STOCK
MARKET
TRACKS//
A Rap Competition Collaboration by:
Teach the world about STOCK MARKET INVESTING
by spitting a HOT 16 explaining a key investment topic.
Stacks for Bars
Top 3 verses win real cash prizes.
+ 3 months Invstr Premium to all successful applicants!
THIS IS HOW IT WORKS...
Submit Your Rap
Closing date for applications: 6 Sept 2019 23:59 ET
1. Write a 16 bar verse, in English, about an investing topic from the list below
2. Film yourself performing your rap
3. Complete the application form and upload your video
♥ Voting on @stockmarkettracks
11-30 Sept 2019 23:59 ET
All videos that pass review are uploaded to our Instagram account @stockmarkettracks and are open to the people’s vote.
Get the most likes on @stockmarkettracks, win the prize! So spread the word about your submission 📢
Entries Review
We review all entries to make sure they meet the competition criteria. To be eligible for entry, you must be 18+, and your 16 bars verse must:
1. Be on topic
2. Use clean language
3. Min video quality HD 1080x1080
Read full terms here
Pick Up the Mic
And drop 16 bars of knowledge about one of these investment topics.
1. Stocks, Shares, and Sectors
A stock is a share in the ownership of a company. When you own stock in a company, you are called a “shareholder” because you share in the company’s profits. This also entails you to certain rights (like receiving dividends or voting at annual and special shareholder meetings), which differ based on the type of stock you own. Public companies sell their stock through a stock market exchange, like the Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange, and stocks are categorized by sector, like Tech, Financials, Energy, and Healthcare.
2. Ticker Symbols
When stocks are traded on a stock exchange, they’re given a ticker symbol to describe the company’s stock. This symbol is a unique series of letters, numbers, or a combination of both. You’re probably familiar with some of them: on the Nasdaq, Apple is AAPL, Amazon is AMZN and Netflix is NFLX. The term "ticker symbol" comes from the symbols that were printed on ticker tape machines
3. Blue-Chip
A blue-chip company is a mature company that’s well-run, reliable, and able to operate profitably during the good times and the bad. Think Disney, IBM, and Coca-Cola. They’re seen as top performers in their sectors and are usually part of major stock market indexes, like the Dow Jones. Blue-chip stocks have stable earnings, offer security during periods of slowed growth, and their market capitalization is usually in the billions of dollars. Fun fact: They’re called blue-chips because the blue chip is the highest value chip at the poker table.
4. Bulls, Bears, and Buying the Dips
A bull market is a market where prices are rising or expected to rise. The term can also be used to describe a positive outlook on a particular stock, like “I’m feeling bullish about Twitter.” Conversely, a bear market is a market where prices are falling or expected to fall. The term can be used to describe a negative outlook, like “I’m bearish on oil.” Buying the dips is slang for something bullish investors tend to do: purchasing a stock after its price has fallen, expecting that it will soon recover. See also: Level of Resistance, and Level of Support.
5. Commodities
A commodity is a hard asset used in commerce, like gold, oil, grain, or natural gas. There are so many of them that they’re grouped into three major categories: agriculture, energy, and metals. Commodities are volatile; prices change from day to day, and they’re very susceptible to geopolitical events and shifts in supply and demand. They’re also at the mercy of Mother Nature - an earthquake or a drought can send prices rocketing. Weirdly, the only agricultural commodity you can’t trade in the US is onions.
6. Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency is a digital currency that uses encryption techniques to regulate the generation of units of currency and to verify the transfer of funds. Cryptocurrencies operate independently of a central bank, and there are over 4,000 different cryptos available today. Perhaps the most well-known is Bitcoin, which was developed by Satoshi Nakamoto (a pseudonym for a person or group - no-one knows!). As of February 2019, there are over 17.5 million Bitcoins in circulation, with a market value of over $65 billion, which accounts for half the total value of the crypto market! The market price of Bitcoin and competing cryptos can fluctuate wildly, which is why they’ve been compared to the gold rush or the dotcom bubble.
7. Diversification
Diversification is an investment technique that’s designed to manage risk. It involves mixing a wide variety of investments across a variety of sectors and asset classes within a portfolio. On average, diversified portfolios can produce higher returns and minimize risk compared to investing in one particular company or sector.
8. FAANG, MAAN, and NAMPOF
FAANG is an acronym for the 5 largest tech companies in the world: Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Netflix (NFLX), and Google (GOOGL). In March 2019, the collective market capitalization of these 5 companies was over $3.1 trillion. Recently, MAAN (Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, and Netflix) has been declared the new FAANG, while NAMPOF (Nvidia, Amazon, Microsoft, PayPal, Oracle, and Facebook) has emerged as its far-less-catchy counterpart.
