iPredict Forum is Underway

iPredict's forum is underway. Here's the link. Well done Aaron and Simon (our developers) for pulling this together and fighting the monster that is IE6.

If you have any trouble, please tell us by posting into the bug reports section of the forum. If you're having so much trouble that you can't see the forum, well just post it here :-)

Request for Your Feedback on New Features

Heaps of great feedback in earlier posts on new features ideas. This morning we compiled a list of new features that we've been bouncing around for a while. Part of the list we came up with is below, much of it is from ideas given to us by you. We've left out some administrative features ideas and ideas only for our internal prediction market customers.

Please do two things in the comments.

One, list your priorities starting with most preferred e.g. F,D,E,B,Q. Prioritise as many as you like, I'll compile your opinions on ideas for however many as you are willing to give.

Two, add new suggestions. I apologise in advance for all the features already submitted in the last few months not on the list - the list was prepared in a rush, please submit them again, I'll add them.

I will update the list with your new ideas. I may reverse the list's order so that newest ideas are put at the top.

For option D, what minimum, if any, is appropriate? $20?

Some of these may require clarification - if so please ask.

Here is what we have so far, in no particular order.

A. Forum

B. Continued API development

C. Confirm trade button disabled after one click

D. Option to display trader earnings by percentage (minimum deposit $20?) + make named appearance on list optional

E. Funds frozen following a withdrawal request + option to cancel request if not processed

F. User's cash, portfolio value and net worth plotted over time

G. User-added events/news on stock details, editable/removable/flaggable by other users via wiki, added items plotted on stock price chart

H. User stock board – lists all stocks in one place, current price/volume/day's high,low/lifetime high,low/high buy,low sell. Ajaxed and sortable.

I. Daily stock high/low prices added to stock details

J. Multiple stock trading system - allows buying and selling of multiple stocks at one time from single page – facilitates arbitraging

K. Stock details page widget which converts price to prediction for that stock taking into account any special rules (e.g. price floors) for that stock + remove probability from browse stock page and replace with "Avg. Cost" or "Rev/Stock Received At Sale" values if position taken, otherwise blank

L. Home page public notification – alerts to users arriving on the home page, warning of approaching downtime for maintenance, for example, or new stocks launch time

M. User alerts system - user can get emails/text messages sent if prices move outside defined bands

N. Basic look/feel site adjustments (colours, some page design changes)

O. Re-work trading interfaces - reduce steps, make clearer, ajax-enable

P. Re-work short selling to make clearer to user what funds have been transferred and why

Q. Post-trade suggested stocks "Users who bought this stock also traded …" displayed on the trade confirmed screen

R. Browse closed stocks page

S. Stocks vary between $0 and $max, where $max can be <> $1.

T. Connect forum and stock details pages - allow forum browsing (for posts relating to that stock only) and posting from stock details

U. Download (anonymous) raw trading data interface (currently available via API only)

V. Add Google news items to stock details pages using stock-specific search terms. Plot news item flags on stock price line.

W. One-click trading interface: buy and sell price can be clicked for a standard parcel size (eg 25 contracts) subject to there being at least the std number available at that price (if not the lesser number)

X. Either streamline browse stocks to load only selected categories or set up a browse stocks for mobile/PDA only

Y. Remove the division into 'page 1, page 2' of stocks in the lists on My Portfolio, e.g. the Watch list

Z. Show current bid and offer prices in the portfolio lists

iPredict Forum in Testing

The iPredict forum went into testing today. We're aiming for a live site launch next week.

New Features Launched

A big update to the site this week which saw had tons going on under the bonnet and some much-requested new features:

Remember me: checking this box when you next sign in means iPredict will remember you on this machine for two weeks. iPredict will un-remember you on a machine if you sign out and on all machines if you reset your password. If you don't click remember me, you'll be logged out after four hours of inactivity.

Edit active orders: from your my Portfolio page, you can now edit your active orders rather than cancel and re-set.

Active trader count: a live count of all users who have been active within the last 30 minutes.

iPredict API: iPredict's new API lets applications talk to iPredict without visiting the site. Join our API development community where you can learn about the iPredict API and contribute directly to its development.

New Resources page: this is an updated Web Tools page. You can now embed zoom-able flash charts as well as the traditional jpg-based charts, and there is a link to our API development community.

My Portfolio menu widget: This is a menu item which shows your portfolio value and cash balance, and when you hover over it expands to show the stocks in your portfolio. Clicking on this locks it open.

Our focus now is on getting some new stocks launched. Thanks for all the recent new stock ideas, keep them coming, we'll be using the holiday break to write contracts for launch in the new year.

We will be open for trading throughout the holiday period. Please report any issues via our Contact Us page. The next funds withdrawal run will occur on Tuesday 30 December and then Monday 5 January.

Have a great break.

Stock alerts launched

In response to some strong opinions sent back from our newsletter on the value of alerts, our first stock alert email went out today announcing the immediate launch of contract BENSON.POPE, which asks whether David Benson-Pope will stand as a candidate in the upcoming election for any party other than the Labour Party (or as an independent), and the launch of US presidential contracts.

These presidential contracts are our first outwards looking stocks, and I had to make a quick call to our lawyer today to double check that running stocks pointing at events outside New Zealand is consistent with our Securities Commission authorisation.

It is.

However, to help protect against my arrest next time I'm at LAX - which has actually happened, I believe, to the CEO of Dublin-based InTrade - these contracts remind traders that iPredict is for NZ Residents only.

So, friends in the US, please do not even think about trading on our US Presidential stocks, at least until more sensible rules on online predictions markets trading come into effect in the US (which, by the way, may be in the works), and also before our terms and conditions are amended to allow you to.