Transforming the NYSE?

[cyst13]

S.O.S. on building an unusual power.

 

I would like to be able to magically manipulate the New York Stock Exchange. (e.g. turn a bear market into a bull, & vice-versa). I initially thought of some kind of AFX transform, but what would I actually be transforming? I don't want to just change the way the reader board looks; I actually want to be able to manipulate the stock prices. Any thoughts?

[Guest Kolava]

Re: Transforming the NYSE?

 

10d6 Luck, Area of Effect, Megascale, with the limitation: "only to bolster the economy"

[lemming]

Re: Transforming the NYSE?

 

S.O.S. on building an unusual power.

 

I would like to be able to magically manipulate the New York Stock Exchange. (e.g. turn a bear market into a bull, & vice-versa). I initially thought of some kind of AFX transform, but what would I actually be transforming? I don't want to just change the way the reader board looks; I actually want to be able to manipulate the stock prices. Any thoughts?

Wealth Perk, Usable on Others?

[DrFurious]

Re: Transforming the NYSE?

 

AoE Mind Control, only vs. investors & brokers, limited effect - change perception of the stock market.

 

The stock market is really based on the psychology of the investor "herd"

[Dust Raven]

Re: Transforming the NYSE?

 

I don't know how the Stock Exchange works, nor do I really want to learn at this point. However, I would ask what effects you'd like to see from manipulating it. Is this just to get rich? Make other's poor? Something else? What side effects could this have? The Stock Market fluctuates not only on how the brokers and investers perceive it, but on what they perceive as well. If a stock goes up, something happens to cause it. What exactly are you manipulating?

[cyst13]

Re: Dust Raven

 

Dust Raven wanted to know what exactly I would be manipulating. Good question. Unfortunately, I don't have a good answer. The guys in charge of Enron essentially used this power on a small scale (Enron stock). There are a bunch of professional economists who look at the books of the various corps on the NYSE. Based on their evaluations of the corps' profitability, their stock either goes up or down. That's an extremely simplified explanantion, but there you go. The Enron execs in cahoots with their accountants lied to the economists about the company's profitability and net worth which caused the economists to vastly overvalue Enron's stock. When the scam eventually became public, the bubble burst.

 

Now, I want my guy to be able to manipulate either individual stocks, complete sectors (e.g. tech, heavy industry, services, etc.) or even the entire exchange. I want this to have real world effects. For instance, I'd like to be able to drop the whole thing in the dumper the way that it fell after 9-11. Alternately, I'd like to be able to make a smallish company become fantastically successful overnight. That's basically what happened with Enron, but they were faking. I want to make the stocks actually increase/decrease in real value.

 

Mind controlling the influential economists or even the bulk of American investors may seem like a good idea, but overinflated stocks always crash eventually. That's why the internet bubble burst. I would like to make a company become solidly successful in a superhumanly short time period (think Microsoft). How would I do this?

[Osprey]

Re: Dust Raven

 

Mind controlling the influential economists or even the bulk of American investors may seem like a good idea, but overinflated stocks always crash eventually. That's why the internet bubble burst. I would like to make a company become solidly successful in a superhumanly short time period (think Microsoft). How would I do this?

 

I think you have the Idea here.

 

inflated stocks crash and Mental Powers only last so long if you stop spending endurance. (So put it on charges, maybe?)

[Nevenall]

Re: Transforming the NYSE?

 

My suggestion.

Financial Wizardry: +10 Skill Levels with Financial Skills.

[DrFurious]

Re: Transforming the NYSE?

 

Some suggestions:

 

Wealth, UBO, RSR: Stock Market Manipulation

 

Suppress Wealth, Only vs companies on the stock exchange.

 

Transform - Societal Change, Xd6 ??? To manipulate a company's financial standing.

 

 

Strictly speaking, manipulating the stock price of a company has little effect on most companies - unless the company is actively trading in it's own stock. It *could* allow someone to obtain controlling interest in a company.

