PPX: Here Come Commissions

If this cuts down on the amount of wave riding and adds more stability, I'm all for it.

Should make this more like the real stock market and other market games on the web as well/

I would have thought that PPX would have gone the way of some of the other online trading houses. Charging a flat fee regardless of the size of the transaction. Maybe a flat rate of $20 would be fair rather than charging $250 for a transaction.

I am totally against this kind of commission. We either need flat fees, like real brokers generally have, or none. Commissions will kill the long-run stocks, e.g. will androids beat humans at football. Why would I pay $.25 a share for a stock whose price barely changes and that won't pay out for 50 years?!

Here's hoping to the dawning of flat fee commissions,
Sirius

Too true Sirius. I think this implementation is just as bad as the last one. I applaud the attempt at making it fair, but it is still too expensive. I think this is going to have the same effect as the last one. It is going to bring the game to a halt.

Androids vs. Humans probably hasn't moved much because traders currently feel very unsure about it, other long term stocks such as stem cure have moved to POP$92.00 and therefore would have been worth investing in (with or without a commission attached).That said most of the stocks on the exchange pay out within a year or two so the anderoids stock is not reflective of the majority of stocks.

POP$250 per transaction is not a big deal. If you invest 1000 shares in a stock which moves from POP$50.00 to POP$60.00 then you still make POP$9500 of the $POP10,000 when you sell it.

The game is now different from when commissions were last implemented (traders have more money, there are more traders and the new commission of 0.25 per share is half the 1% commission on a $50 share) All these factors suggest that more transactions should be made this time around and therefore the game will not come to a halt.

On the positive side for the commission, 0.25 per share makes it easy to calculate that the break even point is a 0.50 gain (0.25 when you buy/short + 0.25 when you sell/cover), it will prevent stocks bouncing back and forward between 0.25 and 0.50,it should slightly reduce wave riding and its profitability which as a result should increase the money invested in predicting stocks.

I'm not saying things will be perfect but I think it is a step in the right direction.

No doubt this is a good thing. I am just saying that if they wanted to be more like online brokerages, then this should model it after one. In other words, charging more for day traders (and boy do we have them) and having a flat fee. That would certainly calm this game down, and make it more fair. I would never sign on with a broker that charged $0.25 per share in a transaction.

Since most traders buy 1,000 share blocks, this amounts to a $250 fee per transaction. This will have the effect of severely penalizing trades made on the low price stocks. I predict that two things will happen: 1) Yes, accuracy will probably go up BUT 2) at the expense of the number of trades, number of hits on your site and number of active players. In fact, I will "predict the future" and state that there will be fewer than 5,000 active traders within two weeks of this change. BTW, if you purge the membership rolls based on "no trade or log-in within the last 30-days", you're probably at 10,000 or less now.

Even with a low priced stock such as PNKSLP (POP$2.75) using the 1000 share block a trader can still make a 2750-250=2500 profit if it cashes out at 0. This isn't severely penalizing and the penalty would have been less severe (in terms of % of profit)had the trader jumped onto the stock earlier before its outcome was almost certain.

After ruminating on this issue overnight, I have a suggested plan that will accomplish what you want (drastically curtail day trading) while still giving traders an incentive to visit your PPX site often:

1. Charge a $20 per transaction flat fee
2. Charge a $250 fee on all stock positions held for less than 23-hours.
3. Charge a $1000 fee on all stock positions held for less than 4-hours.

This would incourage traders to follow the news and make investment decisions based on recent events (example: HURICAN) while severely penalizing day trading activity. You could at least review the news, review the STOCKS page for directional movement then make changes once per day without excessive fees.

I agree with royha3. Although the flat fee is not nessecesary in this exchange. The purpose of a flat brokerage fee is for the broker to make money. Since POP$ are not real or exchangeable for hard currency, there is no need to charge a flat fee as PopSci does not need to make a profit of POP$. Although this would cut down on what ammounts to "inflation" as more users sign up. (in essence PopSci is creating new POP$ for every new account, thereby diluting the value of existing POP$).

The short term holding fees, however, I believe, are a great way to combat wave riding. I myself hold real world funds that charge a penalty (usually .5-2%) for shares held less than 90 days (insome cases 60 days). These are funds that invest in volitile foreign stocks that can fluctuate in excess of 8% per day.

All in all, though I will regret the loss of POP$250 for each trade, I feel this combination of fees will make the exchange better. It will cut down on day trades, as well as reduce the number of traders who do not research, thus increasing the accuracy of the predictions.

I agree with gpm1949, their idea was based on amount of time held, but i think there should be a "5 min grace period" where you can sell/buy back the stocks you just sold at same price, if you change your mind in the next 5 minutes.

also i think that instead of charging:
1. Charge a $20 per transaction flat fee
2. Charge a $250 fee on all stock positions held for less than 23-hours.
3. Charge a $1000 fee on all stock positions held for less than 4-hours.

it should be more like:
1. Charge a POP$20 per transaction flat fee
2. Charge a POP$.25% fee per stock on all stock positions held for less than 23-hours.
3. Charge a POP$1% fee on all stock positions held for less than 4-hours.

also maybe have a "forgiveness period" for new players, not to give them an advantage, but not to penalize them (and maybe even drive them away) when they change their mind about a trade, which would only last 24 or 48 hours starting with their first buy/short.

Nice idea gpm1949 but I dont think it will work that well

A wave rider usually buys the stock as soon as it changes direction the first time, most stocks dont then change direction a second time in less than four hours so by the time they have changed the second time the fee will not apply.

If the fee was put in place, the stocks which (currently) move one direction and then the other in the space of less than 4hrs,would change to moving just after 4 or 5 hrs as the wave riders will create the waves after their extra fee period is over :(

"5 min. grace period"/"Forgiveness Period" ??? Get real...how about using your brain and thinking about the trade for 5 min. before making a decsion...

thanks good post