Competitions - ideas please

[Pat494]

Well - I think that this "involve the members" is all well & good - but shouldn't some suggestions come from T2W staff too?

I would say that you should alllow all markets, not just forex. With the last comp, you alienated non-forex traders and the whole thing was pretty crass in terms of it being a self-promotional idea (and I should know). Be subtle about it. If you have to promote a new site, that's fine but find a way to be more inclusive.

If trades have to be entered twice by a live trader because it is a longer-running 'grow an account' type competition, then there is a lot of scope for making it too much hassle...
- a short term trader would need a way to automatically replicate their trades because of the focus they have on the early part of the trade
- you have to support the same sort of exits/scaling that the trader has

For a SIM trader, it's no hassle because they just have to change the SIM account they use. For a live trader, it could very quickly become a hassle. There is also the "shoot for the stars" aspect where someone could go all-in just to with the comp. It becomes a d!ck swinging competition, has no educational value and rewards high-risk behaviour and more so the shorter the horizon of the competition. If it lasts a year, that'd probably wash out.

You could have a "Trade of the month" competition. Not as the only comp but just as one idea.
- Submit a trade within 5 minutes of entry on a competition forum post.
- Trades can only be sumbitted before they are closed
- Evidence must be provided that it was actually taken - live or sim doesn't matter
- Trader follows up with documentation of the trade, why it was taken, how much was risked, where the exit was, why the exit was there

No hindsight trades allowed. Judging will be based on risk taken, how well trade was managed, educational value of notes that come alongside the trade.

This comp also brings quality content to the site.Huzzah.

Looks too complicated and time consuming to me. It looks like you are suggesting showing on a forum real trading. I don't mind spending a few minutes on my entry but the above looks like much too much and too serious.
A different view I guess

 

[Vasco da Banana]

It will only demostrate basic skills with that kind of money, should one who is consistent in winning, one would naturally adjust the stakes when required. Since there is a limit due to the margins available, one cannot show these advanced skills by adjusting the stakes.....hence limitation.....afterall, trading is about making $!.....unless we don't want to see those skills?.....or we only want to see basic skills.

But maybe 'basic skills' is all you need if you're making a consistent profit? Also, some SBs allow stakes down to 10p, so scaling in an out is still feasible, if you can be bothered.

 

[DionysusToast]

Looks too complicated and time consuming to me. It looks like you are suggesting showing on a forum real trading. I don't mind spending a few minutes on my entry but the above looks like much too much and too serious.
A different view I guess

Well - you can have a variation on a theme but the key is to actually get on line and register the trade after placing it but before you know how it's going to work out.

How much info you put thereafter would be down to you.

 

[Liquid validity]

I have an idea based on the house raffle model:
House Raffle - Google

1/ First off, have decent prizes - minimum of £2K monthly prize for instance.
Don't be cheap, or its not worth the bother and won't draw interest and traffic.

2/ Pay for the prizes with a competition entry fee.
Gambling commission legislation will apply:
Gambling Commission - Home Page
Example fee - £10 - 25 depending on uptake.

3/ Promote the competition or else there is no point.
That means not just a home page banner.

4/ 3 categories - swing and 2 intra categories
(10 mins + hold time, and sub 10 mins hold time)

5/ Maybe lower prize / entry fee to make it a weekly comp.

6/ Last and most important - limit trade size to same % for everyone.
Scaling in only possible up to that %, not beyond.
Winner is the highest ROI.

Offer something of value, traffic will increase as well as click through rates.
Be cheap with no incentive and there is no point.
The entry fee should cover all or most of the prize (maybe more?).

 

[Atilla]

Quite a few ideas are flowing and some contradictory.

There is that old adage - “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”.

I'd compile a list of ideas with essentials, preferred and nice to haves.

Then prioritise on top 3-5 getting rid of rest to simplify. The prioritising can be based on members voting. If time and resource is available add to list with bells and whistles.

Otherwise we'll be going round circles.

 

[Pat494]

Quite a few ideas are flowing and some contradictory.

There is that old adage - “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”.

I'd compile a list of ideas with essentials, preferred and nice to haves.

Then prioritise on top 3-5 getting rid of rest to simplify. The prioritising can be based on members voting. If time and resource is available add to list with bells and whistles.

Otherwise we'll be going round circles.

The fate of democracy I fear

 

[new_trader]

Competitions with prizes are a desperate act to revive interest in anything on the decline. Whenever a TV show is giving away a prize where all you have to is “watch the show for the answer” you can bet it’s because the ratings have fallen off a cliff. Politicians start giving away more and more free stuff whenever it looks like they are going to lose an election. Companies give away prize money to get consumers to buy an inferior product.

