Young Drachma
04-23-2009, 08:45 AM
The only real stock market sim on the text sim market is Wall Street Raider. It's hyper realistic and well...a text sim through and through. One guy makes it and does a good job with it.
In any case, a new version came out on April 1st.
Here's what's in the new update.
Here's the download link. (http://www.roninsoft.com/download.htm)
5.0 -- Released: April 1, 2009 (Major release)
* Options trading has now been extended to all corporations. All corporations except banks and insurance companies are now allowed to buy put and call options, sell "covered calls" against stocks they own, or sell naked puts or calls. They may purchase puts or calls if they have the cash to do so, but may only sell "naked" puts or calls if they meet certain creditworthiness requirements, including a minimum "BBB" credit rating. As in the previous release, a corporation controlled by a player cannot sell naked calls on a stock also controlled by the player, or buy puts on such a stock, except to the extent the parent corporation is selling calls and/or buying puts to hedge its ownership of stock in the subsidiary, in order to prevent conflicts of interest (using options as the equivalent or short-selling stock of a company you control).
Banks and insurance companies are only allowed to sell "covered calls" against stocks they own, or buy puts to hedge such stock positions (or do some combination of the two). They may not speculate by buying calls or selling "naked" puts or calls. However, they may buy back calls they have sold short or may sell puts they have bought as hedges.
* While corporations (other than banks and insurance companies) can usually speculate by selling "naked" puts calls short, there are limits based on the seller's financial strength. To make such "naked" option short sales, a corporation but have at least a "BBB" credit rating or higher, and cannot sell naked options if doing so would cause the total short liability (to buy the naked options back) to exceed 25% of the selling company's net worth. Thereafter, if the short liability exceeds 50% of net worth, the selling company will have to buy back some or all of the shorted options.
* In this new version, buying or selling options may sometimes be limited, since the Options Exchange now must lay off the risk for each new option you create, by finding a corporation that is able to take the other side of the contract. Thus, if you wish to buy calls on 5% of IBM, the program will search for a seller corporation that is able and permitted to sell calls short on 5% of IBM, under the same terms (same option exercise price and maturity date). If your transaction is too large, or if you have created too many large options contracts, you may not always be able to find a counterparty, at some point. (It is no longer an infinite financial universe in W$R....)
* The main W$R screen has been improved in a number of ways, to enhance usability and appearance. Six additional buttons have been added to the main screen "Quick Search Functions" area, so it is no longer necessary to open up a menu to bring up a Research Report, Earnings Report, Financial Profile, Shareholder List, Portfolio List, or Options Portfolio List. One mouse click now brings up any of those items. Three buttons that were formerly on the main screen (Market Share, Most Cash, and Largest Tax Losses) have been moved to the General Research menu. To view new main screen, click here.
* A new button has been added to the General Research Menu, the "Largest Market Cap" button. Click it and a list of the 100 largest companies will be displayed, ranked by their stock market capitalization (stock price times number of shares issued = capitalization). This list also shows each company's credit rating and who, if anyone, controls it.
* Buy Call, Sell Call, Buy Put, and Sell Put buttons have been added to the Buy/Sell Menu, for all corporations, now that options trading is permitted for all corporations.
* If there are any open slots on the Streaming Quotes List (which displays streaming quotes for up to 15 stocks), a stock will now be added to the list automatically if it is selected as the "Active Entity" (unless you have recently deleted it from the list).
* In the previous release, a feature was added that allowed a player to manipulate the earnings of a company of which he or she was the C.E.O., by adding to or drawing from "contingency reserves." This release extends that feature to any company that a player controls, whether or not he or she is C.E.O. of that company. Buttons for these functions have been added to the "Other Trans." Menu. The prior restriction, allowing such transactions only for a company of which you were the C.E.O., was too easy to get around, and simply was an unnecessary annoyance, so we have eliminated the C.E.O. requirement.
* In prior versions, you could use the "Spread Rumors" feature to bring down the stock price of a competitor's company, just before a game ends, so that there is no time for the opponent to sue you for slander and possibly win a judgment against you. In this version, you can no longer use the "Spread Rumors" feature in the last year of a game.
