Hello Players!

Welcome to the ETAs-Only Contest.

Since starting (impulsively) this contest, I've realized that contests on the UpDown are rather limited by the requirement that all must share the same portfolio.

A confession: I also belong to another Market-based web site that allows multiple portfolios, and has had user-created contests from the beginning. You can choose to create either an individual or a group portfolio for the contest, set the stakes (portfolios can range from $10k to $1M), and send out invitations, as here on UpDown. At that site, you can see the portfolios of all players in the contest. So you can actually see if people are following any rules. Oh, and another difference: You're free to drop out of any game at any time.

So I confess I had that environment more in mind when I created the ETA contest than the UpDown one. Now I'm faced with a dilemma, and I have already had to modify the rule of this game slightly.

The dilemma is, I had previously joined another contest, before creating mine. Playing both by the rules is impossibly restricting. However, I really DO want to play around with ETFs, because I can invest my IRA funds in them. So, as I'm more committed to this game than to the other, I'm going to stick to the rule of this game, as modified.

In my original wording, I said the only rule was, "you may buy and sell ONLY ETAs." When I realized the contests on UpDown had to share pre-existing portfolios, the "sell" part seemed unrealistic. Players shouldn't have to divest all their other investment instruments up front, in order to comply with the rules. I'm keeping the buy-only part. You may of course trade out your existing positions but when you buy new ones, they have to be in ETFs.

Since this message board is the closest thing we have on this site to a forum, I'd like to encourage players to use it, whether to voice support for the contest and the rule, or to announce they've "dropped out" by electing to follow the rules of a different contest, as I've done.

Good luck to everybody, and thanks in advance for any ETA analyses that you might write during the course of this contest.