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Extremely Confused

30 messages,  Last post on Apr 04, 2008 at 12:13 PM

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#11 of 30
Re: Extremely Confused [comp386] by doctorlove
Mar 14, 2008 (9:39 am)
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Replying to: comp386 (Mar 14, 2008 7:57 am)

The way CSX currently differs from the real world is there is a very limited number of options of what you can invest in, and there is a tremendous amount of money in the system that is only of use in purchasing those limited number of investment options.
 
Therefore, regardless of whether a car will be in demand or not, car stocks to invest in are in high demand because they are so scarce, and they are the lifeblood of the game. No one is going to make money in the game by NOT investing, and there aren't a myriad of alternative investment choices like there are in the real world. These car stocks are what you have to make money with, period.
 
This is why all the stocks (except Corolla of course) have settled in the $60-$80 range - currently demand for stocks is occluding any rational appraisal of sales pace for each car.
 
So maybe you are wondering why everyone isn't just shorting and driving the price down down down. The reason is people join the game don't know what they are doing and people who are high-volume traders are engaging in profit taking - people are trying to make a big short term gain, therefore they are trying to take advantage of any movement in the stock. So if you have a short position, the stock goes down because other people short it, instead of just sitting on your investment, you cover your short and wait for another localized peak to short again and keep making a return as the stock price covers the same range over and over again, up and down. If I just have a long term short position, if the stock goes up 5 points today, my net worth loses some value. If I'm trading constantly I might spot the daily low and cover some of my short, wait for it to hit a daily peak and short those shares again.
 
So until some of these stocks get near to the point of retirement, I think the supply of stocks is going to be primarily what determines price. Once we do get nearer to retirement, you'll start seeing people unloading any buy positions in these stocks, and dumping heavily into shorts, and maybe, just maybe, in the last couple days of trading we'll see people start considering whether unit sales will be 500 units above or below the projection. But realistically, any variance from projected unit sales is going to be a tiny drop in the bucket compared to the massive amounts of CSX dollars that will be made between the initial IPO surge and retirement.
 
So yeah, there are some major issues with how the system is currently working, and I'm sure the development team is going to consider their options along the way for how to make it better. But it's a learning process for them, and for us. This is a beta phase, meaning this is not intended to be a finished product as it is, this is experimental, this is new.
#12 of 30
Futures by yuant
Mar 14, 2008 (10:21 am)
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I think the problem is more fundamental. These are not stocks, they are financially settled futures. They have a known "settlement" date when your holdings will be settled to a published price. I think the game should be changed to model these as futures. To battle the problem pointed out by Dr Love and others (that there is no reckoning to reality until the settlement dates which are 6-months out or more), I think you should have monthly contracts in each of these "commodities." March 08 Corolla will settle to the actual sales volume for that month. April 08 Corolla to the April sales volume, etc. That way, those who are way off the mark will pay much sooner and more in line with the way the prizes are awarded.
#13 of 30
Re: Futures [yuant] by doctorlove
Mar 14, 2008 (11:06 am)
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Replying to: yuant (Mar 14, 2008 10:21 am)

And to take that a step further, all investments could be automatically "cashed out" at the end of each month, and only then will the final percentage increase be calculated and the winner determined. The developer's counter-argument to this is that month-to-month sales can fluctuate significantly due to other short term issues such as supply constraints and such, but a 6 month period would allow for a greater period of time for those inconsistencies to smooth out. Unfortunately, the reward isn't based upon a 6 month period, but a 1 month period, so that's one of the major disconnects.
#14 of 30
Re: Futures [yuant] by comp386
Mar 14, 2008 (11:27 am)
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Replying to: yuant (Mar 14, 2008 10:21 am)

The reason these problems don't exist in real life is because of arbitrage. Let's say in real life you have a future that the expected payout in 6 months is $6 but the current price is $72. I would short the stock continuously by borrowing credit with a bank. I could do this up to the point where the interest charged by the bank compounded exceeds my potential profit. Now techinically I don't have an infinite like of credit, but for all intents and purposes there are financial institutions out there would have that capability. However, this scenario is designed so that there is no borrowing or lending or any account of leverage. So I can short this stock only to the point where I have liquid assets to cover my positition. There are two conclusions one can draw from these prices. One is that the game and market's very design is flawed. The other are that participants are not rational. Both can be true of course.
#15 of 30
Re: Futures [doctorlove] by yuant
Mar 14, 2008 (11:27 am)
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Replying to: doctorlove (Mar 14, 2008 11:06 am)

