Taking Stock returns to nebusiness today

Jun 24 2009 By Andrew Mernin, The Journal

Are you ready to go back into the bear pit? Andrew Mernin previews the return of our hugely popular fantasy trading game, Taking Stock.

Advice from last year's traders

AS WANNABE traders prepare to hit the fantasy stock market, we spoke to some of the players from our first game to find out their strategies – and the lessons they learned.

Hilary Nichols, regional executive of CBI North East, said: “It wasn’t a clever or original strategy, but I tried to spot the shares on the up, buy them and then try to remember to sell them when they were falling.

“It takes a considerable amount of effort, analysis and a holistic view of what’s happening in the world. Trading also requires time to track current shares and shares you should potentially buy. The variables affecting shares can be numerous and prices don’t always react as you’d expect.

“In the next game, I’ll try to monitor my shares and keep up to speed on fluctuations so that I can react to them more speedily.”

Darren Watkins, a 35-year-old civil servant from Byker, Newcastle, said: “I didn’t have any tactics really, I just bought shares in companies I thought would do well, such as supermarkets. I also chose companies I have used or like.

“I am just pleased it wasn’t my money. There were some days when I got a real shock, such as when stock jumped up in price dramatically for no real reason, and when it fell, again, for no real reason.”

“[In the new game] I’m going to use the same strategy I used in the last one.

“Look at the price of stock. If it is cheap then buy it and hope it goes up – that’s the benefit of not using real money – and buying stock on the companies I bought last time.”

Page 5: Top tips from the last winner of Taking Stock