traderjoe

Lesson learned; don't type and paste from notepad when you want someones full attention. Sorry!

Although I said a lot in my original post I did leave out some key points as it relates to the startup; a. Our website is 100% free to join and play... for now. Obviously future investors will want to see ROI but for the near future it remains to be free (subscription plans for better prizes is what's planned for long-term. b. As far as infrastructure goes, we are actually lucky in that our original investor is hosting our website for free with his own server(s) and security --it was part of our original agreement. c. I'm actually employed full time, and finished up my masters not too long ago. That's I think where the problem began, when I actually decided to take on more responsibilities at work AND enroll into grad school... All of a sudden the startup now had 1/4 of my attention and I assume things went static from then on.

The URL of my startup is http://www.yatrader.com.

    * When users Sign Up, they choose their geographic location (choices consist of City/State and Country around the world). So let's say, Joe Trader (from Moscow, Russia)  joins. He can find other traders from Moscow/Ukraine. Or also see other traders from other Cities and Countries (Main page description should emphasize that this is a International community site) 

    * Traders can come and showcase their skills by making prediction on future markets through our weekly contest. Again, the markets can be their local COUNTRY markets or they can play other (international) markets (Joe Trader from Russia can play our NASDAQ U.S. market).

    * Traders can interact through private messaging or through profiles by posting comments on wall to wall. 

    * Every trader has a profile that shows their information such as but not limited to: contact info, buddies, and local buddies (users that are from their location) as well as their preference for markets they follow.

    * There is also a "Streak" indicator. When a user correctly (or accurately) makes predictions each week he/she will be awarded Streak points that will allow them to earn extra points which can later be redeemed for prizes. Streaks will also elevate the user's reputation on the website because it will show him to be knowledgeable in the financial markets he plays.

    * Prizes can be redeemed for virtual dollars earned called YaDollars -- it is our unique currency system.

Sorry for not posting the URL at first. The website is http://www.yatrader.com.

To reiterate, the goal of the site is to create an international community, where traders can interact and compete with other traders by predicting the week’s end financial markets (we offer 4 categories of markets). In return for user participation (i.e. predicting markets, posting "YaNotes" which are reasons for trades) we give them a chance to earn virtual dollars called "YaDollars" which can then be redeemed for real prizes.