@ Ambassador, unfortunately that is true. I will sell Lira until it is all gone, or until it appears Italy will survive. And, at some point, the value of the Lira will be less than what I paid for it. There are still 16,868 Lira held. Which, if they were all sold, would bring the value down to zero.

The same is going to happen to Crowns and Rubles. There are a whopping 38,500 Crowns, and 17070 Rubles. (It is interesting that a complete selloff of Crowns and Lira exactly wipes out their value, but not for the Rubles. )

So, right now, the big holders of these currencies are doing the best, on paper. I wonder what will happen as these sell off. I already fell from my top spot, to second, and will likely fall farther.

Just to compare all the currencies:

Crowns:16868 Held - $1.68 value
Pounds: 8801 Held - $.88 value
Francs: 8737 Held - $.88 value
Marks: 7900 Held - $.88 value
Lire: 16868 Held - $1.68 value
Roubles: 17070 Held - $1.75 value
Piastres: 6252 Held - $.59 value

Damn! English isn't my native language and I just recognized, that I switched the words currency and value most time ...
I hope you understand me despite my mistakes. :-)

@devonian - the crown's with 3.8, not 1.68 like you mentioned. That said I expect everyone will dump crowns bringing it quickly inline with something like 1.68 before too long.

tobi1: Crowns 5500(+5300), Pounds 2000(-500), Francs 600(-500), Marks 1700(+200), Lire 500(-500), Roubles 2000(+1900), Piastres 400(-500), US$135

(another mistake, tobi1 has more marks than I reported - otherwise no change.

Thanks for the correction. I copied the Lire totals. Crowns held are 38,500 and $3.80 value. I just thought the relationship interesting.

@ Kaner, That explains why the Mark's holdings vs value was off a bit more than the others.

This game is so strange because the traders react to not only the players' moves, but also to their own moves. So, if someone predicts that a currency will fall briefly but that they'll want to buy it back next turn, there's no reason not to sell 500 units of that currency so that they can buy it back cheaper. I didn't realize until now, but this is actually a good reason for some sort of purchases cap. That way, the players wouldn't be able to simply make more money by selling on such a currency.

What size cap would you suggest?

I don't know. I'd have to play more of the game. I'll keep the idea in mind and see if I can come up with some sort of cap. That play is exactly what I just did on the pounds and marks just now, so I should have a good idea of what kind of cap would be best if I keep doing it.

Based on the selling cap I don't think a buying cap is necessary. If we keep going as is we'll all eventually have cash coming out of our ears. Then when a country goes to the wall the real winners in the financiers game will be the one with the least thousand <insert name of currency here>. if buying caps are introduced the variance when a country goes belly up won't be as much and to be honest we'd all be so close the game would probably be dull. Intrpsychic a buying cap would only work if you introduce another variable eg my earlier suggestion for a dividend multiple to be paid on investments depending on your Victory Points status.

Intrpsychic = stupid iPhone keyboard's interpretation of me trying to type "Introducing"

I like your idea of a dividend. I didn't notice it in an earlier posting. I was thinking about the same idea, except I was going to call it interest. (Since we are trading currencies not stocks)

I was thinking that paying $0.01 for per SC for each unit of currency held. As the countries grow or shrink, the dividend/interest earned would change. It would be beneficial to own currency in countries with more SC's.

An alternative would be to pay $.10 for each SC increase for each unit of currency held. This would give an incentive to buy countries that are growing or have an immediate potential of growing.

I've doubled the pot of this game...

gman, can you please explain better those?
"This game is so strange because the traders react to not only the players' moves, but also to their own moves."
**Yes. If players react only to the players move, the whole bourse would be kinda predictable and the game would be boring no? So I'd say 'this game is so funny because the traders react to not only the players' moves, but also to their own moves.'

"So, if someone predicts that a currency will fall briefly..."
**Sometimes it's easy to predict, just look at the map. Other times if someone can predict this then he's a good diplomat. It means that he was able to make other people tell him what they were doing or to make up agreements and alliances to coordinate moves.

" ...but that they'll want to buy it back next turn, there's no reason not to sell 500 units of that currency so that they can buy it back cheaper."
**Yes. And...? There would be anything wrong with this?

"I didn't realize until now, but this is actually a good reason for some sort of purchases cap. That way, the players wouldn't be able to simply make more money by selling on such a currency. "
**Here we are. I don't understand what would be the good reason, sorry. Can you please explain it?

Make more money is the point of each bourse in the world. If traders aren't able to do it, why should they play? If Guaroz puts all his money in a nice factory in Mirandola and an earthquake comes like yesterday did, he'll lose all its money. Same way, if now everybody gang up against Austria, my Crowns will suddenly be worthless. There's no gain without a risk. This is the point of commerce.
I agree with Amby when he says "we'd all be so close the game would probably be dull" because an investor must have basically 2 skills:
1) Diplomacy = to Understand whether a currency is going to rise or fall (or hold). And sometime this is easily predictable just looking at the map, without any diplomacy.
2) When it will rise, to Guess how much he has to buy (because when it will fall, selling is limited and he doesn't have so much to guess: he sells 500) to be within a reasonable risk.

