Playing & Trading Strategy

A few of these tips might help you build your port faster, so take and use the ones you may find helpful... also check out the back boards here on the Players Board, these boards have a lot of newbie questions with answers - perhaps similar to ones that YOU might have as well... also the "Tools of The Trade" under "Community" at the top of this page...  Now...on to some ideas you may want to consider:

Movies that are opening within the next month or so will have the most "movement" in terms of price - since players are deciding whether to buy it or short it, or skip it altogether... so watch those movies opening soon...they offer chances to make $$

With a small port..you HAVE to think "short term" as a new player.  Buy a stock (or short it) make some $$ on it, and move on.  My advice is DO NOT hold or buy ANY movie stock that is further out than 30-60 days for NOW....  Why?  because you'll tie up your cash, and you won't be able to use $$ to buy other good deals (like openers, new IPO's, etc.)

Personally, I always tried to 'max' out on an movie opening soon....  Buy as much as you can afford if you think you can make a good return on it.  There was nothing more frustrating to me, than to only buy 5,000 shares of something, knowing I could have afforded more, and then make only $75,000 on it when it did well...when I could've made $500,000 if I would have bought as much as I could afford, or maxxed out.

Remember... you can make JUST as much money on a movie stock that's priced at $20 if it goes up (or down if you shorted it) 5 points, as you can on one that is priced at $70, and goes up (or down) 5 points - so keep that in mind. The only difference is, you don't tie up as much cash waiting for it to move.  Remember, the old addage "PPDM", which means "Price Paid Doesn't Matter."  And don't be jealous because someone else paid $10 for a stock 6 months ago and it's now worth $70... larger ports can take advantage of movies opening further away.

Star bonds are also good way to earn money..but Do NOT play them until you know HOW they adjust.  They are a 'sure' way to make money, but be sure you know the in's and out's of why and when they adjust. There is 'guaranteed' money to be made with star bonds...knowing how & when they adjust is very important.  Kaigee's Bond charts will help you, and make it simple for you to see these adjusts. So follow his chart - it's free money.

You can also click on the tab "Earn H$" there are ways to earn FREE cash for your port!...and every little bit helps your port when starting out...so click there too. Take advantage of any opportunity to earn extra $$ that's out there. If you find a movie IPO's one day, and you think the price of it may go up (something like Ironman 8, etc.) then you may want to take a shot at it...buy it and hold it for the 'ride' UP of the price...but once you've made some $$...sell it and move on... why keep this stock and tie up lots of your cash for a movie that's opening in 2-3 years?  Even if you KNOW it will be a huge blockbuster at that time, it doesn't make sense with a small port.

AGAIN...think "short term" gains with a small port until you build up some cash and you have extra money that you can afford to 'lose' or 'tie up' for a longer time frame...with smaller ports - buy something, make your $$ and move on. As your port grows, you can then look into buying movie stocks that are a little further out...Personally, I would wait until you have at LEAST $20M before buying movies that are any further out than 60 days.  It takes a lot of your availabe $$ to buy a movie that's priced at $50 and is opening 6 months from now, so you can see why it wouldn't take long to go through $20M...

You can make money shorting stocks too if you think their prices will DROP..so learn to earn $$ by shorting stocks as well as buying them.  When I started playing we could not short stocks, but now players can earn $$ when prices go up OR down...take advantage of openers that may drop in price after opening weekend, as you can make some fast money too by shorting movies after they open at the box office.

We all started out with $2M, and you will learn the game faster and easier if you are thinking "short term" while your port is smaller...

Good luck!!