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The Capitalist's Stock Market Review is here to present you the performance of the largest and most traded companies, as well as some of our own pickings. Those of you having read our earlier editions are surely familiar with what and how the indices are supposed to tell you. New readers please check out the legend here and here and here . This time the Review is published in Poland. Subscribers will surely find it anyway, I'm moving The Capitalist around the globe in the hope of gaining a few new regular readers.
Instead of explaining the clearly visible, this time I'll deal with a few ideas on how to pick stock for investment. I will continue with this brief guide on how stock markets work and how you could make a profit investing in stock in future editions. I hope some of you might find it educational.
Whenever you're investing in shares, you - quite naturally - are doing so expecting returns on your investment. On the stock exchange - let it be in-game or real life - you need to carefully pick which shares to buy, hold, or sell. Investopedia defines stock picking "as an art, rather then a science'. There are certain considerations behind that statement, most of which apply to our little toy stock exchange here too:
1. So many factors affect a company's health that it is nearly impossible to construct a formula that will predict success. It is one thing to assemble data that you can work with, but quite another to determine which numbers are relevant.
2. A lot of information is intangible and cannot be measured. The quantifiable aspects of a company, such as profits, are easy enough to find. But how do you measure the qualitative factors, such as the company's staff, its competitive advantages, its reputation and so on? This combination of tangible and intangible aspects makes picking stocks a highly subjective, even intuitive process.
3. Because of the human (often irrational) element inherent in the forces that move the stock market, stocks do not always do what you anticipate they'll do. Emotions can change quickly and unpredictably. And unfortunately, when confidence turns into fear, the stock market can be a dangerous place.
However - just like in poker - there are people both in real life an in-game who experience more ups than downs on a rather consistent way. It is because there are certain methods that can turn mere gambling into making bets based on an educated guess instead of mere intuition.
The two most common ways to evaluate stock are fundamental analysis and technical analysis. The former deals with the data on a company's past performance, and tries to establish an estimate on the company's intrinsic value - and then compare it to the share price to decide whether it was worth it to buy or sell. The latter is focused on investor behaviour, and tries to make an educated guess whether the investors on the market will sell or buy the stock at a higher or lower price than the actual one.
There are two ways to gain profit on your investment: capital gains and divident yield.
Dividend yield is a way to measure how much cash flow you are getting for each dollar invested in an equity position - in other words, how much "bang for your buck" you are getting from dividends. Investors who require a minimum stream of cash flow from their investment portfolio can secure this cash flow by investing in stocks paying relatively high, stable dividend yields.
Capital gain is an increase in the value of a capital asset that gives it a higher worth than the purchase price. The gain is not realized until the asset is sold. A capital gain may be short term or long term. A capital loss is incurred when there is a decrease in the capital asset value compared to an asset's purchase price. Profit that results when the price of a security held by an investor rises above its purchase price and the security is sold (realized gain). If the security continues to be held, the gain is unrealized. A capital loss would occur when the opposite takes place.
(to be continued)
ECO - Monitoring the Monetary Markets, priceless stats there by Mihou. A must for the business folk.
(this new section will be focusing on business related papers on Secura)
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Stock Market Review (Day 260) (11 years ago)
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Mixama Invites Income Investors (11 years ago)
About the game:
USA as a world power? In E-Sim it is possible!
In E-Sim we have a huge, living world, which is a mirror copy of the Earth. Well, maybe not completely mirrored, because the balance of power in this virtual world looks a bit different than in real life. In E-Sim, USA does not have to be a world superpower, It can be efficiently managed as a much smaller country that has entrepreneurial citizens that support it's foundation. Everything depends on the players themselves and how they decide to shape the political map of the game.
Work for the good of your country and see it rise to an empire.
Activities in this game are divided into several modules. First is the economy as a citizen in a country of your choice you must work to earn money, which you will get to spend for example, on food or purchase of weapons which are critical for your progress as a fighter. You will work in either private companies which are owned by players or government companies which are owned by the state. After progressing in the game you will finally get the opportunity to set up your own business and hire other players. If it prospers, we can even change it into a joint-stock company and enter the stock market and get even more money in this way.
In E-Sim, international wars are nothing out of the ordinary.
Become an influential politician.
The second module is a politics. Just like in real life politics in E-Sim are an extremely powerful tool that can be used for your own purposes. From time to time there are elections in the game in which you will not only vote, but also have the ability to run for the head of the party you're in. You can also apply for congress, where once elected you will be given the right to vote on laws proposed by your fellow congress members or your president and propose laws yourself. Voting on laws is important for your country as it can shape the lives of those around you. You can also try to become the head of a given party, and even take part in presidential elections and decide on the shape of the foreign policy of a given state (for example, who to declare war on). Career in politics is obviously not easy and in order to succeed in it, you have to have a good plan and compete for the votes of voters.
You can go bankrupt or become a rich man while playing the stock market.
The international war.
The last and probably the most important module is military. In E-Sim, countries are constantly fighting each other for control over territories which in return grant them access to more valuable raw materials. For this purpose, they form alliances, they fight international wars, but they also have to deal with, for example, uprisings in conquered countries or civil wars, which may explode on their territory. You can also take part in these clashes, although you are also given the opportunity to lead a life as a pacifist who focuses on other activities in the game (for example, running a successful newspaper or selling products).
At the auction you can sell or buy your dream inventory.
E-Sim is a unique browser game. It's creators ensured realistic representation of the mechanisms present in the real world and gave all power to the players who shape the image of the virtual Earth according to their own. So come and join them and help your country achieve its full potential.
Invest, produce and sell - be an entrepreneur in E-Sim.
Take part in numerous events for the E-Sim community.
