Re: [ast-users] Stock Track

[Michael W. <msw...@uw...>]

Hi Nick,

The latest SVN sources have support for rules and I've cleaned up the game=
=20
code a bit. There are few little polish things left to do, like push the ru=
le=20
limits back up to the user (e.g. it says you can't pick stocks on this=20
market, when instead it would be nicer to just not let them select that=20
market at all). The rules I have implemented are:

1. Minimum security price
2. Limited markets
3. Commissions
4. Maximum / Minimum investment in one security
5. Maximum number of holdings
6. Disable selling

I haven't done anything with dividends yet. Here is what I was thinking: A=
=20
script that runs nightly and looks for dividends and records the transactio=
n.=20
The only potential problem here is I don't know how timely the dividend dat=
a=20
is.

Now I think we need to do some beta testing. I'm not sure how to organise t=
his=20
exactly. If you are interested in hosting something that would be great.=20
Otherwise I have a server but I don't want to publish the URL, so maybe I'l=
l=20
do it invite only.

If you would like me to build a binary for you let me know (I have a script=
=20
that does this). Remember that you have to configure with --enable-game to=
=20
actually get this code. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

=2D- Michael.

On Friday 06 October 2006 15:28, Nick Nyberg wrote:
> Hey Michael,
>
> You are correct, I don't believe there is any software out there that
> currently provides this functionality.  Google does although have a list =
of
> sites that you can use to sign up:
> http://www.google.com/Top/Business/Investing/Games/
>
> So, I like the idea they have here, some of these actually offer a prize.=
=20
> I was sort of thinking the same thing with my site although a $100,000
> prize is way out of my league.  I was thinking like a trophy or something.
>
> The problem is that people can no implement these on their own sites, and
> its not obviously open source.  It looks like you have already put way mo=
re
> thought into it that I have.  =3D)
>
> I think the maximum investment in a stock is something that should be an
> option, the reason is we're basically letting people simulate trading with
> a real $100,000.  It may not be the best idea, but if people wanted to do
> it then it would be allowed by any broker.  I think the same thing with t=
he
> dividends.  I see your point though about artificially inflating, but...
> again if we want to simulate then people should be allowed to do that.
>
> Other options are,:
> Max trades per day.
> Do they have to pay a commission to make the trades / how much?
> What markets they can enter.  Is it a NASDAQ only challenge?
> Obviously we'll have to execute trades like the market would with market
> trades, limit trades.
>
> Those are the ones that comes to mind.  No, I don=92t mind the e-mail goi=
ng
> out to the mailing list, in fact I replied to all.
>
> You also said very soon, does that mean development has started already? =
 I
> am a pretty much a newbie at .php but I am learning as I go so I can do
> what I can to help.
>
> -Nick
>
>
>
>
> Nick=A0Nyberg
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Williamson [mailto:msw...@uw...]
> Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 7:17 PM
> To: Nick Nyberg; ast...@li...
> Subject: Re: Stock Track
>
> Hi Nick,
>
> This is actually a commonly requested feature. As far as I know, there is
> no
>
> software out there that meets these needs. I think that I will implement
> this
> feature in (near) future... Here is what I was thinking:
>
> 1. When creating a portfolio, give the user the option to create
> a "competition portfolio". The user would select the type, which could be
> defined the administrator.
>
> 2. The administrator can create different portfolio types with different
> rules. There will be some pre-built rules, such as a min # of stocks, max
> investment in a stock, etc. In addition, you can define custom rules (that
> apply to one security probably) by writing expressions on the portfolio.
> One
>
> thing we need to do is brainstorm what rules we need.
>
> 3. There will be a status page (or various status pages) where you can see
> who
> is winning, lossing, biggest gainer in the week, etc.
>
> 4. Disable recording of dividends on a competition portfolio, but need a
> way
>
> to otherwise account for stock splits (and possibly dividends if you want
> them to be counted). If the user could record dividends, they could obvio=
us
> inflate the gains.
>
> 5. Probably want to have a page where a user can create an account
> (currently
> only admin can). This has also been requested a couple of times.
>
> 6. Ability to define a contest end date, after which the portfolio is no
> longer updated. I'm not quite sure how this would be handled... looking up
> historical quotes or somehow modifying the portfolio database.
>
> 7. Probably would like to be able to copy old contests and change the end
> date.
>
> 8. Allow read-only sharing on portfolios so that other users can browse
> them
>
> (should be easy since read-write sharing is already implemented).
>
> 9. You may wish to disable certain features in AST, such as stock screener
> that can cause high load if you have many users.
>
> 10. Maybe a permission level that says users can or cannot join
> competitions?
> How to limit these to a group of users (since AST has no groups).
>
> 11. Should this be an option in system settings or a compile-time option?
> Probably compile time until it is stabilized.
>
> I apologize for the length of this email, its sort of a to-do list for me.
> Please let me know if you have any ideas for #4 and which filters we need
> (#2). I hope you don't mind I edited your message a bit and CC-ed the
> mailing
> list.
>
> Thanks for your input.
>
> -- Michael.
>
> On Thursday 05 October 2006 13:34, you wrote:
> > Hey Michael,
> >
> > Awesome program, I just read the details on source forge and am uploadi=
ng
> > to my host now.  I have a couple questions if you don't mind.  One
> > idea that we had was to incorporate a stock trading program that would
> > allow users to compete.  Basically monthly you log onto the site and ma=
ke
> > purchases/shorts etc with $100,000 fake money and the user with the most
> > money at the end of the month hopefully wins a prize, or a trophy or
> > something.So this is where your software came in.  I didn't find anythi=
ng
> > similar but thought yours might work for this, any ideas or suggestions
> > before I get started?
> >
> > Thanks for your time!
> >
> > Nick