The first week of this year's CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge is now complete and over 16 billion shares have been traded so far. As of Friday's close, the combined portfolios had market values of nearly $55 billion. Here are some of the top trades that have lifted contestants to the top of the leaderboard.
The most widely held stock today remains Sirius as contestants continue to buy on hopes of news of the pending merger with XM , with over 998 M shares held, dwarfing the next widely held, E*Trade by over 600M shares
Financials continue to take the top spot in the Widely Helds at 25% of the widely held sectors, followed by Information Technology. Contestants are still betting that the volatility and beaten down prices in the Financial sector will work in their favor for large percentage gains. The Financials are the worst performing sector in 2008 down almost 11% YTD.
Sample of Top Trades in the Leaderboard: Dominated by alternative energy and solar companies
- Solarfun was the top trade of the day on Friday and if you bought on Thurs before 4pET and held/sold on Friday, you made 23.66%
- Compuware reported earnings after the bell Thursday, and if you bought on Thurs before 4pET and held/sold on Friday, you made 4.47%
- JA Solar if you bought on Thurs before 4pET and held/sold on Friday, you made 4.28%
- Canadian Solar was up 2.98% on Friday, and some of our leaders have held the stock since Monday for a gain of over 31% since Monday's close
- Zoltek if you bought on Thurs before 4pET and held/sold on Friday, you made 16.86%
Sample of Losing Trades from the Leaderboard:
- WNS Holdings reported after the bell on Thursday and issued guidance and ended up down -1.16% on Friday
- Yingli Green Energy was down -1.70% on Friday
If you haven't registered yet, there are still great weekly prizes and it's not to late to go for the grand prize. Click here to play.