Portfolio of the Week

[New-born baby]

COSI--out

Sell my COSI, please.

[peanuts]

trading

covering my lousy PKX short and going long on GMKT

[stenzrob]

EXP - a week off

My pick LAST week was EXP, looks like it would have been a good pick this week instead. But, I'm liking the way my pick this week (IMOS) is shaping up, too. I'll stick with it.

regards ... stenz

[peanuts]

week 4, day 3

Week 4 - The Burning Building
Day 3 - 5th floor is gone!

Darts in one hand and a three-er in the other, RL gains the lead by taking a quick slug and jumping right through some flames. When she says that she's ready, she means it; riverbabe shoots past the rest of the players looking ready for a hot date. Sirtuck loses a little ground, but remains wet and safely ahead of the rest. Lyehopper remembered that he didn't forget anything and went back down the stairwell, still holding the FORG. Peanuts got roasted in his shorts and starting yelling something in Korean... things seem to be picking up now. Karel dropped some steaks and had to pause to gather them. For the most part, all the players seem to be on their way safely out the door. There are a few stragglers, and we all hope that they make it out alive. Jiesen may have to give up the search for Minnie if he's gonna make it, and Rob might have to do a courtesy flush, so he doesn't stink up the joint. Wait, hey, who forgot about Spike? Yo dude! The building is about to burn down!

1= long
-1= short

closed positions:
1: Gatorman - MOT long Monday @ $19.38, closed Tuesday @ $18.49, 4.5924% loss applied to player's score
2: New-born baby - COSI long Tuesday @ $5.93, closed Wednesday @ 6.10, 2.8668% gain applied to player's score
3: peanuts - PKX short Monday @ 84.75, closed Wednesday @ 86.98, 2.6313% loss applied to player's score

And the leaders are:

GOLD: RL 6.74%
SILVER: riverbabe 5.29%
BRONZE: sirtuck 3.17%

[New-born baby]

Long HRT

Peanuts:
I'll take HRT long right here, please.

[peanuts]

week 4, day 4

Week 4 - The Burning Building
Day 4 - a blazing inferno

This sucker is burning faster than we all thought. RL, riverbabe, and skiracer have all teamed up and are closest to the door. That threesome is seeing some wild action! New-born baby is standing now, and may go from crawling all the way to running in one day. He'll be one to watch. Without going into too much detail, Rob is stuck on the pot. It'll take a miracle, folks, for him to make it out alive. Karel said the heck with it, and he's gonna cook the meat, right now. Lyehopper, still holding his FORG, is setting places at the table for Websman, Spikefader, Rob (if he can make it), Peanuts, Peter Hansen, Jiesen, and Gatorman. Say, Karel, do you have anything to go with all that meat? Maybe a beer or something? Hey, if we can catch up with RL...

1= long
-1= short

closed positions:
1: Gatorman - MOT long Monday @ $19.38, closed Tuesday @ $18.49, 4.5924% loss applied to player's score
2: New-born baby - COSI long Tuesday @ $5.93, closed Wednesday @ 6.10, 2.8668% gain applied to player's score
3: peanuts - PKX short Monday @ 84.75, closed Wednesday @ 86.98, 2.6313% loss applied to player's score

And the leaders are:

GOLD: RL 3.17%
SILVER: skiracer 3.12%
BRONZE: riverbabe 3.05%

[Karel]

[...] Say, Karel, do you have anything to go with all that meat? Maybe a beer or something? [...]

I should hope so. I am a vegetarian. But beer is good, too.

Regards,

Karel

[stenzrob]

Peanuts, I have a couple of questions/suggestions about rules and results tracking. These are just for consideration to enhance realism - I am perfectly content to play by the rules.

When a player closes one position and opens another, and the footnote says "x.xx% gain applied to score", do you add or compound. For example, New-born baby this week has a 2.8668% gain and a 0.14% gain (so far). Adding the two gives 3.0068%. Compounding 1.028668 x 1.0014 gives 3.0108%. It's not going to make much difference, I'm just wondering.

The rule that if you don't make a pick for the week, you lose 3% seems harsh to me. Don't know about anyone else, but I occasionally travel for a few weeks at a time. Why wouldn't this be the same as being in $CASH ?

We know that stocks can open up/down/etc. on any given Monday. Could there be an option to continue to hold a position and instead of "buying" it again fresh at the Monday open, the purchase price for that week is considered to be Friday's close. For example, Rob picked IMCL two weeks in a row. Last Friday, it closed just under $30, and then opened on Monday at $30.02. Not that it's going to help Rob much in this case, but there is the possibility that some more extreme example may arise sometime.

I can't make out much of anything on the yearly performance chart due to the dark red background.

Again, these are just for consideration. I'm very appreciative of the effort you put into this, and love the commentary.

regards ... stenz

[stenzrob]

Hey Lye,
I was looking back on the stenzrob thread to see what screen parameters I was using a few years ago, and ran across a link on post #39 there to a screener that shows FORG as a candidate. I have not investigated any of the other screen results, or even FORG much. But, if you like FORG, there may be some others there that you might want to look into.

[peanuts]

so many questions, so many answers

Peanuts, I have a couple of questions/suggestions about rules and results tracking. These are just for consideration to enhance realism - I am perfectly content to play by the rules.

This is a "peoples contest." If the majority decide on a rule change, then I will abide. I realize that your absence may have excluded your ideas prior to the start of this contest at the beginning of this year, but I have already had the rules up for a vote.

