Getting more users on GolfInvestors

First of all, let me say that getting more users trading on GolfInvestor stock markets than we currently have would be be nice. I will be the first to say that -- but probably not the last. However, we can not make users want to trade. Second, we want to make GolfInvestors more complete, and simpler before we get a lot more users trading on the markets. Third, we do not want everyone, just specific knowledgeable traders.

As a simulation, over the years users have continued to say they would like to see more investors trading on the GolfInvestor stock markets. It is true, the more investors trading on the stock markets, the more interesting trading on the markets will be for users.

I would like to see more active investors trading just like everyone else. It would help validate the concept and make the GolfInvestor markets more liquid. The more liquid the markets, the easier it is for users to trade shares of players and see movement in a player's stock price (volatility). More volatility makes trading on the GolfInvestor simulation stock markets more fun and interactive for users.

However, users do not just appear out of the wordwork overnight. It takes time to educate people about how to trade. For every 10 users that setup an account on GolfInvestors, 6 do not come back again. We need to make sure the users reigistered want to come back on a regular basis and be active traders.

Currently we have just over 1,600 registered users. Only about 100-200 of them continue to be active and still login on a regular basis. We get about 25-50 new users registered a month. We do have over 5 million page views by users since January 2004 (a two year period --- so an average of 2.5 million pages views a year) and have run 40 markets since 2000. Over 90 million shares have been traded in 1.65 million executed orders. The dollar value of those orders amounts to more than $10 billion. 1,216 player offerings have raised $591,711,326 on multiple simulation markets.

That said however, to be considered a liquid market we need to have at least 5,000 active traders. Having that many traders will ensure we have a good number of orders on each side of the equation -- buy/bid and sell/ask orders (see GolfInvestors' OrderBook).

As well, we try to keep the ratio of total net asset value (NAV) of all investors and market capitalization btween 1.5 and 1. Doing so helps the liquidity of the markets.

This NAV-to-market cap ratio is manged by the number of players and number of shares that are available on a market. As well, we have "market makers" that are in each market to ensure there is enough cash in the market. The amount of cash available to the market makers is adjusted up and down based upon if more or less cash is needed in the market to keep it liquid.

There will be times when GolfInvestor Admins drain the market of cash and make the market less liquid. This is to keep investors on their toes and trap them with shares sometimes. When trapped or squeezed, investors will have to make a choice of either selling at a lower price than they want to sell at so they can get cash, or even get stuck with shares as there will be no buy orders for them to match their sell orders with.

GolfInvestors is slowly ripening, just like one's golf game. It takes time to get better at the game of golf. The evolution of GolfInvestors is no different. Let GolfInvestors continue to mature and you will be surprised what will happen.