example for normal LCN stock market trading (no mission-related events)

[PZ]

Excellent - thanks, AB  :-X  ^-^

[Art Blade]

my pleasure :)

Please let me know if you pulled off something nice. It's not so much about the amount of money but the return percentage. Even if you get just only 2%, you can stack your return percentage.. five times a 2% return is a 10% return in total and even a little more as you will generate a compound interest :)

You see, I said earlier in this topic that I had made sure Franklin would be up to speed when the first heist payout was due. Franklin only received a fraction of Michael's share yet they both had over a million dollars. I had managed to double the initial $500k pre-order bonus by doing quite a few small trades which kept stacking up :)

[PZ]

I'll do so  :-X

This is quite a list of tips we're cataloging  :-X

[Art Blade]

nice, and yes, indeed  :-()

By the way, I want to add a minor detail: In one of the previous posts I mentioned that you could see the income generated by business properties which is true but you don't see all of the businesses. Some of them simply don't always generate a profit and when that happens, they simply won't show on the bank statement.

[Art Blade]

Heck with it, I made Trevor a member of the Billionaires Club, too. Just three transactions and one on top to make it look better.  :-D

[smg id=7944 type=preview align=center caption="T joins the B club"]

[PZ]

Playing as M, I purchased stock using all but $32 (only had about $7500) - it was at rock bottom prices.  It almost immediately rose, but then fell again quite abruptly.  Will wait to see what happens the next time I fire up the game.

[Art Blade]

If I read that right, you saved your game after investing money so I predict that you won't get any profit. Which means, you'll even lose money if my prediction is correct.

The reason why I say that is already part of this tutorial and the tips topic: Rockstar seems to have found a way to prevent savegame cheating. I'm NOT suggesting that you're cheating. I'm saying that from my observation, once you invested money in the stock market and saved the game with the money still invested, reloading that savegame causes the share value of your investment to stay below a profit line (for the other readers: we are talking exclusively about normal LCN brokering without story-driven stock events) If you're lucky, you'll see a near-zero win line and should sell all as soon as you see you're in the green. From my observation, continuing to wait for profit will even cause a massive contraction of say, 10% loss for you.

In order to make money, the best way to do it is to NOT save while you're speculating. Only after you made a profit and got the money in your bank account.

[Art Blade]

I went to the trouble of testing it again, fresh, for you guys. ;)

I'll use spoiler tags because six pictures would just inflate this topic too much at this point  ;)

Spoiler

What I did in preparation: I invested money and saved immediately. I then sold everything right away and saved that. So I have two savegames at a nearly identical in-game time and day.

So I continued after selling all. Basically the same as if quitting the game and firing it up again, which would have caused to load the savegame without any money invested. Now I invested again right away and did some sleeping with my character to advance time. I ended up with a nice profit. Actually I could have chosen to sell several times during this test, with a nice 6 to 8 percent return. The next two pics show start and end of the speculation.
[smg id=7945 type=preview align=center caption="theory 01"]
[smg id=7946 type=preview align=center caption="theory 02"]

Here I went back to the savegame with money already invested. Incredible. I couldn't get any profit from it. Note the share values in pic 04, the graph shows that it stays below the lowest value of pic 03 -- below any win margin.
[smg id=7947 type=preview align=center caption="theory 03"]
[smg id=7948 type=preview align=center caption="theory 04"]

I then reloaded the savegame without money invested, basically the same situation as in the first two pics. Again, I made a solid profit of over 8%.
[smg id=7949 type=preview align=center caption="theory 05"]
[smg id=7950 type=preview align=center caption="theory 06"]

[PZ]

  :-X  I'll need to rethink my investing strategy!

[Art Blade]

does that mean you didn't make a profit, then? As in, did I predict that correctly? :)

[PZ]

I don't know yet - have unfortunately not had the chance to fire up the game since I made that post  :-\\

So little time these days

[Art Blade]

OK

[Binnatics]

Art..... :bow :bow :bow

[Art Blade]

 :-D

[PZ]

You must be right, AB, I opened the game long enough to realize that I was almost at the same deficit as when I last quit the game.  It will be interesting to see what happens when I next open the game.

