We recently asked some of you to complete a survey to get feedback on the the quality of the current site, how you use UpDown, and future functionality. We got great replies thank you to everyone who completed the survey for helping us make UpDown better!

We got a lot of interest for expanding the learning aspect of UpDown. Many of you are also interested in being able to trade options and forex on UpDown. We’re already working on some of the ideas you mentioned so stay tuned …

Out of 600 completed surveys, here are the winners of the itunes $20 gift cards (you will also receive a separate email):

semille2
wlingke
Delta_5
UnVraiRobillard3
amg800
gallfera531
leo0648
Frankky
bassettb
moneyman187
GKM
skidaddy
chocomog
jkag007
Moosle
spaceball1
venutijp
kaloko
Jproductions Corp.
sstrom61
TheMush
thatmanguy
hallmarp
jmnmic27
beezr15
Poundit
scrummy
rrfrith
JackFawRealz
Jognils
clee6
kzhang
Taxicr

Thank you again to everyone who participated!

Michael

Members frequently ask for is insight into what other members are doing, including the ability to view each other’s portfolios. We’ve resisted this, becasue we want to see how each member does on their own.

But in our Facebook application we have published trading information, specifically when a member makes a buy and sell. This experiment is working well, so we’ve decided to bring it to UpDown.com.

Starting tomorrow, you’ll be able to see when a friend has:

• Made a buy, including the amount
• Made a sell, including the company name and amount
• Added another friend
• Joined a contest, group or network

We’re really excited about this new feature and think it will make the site more interesting for groups of friends.

We’re about to make some improvements that we wanted you to know about.

Over the past few months we’ve added to and enhanced quite a few social features on the site, including groups, contests, networks, friends, and we’re about to make improvements to our member profiles.

These features all make the site more fun, and enable better collaboration and competition. But they work better when members can find each other.

As part of these changes, we’ve decided to require and show real names. We’re also going to show real names across the site by default. You’ll be able to turn this off with the profile settings.

UpDown.com is thrilled to announce the start of The Future Financial Analysts Contest.  No matter where you’re headed, a strong financial modeling and presentation background is crucial for your success.

UpDown members can compete to win over $4,000 in valuable financial analysis courses that can help them do better in upcoming job interviews.

These courses are taught by Wall Street professionals and focus on developing the essential skills for valuing and analyzing companies.  Check out the course descriptions here.

Thanks so much for to all members who wrote a review for our Online Broker Guide last week. We had over 150 reviews submitted. Write a review now if you have a broker you’d like to educate the UpDown community about.

We gave away 6 randomly selected $25 iTunes Gift Cards. The winners were the following UpDown members:

eamundson
hobo123
stephaniec
TheDoc10
TheChartist
genral72

We really appreciate everybody’s participation.

Our friends at Geezeo offer a great personal bailout for you! The top prize is $6,000, but there are other prizes as well. Check it out at here.

Geezeo is a great site that helps you make “Educated Financial Decisions.” It’s a free web-based personal finance application that makes it easy to track all your finances, see where all your money is going, set financial goals and learn from others.

Congratulations to udfisher for outperforming over 6,400 top college and university students during the fall semester and winning the Fall 2008 $10,000 Student Contest!

Here are the final rankings:

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Since udfisher has now won both the October 2008 $3,000 Monthly Performance Contest and the Fall 2008 Student Contest, he has truly established himself as one of the elite investors in the entire UpDown Community. If you want to improve your investing skills, let him be your guide!

Check out the story in the International Business Times today about YoungMoney magazine launching a stock market game powered by UpDown technology on their website. Both Michael, our CEO, and Ben Levy, YoungMoney’s CEO, are excited about the launch and are confident that it will increase engagement and financial literacy on YoungMoney’s site.

Stay tuned for many more cool updates as we enter the new year!

Brendan
UpDown Team

We hope that the cheer seen here on Wall Street reaches you, your family, and markets around the world this holiday season. May we all look forward to a very happy (and profitable) new year!

The UpDown Team

Here is the latest summary of the hottest stocks moving in and out of the portfolios of the top 100 investors in the UpDown Community:

Most Bought:

1. UAUA – UAL Corp.
2. SIRI – Sirius XM Radio, Inc.
3. QID – Proshares Ultrashort QQQ ETF
4. DXD – Proshares Ultrashort Dow 30 ETF
5. BGZ – Direxion Shares Large BR 3X

Most Sold:

1. MER – Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.
2. TNA – Direxion Shares Small BLL 3X
3. LNC – Lincoln National Corp.
4. AIG – American International Group, Inc.
5. FNM – Fannie Mae

Many investors are enjoying small profits from the recent rally in the market. How long do you think it will last?

Keep making money!

Brendan
UpDown Team