CNBC cancels contest after glitch

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CNBC’s fantasy stock market game, the “Million-Dollar Portfolio Challenge,” was suspended 10/21 because some players managed exploit the system. “There was a technical glitch in the current equity trading system, which a handful of players found and exploited to jump to the top of the leaderboard,” the company said in a statement Friday.


The online game, which 9/19 and was set to run through 11/25, awards $1 million to the player who best manages a pretend portfolio of stocks with fake “CNBC bucks.” The runner-up gets a red Maserati convertible.

A source told The Daily the trick came to the show’s attention about a week ago, when a group of users began separating from the pack with impossibly high ROI. The source also said no participants will be disqualified—those who gamed the system did not explicitly break any rules, and therefore could not be.

The highest earner at the end of every week wins a luxury getaway. The company’s statement said last week’s front-runner, who was presumably one of the players who beat the system, will keep the vacation prize.

CNBC said that “out of fairness to all registered contestants,” it will suspend the contest until 10/30, and reset all player accounts to their starting balance.