I am practicing the stock marketing with a simulating website?

Question

From Jul 9 till now (Only 11 days active) I have made $ 8,738.65 from the initial value of $100K and this is my status:

1-Account Available Cash 108,738.65

2-Account Portfolio Value 0.00

3-Account Total Value 108,738.65

4-Previous Total (on Jul 09, 2008) 100,000.00

5-Account Return Percentage (since Jul 09, 2008) 8.74%

6-S & P 1,267.84

7-Previous S & P (on Jun 30, 2008) 1,280.00

8-S & P Return Percentage (since Jun 30, 2008) -0.95%

What does Numbers 6, 7 and 8 mean in 'simple' words?

Thanks a lot

Answer 1

6,7, and 8 are showing you the Standard and Poors 500 index.  This is the amount that it moved during the same period as you have traded.

so from june 30 til july 9 the S&P 500 has gone down .95% or almost 1 %.  So the market was underperforming or loosing money and you were overperforming or making money.

Congratulations.

They show you this to give you a benchmark for your performance.

If you would have lost more money then the S&P 500 then you would have done better to buy the index rather than investing in indvidual stocks.

Answer 2

They would be referring to the S&P 500 market index.  At the point from which you posted, the index would have been at 1267.84, down from its June 30 value of 1280.00.  This down move of 12.16 points is -0.95%.  If you were active during this entire period, this would serve as a comparison to how you are doing compared to the S&P.  It is a bit misleading for your data though because of the ridiculous rally (IMO) as of late.

I don't know what you're using for simulation, but I think investopedia.com, virtualstockexchange.com (no options though), and ThinkorSwim's thinkDesktop (once you are more experienced most likely) are the best.  Just a few things to look into.

Good luck.