Options on the Oscar BP noms.

[Stewball]

At HSX.com, the virtual Hollywood stock market, they have Derivative Options on several of the Oscar categories. You buy (in fake money) however many shares of the options you want at the market price (see below). Just before the AA, they close the options and they all cash out at $0 per share, except for the winners which cash out at $25. It'll be interesting to see how close they come out. It looks pretty predictive, but its also a good way to "cash in" on a long shot at those low prices.

Below are the current prices for options for the 10 BP nominations as of a few minutes ago. ($.29??)

Up in the Air------------.29
A Serious Man----------.29
Avatar-----------------9.13
District 9---------------.29
An Education-----------.29
Inglorious Basterds----.42
Precious----------------.29
The Blindside----------.29
The Hurt Locker-----7.83
Up-----------------------.42

[Luna6ix]

dude, i've been around long enough on hsx to have learned not to mess with those, it's not a winning battle. you're better off buying week openers. that's how i've got over 48 million.

[Stewball]

dude, i've been around long enough on hsx to have learned not to mess with those, it's not a winning battle. you're better off buying week openers. that's how i've got over 48 million.

Yeah, but I just brought it up as another perspective on the front runners and behinders. I've been spinning my wheels pretty much since I've been there. Just can't not go for a movie I think looks good or for something like New Moon or some millions of slasher movies that always make a good profit, no matter how vacant. I got spanked real bad by only 3 or 4 real loosers--and one that wasn't that did. You gotta admit too, this early, a few thousand in the right place, at .29 would be a big payoff closing at $25 after only a month.

I think Jeff Bridges is the most overblown nominee at the moment, flashin' in the pan as it were, and it'll probably be somebody else. He's just the same old same old J.B. pretty much (good, solid, in a rut), and in a downer of a movie to boot. It'd have the BA category in a rut too given the similarity to last years winner. Jason Reitman pretty much got Clooney out of the rut he'd been in and he may take it. I think he's a distant second to J.B. right now.

But overall, I doubt any voting members of the Academy are buying stock on HSX in any case.

[Luna6ix]

i got to say, i think terminator 5 is a great bet right now, i made about four mil off a perspective next pirates of the caribbean movie