The NSDQ100? Facebook Likes

(eToro Blog) Despite investors worried over the European debacle, Wall Street managed to escape the worst of the drama yesterday with the NASDAQ and S&P500 eking out small gains of 0.05% and 0.04%, respectively; only the DJIA closed fractionally lower. Records will show that both the NASDAQ and S&P500 recorded their worst weekly decline in 2012, coming on the heels of surprisingly poor NFP data, but the NASDAQ is set to get a major boost in the next few weeks as the hype surrounding the upcoming Facebook IPO heats up to the nth degree.

OpenBook trader Jenhualiao is a relative newcomer to OpenBook, but has clearly started off on the right foot; the trader has a 60.7% stake in the NSDQ100, which has provided a gain of 30.9%. Within the past 24 hours, the trader has profitably closed out a number of positions on the NSDQ100, both longs and shorts, with gains ranging from 4% to as much as 88%, and the average for just the day was more than 46%.For the month and week, the trader’s P&L is 245.3% and 224%, respectively. Two open long positions are currently in the red, but that could change quickly.

Trader blazter93 from France allocates nearly 40% of his portfolio to indices trading, primarily his native CAC40, the DJ30 and the NSDQ100. While he generally CopyTrades from several of OpenBook’s most profitable currency gurus including robepu, Santoshtiwari, Moksel1972 et al, the NSDQ100 trades are all his own. Take for example the three long positions that were closed yesterday and which provided an average return of 15% to this trader and his 17 copiers, while three open shorts are already showing a 12% average gain. Over the past several months, this trader, who also has 317 followers, has been steadily increasing his allocation in the NSDQ100, and now has a 15.4% stake in the index which has provided a gain of 4.7% just in the last month. For the entire portfolio, the trader’s P&L for the month is 114%.

Once officially listed on the NASDAQ, with May 18^th the projected date for the IPO, Facebook will join some of the biggest names in the tech industry including Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Dell, Google, Yahoo, Cisco, Electronic Arts and QUALCOMM, just to name a few. Based on a market capitalization-weighted algorithm, the NASDAQ 100 – OpenBook’s NSDQ100 – includes the crème de la crème of NASDAQ-listed non-financial securities companies and its 100 components are reviewed quarterly to determine eligibility and adjust weightings.

When Facebook might be included among those highly esteemed names is somewhat controversial. NASDAQ, in fact, changed the eligibility rules effective on April 23, 2012, specifically to entice Facebook to list on their index rather than the NYSE. Prior to the change, a NASDAQ-traded company needed a minimum of 2-years of “seasoning” but under the new rules that so-called seasoning period has been reduced to three months, with the IPO month excluded. Theoretically, then, Facebook could be listed among the NASDQ100 as soon as October, given the quarterly review.

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