When a player closes one position and opens another, and the footnote says "x.xx% gain applied to score", do you add or compound. For example, New-born baby this week has a 2.8668% gain and a 0.14% gain (so far). Adding the two gives 3.0068%. Compounding 1.028668 x 1.0014 gives 3.0108%. It's not going to make much difference, I'm just wondering.

At the end of the week, the score for each player is the sum of the fractional gains made throughout the week.

There is a separation of the yearly contest and the POTW contest. The rules state that the 2 percentage gains are added together to form the "score" for the POTW. This is as per the old rules which were passed on to me. This "score" is then converted to the weekly percentage gain for the yearly contest, which is the newly added feature for this thread.

The rule that if you don't make a pick for the week, you lose 3% seems harsh to me. Don't know about anyone else, but I occasionally travel for a few weeks at a time. Why wouldn't this be the same as being in $CASH ?

As per rule #12, you are permitted to carve your pick in stone for a set period of time if you know that you will be unable to post to the thread. This rule is not to be used unless extenuating circumstances (ie hospitalization or imprisonment) arrise which force you to not participate. dmk112 and Gary611 lose 3% this week because they didn't care enough to participate. That's harsh

We know that stocks can open up/down/etc. on any given Monday. Could there be an option to continue to hold a position and instead of "buying" it again fresh at the Monday open, the purchase price for that week is considered to be Friday's close. For example, Rob picked IMCL two weeks in a row. Last Friday, it closed just under $30, and then opened on Monday at $30.02. Not that it's going to help Rob much in this case, but there is the possibility that some more extreme example may arise sometime.

You can place your pick any time prior to the closing bell on the first day of the week, or choose CA$H and you're safe. The price you get is the first tick on the minute after your post, no matter how good or bad it turns out to be when the position is closed.

This is a weekly contest, contained within a yearly contest. I have thought about your idea in depth before you even asked it, but I decided then that the Pick Of The Week came before the yearly contest, and the preceeding rules and general theme of this thread should remain the same, as much as possible. Therefore, I chose to keep it centered around the rules which were already established. If the consensus vote of the participants is in agreement to change the method of weekly scoring, then it will switch to a compounding weekly return, rather than a simple sum of fractions. The issue is now for vote.

This player votes "no change"

I can't make out much of anything on the yearly performance chart due to the dark red background.

OK, I need a suggestion, because I have no problem seeing the different colors with my screen settings (I did not take the brown acid ) Is there anyone else who cannot see the lines on this chart:

Again, these are just for consideration. I'm very appreciative of the effort you put into this, and love the commentary.

regards ... stenz

stenzrob,

Thank you for the feedback. I really mean it. I'm glad that you like the commentary. If you (or anyone else) has ideas for the weekly theme, please send them to me. Eventually, I'll run out of ideas, and we can have only so many horse races and burning buildings before everyone gets bored. Give me your ideas, and I'll make them reality

[skiracer]

I can't make out the numbers and am not sure I understand the order of standings. Could you explain. Isn't there a clearer way of showing the standings in the overall positioning over the course of each successive weeks play. Is this chart an order of standings to date?

[New-born baby]

Great job

I personally think Peanuts has done a great job, and I am thankful for how he is doing it. I myself don't want to impose any changes on someone who is doing all the work, and doing it so well. The only suggestion I would make is that it would be easier to read the scoreboard if the highest gainers for the week were listed in descending order. Otherwise I am quite satisfied at the way the contest is being conducted. Thank you Peanuts!

[skiracer]

I personally think Peanuts has done a great job, and I am thankful for how he is doing it. I myself don't want to impose any changes on someone who is doing all the work, and doing it so well. The only suggestion I would make is that it would be easier to read the scoreboard if the highest gainers for the week were listed in descending order. Otherwise I am quite satisfied at the way the contest is being conducted. Thank you Peanuts!

I have to agree with you NB. Peanuts is doing a great job and his imaginative commentary keeps it interesting even moreso. But just because he has taken on the responsibility of handling the job doesn't mean he is above anyone suggesting how something might be done better or questioning why something couldn't be done to make it easier to understand. I think it would be much better to have the daily order of standing sorted in either ascending or descending numerical order rather than randomly. Also on both the yearly graph and charts the numbers are very hard to make out. It's not like someone is saying, hey Peanuts you stupid shit make the graph and charts a little easier to read please, because that would be wrong in doing so since he is doing such a great job otherwise. But posing a positive suggestion or question should never be taken in a negative vein. After all what are we a bunch of barbarians that we cannot take or appreciate positive interaction from the participants.

[peanuts]

I can't make out the numbers and am not sure I understand the order of standings. Could you explain. Isn't there a clearer way of showing the standings in the overall positioning over the course of each successive weeks play. Is this chart an order of standings to date?

Which numbers can't you read?

"order of standings" what do you mean?

The chart is a chart, I'm not sure if I can explain it any more. Find your color, follow the line, that's where you are compared to the rest of the crowd. Your color will not change throughout the year, and as the year goes on the group should become more dispersed. Right now, its like a beginning of a marathon everyone is on top of one another.

[peanuts]

daily performance tracking vs end of week

At the end of the week, the scorecard is sorted from best score to lowest score. During the week, the daily scorecard is sorted alphabetically, due to the ease of using Yahoo Finance to track the player's scores.

I can sort the daily scorecard by descending scores, if the player's consensus is for me to do that. I'll just let you all know now, that by doing this, I will have to spend more time each day constructing the scorecard than what I generally care to do. But I love you all and will sacrifice my time to make this contest better for you.