Twitch Is Playing The Stock Market With Real Money

Twitch has taken on Pokemon, Dark Souls and even the odd indie game. So what’s next for co-operative video games through Twitch chat? The New York Stock Exchange, obviously.

It’s all made possible thanks to one trader who ponied up a $US50,000 portfolio for trading. That’s the appeal: people can influence what stocks are bought or sold by voting through the Twitch chat, with the stock trades executed by the free app Robinhood.

The official website says that, due to SEC rules, the trading account has to be shut down if the balance falls below $US25,000. The account can also only execute 78 trades a day, according to a chat the stream’s owner had with PC Gamer. But as long as Twitch keeps its collective head above water, Stock Stream will run “every day” while the New York Stock Exchange is open.

And why embark on such a crazy quest in the first place? According to the FAQ, chaos. “There is no point other than to have fun, to learn something, to let chaos reign, to beat the market or go for broke,” the Twitch description reads.

To keep things interesting, there’s also a live leaderboard. Voting rounds are held every five minutes, and players can vote to sell or buy stock in that time frame. If the stock goes in the right direction, you get a fraction of a percent added to your score:

If your top voted trade is to buy AAPL, and AAPL increases by .03% five minutes after you vote, .03 will be added to your score. If it decreases by .03%, .03 will be subtracted from your score. If your top voted trade is to sell AAPL, and AAPL increases by .02% five minutes after you vote, .02 will be subtracted from your score. If it decreases by .02%, .02 will be added to your score.

It’s not the only account on Twitch to propose multiplayer co-operative stock trading, but right now it’s one of the hottest things on Twitch. You can watch the latest trading session above, or follow the channel here. You can also follow Stock Stream on Twitter, if you want to enjoy some of the highlights (like trolls forcing the bots to buy individual shares worth $US4000 and more).