The Rules of the Contest

[owen654321]

A question to Ramsburg -- is there any way to make an exception for daily volume lower than 100k?  I am looking into picking Middleby (MIDD), which has a market cap of $637 million -- definitely no small cap by any means.  However, the stock trades at over $80/share, so the average daily volume is, understandably, about 71,000.  What do you think?  Am I just out of luck, or is that cool?  If it's not okay, I'll continue to search for another one I believe will show pps growth and consistency (none of these whiplash high-beta stocks for me).

[Ramsburg]

I'm glad you guys are splitting up the prize this time instead of winner take all. Though you'll get no complaints from me about the winner take all format in the first edition!

One small suggestion I have would be for the contest to end at the closing price on the last day rather than the opening price of the following day. Seems like opening prices are subject to some manipulation. It wasn't an issue in the first round because of the margin of victory but, if the margin is only a percentage point or two, the outcome could be manipulated by a small and seemingly irrelevant gap up or down at the next open.   

Hi Lucas

I thought about that... and we may change that rule... Let me just talk with David about that.

A question to Ramsburg -- is there any way to make an exception for daily volume lower than 100k?  I am looking into picking Middleby (MIDD), which has a market cap of $637 million -- definitely no small cap by any means.  However, the stock trades at over $80/share, so the average daily volume is, understandably, about 71,000.  What do you think?  Am I just out of luck, or is that cool?  If it's not okay, I'll continue to search for another one I believe will show pps growth and consistency (none of these whiplash high-beta stocks for me).

Hi owen !

You have a good point here... In fact, that stock is no small cap...
I guess, I'll make an exception, and I will update the rules tomorrow to something like this:
- Stocks priced above $50 / share, the minimum average volume must be above 50k

regards,

[owen654321]

Ramsburg - Thank you for the rule clarification/modification.  I've gone ahead and made Middleby (MIDD) my pick!  This site is the best   Thanks all for the wonderful ideas and mucho entertainment.

[phonepro26]

Top notch Due diligence here for Microcap stocks
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Microcapcorner/

[setravis]

In violation of the Rules.

Pick.....FONR is under $1.00....Closing Price Friday 0.79

Pick.....GNBT is under $1.00....Closing Price Friday 0.90

Pick.....TWOG.PK....Is a Pink Sheet....Last Price....0.0125

I see 7 Picks so far do not meet post requirements of 10 or more.

[Terliso]

That's right Setravis,... Before posting your picks for the contest, I suggest you gotta read the rules for the contest to meet the requirements or else you guys just wasting your effort & your time

Here's the rules, read it for yourself:
or better.. just listen to Ja Rule's music

Rules of the Contest:

(2nd edition)

Rule #01 – The contest will take place from December the 12th 2005, to January the 10th 2006.

Rule #02 – The players will buy a stock at the opening price of December 12th and will sell it on the opening price of any regular market session before January 10th, if the player still hold his position on January 10th the position will be automatically sold on the opening price of January the 10h, the player with the biggest %change return will win the contest.
Rule #02-(a): Selling Rule: To sell his position before the end of the game, the player must post his selling order HERE, including the Ticker of his pick, and a short explanations of his reasons to sell. The order will be executed on the next opening price after the time stamp of his post (orders posted after 09:30AM will only be executed in the next session).

Rule #03 – Only stocks from NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ with an average daily volume bigger than 100,000 and above $1 will be eligible for the contest. (The official average volume assumed will be the one presented on Yahoo! Finance website)
No OTCBB and Pink Sheets are eligible for this contest.

Rule #04 – Only Honours Members (subscribers) and Registered members with more than 10 posts published to date are eligible to play this contest.
If you are not yet registered at 3SOF, please do it here (it's free).
If you want to become an Honours Member and subscribe our service click here.

Rule #05 – Only one play per person. We'll be checking all the player's IP addresses, and players found with 2 or more different usernames playing the game will be automatically banned from the game.

Rule #06 – No «Blind» Picks allowed. All players must publish along with their stock pick, the reasons behind their pick, either Technicals, Fundamentals, Psychologicals, or whatever they think is important for other users to understand the reasons of their pick. Along with the stocks pick, a text with at least 100 words and a stock chart must be included with your pick, otherwise the pick will not be eligible for the contest.

Rule #07 – In case the winner pick was picked by 2 or more players, the final winner will be the player who did post his pick in first place, with one exception in case one of the winners is an Honours Member (Subscriber), then he will be the final Contest Winner despite the date stamp of his pick.

Rule #08 – All picks must be submitted before 9:00am of December the 12th , they cannot be edited after that time, otherwise the player will be declassified.

Rule #09 – How to discuss about this contest?
A special Message Board was created to give special backup on the Contest, you can access it here.

