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Jump to: Tour | Getting Started | Trading | Initial Public Offering (IPO) | Dutch Auction


GETTING STARTED

  • What is Meta-Markets?

    Meta-Markets is our experiment for building an online stock market. In principle, it is quite similar to other stock markets. For example, in NASDAQ or NYSE, people trade company shares. In Meta-Markets, we trade shares of socially networked products.

  • What is a socially networked product?

    It is the product of your online labor for creating and sharing in a social web service. It can be any online content like a photo, video or a blog post. It can also be an account / profile that you built to connect to others. Currently, Delicious bookmarks, Flickr photos, Feedburner feeds, and Facebook profiles are traded in Meta-Markets as socially networked products.

  • How do you measure the value of a socially networked product?

    Short explanation: We measure value by quantifying the product's social impact in its respective network. For example, the initial value of a photo in Flickr would be determined based on the average number of attractions a photo receives, in the form of comments or views.

  • Why would I want to trade shares of my Flickr photos?

    Three reasons. First, you see how much is your online labor worth. Second, when you offer your Flickr photos in Meta-Markets, you increase their visibility. If people like your photos, the demand for your shares will increase. High demand means that your audience expects you to keep up the good work and take more killer photos. Third, you raise capital and use this capital to invest in other products. You contribute to a distributed ownership ecosystem.

  • How does a stock market work?

    In the market we trade apples, in the stock market we trade company stocks (shares).

  • Do I play with real money?

    No, at least not now. The currency of Meta-Markets is buraks. It is virtual money and there is no known exhange rate between buraks and US dollars right now. Though, we wonder what it would be like if real money was involved.

  • Why would using this make my life better?

    The main purpose is to retain the value of your immaterial labor in social web services.

  • How can I sign up?

    Meta-Markets is in private alpha and membership is by invitation only. You can leave your email for invitations.

  • How do I get started?

    It's very easy. 1. Create an account. It's free, and we will give you 25 buraks for starters. 2. Buy low sell high. Check out the current products and start investing! 3. When you are ready, offer your own products (IPO) to the market!
TRADING

  • How do I buy?

    Go to a stock's page. See the price labeled as LOW, this is the cost of a share. Enter the amount you want to buy. Click on the "buy" button.

  • How do I sell?

    At a stock's page, enter the amount you want to sell. Enter the price you want to sell for. Click on the "set" button.

  • When do I sell?

    When someone buys, if you offer the lowest price.

  • What is LOW, HIGH, and LAST price?

    LOW is the lowest price of shares for a given stock. HIGH is obviously the highest price. LAST is the last transaction price. LAST is the market value of a stock.

  • What is Cost Basis? How do I use it?

    Cost Basis is the average cost of a stock. It helps you make better decisions while buying and setting the price. For example, you may buy 10 shares from 5ß, 2 shares from 7ß. So you want to know what is the average cost of this stock. To make profit compare Cost Basis with LOW price and the LAST price.

  • What does the trading volume tell us?

    Trading volume of a stock shows the amount of activity, that is the collective interest on that stock. You can quickly sell on high volume stocks.

  • How can I not sell my stocks?

    Put the price very high, so that no one can buy it.

  • How can I buy from a specific person?

    For a given stock, if the person is offering the lowest price you can buy from her.
INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING (IPO)

  • What is IPO?

    IPO stands for “Initial Public Offering.” An IPO is the first sale of a private company’s common shares to investors on a public stock exchange. The main purpose of an IPO is to raise capital for the company.

  • How can I do IPO?

    Click on the IPO link (upper right in any page). We have a 5 step IPO process: 1. Select a market. 2. Authenticate with the domain. 3. Enter the URL or ID of your product. 4. Select the amount you want to issue. 5. Submit! You're done.

  • How many shares should I open?

    We limit the amount to 50% since you want to be the main owner of your product. Anything under this amount is fine. Simply the more you open the more you raise capital.

  • What is fair value?

    Fair value, also called fair price, is a rational and unbiased estimate of the potential market price of a good. We calculate this value from your product's activitiy in its domain. For example, the total views of your Flickr photos divided by the total photos is your fair value.

  • What is market value?

    Market value, also called market price, is the price that a good is offered at in the marketplace. That's the trading price of your stocks in Meta-Markets.

  • Can I do IPO in any market?

    Yes. Conditions apply.

  • What is Dutch Auction IPO?

    With Dutch Auction IPO the prices are set collectively. It is designed to both democratize IPO share allocation and afford issuers and early investors the best price for their shares.

  • How do I bid?

    Enter the amount and the price you'd pay and hit the "bid" button.

  • Can I bid multiple times?

    Yes. It is better if you do a MAX and MIN bid.

  • Can I cancel my bids?

    Yes. Click on the "cancel" link of a bid on the list.

  • What is clearing price?

    When the total amount of bid shares exceeds the available shares, the price is set. The final price that fills the quota of shares to sell becomes the offering price, or clearing price, for all of the successful bidders.

  • What is quota?

    Quota is the number of the issued shares in the IPO.
DUTCH AUCTION

  • What is Dutch Auction?

    The Dutch auction is named for the Dutch tulip auctions. In traditional auctions, the price rises until one bidder is left. In a Dutch auction, the price is set extraordinarily high and lowered until someone bids on the item.

  • How does Dutch Auction IPO work?

    The issuer reveals the amount of shares being sold and a 3 day auction starts. Investors then state the number of shares they want and at what price. All the bids are automatically gathered and sorted –from lowest to highest– according to their price. After 3 days, if the total amount of bid shares exceeds the available shares (quota), the price is set. The final price that fills the quota of shares to sell becomes the offering price for all of the successful bidders. If the total amount of bid shares does not exceed the available shares in 3 days, then the auction extends another 24 hours.

  • How can I guess the potential price?

    You can guess a potential price by looking at the fair value of the stock.