GUEST WLB contributor Tom Joyce (@TJ_QPR) talks us through the magnificent new world of the Football Index – the football stock market where real money is traded.
Football Index | A beginner's guide
Football and gambling are two cultural obsessions in the UK and the Football Index has brought them together to create the first footballing stock market.
Before I start, I must stress that this is just a brief synopsis of the Index. How does it work? How do I make money? Well…to make money, just like the real stock market, you need to buy shares and create a portfolio. However, instead of buying shares in Tesco or Kenco, for example, you buy Futures in a football player.
This is where your Football Manager days, heated car journey discussions on the way home from football and the “why didn’t we sign him” moments are put to the test!
Futures
The price of a Future will go up and down depending on the market interest. So, for example I decided to invest in Celtic’s Moussa Dembele because I think he is a great young talent with a very promising career ahead of him.
If he continues to do well, more traders will invest in him and his market value will therefore increase. He is in my portfolio as I also expect plenty of talk of a Premier League move in the coming months and this will create more interest in him and more traders will want to add Moussa to their portfolios (fingers crossed anyway).
If the value of a specific player you own increases, you may wish to sell some/all of your Futures and cash in on the profit. If however, you believe the player’s value is going to continue to increase you may wish to keep them or even buy more futures for your portfolio.
Quick Flips
You can also make money with Quick Flips buying Futures in a player and then selling not long after for a profit.
An easy way to do this is to have a look at any big upcoming matches and events and try to predict which player(s) will be in demand (e.g Champions league games).
To give you an example of this, I purchased Futures in Robert Lewandowski fairly cheap two weeks before Bayern Munich and Arsenal met at the Allianz Arena. In the build up to the game the Polish striker’s value grew considerably as traders were snapping him up and I sold him before kick-off for a nice return.
You may be thinking “Lewandowski is an obvious buy, he’s a world class striker” – He is world class, but this has no bearing on his value or demand. European players are not subject to a lot of interest unless they are playing in the Champions League, where the coverage is at a maximum.
As I currently write this, nine of the top 10 valued players in the Index are Premier League players, Antoine Griezmann (fifth) being the other. Lionel Messi is currently the 29th most expensive player, thus proving that there is more to the Index than just buying world class players.
As I say, this is just a brief synopsis, I may do an in-depth piece at a later date to explain the above and other factors to consider when investing, in more detail.
Buzz Wins
Anyway, back to making money – the other way to do this is through Buzz Wins.
If your player has any press coverage from any of the news feeds that Football Index monitors daily (Sky Sports, Talksport, UEFA, ESPN, The FA, FIFA, Football League, Daily Mail, Daily Star, The Times, Telegraph, Independent, Express, Guardian, Metro, BBC, Daily Mirror, Football 365, Goal.com, Huffington Post) he will receive Buzz points, and at midnight each night.
The player with the most buzz points will earn his owners dividends, which are paid at at a rate of 5p per-Future held.
It’s important to remember that Buzz points are not solely performance related. Paul Pogba has often won the buzz for a new hairstyle making the headlines or a crazy dance. So when considering investing in a player for potential Buzz Wins, try to decipher who regularly features in the media, whether that be positive or negative press.
I’ve found that Man Utd players consistently dominate the Buzz charts.
My first buzz purchase – and I will not win any prizes for originality – was none other than Zlatan Ibrahimovic! Zlatan is a serial Buzz winner. A man with an ego as big as his, playing for arguably the biggest club in the world, he often runs away with the Buzz points!
Now’s the time to get involved
As you invest more money over time and your portfolio grows, hopefully you will start to make a consistent profit.
Sadly, you will not make thousands from a £5 investment. Index profits are % based and generally speaking the more you invest, the more you will make.
With an expected period of growth of the Index in the near future, now is the perfect time to invest. Try to keep a mixed portfolio so you have some players for Buzz wins, some for longer-term investment and then some Quick Flips that you may buy and sell within a week depending on upcoming matches.
If you have any questions or want some stats on a particular player, don’t hesitate to ask me on Twitter.
Good luck trading!