I think that the short term fluctuations make this game much more about skill in predicting the actual sales figures, and much less about figuring out what all the other players are going to do or finding bugs in the game that will allow you to grow much faster than otherwise possible. If you want to stay ahead, you'd have to stay abreast of the short term issues and make good decisions based on them.
#16 of 30
Re: Futures [yuant] by comp386
Mar 14, 2008 (11:34 am)
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Replying to: yuant (Mar 14, 2008 11:27 am)

This game at this point involves no skill. What skillful person would predict that sales for a vehicles exceeds the reasonable product output for that vehicles? What skillful person would predict that others would engage in this irrational behaviour?
#17 of 30
Re: Futures [comp386] by auditt311
Mar 14, 2008 (11:50 am)
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Replying to: comp386 (Mar 14, 2008 11:34 am)

Skill is most definitely not the correct word for your argument Comp386. Perhaps "Sanity" would fit better, because I can guarantee you that it requires skill to make money in a market that does not make sense or adjust as a result of rational thought.
#18 of 30
Re: Futures [yuant] by supra4
Mar 14, 2008 (12:22 pm)
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Replying to: yuant (Mar 14, 2008 11:27 am)

Information on actual sales is a fairly recent addition. I do not see much rhyme or reason for the current resting place of stock values. When this game began the "cool cars" (evo/m3/wrx) had the highest prices despite the fact that they usually had the lowest projected sales. Then most of the stocks reached their price caps. Next the majority of players became aware of the 1/1000 ratio of stock value to prospective car sales. Initially this realization lowered the cool cars and raised the high volume cars but was quickly followed by a market freefall. Many thought this fall would continue until stocks found their real value, however a buy back occurred leaving stocks at their current level (around 70$). I think the current relative consistency is due to: People quitting the game without selling their stocks, day traders making profits off any fluctuation in stock value, new players, and an irrational consensus of a stock’s value. For example: the RL has a significantly lower value then many cars less exciting (Sonata/Astra...) and cars with a prospected lower volume of sales(IS f/M3...). I believe the value of cars stock is composed of many factors and at varying degrees but because of their arbitrary nature it is impossible to make rational predictions.
Info on the actual sales of vehicles is recent but as of yet has not made an impact on the market.
#19 of 30
Just didn't get it by autoboy16
Mar 16, 2008 (6:29 am)
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I just sold all my stocks. It just didn't work out for me which sucked because I really wanted that wii for the new smash bros Brawl game.
 
Anywho, I sold my stocks. I started off buying 5-20 stocks in 10different cars. My %change was grew to a max of 7%. I made about $100. So i figured to get more money, I bought more stocks. I bought an even 1k stocks in every car I held a stock with except the overly overpriced corolla.
 
 At first all was good because by noon, Each car made about $8k but at 1pm, It dropped faster than a person who found a $100 bill on the ground! All had a net gain of about -$8K. My %change dropped from 7% to .67% to now -.78%.
 
My overall rank started at 430, dropped to 320 with the 5-20stocks, rose to really high like past 1500 with the 1000. After selling everything, it dropped to 1388.
 
The main reason I quit was after seeing the leaders 1810.53%change, and a profit of 19,***,*** compared to my dismal high of 7% and max money being 1,036,514.00, I just lost hope. My current overall rank, 738.
 
I just have a short on the corolla now and its currently negative. I'll start buying again either when prices fall or when more vehicles are available and i read all the directions/ instructions/ rules and regs/ etc 1st.
 
-Cj
#20 of 30
Re: Just didn't get it [autoboy16] by supra4
Mar 16, 2008 (8:18 am)
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Replying to: autoboy16 (Mar 16, 2008 6:29 am)

CJ keep yourself liquid and buy alot of VW Tiguan on the 18th you will be back in it.

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