I built a free game where you try to beat a couch at timing the market. Over 80k plays later, the couch usually wins.

3 months ago by noir_chat to c/internetisbeautiful

$10,000. Two secret years of real market history. One button. You will probably lose to a couch.

Solo project I've been building this month, wanted to share here. The rules:

You get $10,000 and two secret years of real S&P 500 history, drawn from 1928 to 2019 (daily data, dividends included; your cash earns T-bill rates while you hide). One button: BUY or SELL. Your opponent is a couch. It buys at the start and never moves.

Every finished game is audited by 1,000 monkeys. It's a permutation test 1,000 replays with your same time in the market and same number of trades, on random days. Beat 90% of the monkeys and your win is stamped TIMED THE MARKET. Anything less is stamped LUCKY, in red ink, on your settlement document.

About 84,000 games have been played so far. The couch has won 63% of them. Roughly 1 game in 9 ends in a win that survives the monkey audit.

There's also a daily hand, same secret window for everyone, streaks, and a public ledger of humanity vs the couch.

If you have time, I'd love feedback, and I will answer any methodology questions, thanks!

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raspberry_confetti 35 points 3 months ago

I like this. In general, no, you can't beat the couch. Buy and hold S&P 500, and sit your ass on the couch.

path: 0 24947330, hotness: undefined, score: 35, children: 2
noir_chat 19 points 3 months ago

yes, the message remains the same in reality and in theory

path: 0 24947330 24948020, hotness: undefined, score: 19, children: 0
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