Tag Archives: stocks

Stockmarket and the mysteries of profit

The stockmarket is a great way to make money without risking a mugging. But it isn’t all plain sailing, and there are of course a few ways to make money from it. Before we get on to that though here is my disclaimer: The below is only intended to be a discussion of possible tactics, and I will not be liable for any financial loss you incur! (I would of course be very happy to liable for your profits)

So there are three ways I use to make money at stocks:

Buy Low Sell High (well duh!)
Benefit block hoarding
Buy Lower and just sell

Buy Low Sell High

The traditional method – and the one that most people think of when they talk about any kind of market trading. Of course it’s not as simple as that though, for starters how much do you want to make before you sell? On torn we can effectively use a high frequency trading strategy as prices only change every 15 minutes. So if you are in a position to always be there for those changes you can push the sell button at the best time.

Buying:

Now I still use the original torn stock exchange pricing scheme as a guide for buying price. If you weren’t around for the first TCSE the benefit blocks were done by price, not by shares held. So what I do is equate those numbers with the new shares required number and that is the price I expect the share to jump around. Some shares have drastically changed and this doesn’t apply, but for the most part it still works:

Stock Code Original BB New BB Price My Price
TCB 1000 1.5 666.67 633.33
CNC 3000 5 600.00 570.00
MCS 350 1.75 200.00 550.00
WLT 5000 9 555.56 527.78
IIL 35 0.1 350.00 500.00
BAG 800 3 266.67 500.00
SYM 250 0.5 500.00 475.00
SYS 1500 3 500.00 475.00
TCSB 2000 4 500.00 475.00
LSC 50 0.1 500.00 475.00
TCHS 50 0.15 333.33 400.00
TCM 250 1 250.00 380.00
FHC 750 2 375.00 356.25
HRG 500 1.5 333.33 316.67
YAZ 50 1 50.00 300.00
WSSB 30 0.1 300.00 285.00
TCP 200 1 200.00 280.00
ISTC 25 0.1 250.00 237.50
TCC 75 0.35 214.29 203.57
TCT 25 0.125 200.00 190.00
GRN 100 0.5 200.00 190.00
EWM 400 2 200.00 190.00
SLAG 300 1.5 200.00 190.00
EVL 350 1.75 200.00 190.00
TMI 1000 6 166.67 158.33
IOU 500 3 166.67 158.33
MSG 25 0.3 83.33 150.00
PRN 45 1.5 30.00 130.00
ELBT 600 5 120.00 114.00
TGP 200 2.5 80.00 100.00

Selling

Of course before every deciding what to buy I check the stock graph, usually for a year period, for an idea of how it’s moving. Anything older than a year can be a bit misleading – changes in game can change the demand for a stock, or can influence how often players do an action that improves/reduces the price of that stock. Here is WLT for example, one of my favorites, with a red line at my buying price.

WLT-stock-graph

 

Personally I like to try and make 1% off of any share purchase I make. And with any luck I can do this within 3 days of buying. But timing the selling can be tricky – remember there are a hundred others trying to do the same. With WLT I often see them sell out at about 560 per share (yes, above my buy price guide), and I actually buy at around 565 normally. They go up to 600 on the rare occasion, so there is plenty of room for selling.

When you hit sell your shares go in to a queue to be sold, the first available get sold first, so if you are the last to hit sell you will be waiting the longest. You can bet that if I hit sell at 571 (my intended profit) I will end up waiting three days or more and at that point I could be further in profit, or sometimes back where I started. If I hit sell at 568 though I could be in the middle of that queue. The price normally keeps on rising and people still buy at 570 hoping it will get to the 600 mark.

That of course is the other method of trying to make money at stocks. It’s not an easy one, shares stop selling the higher they go, and a lot of ‘big profit hunters’ end up hanging on to shares for a month or two to make 10% profit. If you compare the two methods and estimate I make 1% a week on an initial 100m, compared to 10% in 8 weeks, you would think I am missing out on 1.7% profit. But it’s important to remember the risks involved. In a year I may fail to make 1% on about 10% of my purchases. I would imagine a big profit hunter will fail on at least double that.

Benefit Block Hoarding

If you have plenty of spare cash around and want to lock it up, keep it safe, and still make a small profit then BB blocks are the one for you. There are three types of benefit as I see it

  • Cash dividends
  • Item dividends
  • Game modifiers

The biggest money spinners are the Item dividends – they pay out once a week normally and the item prices are often quote good compared to the benefit cost. FHC for example is a 12m item every week, compared to 750m cost

Stock Benefit Cost Weekly payout % Gain
HRG Random Houses 500 10 2
LSC Lotto Vouchers 50 0.9 1.8
FHC FHC 750 12 1.6
SYM Drug packs 350 4.5 1.285714
TCHS Med packs 50 0.5 1
PRN EDVDs 270 2.5 0.925926
EMW Grenades 490 1.3 0.265306
SLAG Lawyer Cards 350 0.7 0.2

Cash dividends are poor – they rarely pay out, and when they do they are quite small compared to the block cost. TMI for example gave me 45m every 3 months or so. This is about 1.2m per week for a 1b cost.