[Dust Raven]

Re: Dust Raven

 

Dust Raven wanted to know what exactly I would be manipulating. Good question. Unfortunately, I don't have a good answer. The guys in charge of Enron essentially used this power on a small scale (Enron stock). There are a bunch of professional economists who look at the books of the various corps on the NYSE. Based on their evaluations of the corps' profitability, their stock either goes up or down. That's an extremely simplified explanantion, but there you go. The Enron execs in cahoots with their accountants lied to the economists about the company's profitability and net worth which caused the economists to vastly overvalue Enron's stock. When the scam eventually became public, the bubble burst.

 

Now, I want my guy to be able to manipulate either individual stocks, complete sectors (e.g. tech, heavy industry, services, etc.) or even the entire exchange. I want this to have real world effects. For instance, I'd like to be able to drop the whole thing in the dumper the way that it fell after 9-11. Alternately, I'd like to be able to make a smallish company become fantastically successful overnight. That's basically what happened with Enron, but they were faking. I want to make the stocks actually increase/decrease in real value.

 

Mind controlling the influential economists or even the bulk of American investors may seem like a good idea, but overinflated stocks always crash eventually. That's why the internet bubble burst. I would like to make a company become solidly successful in a superhumanly short time period (think Microsoft). How would I do this?

That is a really really TALL order.

 

Basically, what you are wanting to do is not manipulate the stock exchange, but maipulate what the stocks represent, either individually or in bulk. This means altering the companies. Microsoft became big because it introduced something revolutionary to the public, and sold it in such a way that it skyrocketed. Shorter lived successes, such as Wacky-Wall-Walkers, did pretty much the same thing. I really don't think any single Power, or even a number of Powers will accomplish this, no matter how cleverly worded the SFX. You're talking about near GM level god-power.

 

Of course, if you didn't want to bother with the details, and just wanted to make yourself rich, just buy the Wealth Perk and PS: Stock Market Manipulation and be done with it. Otherwise you're looking at global level Transforms, Mental Illusions and Mind Controls.

 

To give a shorter, and easier, answer to your last question: "I would like to make a company become solidly successful in a superhumanly short time period (think Microsoft). How would I do this?"

Take Nevenall's suggestion and buy +10 with Financial Skills, and also buy those Skills. Then all it takes is a close look at certain companies and a few phone calls to make suggestions to them and you've either made or broke the company. These will certainly have effects on the company's stock.

[Dust Raven]

Re: Transforming the NYSE?

 

One additional thought...

 

If you wanted to do all this with a snap of the fingers instead of doing any work, you could just buy a Follower with those abilities, plus IPE Telepathy, Invisibility and Desol (call him the Stock Faerie) and all you need to do is want it and he'll do his best to make it so.

[McCoy]

Re: Dust Raven

 

I would like to make a company become solidly successful in a superhumanly short time period (think Microsoft). How would I do this?

Luck, useable by others, perhapse with fast and megascale.

[BobGreenwade]

Re: Transforming the NYSE?

 

AoE Mind Control, only vs. investors & brokers, limited effect - change perception of the stock market.

 

The stock market is really based on the psychology of the investor "herd"

To change the perception of the stock market (or anything else), one would use Mental Illusions, not Mind Control.

 

Nonetheless, this is close to my idea of how to handle the original question. I'd use Mind Control (with the Modifiers posted by Doc F) to manipulate investors' willingness to accept certain prices -- for a bull market higher prices are better, so buyers become more eager than sellers; for a bear market lower prices are better, so the reverse tactic is used.

[mr_azrad]

Re: Dust Raven

 

That is a really really TALL order..

 

 

Of course' date=' if you didn't want to bother with the details, and just wanted to make yourself rich, just buy the Wealth Perk and PS: Stock Market Manipulation and be done with it. Otherwise you're looking at global level Transforms, Mental Illusions and Mind Controls..[/quote']

 

 

I agree with Dust Raven here. If you want to make permenant real changes to the stock market it is gonna take a lot of active points. Wealth is rarley created or destroyed, it is normally transfered. I would go with a global transform, destorying wealth at some locations and re-creating it in others. Then you would need a global mental transform to make people not realize you did it. Maybe even a transform to change financial records too.

 

I think some of the smaller (but not as powerful solutions) might be more realistic (although not accomplish what you originally wanted).

[JMcL63]

Re: Transforming the NYSE?

