I'm in on an investing simulation challenge and it seems everything I touch turns to junk. Anyone have any ideas on something that can bring a big return in the next month or two?
Edit to add I have 30,000 pretend money to risk. Its not real, and my performance so far has made me very glad I've been too chicken to sink anything I worked to earn.

waffles.

Lube

Pretend hookers and blow.

Biotech


Xbi or ibb


 

They have been up and down lately

A marijuana dispensary in Colorado and a snack bat right next to it.

Zack- Waffle House is privately traded, I tried IHOP although not truly waffles, but a no-go there too. Eggo is owned by Kellogg and they're at 64.2 and haven't broken 65 since April. If I invested $6,420 for 100 shares and by some miracle they broke 65, I'd only get $80 minus commissions. Is there some sort of insider waffle angle I'm missing? Any other ideas?

Kopterdoc - nice thinking, always gonna need lube. Probably want personal lube more than industrial lube with manufacturing slowing down or going to china. I like KY myself, so they're made by Johnson and Johnson which hasn't had a good year. They're around 100 and have barely broke 102 since Jan. Don't think I can make any money there. What's your preferred brand of lube?

I-da-ho-landho - very fitting name. What is a pretend hooker? Unfortunately I'm allergic to blow and all opiate derivatives, but it saved me from starting a crack habit.

LuckyDucky - I wish I had asked this question sooner as it looked like I just missed a good turn on XIV. Thank you still. I'll keep an eye on it and see if it comes back into my buy range. It seems like I picked a bad time to get into this game, as every solid stock I'm seeing looks like it's peaked, and ready to drop, at least for the short term.

Leon - thank you they definitely have the movement I need, if they come down a bit to where I think I can make money I'll give them a try. It seems I'm going to need to be patient and see what happens tomorrow, and try to buy some deals on Friday profit taking.

P08 - I know right. If I ran one I would totally set the lobby up like a 7/11 and make people wait like 10 minutes before I let them go back, whether busy or not. Add fresh baked chocolate chip cookies to smell up the store and I would double the profit.

NVIV and AVXL, thats where i have my real money...

Biogen is down 65 per share now biib

invest in orange juice derivatives, you will make a killing

What's bee working for me is AMDA, AAPL, and dabbling in futures.

Thanks Leon82. I'm in for Biib on Monday.
Imissed - I got in on AAPL at 130 immediately before it dropped to 124... Touch of death.
This game is a real wake up call, I do not have the timing for investing.

Quick update.
Leon thanks so much for the Biib tip, got in low and now balancing greed and risk for when to cash out.
Also, I shorted Citi group on a whim, just to see how that all worked, and it may actually pay off a bit if the trend goes my way and it works like I think it does.
I also shorted Starbucks on a gamble right before earnings and that back fired big time.

I found I need to invest differently in this short term game. I bought big solid companies to start, but they simply don't have the movement (at least for me) to make money in a short term simulation. Tesla, Apple, verizon and Netflix all tanked right after I bought, and I'm hoping they come back to break even before the game ends. I believe they'd all be good long term stocks to hold, but they ate up all my buying power, and are not going to return any big payouts.

This is the correct answer.  I have a fantasy portfolio almost full of XIV, and it is doing quite well, even after the drastic drop a few weeks ago.

I have some in real life, but only a small position.  I can't recommend more than a small amount for real, though it is my number one choice for a fantasy portfolio.

I have even shorted TVIX, which is the same as XIV leveraged 2X..  I can't recommend it for real money, though I did make a nice profit.  For a fantasy, where you don't have a problem getting a borrow, and don't have to pay hard to borrow fees it is great.

Warren Buffet and John Bogle made a friendly wager (proceeds went to charity) to see who could outperform who.

Warren Buffet went with active trading based on uncountable variables.
John Bogle used his Vanguard market index funds.

Bogle won.

Vanguard Rules

Vanguard is an excellent way to invest real money for the long term.

If you want to play a fantasy stock game for a couple of months, as the OP wants to, you want to avoid that strategy, however.

It might win, if every one else loses, but typically the winners of such contests will be those who "bought" or "shorted" a highly volatile stock.

My fantasy portfolio is up almost 50% YTD.  Real life, I am about tied with the S&P 500.

could you sell a bunch of call options that expire after the simulation ends?

UWTI - but just pretend...

My standard market following index funds have outperformed my speculative stock purchases by a long shot. The only one that's been really good to me was CURE in my fantasy stock market game.

CURE is a leveraged fund 3X what market does in healthcare. It's up 21% this year. Should have bought some real shares of it with my scottrade account.

XOP oil gas exploration. Yeah, oil prices tanking didn't help me here, but if it goes back up I did buy it pretty low from where it was.

Thank you.  Ive played this game before getting my MBA.  Another fun capsim trick is to inflate "your companies" stock price (this parameter was heavily weighted) by buying back as much stock as possible...

Business Strategy Game?