, sometimes more than 10- but they are often small size- so I cover over my fear of trading by taking many small trades when I should be considering the odds more and varying size, even going all in on occasion.

The games give me confidence too, because in about 90% I am in positive territory for at least part of the game (although sometimes I go back into negative because I try a desperate move in the leader is way ahead); and so even if I finally come second or 3rd it reinforces confidence in my skill.

Also in daily trading I tend to either give up or go on a tilt if I make 2 or 3 bad trades in a row. One game I had last week I was $130,000 down on the leader. I felt like throwing it in, but kept watching, saw a bullfag developing and made a nicely timed short, eventually winning the game with only a minute to spare: well I had nothing to lose so it brought out the best.

And stop and reverse:　usually in daily trading I am ecstatic if I win, or down if I lose and have no interest in a stop and reverse. In the games I am learning how do do that- it is a whole 'nother level of trading and one that very few traders can master. I wouldn't be surprised if these gaming sites produce a new breed of aggressive and motivated traders。