Stock Cost Payout % Gain (3m/1w)
TMI 1000 45 4.5 / 0.375
IOU 450 20 4.44 / 0.37
TCSB 2500 90 3.6 / 0.3
GRN 100 3 3 / 0.25
TCC 75 2 2.66 / 0.22

Game modifiers are all dependent on how you quantify things. CNC for example is good for oil rig owners, but won’t benefit anyone else, and if you own a rig it probably gives you 10% profit per day (5-6m) for the 2.5-3b investment. MCS gives 300 energy randomly, maybe once a week, but for me 300 energy could be 2 FHC (24m) or 12 mugs (12-100m).

Cash benefits:

Stock Benefit Worth
TCB Better bank rate 5m a week?
MCS Random energy 24m a week?
WLT Quicker travel 14m a week?
YAZ Free Banner Ads Up to 3.5m a week
ELBT 10% off house upgrades Property sales dependant

Company Owner benefits:

Stock Benefit Worth
CNC Oil rig profit / cost reduction Up to 35m a week?
TCP 10% company profits Up to 7m a day
TGP Increased Advertising Unknown
SYS Hacking Protection Not quantifiable

Other:

Stock Benefit Worth
IIL Reduced virus coding time Minimal
BAG Unknown Unknown
TCM Reduced Car Upgrade Costs Minimal
ISTC No Education Money Cost Minimal
WSSB No Education Energy Cost Minimal
TCT Free personal Adverts Minimal
EVL Random Happy Minimal
MSG Free classified ads Minimal

Trusted friends

There is of course another route to making money this way. But only if you have trust in another player 110%. Buy shares and get someone else to hold them for you. I do this with some of my closest in game friends, they get to keep 1 in every 3 items/dividends, and if they end up making enough money they can buy the shares off me.

Buy Lower and Just Sell

An alternative way of making money is by offering to buy shares off others at a discount rate. Often people want to get the money out of their shares quickly, and waiting for them to sell on the open market isn’t an option. This is a good opportunity for a player with time and money to buy them cheaper than market price (80-99% of cost). Once bought you put them on the market to sell like any other share, but you are gambling that they will sell before the price drops below what you paid for them.


 

So that is the low down on the stock market. If you need to make some cash to invest then read about how I would make some capital in my article Simple ways to make money

How to become mug proof

Ok no one can ever truly be mug proof, I get randomly mugged all the time while I am online, and in that one split second I may happen to be moving some money around or buying items etc.

But the majority of the time I manage to do a lot of business without risk of mugs, and still have easy access to cash without risking scams or having to lose money. I’ve split being mug proof into 3 concepts, safe trading, self- hospitalizing and hiding money. Learn more about business management by checking this post about the definition of paystubs. If you’re seeking additional information on paystubs, you can find resources at eagerclub.com. If you want to build a partition into your office, contact Glazed Office Partitions to learn more about their services. Also, consider installing glass windows and doors to make your office look great. Having a successful business requires help from your team, and if you want to be a good leader, you can seek it by visiting this website: https://hr-services.uk/.

Safe Trading

If you have time the safest way to stay mug proof is to do all of your selling using the trade mechanism. Always set up the trade yourself if you are receiving cash – that way you will always be the one to confirm the trade and can control when it is accepted.

Beware some traders will cancel these trades though, and mug you, so try and combine this with self hosping to be 100% safe.

This isn’t something we all have time for, and bazaar selling is clearly the best way to get things sold. If you must sell things in your bazaar you should do two things: Only have a lot to sell when you are going to be in hospital for a long time (self hosp, war, just before you launch an OC or do crimes with hosp outcomes). Alternatively combine your selling with flying  – choosing a good destination for both time and likelyhood of stalkers mugging in that location (I don’t fly to Caymans when selling)

Self Hospitalization

Turn revives off, or only have friends/faction do them. Turn revives off, or only have friends/faction do them. How many times do I have to say this..

Turn revives off, or only have friends/faction do them. Three sounds good. So now we have that out the way we can talk about the benefit of self hosping. No one can mug you, but you can’t really do much.. Well all you have to do is make sure you use all your nerve and energy, and do all your buying from item market before you self hosp. Easy!

So how does one self hosp? Lets take a look, starting with short term. (This is not an exhaustive list)

  • 0-20 mins
    attack someone and lose (costs e)
    have someone mug/leave you (costs money)
    play RR until you lose (costs $10)
  • 30-90 mins
    attempt a run away and fail (25e, but if player is paying for success you can make money too)
    use a wrong blood bag (1hr med cooldown)
    time out in an RR game and have opponent shoot you in the back ($10)
  • 1-5hrs
    get a friend to bounty you (costs $10 x your level)
    SEDs (These stack, but cost 8-10m)
  • longer than 5 hrs
    fail warehouse crime
    OD on Xanax/PCP (ha! never happens when you want)
    Fail some OCs (hard to get right)

Hiding Money

Hiding money is a fine art. Especially for those who don’t own a company, or have trust/leadership in their faction. Again we can do this in a few ways, depending on how long we want to hide it for. For more guidance on this topic, check out our comprehensive accounting guide that covers various strategies for hiding money effectively.

