Spice up your day with some friendly competition

Working in an office can sometimes be a rather lonely, isolating experience. A good manager will encourage employees to get to know each other through team-bonding exercises and a friendly environment. But there’s something about competing against one another that brings a sense of belonging that you just can’t get by playing charades every Friday afternoon.

Playing in a competitive league at work can help boost office morale, engagement, and collaboration. Whether you’re taking part in an AFL SuperCoach draft, or making trades on the ASX Options game, there’s one thing that everyone wants over their friends and colleagues – and that’s bragging rights. While sitting in front of a screen may not seem like an obvious team-building exercise, it is a sure-fire way of getting the juices flowing is introducing some friendly competition.

The ASX Options Trading game hit the streets last week and hundreds of players flocked to their screens to be involved. The Game that allows you to paper trade Options in real-time with the market is a great way to learn more about trading, and also to connect, or reconnect, with likeminded people. Whist trading may not be for everyone, those who do have a strong community where they share knowledge and wins unlike any other. 

If you’ve never traded before, you might be thinking, why do people bother? Well, there are a few reasons why. Firstly, there is the potential to make money – even in a falling market. Trading is a great way to bolster your portfolio and provides you with the opportunity to set yourself up for the future and retirement. It allows you to trade something new and potentially gain the funds to spend on things like holidays, house renovations, credit bills, and any other thing that you might not be normally able to fund.

Secondly, trading Options provides you with quicker returns. It’s far more convenient, and the way that technology has disrupted most typical means of stock trading means that a more flexible and entertaining domain has been able to take its place. It allows you to break out of the rat-race and embrace the inner ‘anti-herd’ that looms large in us all.

And finally, there’s no time like the present to trade. Online Options  trading is taking the world by storm and is allowing users to trade anywhere/anytime. Stockbrokers are beginning to leave the market because technology has provided a much cheaper, easier, and more educated system to the market.

In every league, you’ll always find specific personality-type players. And in options trading, it’s really no different.

There’s the experienced trader that has existing knowledge about Options trading and is using the game to fine-tune their skills and access educational resources. Beware of the experienced trader as they might use the game to try more difficult strategies and build their confidence.

The ‘smart and simple’ trader uses low-difficulty strategies to build their portfolio and manage risk. They are usually using the game to gain an understanding of how to trade options and will typically do well.

The emotional trader tends to follow their gut feeling instead of the market data, and can be hasty or hesitate to make big trades. They let their emotions take over instead of sticking to a plan and should implement tactics to stay on track.

And last but not least, the newbie. The newbie is not familiar with options trading but is giving it a go. They will watch the education videos and ask the more experienced league members for tips and advice. They have a “the more you know” / “learn something new” attitude and will use the game to expand their knowledge on trading and markets.

Whatever category you fall in, and you may not fall in any but wish to find out, it’s not too late to sign up for the ASX Options Game. Register your details here, and set up a league with your friends or colleagues to let the games begin!

*Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

*Trading options is not suitable for everyone. There is a risk that you can lose more than the value of a trade or its underlying assets. You should only trade if you are confident that you fully understand what you are doing. If you are thinking about acquiring a financial product, you should consult our Financial Services Guide (FSG) at www.reachmarkets.com.au and the relevant Product Disclosure Statement first.