Playing the Steam stock market

[atheistgod1999]

I still have 10.5 months until I can trade legit stocks, but I can do basically the same thing on Steam's marketplace with trading cards. I already had over 60 cents in my Steam wallet from selling trading cards prior due to not giving a shit about them, but now I realize that I could potentially play the stock game to get more money for PC games. Is this a good idea?

[BIL]

No. Sell ur butt ¦3

[Strider77]

No. Sell ur butt ¦3

At pizza hutt.

[Shoryukev]

No. Sell ur butt ¦3

At pizza hutt.

To Pizza the Hutt

[atheistgod1999]

To a mutt

You don't even know the origin of the joke.

[Ruldra]

Buying and re-selling trading cards will take a huge amount of effort just for a few cents of profit. Not really worth it. Just sell what you have and be done with it.

[Shoryukev]

To a mutt

You don't even know the origin of the joke.

That I do not. I thought we were just rhyming, then I decided pizza the hutt was funnier. I don't get out much lol

[CStarFlare]

Buying and re-selling trading cards will take a huge amount of effort just for a few cents of profit. Not really worth it. Just sell what you have and be done with it.

Yep. In cases where I've found that the game can be played (ie, you can sell cards for more than what a booster pack costs) I've been able to take advantage of it maybe once before enough other people picked up on it and the economy rebalanced itself. Trades are tough to win on because whoever initiates the trade is usually at a disadvantage - the other party knows they have something you want and won't be willing to come out behind.

Go for walks and pick up money you find on the ground. It's a better way to make money.

[Pixel_Outlaw]

I was kind of annoyed that Steam even does this.

Is this like the next level of Xbox Achievements?
Like instead of just an unnecessary pat on the back they're actually giving you stuff to play games now?
Holy cow "gamers" are losers.

If you don't play a game because it's hard and asks something of you, I guess you just play it because it is shallow and well advertised.
Gotta keep up with the other "gamers".

[CStarFlare]

I think it's kind of a fun meta game. Completely unnecessary but it's easy enough to tinker with without spending any real money.

[MintyTheCat]

It is like 1999 all over again

Ok, trading: you need to learn a lot about the assets that you are going to be trading: working with Gold - learn all you can about the market for gold, trading Gas stocks - learn everything about Gas prices and how policies function. Develop a feeling for what 'makes sense' - embroil yourself in data.
Learn SAS or something useful. Learn Calculus. Learn how to do quick calculations - having arithmetic instantly is what really counts in the heat of the action.
Read books about Technical Analysis.

The most important thing: NEVER trade on your life/rent/sanity/etc. Money - NEVER.

Be prepared to spend a lot of time watching the markets - it will not be worth spending the time watching the markets for a very, very long time for you but you are there for the experience so keep watching.

You are going to need some useful Maths: Calculus, Probability, Combinatronics, etc. You will not flinch at data and you will not mind working out drops, you will keep an eye on volume over time (again, Calculus is second-nature by this time).

If after all that you still think it is a great idea then proceed.

You then need to determine what type of asset you are going to be trading and you will be fully aware of what tools you are up against and the type of people you will be competing against - you will not be beating the High-Volume Trading programs - you will never beat them - so choose an asset to trade on that you have some chance of winning at, examples: Matched-Betting, Crypto-Currencies, Forex, etc.

Trade on a wallet of $200-600, put down tiny amounts - remember any idiot can be a hero: rush in, drop all the money on one trade, things flip and flip badly, you are shitting yourself and look like a king sized pillock and then bullshit yourself into the disbelief that "it will go back up - it will!" - learn to add in a buy-in and out level and calculate a good, safe and sure margin - no prizes for being a hero but take a good percentage.

Learn to spot sell-offs, drop-offs, mass action, etc. and take advantage of them. Have some trading and market apps installed on your PC/Tablet/Phone/etc. with a load of level warnings that you have calculated.

Keep a book of all your trades - it helps you to keep perspective, slows you down and prevents you from "jumping in" and making a silly decision. It also helps you to learn to place your trades and set up your orders thoughtfully - you do not want to start "reacting" to the market.

You will have a special interest in volume and the rate at which volumes change.

I cannot advocate you getting into it but I can say that it will give you some useful experience.

Best of luck.