* In keeping with the spirit of these dismal times, we have decided that you fat-cat billionaire players, Big Oil, and other greedy mega-corporations were getting away with not paying enough taxes (since the maximum income tax rate in W$R only goes as high as 75%), so we have added a few new taxes on capital, none of them deductible from your income tax, to make life more interesting and more like today's mad, mad world. These new taxes on capital, which can pop up at any time (and can sometimes get repealed) are as follows:
o A "Wealth Tax" (annual) on players, but only to the extent your net worth exceeds $1 billion U.S. (or the equivalent);
o A "Windfall Profits Tax" on capital assets of oil and oil-related industries that applies when oil prices are high, regardless of whether the companies have any profits;
o A "Health Care Tax" that can be imposed on the capital assets of drug and biotech companies, as well as on health care providers and medical equipment companies;
o A "Corporate Shares Tax" that can be imposed on corporations that are incorporated in the U.S. and some other countries (paid by the shareholders of those companies, based on the stock values);
o A global warming "Carbon Tax" on a wide range of industries that either produce energy or consume a lot of it, like airlines, rail, trucking, and utilities, based on their capital (business) assets, not on profits (Chinese and Indian companies are exempted); and
o A "Personal Holding Company Tax" that applies to a company that is either a "pure" holding/trading company or has less than 20% of its assets invested in business capital assets and working capital, if the company is owned directly (51% or more) by you, the player. This tax is paid by the company on its net worth (if any) reduced by the amount of its business assets. (Banks and insurers are exempted.)
Tax rates and details for all these new taxes, and whether or not currently imposed, can quickly be found by clicking on the "Economic Statistics" button on the General Research menu. Each tax is paid quarterly except the "billionaire's" (wealth) tax, which is paid at the end of each year.
Of course, not all of these taxes will be imposed in any one game (usually), and the tax rates are often rather low, but they will be imposed often enough to keep things interesting, if you are in danger of becoming too filthy rich....
* Players who like for their controlled companies to have high stock prices (a la Berkshire-Hathaway) will no longer have the stock price automatically split at prices above 1,000. Instead, splits won't be mandatory unless the stock price rises to 100,000 or above.
* The Chapter 11 Bankruptcy reorganization provisions have been modified so that companies emerging from bankruptcy will now usually have at least a "CC" credit rating, meaning larger writedowns for shareholders and creditors, but the bankrupted company will now have a somewhat stronger balance sheet and a better chance of avoiding another bankruptcy proceeding.
* When trying to change banks, if you have a very large account balance (cash) to transfer to the new bank, it will not accept such a transfer of "hot money," which might cause its stock to soar, but only until you moved the money to yet another bank. (Sound of another large loophole clanging shut....)
* Players cannot sell "unvested" executive stock options, but the options "vest" and can be sold when the player is in dire circumstances and receives a margin call. In prior versions, a player could create a margin call situation in order to be able to sell the options, but now all bonds and stocks must be sold first when a player receives margin calls or has a negative cash balance that can't be canceled by borrowing. (Another, small, loophole closed.)
* This release is file-compatible with saved game files from prior versions 3.10 through 4.90, but not with versions prior to 3.10.
In any case, a new version came out on April 1st.
Here's what's in the new update.
Here's the download link. (http://www.roninsoft.com/download.htm)
5.0 -- Released: April 1, 2009 (Major release)
* Options trading has now been extended to all corporations. All corporations except banks and insurance companies are now allowed to buy put and call options, sell "covered calls" against stocks they own, or sell naked puts or calls. They may purchase puts or calls if they have the cash to do so, but may only sell "naked" puts or calls if they meet certain creditworthiness requirements, including a minimum "BBB" credit rating. As in the previous release, a corporation controlled by a player cannot sell naked calls on a stock also controlled by the player, or buy puts on such a stock, except to the extent the parent corporation is selling calls and/or buying puts to hedge its ownership of stock in the subsidiary, in order to prevent conflicts of interest (using options as the equivalent or short-selling stock of a company you control).
Banks and insurance companies are only allowed to sell "covered calls" against stocks they own, or buy puts to hedge such stock positions (or do some combination of the two). They may not speculate by buying calls or selling "naked" puts or calls. However, they may buy back calls they have sold short or may sell puts they have bought as hedges.
* While corporations (other than banks and insurance companies) can usually speculate by selling "naked" puts calls short, there are limits based on the seller's financial strength. To make such "naked" option short sales, a corporation but have at least a "BBB" credit rating or higher, and cannot sell naked options if doing so would cause the total short liability (to buy the naked options back) to exceed 25% of the selling company's net worth. Thereafter, if the short liability exceeds 50% of net worth, the selling company will have to buy back some or all of the shorted options.
* In this new version, buying or selling options may sometimes be limited, since the Options Exchange now must lay off the risk for each new option you create, by finding a corporation that is able to take the other side of the contract. Thus, if you wish to buy calls on 5% of IBM, the program will search for a seller corporation that is able and permitted to sell calls short on 5% of IBM, under the same terms (same option exercise price and maturity date). If your transaction is too large, or if you have created too many large options contracts, you may not always be able to find a counterparty, at some point. (It is no longer an infinite financial universe in W$R....)