People come to Trade2win to learn how to trade and invest, not to participate in a trading competition. If the quality of the content is now so abysmal that you need to resort to giving away stuff via a meaningless competition then you are acknowledging what I suspect i.e. This forum is in an irreversible decline.

The sort of ‘competition’ I would like to see would be something like an ‘educational’ competition. Perhaps a video of the week/month type competition where members can elect a trading/investing/economic subject and then make a video and post it on youtube. Whichever video gets the most ‘thumbs up’ in a month is the winner. This is just an idea, not even a good one really, but it’s better than another boring trade type competition.

 

[the hare]

If the quality of the content is now so abysmal that you need to resort to giving away stuff via a meaningless competition then you are acknowledging what I suspect i.e. This forum is in an irreversible decline..

I don't think there's any if about it. A deliberate decision was made to dumb down content, it was the right commercial decision, but competitors did it better than the zoo did, and now they are paying the price.

They'd be better off using the prize money to pay mr Wong's click factory to make a few posts, it would at least give the advertisers the impression something was happening.

It's been obvious for a while that they've lost their way, drifting with no direction in the hope someone somewhere will come up with an idea. Personally I don't think competitions are the way to go, there are too many people already running them, they are better organized, better prizes, and its their core business rather than a hastily implemented idea driven by desperation and greed.

 

[timsk]

Those of you who want to discuss the current state of the site are welcome to do so on bespoke threads devoted to that topic. This thread is about the type of competition you'd like to see and how it should be run. Please focus on that to help us put something together that's interesting and enjoyable for everyone.

Thank you to those who have made positive and constructive suggestions - keep 'em coming!

Tim.

 

[brewski1984]

What about if somebody posts up an entry and then everyone posts up their exit either by posting their target or the price as they exit, be it daily, weekly or monthly. Best exit wins and you have to have stated you've closed the trade at your price before the end of the time limit to be in the competition.

 

[Atilla]

The fate of democracy I fear

The people want a competition - we should get one

I'm heartened to know and very happy that we are not at all like minded individuals but very different in many ways. I know this is stating the bleeding obvious but a nice thought anyhow

 

[wackypete2]

I like to have an open mind and we could equally do away with prizes and just have bragging rights as titles for 2013 Competition Champion followed up with runner up and third.

I heard that title is already taken even without an actual competition yet!

 

[Lord Flasheart]

how about last man stands. We all call out a trade a day within certain parameters and each day those that lose drop out, until we have a winner

 

[Atilla]

how about last man stands. We all call out a trade a day within certain parameters and each day those that lose drop out, until we have a winner

Hmm - that would mean people sitting out rather than participating.

Participation is good and we should use pips to separate winners from losers.

I do like the gladiator style combat though

 

[Pat494]

OK here is an idea
For every post you get a virtual credit
For every good post - you get a credit ( max from the same person - 2 per week )
Winning the weekly comp 3 credits, silver - 2 and bronze - 1
etc.
credits can be used to buy books etc from the website store.

Get some of those games back too

 

[Dick Lexic]

I have copied a couple of posts that explain what this thread is about - we intend to start having competitions again and I want ideas for what they should be, how they should run etc etc.

So if you have a moment to comment please tell me anything you want. Out of this and our own ideas we'll hopefully pull together a workable framework.

So let me know.

if it's all about getting new members why have a comp and give the best traders more?
how about a random smaller prize to new members ...just draw from a hat (min 30 posts)
or maybe most promising new member of the month?
maybe the thread with the most posts should be awarded the prize....thread members to vote for winner..just some thoughts

 

[Lord Flasheart]

How about a league table.
You could even do it 1 against 1 on a daily bases. Me v wacky both pick a trade, if im right i get 3 pts,if both right 1 pt each. The next day I play someone else.

 

[Atilla]

I think league tables work quite well once a scoring mechanism is established.


I'm thinking there is benefit in reviewing what was good and what didn't work so well with the old FX competition. Lessons learnt exercise so we don't repeat the negatives about the competition.

1. Primarily - risk / management must be within constraints as it is for real traders.

2. Prizes (if any) should not be frequent but spaced out long term to reward consistency not short term winners.

3. Perhaps the instrument to compete in can be varied periodically between FX, Indeces and Equities etc. I'm tempted to feel the narrower the range and more controlled the better as otherwise difficult to administer a complex competition.

 

[Vasco da Banana]

The main problems with the old competition were, a) the platform was carp, and b) it was only fx.

 

[Pat494]

Surely the main ingredients of a competition are:-
1. fun to play
2. instructive
3.helps make one some money
4. bragging rights on virtual podiums
5. attracts players and comments.
6. ??????????????