How does it work

Welcome to twiDAQ - a new and very experimental fantasy stock market based in the world of twitter.

If you're interested in how twiDAQ works read on.  If you'd like to get started playing the game please sign-in here with your twitter account and we'll let you know as soon as we're ready for you.

twiDAQ stocks represent twitter accounts.  We're trying to grow slowly so not everyone on twitter is listed on twiDAQ just yet but we are growing.

Two things effect a stock's price; trading and daily-earnings.  Trading has a far greater effect than earnings so we'll look at that first.

Basically as stock becomes more popular ( more people are buying it ) its price will rise.  As more people start to sell a stock its price will fall.

All stocks on twiDAQ are said to "earn".  Think of this like a real company's turn-over.

Earnings are calculated from the number of tweets, mentions, retweets, followers and listings a stock has.  So the more people follow a stock, or retweet a stock's tweets the more it could be said to be earning. 

No.  Earnings are like turn-over.  Profit is calculated slightly differently, based on a stocks previous performance. Therefore a stock needs to increase it's earnings in order to demostrate a profit.

Yes.  Stocks will pay a monthly dividend based on their profit.  Please note though that dividends will not begin to be paid for a while.

The stars are a quick indication of how safe an investment a stock is.  They're not a foolproof indicator but they are useful nevertheless. 

A stock can earn 5 stars in all:

• Generating Revenue
  Awarded to stocks that are generating revenue. Remember a stock must demonstrate a growing revenue stream to pay a dividend.
   
• Actively Traded
  Awarded to stock that are actively traded in the market.
   
• Market Capitalised
  Awarded to stocks that reach a strong level of "market capitalisation"; a combination of being owned by many shareholders and having a decent share price.
   
• Profitabile
  Awarded to stocks that demostrate regular growth and therefore pay a regular dividend.
   
• 4 Star Stable
  Awarded only to stocks that hold four stars for over three months. A rare and beautiful thing.

Well that's the big question and we don't want to give too many secrets away but here are a few pointers:

• Choose stocks you think other people will buy
• Choose stocks that demonstrate some earnings
• Choose stocks that are likely to be increasingly popular

Have fun!