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Pastimes : SI International Ope' Stock Picking Contest -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mike RN who wrote (2365)	12/1/1998 7:47:00 PM
From: Forest Gump	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2640

IF everything works right this is how in a nutshell, but hey, I may have made a mistake. I basically took the closing Ask on the start date and 20000k to figure initial share count (20,000/ca = sc) (sc * ca = initial position). Short or long doesn't matter. I use the closing Ask NOT last sale price. For each day I then multiply closing Bid times share count (sc * cb = current position). I use the closing Bid not NOT last sale price. I use the closing B/A for obvious reasons. You buy on the ask and sell on the bid in the real world (unless you are a daytrader making market but let's keep it simple). Going by the last price can be completely eroneous. A stock may be sitting at 5 1/8 X 5 3/8 then the last TRADE is a sell at 5 1/8 3 minutes before the close and THEN the MM offering the 3/8 ask drops off leaving a closing ask of 5 1/2. If we went by LAST SALE then your positions would be calculated at 5 1/8 which is a far cry from the 5 1/2 that is the current asking price. If you are long then I subtract current minus initial (current position - initial position = (+/-)profit/loss. If you are short then I subtract initial position - current position. At least this how I think I designed it months ago for the first contest.