* The main W$R screen has been improved in a number of ways, to enhance usability and appearance. Six additional buttons have been added to the main screen "Quick Search Functions" area, so it is no longer necessary to open up a menu to bring up a Research Report, Earnings Report, Financial Profile, Shareholder List, Portfolio List, or Options Portfolio List. One mouse click now brings up any of those items. Three buttons that were formerly on the main screen (Market Share, Most Cash, and Largest Tax Losses) have been moved to the General Research menu. To view new main screen, click here.
* A new button has been added to the General Research Menu, the "Largest Market Cap" button. Click it and a list of the 100 largest companies will be displayed, ranked by their stock market capitalization (stock price times number of shares issued = capitalization). This list also shows each company's credit rating and who, if anyone, controls it.
* Buy Call, Sell Call, Buy Put, and Sell Put buttons have been added to the Buy/Sell Menu, for all corporations, now that options trading is permitted for all corporations.
* If there are any open slots on the Streaming Quotes List (which displays streaming quotes for up to 15 stocks), a stock will now be added to the list automatically if it is selected as the "Active Entity" (unless you have recently deleted it from the list).
* In the previous release, a feature was added that allowed a player to manipulate the earnings of a company of which he or she was the C.E.O., by adding to or drawing from "contingency reserves." This release extends that feature to any company that a player controls, whether or not he or she is C.E.O. of that company. Buttons for these functions have been added to the "Other Trans." Menu. The prior restriction, allowing such transactions only for a company of which you were the C.E.O., was too easy to get around, and simply was an unnecessary annoyance, so we have eliminated the C.E.O. requirement.
* In prior versions, you could use the "Spread Rumors" feature to bring down the stock price of a competitor's company, just before a game ends, so that there is no time for the opponent to sue you for slander and possibly win a judgment against you. In this version, you can no longer use the "Spread Rumors" feature in the last year of a game.
* In keeping with the spirit of these dismal times, we have decided that you fat-cat billionaire players, Big Oil, and other greedy mega-corporations were getting away with not paying enough taxes (since the maximum income tax rate in W$R only goes as high as 75%), so we have added a few new taxes on capital, none of them deductible from your income tax, to make life more interesting and more like today's mad, mad world. These new taxes on capital, which can pop up at any time (and can sometimes get repealed) are as follows:
o A "Wealth Tax" (annual) on players, but only to the extent your net worth exceeds $1 billion U.S. (or the equivalent);
o A "Windfall Profits Tax" on capital assets of oil and oil-related industries that applies when oil prices are high, regardless of whether the companies have any profits;
o A "Health Care Tax" that can be imposed on the capital assets of drug and biotech companies, as well as on health care providers and medical equipment companies;
o A "Corporate Shares Tax" that can be imposed on corporations that are incorporated in the U.S. and some other countries (paid by the shareholders of those companies, based on the stock values);
o A global warming "Carbon Tax" on a wide range of industries that either produce energy or consume a lot of it, like airlines, rail, trucking, and utilities, based on their capital (business) assets, not on profits (Chinese and Indian companies are exempted); and
o A "Personal Holding Company Tax" that applies to a company that is either a "pure" holding/trading company or has less than 20% of its assets invested in business capital assets and working capital, if the company is owned directly (51% or more) by you, the player. This tax is paid by the company on its net worth (if any) reduced by the amount of its business assets. (Banks and insurers are exempted.)
Tax rates and details for all these new taxes, and whether or not currently imposed, can quickly be found by clicking on the "Economic Statistics" button on the General Research menu. Each tax is paid quarterly except the "billionaire's" (wealth) tax, which is paid at the end of each year.
Of course, not all of these taxes will be imposed in any one game (usually), and the tax rates are often rather low, but they will be imposed often enough to keep things interesting, if you are in danger of becoming too filthy rich....
* Players who like for their controlled companies to have high stock prices (a la Berkshire-Hathaway) will no longer have the stock price automatically split at prices above 1,000. Instead, splits won't be mandatory unless the stock price rises to 100,000 or above.
* The Chapter 11 Bankruptcy reorganization provisions have been modified so that companies emerging from bankruptcy will now usually have at least a "CC" credit rating, meaning larger writedowns for shareholders and creditors, but the bankrupted company will now have a somewhat stronger balance sheet and a better chance of avoiding another bankruptcy proceeding.
* When trying to change banks, if you have a very large account balance (cash) to transfer to the new bank, it will not accept such a transfer of "hot money," which might cause its stock to soar, but only until you moved the money to yet another bank. (Sound of another large loophole clanging shut....)
* Players cannot sell "unvested" executive stock options, but the options "vest" and can be sold when the player is in dire circumstances and receives a margin call. In prior versions, a player could create a margin call situation in order to be able to sell the options, but now all bonds and stocks must be sold first when a player receives margin calls or has a negative cash balance that can't be canceled by borrowing. (Another, small, loophole closed.)
* This release is file-compatible with saved game files from prior versions 3.10 through 4.90, but not with versions prior to 3.10.