Twitch Chat is now “playing” the stock market with real money

Remember Twitch Plays Pokémon? Half of the internet got together to use Twitch’s chat functionality to play through Nintendo and Gamefreak’s critter-catching game.

Take the same principle, and apply that to playing the Stock Market. Stock Stream is the world’s first multiplayer stock market game using real money. Yes, somebody with cash to burn has put $50 000 of very real money into the hands of the internet at large, to trade stocks on the New York Stock exchange.

How it works is that anybody who watches the stream during stock trading hours can vote on which stocks are to be bought or sold. Every five minutes viewers are able to vote, with the top choices being selected at the end of the period. The money that’s being used is very real, though trading comes to a halt and the game is over if the money in the pot drops below $25000.

All players are also scored, and in future, top-scoring digital traders could be eligible for prizes. Here’s how scoring works:

• At the end of each 5 minute voting round, we calculate which trade you voted for the most times, and store it for 5 more minutes.
• After those 5 minutes, your trade will be scored based on the return on investment made by that trade.
• If you voted to buy a stock and that stock went up, you will win points based on how much it went up. If it went down, you’ll lose points based on how much it went down.
• Scoring of the sell votes is the opposite, if you vote to sell and that stock goes down, you win points, if it goes up, you lose points.

It’s an interesting and perhaps brave thing to do: mob trading. If the collective consciousness of the internet works and isn’t out to troll, it could be a decent way to make some money.

Last Updated: May 31, 2017