Stock Trading Contest!

A few days ago I received an email from Wall Street Suvivor. They are offering group sign-ups that allow traders and investors to compete in contests. The cool thing is WSS will pay the group to sign up. The group gets $50 if it has 10 members, $100 if it has 25, and $200 if it has 50.

Now, I don't want the money. Instead, it is going to be part of this contest. The more people who sign up, the bigger the prizes. I haven't decided exactly what the prizes are going to be yet, and would appreciate some input. While I won't be competing for the prizes, I will be competing--more on that below. Also, if you would like to participate, please leave a message in the comments. We need at least 10 people in order to take advantage of the $50 offer. If there are fewer than 10 people, and it still makes sense to have a contest, I'll put up a copy of Liar's Poker for the winner.

Here are some prize ideas:

Less than 10 people:

1st place - Liar's Poker
Anyone who beats me - Linkage, plus a review of your site posted to my main page. (I'm trying to think of something equivalent for those who do not have blogs)

If we have 10-24 people:

1st place - $20
2nd place - $10
3rd and 4th place - $5
Anyone who beats me - Your choice of either an entry into a randomized 'lotto' for Liar's Poker or a review of your site posted on my main page.

If we have 25 - 49 people:

1st place - $35
2nd place - $20
3rd place - $15
4th and 5th place - $10
6th and 7th place - $5
Anyone who beats me - Your choice of either an entry into a randomized 'lotto' for Liar's Poker or a review of your site posted to my main page.

If we have 50+ people:

1st place - $50
2nd place - $35
3rd place - $25
4th - $20
5th and 6th place - $15
7th, 8th and 9th place - $10
10th and 11th place - $5
Anyone who beats me - Your choice of either an entry into a randomized 'lotto' for Liar's Poker and Beating the Market (by Charles Kirkpatrick) or a review of your site posted to my main page.

Again, I am not competing for the money and am competing merely to reduce the amount of front page reviews I will have to write (or whatever prize we happen to think of). That means that all of the money is for you (well, you in its plural form).

There are a few rules that Wall Street Survivor requires everyone to follow:

- Each of the participants must make at least 10 trades in order to count towards the money.
- You will not be able to spend more than 25% on any one stock.
- You get 100% margin.
- I think they have delayed prices, so please use Google Finance or some other real-time service to get your quotes.

My own rules:

- No resets! (Not sure if it will be turned on or not. But you will not be able to do it without making me, and the other contestants, very angry!)
- One account per trader! (I don't want the same person winning all of the prizes; any extreme similarities between account trading styles will be investigated, and I'm definitely not dumb enough to send two cash prizes to the same paypal account).
- PayPal charges and shipping costs will be covered by me. After I receive the check from WSS I will deposit it and send you the money through paypal (or some equivalent service). You'll receive all of your prize with nothing subtracted by the paypal monster.
- I may insert more rules before we start. Please help me out here. I want this game to be fair and fun.

Last, but not least: If you have any ideas or think that the prize ratios should be restructured, let me know. Comment, comment, comment. And, of course, let me know if you want to participate. I'm not going to start the competition by myself.