Market forces Part.I

For the uninitiated, the financial market often resembles a black box which we do not understand much, and especially what makes it go up or down. Hence the temptation erroneous to equate to a casino, which is statistically a negative sum game since the state, takes on each win. And yet it is simple to create a game market, where it likes to quote a fictitious contract for, while playing, better understanding how the market works, evaluate the strategies used, and feel the stress of holding a position.

I also used this game as educational courses in finance schools. In this context, the challenge is to create a market rather lively, with many transactions. The wise course students have a little more trouble letting go as traders in the evening, somewhat watered it is true.
How to play? Very simple! Take 10 people, each note on a paper a number between 0 and 10, without showing it to others. We put all the papers in a hat, we form a circle to recreate a floor trading, and we score the sum of 10 numbers. It sounds stupid, but I assure you playing for hours with it, in an atmosphere worthy of the notional floor in the heyday.
Some statistical explanations:  If everyone wrote a number between 0 and 10, the mathematical expectation of the sum is 50, an outside observer. But each participant in his own opinion on the market: if I wrote the number 10, the market is for me 55: my 10 plus the expected value of the remaining 9 digits or 45. I'm ready to buy up to 55. Conversely, for those who put 0, its estimated market value is 45, so he agreed to sell up to 45.