9. Going Long/Short
Going long refers to buying a stock and hoping to benefit from a rise in its price. Conversely, going short refers to first selling a stock you do not own, then buying it back hoping to benefit from a fall in its price. The difference in the sale price and the purchase price results in a profit (or loss). Once they’re bought back, the borrowed shares are returned (along with a commission), resulting in a profit (or loss).
10. HODL, FOMO, and FUD
Often described as an acronym for “hold on for dear life”, HODL was actually born out of a drunken misspelling for the word “hold.” It refers to buy-and-hold strategies involving Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In times of strong market volatility, investors HODL, helping them avoid such destructive tendencies as: FOMO (fear of missing out), which can result in buying high; and FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt), which can result in selling low.
11. Stock Indexes
It’s too difficult to track every single stock that trades in the U.S. That’s why we need a small sample of the market that’s representative of the whole. That sample is called an index, which measures the changes in a portfolio of stocks representing a cross section of the overall market. Investors use indexes to track the performance of the stock market and benchmark their own investments against it. An example of a stock market index is the S&P 500, which is based on the market capitalization of 500 large companies
12. Initial Public Offering (IPO)
An Initial Public Offering, or IPO, is when a company sells its stock to the general public for the first time by listing itself on a stock exchange. Companies do this to raise money to pay debts, reward earlier private investors, invest in projects, purchase assets, or acquire other companies. However, going public means the company’s value is determined by the attitudes of investors, and its stock price can fluctuate daily as a result. For investors, an IPO represents an opportunity to get in close to the ground floor and benefit from any subsequent success. But they’re also fraught with risk, and value can plummet just as quickly as it can soar.
13. Market Capitalization
Market capitalization (commonly referred to as “market cap”) is the total market value of a company’s outstanding shares. It’s calculated by multiplying the outstanding shares by the current market price of one share. For example, a company with 10 million shares selling at $100 a share would have a market cap of $1 billion. Investors use this information to determine a company’s size, instead of using sales or total asset figures.
14. Investment vs Saving
Investing and saving are not the same thing. Saving is important, and everyone should practice it. But the advantage of investing is that it provides an opportunity to build wealth over a long period of time. Take the U.S. stock market for example: On average, the S&P 500 delivers a 10% annual return. If you invested $100 (compounded annually), you’d have $260 a decade later. Conversely, some online savings accounts offer between 1-2% annual interest. If you were to save $100, you’d only have around $120 a decade later. Still, the main difference between investing and saving is the level of risk. Savings are guaranteed to some extent by the bank and the government. Investments are not. With a smart investment strategy, you could make high returns, but you could just as easily lose it all through poor judgement or circumstances outside your control, like war or natural disaster.
15. NYSE / Wall Street
Founded in 1792, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is an American stock exchange found at 11 Wall Street, Lower Manhattan, New York City. It’s by far the world’s largest stock exchange by market capitalization (over $30 trillion as of February 2018). It began with 12 listed companies, and one of those companies is still listed to this day: General Electric. Wall Street has played a significant role in the American economy, culture, and history. It’s the “money capital” of the U.S., home to a number of exchanges, and has long been established as the world’s leading financial center.
16. Volume & Volatility
Volume is the number of shares traded during a set period of time. Volatility refers to the increase or decrease in value of a share over a given period. There’s also a relationship between volume and volatility. If a stock is purchased in large quantities, its value will rise sharply. If it’s sold in large quantities, the value will experience a rapid decline.
Need Inspiration?
Here are some examples of rap songs for these topics…
The Story Behind
Stock Market Tracks
Wu-Tang weren’t playing when they said “Cash, Rules, Everything, Around, Me.”
But what happens when you get the money (dollar dollar bill, y’all)? Not enough of you are investing it. Only 23 percent of Americans aged 18 to 37 think the stock market is the best place for money they won’t need for 10 years or more.
That fact is the inspiration for Stock Market Tracks, a collaboration between NYC-based youth organization STEAM16 and Invstr, the leading investment education app.
We want to get young people learning and talking about investing and the stock market by scribbling lyrics and spitting rhymes. The competition is about financial literacy and freedom of expression. Education through entertainment. Grab your phone and show us you’ve got the lyrical chops and the thirst for knowledge to snatch that prize.
FOR PRESS ENQUIRIES PLEASE EMAIL: SMT@STEAM16.COM
Who are
STEAM16 & Invstr?
STEAM16 focuses on making Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math fun and accessible through the 16 bars of a rap verse.
Invstr helps young people get to grips with the world of investing through their award-winning app. Users can play Fantasy FinanceTM and learn about investing in a risk-free environment.