The Hat Market Game

[Geoff_B]

So I know I'm probably being thick but can someone explain how shorting works? I get that you buy stocks low and sell when they get high but where does shorting fit into that? Is it the opposite where you buy when high then make money when they get low?

[Master Gunner]

When you short, what you do is borrow shares from a third party (in this case, the nebulous banker that is the MySQL database behind the site), and sell them at the current rate, giving you basically free money. However, you have to give those shares back by a certain date (in this case, the next week), which means you have to buy them back again. So if the share price goes up, you're at a loss, because it costs more to buy them back than you sold the borrowed shares for. However, if the share price goes down, you buy them for cheap, and get to keep the difference.

[Dutch guy]

Edit: Damnit, ninja'd. I shouldn't have double check/doubt myself so much.

That's basically exactly it. You buy them when they are high and sell them when they are low. (IRL shorting means trading with "borrowed" stocks. You borrow stock options from someone, sell them at current market prices and later buy new ones and give them back to whomever you borrowed them from. If you sell them at a high price and later buy them back at a low price you made a nice little profit you get to keep. Meanwhile the person who borrowed you the stocks has lost value of his stock, but gets to keep those stocks to wait for the price to rise again)

In the hat market it works similarly , you "sell" stocks you don't have (borrowed), giving you cash in hand, then buy them back the next week at (hopefully) the new and lower price.

Edit: Also, bought 30418 shares of FACE. SHORT ALL THE NADA! Keeping my 171551 shares of HATS as they are now under the price I bought them for. Also, GoshDangit Fugi, I wanted to short the full 141648 shares, why won't you let me?? Just NERF it for everyone else okay?

[Metcarfre]

Lost on stocks, gained by shorting...

Pretty sure shorting is OP at this point.

[Dutch guy]

Shorting has already been somewhat Nerfed by Fugi. You can now only short up to an amount equal in value to your current net worth. That means you can only short large amounts of the penny stocks. (Although those will probably provide the best return on investment for shorting.

[the amativeness]

Code: Select all

Buy FACE -> 90000§ (SHORT-AUTO) <-- hey, free money for $0 stocks!
Buy HATS -> 37162§
Short NADA -> 31832§
Buy HATS -> 127351§

Current Net Worth:
HATS   254704§ -> $3,553,120.80
NADA  - 31832§ -> $-1,776,543.92
 
Liquid -> $1.06

And THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is how shorting can either make you very rich, or leave you high and dry. See you all on Wednesday!

[SilPho]

Shorting on NADA seems smart... but then I look at the numbers for week 16 and it makes me a little nervous.

[phlip]

Yeah, I looked at NADA, and then decided that Operation: Go Big or Go Home would be put on standby temporarily, while Operation: Hell No, I Want To Keep My Moneys will be ramped up to full focus.

[Jamfalcon]

Just realized I hadn't invested yet this week. I'm staying all in on HATS and shorting as much as I can in NADA.

Dear LRR: More haturation please!

[LackingSanity]

Oh god, I do not feel confident about my investments. Not at all.

[Jamfalcon]

This is rather bad. I think this is the first week ever with no SPECs, and since I expect a lot of people shorted NADA and bought HATS... could easily be a major Hat Market crash.

[Keab42]

If anybody shorted SPEC they'll have made a fortune.

*Edited because apparently I forgot to make any changes last week*

[RAIC]

Not as much as shorting HATS the week before though.
I just saw the message on facebook that Tally and Cam were in it and thought "Shit, I still have my SPECs, so those are worthless...". Then I watched the vid, and it took a LONG while before any hats appeared, so I saw all my shares plummet in my mind. Good thing the latter half made up for the HATS, I hope it'll be enough.

[SilPho]

Shorting on NADA seems smart... but then I look at the numbers for week 16 and it makes me a little nervous.

Thank god I listened to myself and avoided shorting NADA. Invested heavily in hats though, but that should bounce back safely in the next week or two.

[Yaxley]

This is rather bad. I think this is the first week ever with no SPECs, and since I expect a lot of people shorted NADA and bought HATS... could easily be a major Hat Market crash.

Pretty much this. My investments are taking a real hit this week.

[Duckay]

This is rather bad. I think this is the first week ever with no SPECs, and since I expect a lot of people shorted NADA and bought HATS... could easily be a major Hat Market crash.

I could have sworn we'd seen it happen once before... not that this helps us now.

[Geoff_B]

*Sees my huge pile of money about to decrease even further*



If anyone wants me I'll be over here. With a variety of sharp and explosive items.

[the amativeness]

Um... so is the market going to open at all before Tuesday Evening? Or are we doing a bye on this week?

[JackSlack]

The market has been opened. I apologize for the delay; it's partly on account of my computer dying and me losing all my data due to stupid bugs, and partly on account of me getting a bit depressed about the former.

[Geoff_B]

I do believe they're toying with us...

[SilPho]

Stocks updated - Feeling a lot better about shorting NADA this week.

[Geoff_B]

...toying with us...

[phlip]

So that's how you do a pie chart that adds up to over 100%.

I think the shorting is messing with the statistics a little.

[RAIC]

Short ALL the NADA!

[Master Gunner]

Even after shorting all the NADA, I'm still 11.5 million in debt. So, doesn't help me that much.