15 minutes – create an RR game with a password and you can put as much money in there as you like – only issue is people can see your money 😉

6 hours – create a trade with a friend, put in your money, never accept the trade (ask your friend not to either), You can then add and remove money as you like.

min 24 hours -Bookies – Cheap trick, you can change your bet once it is made. Pick the last bet that will close and put your money in that, when it gets close to the day (or when you need it) change the bet to a lower amount, and you get your money back. (Please note, I do not know if this is seen as an exploit, check with staff)

min 24 hours – Auction House – good if you want to hide for min 24 hours, and get a good deal. Bid on something that you know you will be outbid on – choosing a length of auction suited to your hide time. If someone does outbid you then you will have 24 hours of safety for that cash

min 24 hours – Stocks – not an easy one, but if you buy the cheapest looking stock that is increasing or steady, buy and sell straight away. It can take time to sell, but once it does you again get up to 24 hours of safety.

You can also use this method during your flights to hide money from sales – just be aware you can’t get at it until you are in torn (if it sells) but it will stop muggers stalking your landing.

N/A – Caymans – If you don’t mind having to fly to the Caymans, and risk the stalkers, you can always fly to the Caymans and use the bank there. This is best done in two stages – use a fake trade with a friend whilst you are flying, once there and ready to bank use chat to get your friend to cancel the trade, banking almost instantly.

There are plenty more things you can do to keep your money safe

Safe Trading

If you have time the safest way to stay mug proof is to do all of your selling using the trade mechanism. Always set up the trade yourself if you are receiving cash – that way you will always be the one to confirm the trade and can control when it is accepted.

Beware some traders will cancel these trades though, and mug you, so try and combine this with self hosping to be 100% safe.

This isn’t something we all have time for, and bazaar selling is clearly the best way to get things sold. If you must sell things in your bazaar you should do two things: Only have a lot to sell when you are going to be in hospital for a long time (self hosp, war, just before you launch an OC or do crimes with hosp outcomes). Alternatively combine your selling with flying  – choosing a good destination for both time and likelyhood of stalkers mugging in that location (I don’t fly to Caymans when selling)

Self Hospitalization

Turn revives off, or only have friends/faction do them. Turn revives off, or only have friends/faction do them. How many times do I have to say this..

Turn revives off, or only have friends/faction do them. Three sounds good. So now we have that out the way we can talk about the benefit of self hosping. No one can mug you, but you can’t really do much.. Well all you have to do is make sure you use all your nerve and energy, and do all your buying from item market before you self hosp. Easy!

So how does one self hosp? Lets take a look, starting with short term. (This is not an exhaustive list)

  • 0-20 mins
    attack someone and lose (costs e)
    have someone mug/leave you (costs money)
    play RR until you lose (costs $10)
  • 30-90 mins
    attempt a run away and fail (25e, but if player is paying for success you can make money too)
    use a wrong blood bag (1hr med cooldown)
    time out in an RR game and have opponent shoot you in the back ($10)
  • 1-5hrs
    get a friend to bounty you (costs $10 x your level)
    SEDs (These stack, but cost 8-10m)
  • longer than 5 hrs
    fail warehouse crime
    OD on Xanax/PCP (ha! never happens when you want)
    Fail some OCs (hard to get right)

Hiding Money

Hiding money is a fine art. Especially for those who don’t own a company, or have trust/leadership in their faction. Again we can do this in a few ways, depending on how long we want to hide it for. For more guidance on this topic, check out our comprehensive accounting guide that covers various strategies for hiding money effectively.

15 minutes – create an RR game with a password and you can put as much money in there as you like – only issue is people can see your money 😉

6 hours – create a trade with a friend, put in your money, never accept the trade (ask your friend not to either), You can then add and remove money as you like.

min 24 hours -Bookies – Cheap trick, you can change your bet once it is made. Pick the last bet that will close and put your money in that, when it gets close to the day (or when you need it) change the bet to a lower amount, and you get your money back. (Please note, I do not know if this is seen as an exploit, check with staff)

min 24 hours – Auction House – good if you want to hide for min 24 hours, and get a good deal. Bid on something that you know you will be outbid on – choosing a length of auction suited to your hide time. If someone does outbid you then you will have 24 hours of safety for that cash

min 24 hours – Stocks – not an easy one, but if you buy the cheapest looking stock that is increasing or steady, buy and sell straight away. It can take time to sell, but once it does you again get up to 24 hours of safety.

You can also use this method during your flights to hide money from sales – just be aware you can’t get at it until you are in torn (if it sells) but it will stop muggers stalking your landing.

N/A – Caymans – If you don’t mind having to fly to the Caymans, and risk the stalkers, you can always fly to the Caymans and use the bank there. This is best done in two stages – use a fake trade with a friend whilst you are flying, once there and ready to bank use chat to get your friend to cancel the trade, banking almost instantly.

There are plenty more things you can do to keep your money safe