Quote from nitro:
This game makes no sense.
It is obvious that at all time, each share's "Fair Value" is $.09 (in theory there is $900 chasing my 100 shares at time Tzero, so if I want everyone's money I have to make sure that I don't sell them for less than about .09 at time Tzero. By symmetry that condition holds for everone else too). Why would anyone bid more than $.09 for shares at time Tzero, and why would anyone offer their shares for less than $.09? In a real stock market, value is almost never based purely on psychology as earnings and dividends and book value eventually enter the equation (as well as things like how much my money can earn in a risk free asset.) How does this game even get started? The only way this game can get started is if someone breaks the symmetry and bids more than .09 or offers their shares for less than .09 for 1 share, at which point FV may change dynamically for those shares, but FV is always apparent - something that is clearly not true in a non-closed system like a real stock market.
Furthermore, if someone ends up with all the money, why is that considered winnning? What happened to all the shares? Do you mean he ends up with all the money and all the shares? In a real stock market someone may have all my money but I have all the shares which means I can easily convert my shares back to cash assuming a liquid market and a non bankrupt company.
My guess is you left something out.
nitro
PS - the way I would do it would be to set up an options market on those shares witha nice spread and act as a market maker![]()
I left nothing out.
You assume that the real stock market is substantially different than my game, when, in fact, it is not -- the real market and the game are nearly identical.
On any given market day, only X dollars and Y shares are available for trading in all securities accounts. The game starts and ends with the opening and closing bells, and in between, the objective is to accumulate as much of the available cash by trading cash for shares and shares for cash. And, the ideal trader is flat at the open and at the close.
So, you made your calculation about what you would pay for a given share of stock, and you cannot fathom why anyone would trade under less favorable conditions. But, you know that in the real market, people routinely do just that -- they trade with little regard for the average value of a share, and consequently, the value of an average share constantly changes throughout the day. This fact, permits you to buy and sell under more favorable conditions than what would be available if everyone only traded at the average price.
Now, what will happen if you consistently buy and sell under conditions that are more favorable than the average? There is only one possible answer to this question, and it is irrefutable.
Then answer is that you will make more money than the average.
So, if the market is theoretically random and thus a 50/50 proposition in the long run, then a person who consistently does better than average will make money -- while the person who consistently does worse, will lose.
Game over.