Rule #10 – How to submit your pick ?
There is only one way of submitting your pick, and that's replying to this special Topic HERE. This thread will be also the place where you can see the other player's picks. Important: Do not use that thread to another purpose rather than submitting your stock pick. For organizational purposes, any reply that is not a stock pick will be deleted.


Rule #11 – Stock Pick Standard Layout
When posting your Stock pick, try to follow the Standard Layout on your post:
• Stock Pick (Ticker & Name of the Company)
• Reason behind this pick (a Text with at least 100 words, featuring the reasons of your stock pick)
• Stock Chart (Click in additional options, browse for your chart file GIF/JPG/PNG and add it to your post, if you don't have a Charting software, we suggest you copy a chart from www.stockcharts.com )

Rule #12 – The Final Prize
• 1st Place: $250, that we'll be paid by PayPal, + 6 Month subscription of the 3 Stocks Premium Service (value $260), + 1 3Stocks On Fire T-Shirt, + An email Interview to be published on 3stocksonfire.
• 2nd Place: $150, that we'll be paid by PayPal, + 3 Month subscription of the 3 Stocks Premium Service (value $135), + 1 3Stocks On Fire T-Shirt.
• 3rd Place: $100, that we'll be paid by PayPal, + 1 Month subscription of the 3 Stocks Premium Service (value $49.95), + 1 3Stocks On Fire T-Shirt.
• 4th Place: 1 Month subscription of the 3 Stocks Premium Service (value $49.95), + 1 3Stocks On Fire T-Shirt.
• 5th Place: 1 3Stocks On Fire T-Shirt.

Good Hunting !

[ScottishTrader]

Also note:

No «Blind» Picks allowed. All players must publish along with their stock pick, the reasons behind their pick, either Technicals, Fundamentals, Psychologicals, or whatever they think is important for other users to understand the reasons of their pick. Along with the stocks pick, a text with at least 100 words and a stock chart must be included with your pick, otherwise the pick will not be eligible for the contest.

There seem to be quite a few that also violate this condition.  Picking a stock because "it has gone down a lot and should go back up" is not a reason

[metro]

you are right ScottishTrader - i knoticed that many picks will not be qualified as they did not even meet the 100 word rule

[poorman1]

Picks by non-honour members with < 10 posts.

DSTI
TWOG
SIFY
NSTC
SIR
JAKKS
MVCO by rightside investment club

[setravis]

Picks by non-honour members with < 10 posts.

DSTI
TWOG
SIFY
NSTC
SIR
JAKKS
MVCO by rightside investment club

By Non-Honours Members      Pick                                             Post <10

dididi                                  SIFY                                               1
Aba46041                           NSTC                                              1
betterwheel1                      SIR                                                 1
nica                                    JAKK                                               5
masternic35                        DSTI                                                2
Phonepro26                        TWOG.PK                                         7
RightSideInvestmentClub       MVCO                                              7

Also these 2 picks closed Friday under $1.00
FONR....Closed @ 0.79
GNBT....Closed @ 0.90

[basonista]

I'm curious as to where the opening stock price is taken from.  My pick - HEB - shows an opening price of $2.62 on Stockcharts.com, Yahoo and Ameritrade.  It is listed as $2.73 on the board which is the HOD.  Not that it's going to help me much in the long run but every penny can make a difference (just like every KKD doughnut slowed me down... and down.... and down )!

[defenderyou]

What happened to the abilit to sort the entries by the total return percentage since start date - this was very useful but nolonger seems to be allowed? Are you planning to fix this??

Thanks

Defenderyou

[VikingFan]

Just wondering why the member who picked the same stock as I picked, MVCO, 2 days after me, is listed at #1 with a 10.12% gain while I'm listed #4 with a 8.61% gain.  Something's not adding up right. 

If that member is a non-honours member with only 7 posts as listed above, and picked the stock 2 days after me, why are they even listed at all?

[dwest718]

Viking...

1st) The percentages are all messed up.  I'm not exactly sure what happened in the last hour but somehow I've lost 5% even though the numbers have stayed the same.
2nd) Anyone w/ an apostrophe has been DQed.  And no not Dairy-Queened but rather that more unpleasant one that means they are not eligible for prizes.

Happy trading and good luck.  Enjoying my lead while it lasts! 

[Lucas Scott]

I'm sure Ramsburg will get the kinks worked out in the next day or so. I LMAO when I saw TWOG as one of the stock picks.  That guy earned himself a smite for that foolery!

There were also a couple of duplicate picks. How hard is it to hit Ctrl+F on each page to see if the pick is taken? LOL! Oh well, the more disqualifications, the better each of our chances are.