Am I the only one who thinks this contest is ridiculous, and not just because you can enter multiple times? Just the fact that you can go all-in to one stock makes it a joke. The vast majority of serious investors wouldn't think about doing that with real money, and who would give anyone money to invest knowing that to be their strategy in the first place? I remember last year that something like the three top finishers all went fully loaded on the same stock. That to me reflects 95% luck and 5% skill. You might as well have a contest on who can shoot an arrow and hit a bullseye while blindfolded. To me the Challenge should include rules that limit the % of your portfolio invested in a single stock and perhaps even a single sector. Then the winners would show more consistency of skill in their picks. Whatever happened to last year's winner? Besides having a blog on investing, I'll bet he isn't managing any outside money as a result of the contest.
The point to be taken from the whole exercise is that it really shows what CNBC is really aimed at and about. It is not a serious trading investing show it is aimed at Joe six pack and his dreams of making it big someday. It encourages reckless investing they can say its just a bit of fun but a lot of less professional watchers of the channel may not see it like that (more fodder I suppose). That is why they are relentless bulls and cheerleaders of the stockmarkets refusing to see it could go the other way. Bogan7