[Stiku]

Love those quicksaves, you will be placed exactly where you left off.  8)

[Art Blade]

PZ, hey.. this isn't about a savings bank account you wait for interests to accumulate ???  :-()

Brokering is a gamble that is all about the right timing. So generally it doesn't w@&k well "in the background" while doing other stuff, you need to actually watch and make decisions.

Seeing a deficit alone doesn't prove that the reason for the deficit is a reloaded savegame because a deficit (negative return percentage) could occur during any speculation. See the story of M's 1% and F's 15% return when they sold shares of the same company at the same time.

What is important to know is the share value you bought at, what you called "rock bottom prices." I don't expect you to have taken a screenie of the share price or the graph nor to have jotted down the actual price to see whether or not the new graph stays below the old low. However, if you want to make money with shares, you need to constantly observe the development of the shares to make decisions and to actually sell when you can secure a profit.

If you just looked at your portfolio at the start and then again at the end of your gaming session, you could basically have been in a silly situation of seeing both times the same value thinking oh, nothing has changed, while in reality in the meantime the prices could have done a whole roller coaster ride with ups and downs and you would have missed your chance of making a profit.

However, one way or another, I don't expect you to see a profit no matter what you do. If I were you I'd try to sell at a least possible deficit. Which again means that you need to observe the stock. Which you haven't, which you are likely not going to have.. and that seems to be the key, your "weak" point: you don't have time for this bullshit

If that is so, here is some advice for free (erm, well, at least I don't charge you but hey.. you pay with your lost investment)

DON'T try brokering if you don't have time for it.

You cannot make a fortune by coincidence. ;)

[Art Blade]

It just occurred to me that here the old proverb, "TIME IS MONEY," is absolutely true 

In other words: if you haven't got time for this mini game then don't waste your precious time. If you can't make a substantial investment and turning that into a substantial profit your gaming time isn't worth the trouble. I think you should wait until you get to the end of the story line (and by then you'll have several tens of millions of dollars) and only then do the stock market gambling related to Lester's assassination missions to turn your earnings into massive profits IF you are so inclined.

[PZ]

... Which you haven't, which you are likely not going to have.. and that seems to be the key, your "weak" point: you don't have time for this bullshit

  You are correct, my friend - I am like a little kid with no ability to pay attention

[Art Blade]

you're better off robbing convenience stores and money trucks then  :-()

[PZ]

hmmm.... yes, I think becoming a juvenile delinquent is likely more my style  :-()

[Art Blade]

 ;D

[PZ]

Well, I started the game last night and the market was up a bit so I sold everything, made a little profit, and then promptly invested it all again in another low performer 

[Art Blade]

 :)

[Dweller_Benthos]

Made my first foray into the stock market last night, and thanks to Dr. Art's amazing tips, made a little money.

Very little. LOL $11 or so, but hey, it worked.

I looked through the list and found one that was going down and also cheap, and the graph had just started to go up, so I bought $200 worth, as it was only $3.50 or so, it wasn't much, but it was a test for me. It went up a bit and I thought about selling, but the profit was only 2% or so, so I let it ride. It went down more. Then down more. Could have bought at a lower price, eh no big. I let it ride some more and it started to go back up. Last high point was on a Sunday (nice they have a stock market open on Sunday) so I let it ride some more. Eventually on Saturday night it seemed like it was leveling off so I sold at a bit over 5.5% profit. Since the initial investment was so small, that only turned out to be the above mentioned $11 or so, but hey, it was profit for doing nothing but sleeping and watching a graph. Plan to be a bit more aggressive tonight, and get more money into it.

But "Dr. Art's Patented Stock Market Money Making Scheme®" works like a charm! (Non-compensated endorsement)

[smg id=7973]