intrade

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Am i gettting this right?

Obama - $79
Clinton -  $19

so if I buy 10 shares in each it'll cost me $98 and I'm guarenteed to get £100 (because one of them will get the nom) or am I totally mis-understanding this?

Those are the last trades.  To get shares of Obama, you may need to bid higher than 79; to get shares of Clinton, you may need to bid higher than 19.

Intrade works a little differently from the stock market in that you only need to pay a fee to trade via a "market order."  If you place a "limit order," which basically means you have to wait around for someone to take the price you're offering, then you don't get charged a fee.  That's meant to boost liquidity.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Am i gettting this right?

Obama - $79
Clinton -  $19

so if I buy 10 shares in each it'll cost me $98 and I'm guarenteed to get £100 (because one of them will get the nom) or am I totally mis-understanding this?

Those are the last trades.  To get shares of Obama, you may need to bid higher than 79; to get shares of Clinton, you may need to bid higher than 19.

Intrade works a little differently from the stock market in that you only need to pay a fee to trade via a "market order."  If you place a "limit order," which basically means you have to wait around for someone to take the price you're offering, then you don't get charged a fee.  That's meant to boost liquidity.

I thought they changed it so that you only need to pay fees on profits?

There is a 1% fee charged on contracts that expire "in the money."  For a contract worth $10.00, you only get $9.90.  That's in addition to any trading costs, and why some long dead contracts still trade around the 1.0 level.