Over the weekend we took a broad look over everyone’s positions – and were reminded of this classic cartoon:

You might find the following entertaining:

• For every Challenge participant holding a short position in AAPL / BA / DIS / GILD, there are 51 / 53 / 51 / 74 students holding long positions (respectively).
• All 30 Euro positions initiated in January are shorts.

Unfortunately a great many students seem comfortable holding the same positions as all their peers – and it is very hard to beat the crowd when you are part of it.

The real problem here is not how much everyone loves AAPL but rather how difficult it is to drown out the noise and to form an opinion that is truly your own. Investing in a little-known micro-cap just because you’ve heard good things about it is just as bad as buying a hyped up stock at the peak of its popularity.