Recently I stumbled upon a virtual investing site called UpDown.com which provides you with a fictional $1 million to start investing. You can compete it real contests which can earn you real money depending on which place you finish – some even provide prizes for the top 50 investors. Also, every month you are eligible to earn some cash if your portfolio for the entire month out performs S&P 500.
I take a little pride in investing (virtually) and ever since winning $800 prize way back in high school I have joined contests to see how well I can do. I think it’s fair to say I end up in the positive more than I end up in the red so that’s a good sign. Think you are good? Why not give this a shot just to see. You can always just buy a couple of stocks and let it sit long term or do daily trading… whatever suits you.
Here is a brief summary of my portfolio so far:
I’ll give a little detailed description of my portfolio right now where in about less than a week I am up 2%. I have a couple of big technology stocks in Apple and Google which do bad when the market goes out but definitely out perform the market on the good days. I shorted on a couple (which are currently paying off but I would never short in real life). Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and BlackRock are the ones I shorted on and all three have declined this week. It’s a careful balance on when to cover those shortrs and not get too greedy. Also, I am hoping for Sirius Radio to shoot through the roof soon as it is awaiting a merger in the upcoming weeks or months so I will be holding on to that.
The one stock that has just exploded these past few days is little known Pyramid Oil Company (PDO) which I had bought at a measly $12 per share and it has jumped $2 already. I had thought about Exxon Mobil (XOM) but the price on that is a little steeper than I want to invest in an oil stock. I stuck to the smaller alternative and so far so good.
I’ll keep updating every now and then to see how my portfolio is doing against the S&P and I already know that people like Mike, Justin and my sister have joined in on this. I have a mini group just to compare how everyone does against each other so if you decide to join, let me know. It’s a fun little thing that you can check in on every now and then or heavily follow if that’s the type of investor you are.
Once again, the site is called UpDown.com and it’s free to join. What can beat that?