If you cut out the #2, the only really discretionary thing a player got, you kill the game, IMHO.

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Just a friendly reminder to all traders that you have less than 13 hours in which to place your orders for trade.

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The market slows down but the Pound bucks the trend. Miss Order slaps the Italian admiral, and Tunis remains free for another year.

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Autumn 1902 currency values:

Austrian Crowns: $3.35
English Pounds: $1.96
French Francs: $0.90
German Marks: $1.15
Italian Lire: $1.38
Russian Roubles: $1.48
Turkish Piastres: $0.68

The total amount of each currency sold/bought is:
Austrian Crowns: 4500 sold, 0 bought = -4500 , down .45
English Pounds: 0 sold, 10849 bought = +10800 , up 1.08
French Francs: 1899 sold, 2000 bought = +200 , up 0.02
German Marks: 1000 sold, 3700 bought = +2700 , up 0.27
Italian Lire: 3500 sold, 500 bought = -3000 , down 0.30
Russian Roubles: 2799 sold, 0 bought = -2700 , down 0.27
Turkish Piastres: 2900 sold, 3850 bought = +900 , up 0.09

Players' Net Worth & current Victory Points:
Devonian: $33355, vp = 734
Diplomat33: $9605, vp = 170
L Podolski: $14675, vp = 439
Guaroz: $41308.09, vp = 742
gman314: $28936.54, vp = 558.28
tobi1: $31062, vp = 600
drano019: $20649.5, vp = 391
hiprox: $15572.75, vp = 415.62
Ambassador: $30380, vp = 818.5
amisond: $17331, vp = 360

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Who holds what & what was bought and sold in Autumn 1902?

Devonian: Crowns 5400(-500), Pounds 1100, Francs 1000(+1000), Marks 1000(+1000), Lire 8000(-500), Roubles 0, Piastres 0, US$ 19

Diplomat33: Crowns 500(-500), Pounds 500(+500), Francs 1000, Marks 0, Lire 0, Roubles 0, Piastres 2500(-500), US$4350

L Podolski: Crowns 2000, Pounds 500, Francs 2500, Marks 1700, Lire 900, Roubles 1000, Piastres 100, US$971

Guaroz: Crowns 8000(-500), Pounds 2800(+1649), Francs 0, Marks 1000(+500), Lire 1000(-500), Roubles 2000(-500), Piastres 0(-101), US$ 3530.09

gman314: Crowns 4500(-500), Pounds 2500(+1200), Francs 253(-499), Marks 1000(+900), Lire 1100(-500), Roubles 1701(-299), Piastres 252(-499), US$ 3377

tobi1: Crowns 5000(-500), Pounds 3500(+1500), Francs 100(-500), Marks 2000(+300), Lire 0(-500), Roubles 1500(-500), Piastres 0(-400), US$2842

drano019:Crowns 1500(-500), Pounds 3500(+2000), Francs 0(-400), Marks 650(-500), Lire 700(-500), Roubles 1650(-500), Piastres 0(-400), US$4609

hiprox: Crowns 500(-500), Pounds 1100(+500), Francs 1350(+500), Marks 1400(+400), Lire 2018(+500), Roubles 1620(-500), Piastres 500(-500), US$3394.31

Amby: Crowns 5100(-500), Pounds 1150(+500), Francs 1950(+500), Marks 1350(+500), Lire 150(-500), Roubles 3300(-500), Piastres 3850(+3850), US$24.5

amisond: Crowns 1500(-500), Pounds 3000(+1900), Francs 700(-500), Marks 500(-500), Lire 0(-500), Roubles 1500, Piastres 0(-500), US$3001

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I'll also be PM everyone soon as to their current stocks in holding.

Thanks!

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I sold 500 Lires, not bought 500

I also bought 500 Marks, not 400

-----------adjusted Lire
Austrian Crowns: $3.35
English Pounds: $1.96
French Francs: $0.90
German Marks: $1.15
Italian Lire: $1.28
Russian Roubles: $1.48
Turkish Piastres: $0.68

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hiprox: Crowns 500(-500), Pounds 1100(+500), Francs 1350(+500), Marks 1400(+500), Lire 1018(-500), Roubles 1620(-500), Piastres 500(-500), US$3394.31

I sold 500 Marks, not bought 500.

Did Podolsky really traded nothing or did he just NMRed?

I was away from Internet access for the past four days so I told Kaner to hold all my currencies.

-----------adjusted Mark
Austrian Crowns: $3.35
English Pounds: $1.96
French Francs: $0.90
German Marks: $1.05
Italian Lire: $1.28
Russian Roubles: $1.48
Turkish Piastres: $0.68

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Guaroz: Crowns 8000(-500), Pounds 2800(+1649), Francs 0, Marks 1000(-500), Lire 1000(-500), Roubles 2000(-500), Piastres 0(-101), US$ 3530.09

you started without me :'(

opps wrong one

Wow. I'm surprised that Ambassador's buying Piastres!

He probably assumed I'd help Turkey against the Lepanto...

Got it in one butter. Was hoping you and KA would sort your differences out to stop A&I's steamroller. Instead you guys seem to think it's more fun poking each other in the eye ;-)