Feedback from Trading Game 14 March

We had four IB, two HF, one C, one P, two LT and one MM.

This was a group new to the game so we had three in each IB, a two person HF and a one person HF, two in each of C and P and one experienced LT and two in a second LT. Couple of observations:-

1) we tried the news service and it was one step too far, so next time this will be ditched.

2) putting two locals together to work as a team was a good idea, so they serviced one of the C or P and the more experienced local serviced the other. He also gave the new Locals advice on how to trade from the pit. All in all worked out well.

3) the C and P plus the limit orders seemed to work well, each had 200 contracts to unwind and they managed to do it entirely using the limit order process. The locals managed to use the info well and trade around the order. Also charging the C and P one point fee worked well.

4) I still think that the MM should force everyone to trade on the open, though this should be seen as to make sure they can settle trades properly. After the first round, this requirement can be relaxed if there is sufficient trading going on. Forcing all IB to trade with the MM at the start of each round doesnt add. In this game we closed over 130 trades so forcing everyone to trade on open was not required. So after round 1, I would drop it.

5) the use of different coloured cards for buy and sell was a hit. Also allow for people to make a mess of filling them in, we had 200 each buy and sell and well ran out.....hmmm. Next time we will double the order.

6) some quotes from the IB to the HF were too wide - 170/185 was the worst, so set a 5 point max spread.

7) we had some crazy swings in PL. One team went down 6000 before recovery. My feeling is that if at the close of a trading session a team is under water by 2000, they must cut their holding by half by the end of the next session. If they hit a loss of 3000, they need to cut their holding by a further half or to an open position of 50, whichever is smaller. By 5000 down, they need to unwind completely.

8) For locals that are under water by 1000, they trade out immediately with the MM with a five point margin away from latest quote. They can continue until they are down 2000, when the MM will take over their positions and expel them from the pit. This is unlikely to happen if they focus on serving their clients.

9) single HF trader didnt work, he had no chance of keeping track of the market.

10) hand signals worked well in the pit, so did the yellow jackets!