Congratulations to udfisher for winning the first Monthly Performance Contest for the entire UpDown Community! He masterfully navigated extremely volatile markets throughout the month and won $500 for his remarkable work.

Last night I caught up with our winner to learn more about him, his thoughts about UpDown and the new payout system, and his strategy for making money in today’s markets. Here’s what he said:

“I am a relatively new investor, only following the markets closely since joining Updown in September.  I enjoy challenges, and with the markets starting to collapse in September, I decided to challenge myself to beat the markets.  Being a student, I don’t have spare money to put into the markets for real, which is why Updown offers such an outstanding opportunity to learn some skills that I can employ once I graduate, and am able to set aside some money to put into the market.  I’m setting myself up with the challenge to continue to outperform the markets, and continue developing my market instincts.

“I am a short term value trader, typically holding stocks that I like for a few days, until they appear to have yielded what they are going to for the time being.  In October, I enjoyed big returns from stocks like General Growth Properties (GGP), AIG (in the early part of the month), and as the month ended, Las Vegas Sands (LVS) and MGM Mirage (MGM).

As far as my performance in relation to the others on Updown, I am proud of the fact that so many were able to outperform the markets.  I was impressed by the fact that all of the top 20 contestants in October beat the markets by 75%, or more.  I am humbled to lead such an impressive pack of investors for the month.

On the new payout system, I think in many ways, it is better than the previous method.  I still think it should be a little more balanced, because people who beat the market by 40%, like my brother, only get a fraction of what people who beat it by 75% get, even though both are incredible performances, and should both be rewarded.

Finally, I’d like to congratulate everyone on an outstanding October, and wish everyone a successful November!”

-Bryan “udfisher” Fisher