 

Making a company amazingly successful in a superhumanly short time requires that they have a product that everyone buys, over and over, as if there was no tomorrow. Similarly, changing the stock market involves changing people's buying and selling decisions. Sure, perceptions can affect this, but if no-one acts on those perceptions, nothing will happen. So I'm in favour of the mental powers approach. In general, I'd say that this might work like a spell, requiring special skills, preparation, components, etc. It strikes me as the sort of thing that could be stacked too, in the way a wizard stacks prepared spells.

 

So, what I am saying is that the effect you're after needs some kind of new consumer product (ubertech maybe), and mental-based powers to influence consumers and market players to both buy the product, and to buy/sell the manufacturer's stock according to your character's wishes. Hopes this helps.

 

PS. This strikes me as a power that might work well with the Array Limited Power Limitation, that requires a certain group of people to be in the right place(s) before the power works. I seem to remember reading this in UMA 4th ed, but I can't track it down there, or in my HERO5e references either right now.

[Arthur]

Re: Dust Raven

 

That is a really really TALL order.

 

You said it.

 

The first thing I thought of that could even come close would be a weird variation on XDM: "transport me to a dimension where economic indicators are such and such". The greater the change, the more exotic (and hence, "farther away") the new dimension would be.

 

I'm not real sure about this approach, though. It seems ripe for abuse.

 

Maybe a huge Change Environment, with some huge Adder and/or Advantage to represent that you are trying to use CE for beyond its intended scope?

 

Anyway, the bottom line is this: this is a HUGE effect, and if it doesn't cost a LOT of points, then something is wrong.

[Dust Raven]

Re: Dust Raven

 

You said it.

 

The first thing I thought of that could even come close would be a weird variation on XDM: "transport me to a dimension where economic indicators are such and such". The greater the change, the more exotic (and hence, "farther away") the new dimension would be.

 

I'm not real sure about this approach, though. It seems ripe for abuse.

 

Maybe a huge Change Environment, with some huge Adder and/or Advantage to represent that you are trying to use CE for beyond its intended scope?

 

Anyway, the bottom line is this: this is a HUGE effect, and if it doesn't cost a LOT of points, then something is wrong.

I was working some ideas out at work last night and starting thinking that my "stock faerie" idea might not be too bad. Of hand it sounds a bit riduculous, but it would certainly achieve the effects desired.

 

The "stock faerie", or more accurately, a Financial Muse could be built as an Invisible, Desolid entity that inspires individuals to develop revolutionary products and services to introduce to the public or private sectors, and helps bring these ideas to the attention of investors and manufacturers who can help produce it. All this would be done through subtle use of various ARW Mental Powers the targets won't realize are being used on them. In any case, the Muse wouldn't have to have any knowledge of the product or service, because it can glean this information from his targets and use that information to inspire something greater, making the developer think it was his own idea (which it actually is).

 

Conversely, to cripple a company, the Muse just whispers bad ideas into the minds of executives or promotes dishonest behavior in the employees which it then brings to the attention of proper authorities. There a number of ways to bring down a company from within, and an intangable Muse makes a perfect spy and sabatour.

 

The character who pays for the Muse would also have to pay for a means to communicate with it (probably a Mind Link). If this ability can be blocked or negated, the GM could simply rule that lack of communication with the Muse prevents it from acting. In any case, the exact effects are placed directly into the GM's hands (Followers are NPCs after all) and all the player would have to do is ask that a certain company make it big, or make a big mistake and crumble.

[Sociotard]

Re: Transforming the NYSE?

 

This is tricky. I don't think you can Supress a perk like wealth, can you?

 

Permanent effects are best represented by Transform, I think. The trick is how to make a transform that affects the economy on different levels.

[cyst13]

Re: Transforming the NYSE?

 

Of all the above suggestions, I think I prefer the invisible stock fairie. The xtra-dim transport and 10d6 luck just seem like weak cop-outs to me. Why not just spend all your character pts. on luck or xtra-dim and then always succeed in all challenges or transport your self to a dimension in which you never lose. Whoopeee! The fairie idea meets my specifications of the power acting as magic without the character actively intervening, yet because it is an actual something going around doing stuff, it would be possible for opposed characters to stop the thing. Good job guys, you ever-creative Herophiles.