A idea of a stock that could help win!not just ones that won’t..WCG is moving on rumors of a takeover at $70.This minght be a hold over thee weekend since if rumors are true could be a nice pop.Remember that your entry price will be based on the closing price not the price intraday..so if it runs up a lot by the close…then don’t pull the trigger.

That all the on-air personalities at CNBC kick in a stock pick from there area of coverage…so for example Mike Huckman may contribute a Pharma stock; to help out the contestants,It seems that even the general reporters on the show are contributing their prognostications!.Does this make you uncomfortable?I think it makes them uncomfortable.They are reporters not stock traders ; as Cramer says just being”Team Players”.Some of there ideas I have heard I can guarantee are not going to do you any good.One recomendation was SIRI .In the record books as the most reviewed merger of two [now]penny stocks.Why won’t this stock work?In the first place you need large point moves and /or a lot of them to win.Even if SIRI doubled it probably wouldn’t help you because there are too many contestants playing the same hand[CNBC mentions on air ;the most held stocks by contestants;a contrarian indicator?].The fellow who is banking a 30% profit 5 days a week will be ahead of you after 4 days of lucky trades.Buy and holding a stock that doubles won’t win this contest!..unless you do it often.Another idea I heard today from Diane the real estate reporter was to buy,well ;real estate stocks.That is a better idea as these heavily shorted stocks could make a massive move up.But again; when?They have been stuck in a range for months,and unless a spark ignites them near term these will have the same problem as siri;they may very well be within 20% of the price they are now;a month from now.I guess even if you don’t do it in your regular investing you need to play risky “event” trades to win.

Many people [like me]wasted valuable time making ineffective trades due to not understanding a key point about the contest.It does seem like they are emphasizing it more this year but still it bears repeating.The TV ads say you can trade 7 days a week …. but how can you trade when the market is closed?.Well it does not matter because the way the contest is set up it is not really daytrading..meaning buying and selling stock repeatedly in a single day and at the end of the day tallying up your gains or losses..People who trade in the market for real will have to adjust there style since “DAYTRADING” CAN’T BE DONE.The stocks you purchase during any given day are priced as of the close of trading at 4 pm EST.So there is no reason to sell a security that is not at least a day old.This rule lends itself to traders who buy “event” stocks.For example today PCLN reported earnings.This stock has climbed a wall of worry from the single digits by continuously beating the earnings estimates and proving naysayers wrong.After reporting tonite the stock was up $20 from its closing price.So a excellent technique would have been to have bought that stock anytime today[thursday] and sell it anytime tomorrow when hopefully it would still be up the $20 that it was in the after hours session.Note that if the stock was trading at say 148$ at 1 pm tomorow[friday] and you entered a sell order you would not be credited at $148 if it closed at say 134$ at 4 pm EST[friday];your trade would go in the records for your contest entry at the closing price of 134$ even if the stock traded at $148 intraday when you pushed the sell button in the contest..So in our example PCLN closed today at $123.94.If tomorrow it closes at $134 you will be credited with $10.06 profit for each share you bought today[thursday] prior to 4 PM est and sold tomorrow[friday]prior to 4 PM est.It seems simple but make sure you understand the timeline of what price CNBC is using to value your trade!

Trading starts in four days..you may be able to sign up after trading begins but I think it is advantage to get in early so you will have more days to trade.Not all of your trades will be winners..but a good way to add to your imaginary bankroll is to refer friends to the contest or play the triva contest wich will get you a additional $12,000 to play with,this can help offset those less than stellar trades!.

Well today CNBC announced the long anticipated new 1,000,000 dollar contest for 2008.After last year’s scandal plagued contest which featured cheating and hacking of the contest;It is likely that security has been improved for this years version.If you recall last year the awarding of the money to the contest winner,Waitress Mary Sue Williams from St. Claire Ohio,was delayed for several months as CNBC’s legal department attempted to audit the results and disqualify the cheaters.The deadline of time CNBC had to award the prize[as stated in the legal terms on the company website] was run to the wire by this investigation,but they did award it .Some had thought that they would not have the contest due to the bad publicity generated.Perhaps the newly competitive business news landscape because of FBNs debut made CNBC wish to use this Promotion once again.This years version will allow contestants to trade currency as well as stocks

2007 winner Mary Sue Williams; who still works at Unos restaurant in St Claire,despite winning the grand prize of $1,000,000;paid in the form of a annuity;complained that her tips had suffered as customers stated “we will only tip 5% since your rich”.and similar coments.It’s not easy being rich!