How are contest Leaderboards and Results calculated?

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Contest Leaderboards and Results are calculated in different ways.

 

Leaderboards
Leaderboards are displayed in the contest details page while a contest is running, between it's start and end dates. It is updated every couple of minutes using data from IEX Cloud, which provides intraday open and trading prices for the NYSE and NASDAQ exchanges.

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Contest Results
Contest results are displayed in the contest details page after a contest has completed on it's end date. It is updated at approximately 6:45pm Eastern after final data is received by Alpha Vantage, which provides end-of-day stock prices.
Calculations

Regardless of which data provides the opening and closing prices for the contest's Leaderboard or Results, the calculations remain the same:

•     The open price is subtracted from the close price for each stock in a entrant's portfolio, except for stocks that have been set as a short position which is reversed

•     The prices are used to determine the percent gain or loss for each stock

•     The gain/loss is aggregated for the full portfolio

•     The Leaderboard or Results are sorted by the entrant's portfolios with the highest gains to the lowest

 

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