Games - Hollywood Stock Exchange

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	Games - Hollywood Stock Exchange

The Hollywood Stock Exchange, or HSX, is a web-based, multiplayer game in which players use simulated money to buy and sell "shares" of actors, directors, upcoming films, and film-related options.

Because trading directly affects the prices of the securities — purchasing enough shares of a stock causes its price to rise, and selling causes its price to fall — and because the ultimate value of a moviestock is based on the film's box office, stock prices act as box office predictions. For example, if a particular moviestock trades at "H$40.00", the market is predicting that the movie will gross US$40 million at the box office in the first four weeks of release. In 2002, players in the Hollywood Stock Exchange correctly predicted 35 of the 40 major-category Oscar nominees. It is considered a good example of a prediction market.

Previous incarnations of the game included a music market (for purchasing musical artists), prizes for top gainers, and, briefly, a "buyout" program in which HSX would reward top players by purchasing their portfolios at a price of US$1.00 per HS1 million if the player would list the portfolio for sale on eBay. These features have been discontinued.

HSX attracted some private investment during the dot-com boom and ran TV ads on cable channels in an effort to attract eyeballs. After the dot-com crash, HSX was eventually acquired by units of Cantor Fitzgerald. Cantor has used HSX's moviestock prices to assist Cantor's gambling operations in the United Kingdom, in which bettors can place bets on how much money US films will gross. HSX is headquartered in Century City, California.

How Options Work

A movie option can either be a "Call" or a "Put." A call is claiming that the movie will make more than a certain amount for its opening week, and a put is claiming that it will make less than that amount. For example, there is current a Nanny McPhee $10M call and put for its opening weekend total If Nanny McPhee makes $20 million in its opening weekend, those who called Nanny McPhee at $10 million will receive $10 for each share of the Nanny McPhee call that they purchased, and those with a put would lose the money they invested. If it made $5 million, those with the Put would receive $5 a share and those with a call would earn nothing.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Hollywood Stock Exchange ]

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Games - Hollywood Stock Exchange

How Options Work

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